What is the importance of the East Wing in the story, The Old Nurse’s Story?

The East wing of Furnivall symbolizes the secret history of the Furnivall family to which neither Hester nor the reader are privy throughout the story. Hester frequently remarks that neither she, nor Rosamond, nor Dorothy ever saw what lay beyond the East wing as it was always locked. At the end of the story, the ghosts of Lord Furnivall, Maude, and the young girl emerge from the East wing, letting the haunting past of the Furnivall family escape and take hold of the present occupants, Miss Furnivall especially.