Uncle Venner and a queer daguerreotypist, whose true identity is kept secret until the climax, become the patriarch's only acquaintances after he returns from his 30-year prison sentence.  
A key symbol in this novel is the great oak chair that sits near the fireplace and becomes the final resting place for three men.  Uncle Venner and a queer daguerreotypist, whose true identity is kept secret until the climax, become the patriarch's only acquaintances after he returns from his 30-year prison sentence.  The work ultimately reveals that the portrait of the old Colonel hides a niche that contains the disputed Indian deeds, and that Holgrave is a direct descendant of Mathew Maule, whose curse haunted the title location for many years.  FTP, name identify this work that focuses on Hepzibah, Phoebe, and Clifford Pyncheon's attempts to deal with their sordid past, an 1850 novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
A key symbol in this novel is the great oak chair that sits near the fireplace and becomes the final resting place for three men.  
The House of the Seven Gables