★THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES

I read "THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES" written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. We learned about Hawthorne and we watched "Bewitched" on DVD because it has an episode that Samantha and Darrin go to the house of the seven gables.

This story was scary but it had love story at the last.

There are many people in the story, so I introduce them at first.

Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon lived in the House of the Seven Gables and she opened a store in the house. She was old and she wasn't liked by people in her town, so she didn't work in the store.

Mr. Holgrave was young and he lived in one of the seven gables. He took pictures of people's faces. He was a only friend of Hepzibah.

Judge Pyncheon was Hepzibah's cousin but she didn't like him. He had a cold face, so she was afraid of him.

Colonel Pyncheon build the house taking the land from Matthew Maule who was the wizard. The house and Colonel might be cursed by Maule, because Colonel was suddenly dead in his chair the same day that he finished building the house. His family had been unhappy since then.

Mr. Venner was an old man. He did little jobs for people. He came the store and talked with Hepzibah sometimes.

Phoebe Pyncheon was Hepzibah's little cousin. She came to the house from the country and she wanted to work in the store for her old cousin.

Clifford Pyncheon was Hepzibah's brother. Phoebe thought that he was dead but he came to the house and the three coucins lived in the house together.

Then, I write about the latter half of the story.

Hepzibah became happy after Phoebe visited the house, and she was more happy when Clifford came to the house. They went to the garden with Holgrave and Mr. Venner on Sunday. Phoebe liked white flowers called "Alice's Flowers" in the garden. However, Hepzibah didn't want to see the Judge becouse he often came the house to put Clifford in the prison. Clifford went to prison for 30 years because the Judge thought he was a murder of Colonel. One day, Hepzibah had to take the Judge to Clifford but he was not in his bedroom so she went back to the Judge.

Suddenly Clifford was there. His face was very white.
"Hepzibah," he said. "Now we can dance, now we can play! Look!"
Hepzibah went quickly into the room. There was Judge Pyncheon, dead in his chair!

Then, Clifford and Hepzibah went away.

Actually, Clifford was not the murder, because Colonel had a bad heart, and the Judge had a bad heart too. Holgrave told that to Phoebe. He loved her and when he asked "Do you love me?" and she answerd "Yes, I do", Hepzibah and Clifford came back! The Judge's money and his big country house are theirs now!! But Hepzibah didn't know whether the house and the land were hers or not. Clifford said that they didn't need that to her.

"You're right," Holgrave said. "And it isn't your land."
"But how do you know?" Phoebe asked.
Holgrave looked at her. "My family knows," he said.
"I'm a Maule--but I'm not a wizard!"

His real name was Holgrave Maule!

THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, Penguin Readers Level 1, 0-582-42657-x

(543 words)