impatiently above, and breathed hard and convulsively. The dire
preparations were made, completed; but the prisoner drew back for an
instant--was it from mortal fear? He motioned to the Clergyman to
approach, as if about to whisper some last request in his ear. The
clergyman bowed his head,--there was a minute's awful pause--Aram seemed
to struggle as for words, when, suddenly throwing himself back, a bright
triumphant smile flashed over his whole face. With that smile, the
haughty Spirit passed away, and the law's last indignity was wreaked upon
a breathless corpse!





CHAPTER VIII.

AND LAST. THE TRAVELLER'S RETURN.--THE COUNTRY VILLAGE ONCE
MORE VISITED;--ITS INHABITANTS.--THE REMEMBERED BROOK.--THE
DESERTED MANOR-HOUSE.--THE CHURCHYARD.--THE TRAVELLER RESUMES
HIS JOURNEY.--THE COUNTRY TOWN.--A MEETING OF TWO LOVERS AFTER
LONG ABSENCE AND MUCH SORROW.--CONCLUSION.

"The lopped tree in time may grow again,
Most naked plants renew both fruit and flower;
The sorriest wight may find release from pain,
The driest soil suck in some moistening shower:
Time goes by turns, and chances change by course
From foul to fair."
--Robert Southwell, the Jesuit.