"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!"