In "The Ambitious Guest" the climax is led up to most skillfully by Hawthorne; indeed, his preparation is so clever that it is not always easy to trace. Throughout the story there are an air of gloom and a strange turning to thoughts of death that seem to portend a catastrophe; and I believe the following passages are intentional notes of warning:
1 ... a cold spot and a dangerous one.... stones would often rumble down its sides and startle them at midnight.
2 ... the wind came through the Notch and seemed to pause before their cottage, ... wailing and lamentation.... For a moment it saddened them, though there was nothing unusual in the tones.
3 ... whose fate was linked with theirs.
8 (Entire.)
9 (Entire.)
10 ... a prophetic sympathy ... the kindred of a common fate....
12 (Entire.)
14 "... a noble pedestal for a man's statue." (Doubtful.)
16 "... things that are pretty certain never to come to pass."