Several sunless, stormy days pass after Phoebe's departure. Then one morning, Judge Pyncheon ponderously enters the shop and responds to Hepzibah's scowl with his usual hypocritically genial smile. He wants to see Clifford, but Hepzibah refuses to permit this, accusing her dark visitor of hounding her nearly demented brother. The Judge, of course, protests. He is eminently respectable—in position, public service, church work, avocations, appearance, and manners. The Judge tells Hepzibah, furthermore, that it was he who managed to free Clifford; now, he is convinced that Clifford knows where their rich dead uncle's treasure can be located, and if Clifford does not reveal the facts, the Judge will have him locked up for life in an insane asylum. Terrified, Hepzibah agrees to call Clifford, but she warns the Judge that God is watching. The Judge then goes into the parlor and flings himself impatiently into the old ancestral chair. Going to find Clifford, Hepzibah looks uneasily out at the rainy street, wishing that Uncle Venner, limping along, would bring aid. Then she wonders if Clifford does know something about the location of the alleged family treasure; then she decides that he probably does not. With Phoebe gone, Hepzibah can now turn only to Holgrave; yet when she looks into Holgrave's chambers, she sees only a frowning daguerreotype of the hated Judge. Her attempt at a prayer from the arched window "falls back on her head like lead." Finally she knocks at Clifford's room; there is no answer. She opens the door and discovers that the room is empty. Screaming to Judge Pyncheon that Clifford has disappeared, she finds the ponderous old man still silently seated and Clifford beside him, bowing in mock obeisance and laughing. Saying that "the weight is lifted," her brother then orders her to get some money and a cloak, escape with him, and leave the house to the Judge. Hepzibah follows her brother's lead, and they leave the mansion with the Judge inside, like a dead nightmare.
