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III. The First Customer      He met the scowl of old Hepzibah
without apparent alarm, as having heretofore encountered it and
found it harmless.  "So, my dear Miss Pyncheon," said the
daguerreotypist, --for it was that sole other occupant of the
seven-gabled mansion,-- "I am glad to see that you have not
shrunk from your good purpose. I merely look in to offer my best
wishes, and to ask if I can assist you any further in your
preparations."  People in difficulty and distress, or in any
manner at odds with the world, can endure a vast amount of harsh
treatment, and perhaps be only the stronger for it; whereas they
give way at once before the simplest expression of what they
perceive to be genuine sympathy. So it proved with poor
Hepzibah; for, when she saw the young man's smile,--looking so
much the brighter on a thoughtful face,--and heard his kindly
tone, she broke first into a hysteric giggle and then began to
sob.  "Ah, Mr. Holgrave," cried s