The narrator, in somewhat teasing tones, describes what an assembly of Pyncheon ghosts would theoretically be like. Tonight, the assembly is different from usual. The carpenter—implicitly one of the Maule carpenters—jeers at the Pyncheons, as if the curse has achieved its goal. The sudden appearance of the Judge and his son give a clue—it seems that the Pyncheon greed has been brought to an end at last.