pering all at once. This aged tree appeared to have
suffered nothing from the gale. It had kept its boughs
unshattered, and its full complement of leaves; and the
whole in perfect verdure, except a single branch, that, by
the earlier change with which the elm-tree sometimes
prophesies the autumn, had been transmuted to bright
gold. It was like the golden branch that gained Æneas
and the Sibyl admittance into Hades.

This one mystic branch hung down before the main
entrance of the Seven Gables, so nigh the ground that any
passer-by might have stood on tiptoe' and plucked it off.
Presented at the door, it would have been a symbol of
his right to enter, and be made acquainted with all the
secrets of the house. So little faith is due to external
appearance, that there was really an inviting aspect over
the venerable edifice, conveying an idea that its history
must be a decorous and happy one, and such as would be
delightful for a fireside tale. Its windows gleamed cheer-
fully in the slanting sunlight. The lines and tuft of green
moss, here and there, seemed pledges of familiarity and
sisterhood with Nature; as if this human dwelling-place,
being of such old date, had established its prescriptive
title among primeval oaks and whatever other objects,
by virtue of their long continuance, have acquired a gra-
cious right to be. A person of imaginative temperament,
while passing by the house, would turn, once and again,
and peruse it well: its many peaks, consenting together
in the clustered chimney; the deep projection over its
basement-story; the arched window, imparting a look, if
not of grandeur, yet of antique gentility, to the broken
portal over which it opened; the luxuriance of gigantic
burdocks, near the threshold; he would note all these

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