Twice Told Tales Page #6

has come.

She's right.

He's here.

How could you know

about a man named

Jonathan Maule?

Have you ever met him?

No, I haven't.

Hannah, how could I know

he was coming?

How?

You couldn't know,

unless something

in this house

Made you know.

Mr. Pyncheon?

Yes, you got my note?

I returned home

late from my business.

I heard music outside.

Yes, my wife was playing.

We can talk

in the study,

Mr. Maule.

Mrs. Pyncheon,

that music,

where did you learn it?

I...

I never played it before.

I never even

heard it before.

Mr. Maule?

I'm sorry.

Forgive me for

barging in this way.

I was just surprised.

We can talk now,

Mr. Maule.

Miss Pyncheon.

I never expected

to see you in this house.

I never expected

to be invited.

Have a seat,

Mr. Maule.

I am not disregarding

the long unpleasantness

that has existed

between our families, sir.

But I always say

that good whiskey

is better than oil

to toss on troubled waters.

And so,

your health, sir.

It's not like a Pyncheon

to ask a Maule to

pass the time of day.

No, of course not,

not unless they both

had something to gain.

Our ancestors

would say

the Pyncheons

did all the gaining.

We live in an enlightened

age, Mr. Maule.

A family feud

that began in 1690

can scarcely

affect us.

What is it you want,

Pyncheon?

I would like to make

a trade with you, sir.

For generations,

your family has been

in possession

of certain information.

Are you referring

to the vault

hidden in this house?

Precisely, sir.

Your ancestor was

the architect of this place.

He would've known

where the vault is.

Didn't your sister

tell you

that she tried to find out

what I know 10 years ago?

I presumed she had.

But I have a different

proposition to make, sir:

The House of the Seven Gables,

for your information.

What are you offering me,

Pyncheon?

A decayed tomb,

built on land that was stolen

from my ancestors?

The courts settled that

issue 150 years ago, sir.

Courts that

the Pyncheons

controlled.

If I did know

where the vault is,

you couldn't get it out

of me at any price.

My family has

suffered enough

from the curse that was

put on them by a Maule.

Have you explained that

to the man buried

in your cellar?

I say that the curse

is finished.

The past stays

in the past.

Does it?

The curse said

that the Pyncheons

would have

blood to drink.

Are you so sure now

that the past

stays in the past?

Mrs. Pyncheon.

Mr. Maule, please.

You seemed to

understand something

about the music

I was playing tonight,

more than

I understand myself.

The music is very old.

The only time

I ever heard it

was when I was a child

and my grandmother played it.

And still, I know it.

I seem to know many things

I shouldn't know,

and always when a

strange, cold chill

comes over me,

as if it was

possessing me.

I knew your name

before I heard it.

I could sense

that you were

at the door

before you knocked.

Then, what you

want from me

is an explanation.

Mr. Maule,

if there is one,

please, I must know.

How can I explain

my own impressions tonight?

When I got

your husband's note,

I wasn't going to come.

But something

kept coming to my mind,

compelling me to come.

I swear that while I was

still in my own home,

I could see you

playing that music.

It was your face,

the very dress

you're wearing,

the way your hands

moved the keys.

I knew you as though

I'd known you

since I was born,

or even before that.

Yes, I think I felt

the same way myself.

But we never met

before tonight.

What's happening to us,

Mr. Maule?

You know, there is

a curse against this house.

Hannah told me

something.

Did she also tell

you that the man

who spoke that curse

against the Pyncheons,

Matthew Maule,

was buried

under the house?

Last night,

my door opened,

but there was nobody there,

and yet someone, or something,

came into my room.

I could feel

that it was there.

And when it was gone,

I found this,

this locket.

This painting, it's of you.

No.

I don't know

who she is,

and I don't know

what the locket means.

I wasn't going to meet you

out here like this,

but something

drove me to it

so I could

give it to you.

Then, perhaps

it has the answer for us.

I don't know what

that answer can be.

I'm not so sure

that I want to know.

I'm going to leave here.

I'm going to forget

that the house of seven

gables ever existed.

Alice!

Alice?

Alice!

Alice, I want to talk to you.

Gerald, we have nothing

to talk about.

All I want to do

is get out of this house.

You'll leave

when I tell you.

Gerald, I can't

stand anymore.

I feel as if

I'm losing my mind.

Please don't try

to stop me.

I'm going to leave

first thing in the morning.

Alice, you are my wife.

You'll do as I--

Nora.

Nora.

Nora.

Nora.

Matthew,

you've come,

after all these years

of waiting.

Nora.

You called

me Matthew.

Why, there...

There was

another man here.

He...

He had a leather apron

of a blacksmith.

Matthew Maule had

his blacksmith's forge here,

near this well,

before the House

of the Seven Gables

was built.

What did he

want of me?

Why did he have me

come down to the garden?

Perhaps because

he knew I'd be here.

I said to you that I felt

as if I might have known

you before I was born.

Now I think it was

long before that.

I think what we feel

might have begun

150 years ago.

Was the locket

supposed to tell us that?

I believe so.

Alice,

was your grandmother's

name Holbrook,

Deborah Holbrook?

Oh.

How did you know that?

I've been going

through old papers

and records since

you gave me the locket.

Alice, the girl

in the locket

is Nora Holbrook.

Matthew called me Nora.

Nora Holbrook

was the girl

Matthew was to marry

before he was hanged.

He was condemned

as a witch

by colonel

Jeffrey Pyncheon,

because Pyncheon

wanted this land,

the land we're on

right now.

Then, why is

Matthew's grave there?

When Pyncheon wanted

the house built,

he was forced to use

the only architect in town,

Matthew's brother.

Oh, these were

superstitious times, Alice.

Pyncheon defied

Matthew's curse,

despite the brother

wanting to make

it come true.

The curse

has come true.

Alice, that music

you played.

Yes?

It was music Nora Holbrook

wrote for Matthew.

Can't you understand?

Matthew was hanged

before he and Nora

could realize their love.

But that love

didn't die with Matthew.

He wants it to live again,

through us.

Jonathan,

we can't have that love.

Then, why have we been

drawn together this way

if we are supposed

to love each other?

Are you about to do

something you'll regret?

Get out of my way.

I saw them

from my window.

Then you know why I'm

going to kill Maule.

Kill the one

chance you have

of finding the vault?

Can you be so blind

that you haven't realized

that they are

the key?

They? You're insane.

I want my share

of the money.

I'll not let you spoil it.

Am I supposed to let him

take away my wife?

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