n. But that ain't strange, for I don't think he know'd
it himself, when he come to London, did he?'

'No, he didn't,' replied the father.

The two men exchanged glances.

'There's a vessel down at the docks, to sail at midnight, when it's high
water,' resumed the first speaker, 'and we'll put him on board. His
passage is taken in another name, and what's better than that, it's paid
for. It's lucky we met you.'

'Very,' said the second.

'Capital luck,' said the first, with a wink to his companion.

'Great,' replied the second, with a slight nod of intelligence.

'Another glass here; quick'--said the first speaker. And in five minutes
more, the father had unconsciously yielded up his own son into the
hangman's hands.

Slowly and heavily the time dragged along, as the brother and sister, in
their miserable hiding-place, listened in anxious suspense to the
slightest sound. At length, a heavy footstep was heard upon the stair;
it approached nearer; it reached the landing; and the father staggered
into the room.

The girl saw that he was intoxicated, and advanced with the candle in her
hand to meet him; she stopped short, gave a loud scream, and fell
senseless on the ground. She had caught sight of the shadow of a man
reflected on the floor. They both rushed in, and in another instant the
young man was a prisoner, and handcuffed.

'Very quietly done,' said one of the men to his companion, 'thanks to the
old man. Lift up the girl, Tom--come, come, it's no use crying, young
woman. It's all over now, and can't be helped.'

The young man stooped for an instant over the girl, and then turned
fiercely round upon his father, who had reeled against the wall, and was
gazing on the group with drunken stupidity.

'Listen to me, father,' he said, in a tone that made the drunkard's flesh
creep. 'My brother's blood, and mine, is on your head: I never had kind
look, or word, or care, from you, and alive or dead, I never will forgive
you. Die when you will, or how, I will be with you. I speak as a dead
man now, and I warn you, father, that as surely as you must one day stand
before your Maker, so surely shall your children be there, hand in hand,
to cry for judgment against you.' He raised his manacled hands in a
threatening attitude, fixed his eyes on his shrinking parent, and slowly
left the room; and neither father nor sister ever beheld him more, on
this side of the grave.

When the dim and misty light of a