My Kinsman, Major Molineux

"My Kinsman, Major Molineux" is a short story written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1831.

It later appeared in The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories by Hawthorne published in 1852 by Ticknor, Reed & Fields.

In about 1732, Robin, a young man, arrives by ferry in Boston seeking his kinsman, Major Molineux, an official in the British Colonial government, who has promised him work.

At the inn, he meets a man with a face described as looking like the devil - two protrusions emanating from his forehead (like horns), eyes burning like 'fire in a cave'- who seems at the center of many evil things.

At its head is the man with the red and black face - and in its midst is Major Molineux, tarred and feathered.