Holgrave is the first to discover the body of Judge Pyncheon after the flight of the two siblings. He reveals the body to Phoebe, who has returned from a visit back home in the countryside. The return of the siblings to the mansion allows Holgrave to reveal to everyone he is a Maule and he knows the location of the lost land deed that has haunted the Pycheon family for two centuries. Hoglrave also reveals his love for Phoebe, which she also has for him. Holgrave defies the past by marrying a Pyncheon, and the families are finally brought together. The curse is finally broken. Clifford, though not as effervescent as on the train, is no longer afraid of the harm Judge Pyncheon can cause him.
Both Clifford and Holgrave sought to be free of the past by getting rid of the conventional "home" for temporary modes of the living. But both come to the same conclusion that one can be free from the past and still have stability. Holgrave states,
"I have a presentiment that, hereafter, it will be my lot to set out trees, to make fences,--perhaps, even, in due time, to build a house for another generation,--in a word, to conform myself to laws and the peaceful practice of society." (Chapter 20)
Clifford inherits Judge Pyncheon's house according to his will and permanently leaves the old Pyncheon house, taking along Hepzibah, Phoebe, and Holgrave.
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