The House of The Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter 21 Page 22

one, his chance of keeping his heart another minute would not be worth one of the buttons on my waistcoat!

And — soul alive! — that great sigh, which you made me heave, has burst off the very last of them! But, never mind! It was the happiest sigh I ever did heave; and it seems as if I must have drawn in a gulp of heavenly breath, to make it with. Well, well, Miss Phoebe! They’ll miss me in the gardens hereabouts, and round by the back doors; and Pyncheon Street, I’m afraid, will hardly look the same without old Uncle Venner, who remembers it with a mowing field on one side, and the garden of the Seven Gables on the other. But either I must go to your country-seat, or you must come to my farm, — that’s one of two things certain; and I leave you to choose which!”