quite
penniless should I be summoned hence before my time. Some twelve years
hence--as poor Jane promises to be pretty--she may be married off my
hands, but her childhood must not be left to the chances of beggary or
shame."

"Doubtless not, doubtless not. Who shall say now that we ever outlive
feeling?" said Aram, "Half the annuity shall be settled upon her, should
she survive you; but on the same conditions, ceasing when I die, or the
instant of your return to England. And now, name the sum that you deem
sufficing."

"Why," said Houseman, counting on his fingers, and muttering
"twenty--fifty--wine and the creature cheap abroad--humph! a hundred for
living, and half as much for pleasure. Come, Aram, one hundred and fifty
guineas per annum, English money, will do for a foreign life--you see I
am easily satisfied."

"Be it so," said Aram, "I will engage by one means or another to procure
it. For this purpose I shall set out for London to-morrow; I will
not lose a moment in seeing the necessary settlement made as we have
specified. But meanwhile, you must engage to leave this neighbourhood,
and if possible, cause your comrades to do the same, although you will
not hesitate, for the sake of your own safety, immediately to separate
from them."

"Now that we are on good terms," replied Houseman, "I will not scruple
to oblige you in these particulars. My comrades intend to quit the
country before to-morrow; nay, half are already gone; by daybreak I
myself will be some miles hence, and separated from each of them. Let us
meet in London after the business is completed, and there conclude our
last interview on earth."

"What will be your address?"

"In Lambeth there is a narrow alley that leads to the water-side, called
Peveril Lane. The last house to the right, towards the river, is my
usual lodging; a safe resting-place at all times, and for all men."

"There then will I seek you. And now, Houseman, fare-you-well! As you
remember your word to me, may life flow smooth for your child."

"Eugene Aram," said Houseman, "there is about you something against
which the fiercer devil within me would rise in vain. I have read
that the tiger can be awed by the human eye, and you compel me into
submission by a spell equally unaccountable. You are a singular man, and
it seems to me a riddle, how we could ever have been thus connected; or
how--but we will not rip up the past, it is an ugly sight, and the fire
is just out. Those