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 was remembered. And now Aram, turning aside his proud head to conceal his emotion, beheld open, the door of the room so trimly prepared for Madeline's reception; the flowers smiled upon him from their stands. "Lead on, gentlemen," he said quickly. And so Eugene Aram passed his threshold!

"Ho, ho!" muttered the old hag, whose predictions in the morning had been so ominous;—"Ho, ho!" you'll believe Goody Darkmans another time! Providence respects the sayings of the ould. 'Twas not for nothing the rats grinned at me last night. But let's in and have a warm glass. He, he! there will be all the strong liquors for us now; the Lord is merciful to the poor!"

As the little group proceeded through the valley, the officers first, Aram and Lester side by side, Walter, with his hand on his pistol and his eye on the prisoner, a little behind—Lester endeavoured to cheer the prisoner's spirits and his own, by insisting on the madness of the charge, and the certainty of instant acquittal