done to his blood, you are welcome to it.”

“I take you at your word, Goodman Maule,” said the owner of the Seven Gables, with a smile, “and will proceed to suggest a mode in which your hereditary resentments — justifiable or otherwise — may have had a bearing on my affairs. You have heard, I suppose, that the Pyncheon family, ever since my grandfather’s days, have been prosecuting a still unsettled claim to a very large extent of territory at the Eastward?”

“Often,” replied Maule, — and it is said that a smile came over his face, — ”very often, — from my father!”

“This claim,” continued Mr.

Pyncheon, after pausing a moment, as if to consider what the carpenter’s