r. Houseman paused
abruptly--"That signal is from my comrades; I must away. Hark, again!
Farewell, Aram."

"Farewell, if it must be so," said Aram, in a tone of dogged sullenness;
"but to-morrow, should you know of any means by which I could feel
secure, beyond the security of your own word, from your future
molestation, I might--yet how?"

"To-morrow," said Houseman, "I cannot answer for myself; it is not
always that I can leave my comrades; a natural jealousy makes them
suspicious of the absence of their friends. Yet hold; the night after
to-morrow, the Sabbath night, most virtuous Aram, I can meet you--but
not here--some miles hence. You know the foot of the Devil's Crag, by
the waterfall; it is a spot quiet and shaded enough in all conscience
for our interview; and I will tell you a secret I would trust to no
other man--(hark, again!)--it is close by our present lurking-place.
Meet me there!--it would, indeed, be pleasanter to hold our conference
under shelter--but just at present, I would rather not trust myself
beneath any honest man's roof in this neighbourhood. Adieu! on Sunday
night, one hour before mid-night."

The robber, for such then he was, waved his hand, and hurried away in
the direction from which the signal seemed to come.

Aram gazed after him, but with vacant eyes; and remained for several
minutes rooted to the spot, as if the very life had left him.

"The Sabbath night!" said he, at length, moving slowly on; "and I must
spin forth my existence in trouble and fear till then--till then! what
remedy can I then invent? It is clear that I can have no dependance on
his word, if won; and I have not even aught wherewith to buy it. But
courage, courage, my heart; and work thou, my busy brain! Ye have never
failed me yet!"

CHAPTER III.

FRESH ALARM IN THE VILLAGE.--LESTER'S VISIT TO ARAM.--A TRAIT
OF DELICATE KINDNESS IN THE STUDENT.--MADELINE.--HER PRONENESS
TO CONFIDE.--THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN LESTER AND ARAM.
--THE PERSONS BY WHOM IT IS INTERRUPTED.

Not my own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Of the wide world, dreaming on things to come,
Can yet the lease of my true love controul.
--Shakspeare: Sonnets.

Commend me to their love, and I am proud, say,
That my occasions have found time to use them
Toward a supply of money; let the request
Be fifty talents.
--Timon Of Athens.

The next morning