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When the prominent Colonel Pyncheon is found dead during a housewarming party at his new mansion, the official cause of death is given as a stroke. The townspeople suspect something different. Colonel Pyncheon acquired the land for his new homestead only after its owner, a poor man named Matthew Maule, was hanged during the Salem witchhunts in 1692, for allegedly practicing witchcraft. Until the end, the innocent man suspected Colonel Pyncheon of encouraging the persecution in …

…marry Holgrave, who discloses his identity as a descendant of Matthew Maule. And the secret of the portrait is explained at last. A hidden spring releases the frame and reveals a hiding place where the now useless deed to the territory in Maine has been for two hundred years. Hepzibah, Clifford, Phoebe, and Holgrave decide to leave the house of the seven gables and live in the country estate they inherited from Jaffrey. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**