Aram was alone in his large and gloomy chamber, surrounded, as usual, by his books, but not as usual engaged in their contents. With his face leaning on his hand, and his eyes gazing on a dull fire, that crept heavily upward through the damp fuel, he sate by his hearth, listless, but wrapt in thought. “Well, my friend,” said Lester, displacing the books from one of the chairs, and drawing the seat near the Student’s--“you have ere this heard the news, and indeed in a county so quiet as ours, these outrages appear the more fearful, from their being so unlooked for. We must set a guard in the village, Aram, and you must leave this defenceless hermitage and come down to us; not for your own sake,--but consider you will be an additional safeguard to Madeline. You will lock up the house, dismiss your poor old governante to her friends in the village, and walk back with me at once to the hall.” Aram turned uneasily in his chair. “I feel your kindness,” said he after a pause, “but I cannot accept it--Madeline,” he stopped short at that name, and added in an altered voice; “no, I will be one of the watch, Lester; I will look to her--to your--safety; but I cannot sleep under another roof. I am superstitious, Lester--superstitious. I have made a vow, a foolish one perhaps, but I dare not break it. And my vow binds me, save on indispensable and urgent necessity, not to pass a night any where but in my own home.” “But there is necessity.” “My conscience says not,” said Aram smiling: “peace, my good friend, we cannot conquer men’s foibles, or wrestle with men’s scruples.” Lester in vain attempted to shake Aram’s resolution on this head; he found him immoveable, and gave up the effort in despair. “Well,” said he, “at all events we have set up a watch, and can spare you a couple of defenders. They shall reconnoitre in the neighbourhood of your house, if you persevere in your determination, and this will serve in some slight measure to satisfy poor Madeline.” “Be it so,” replied Aram; “and dear Madeline herself, is she so alarmed?” And now in spite of all the more wearing and haggard thoughts that preyed upon his breast, and the dangers by which he conceived himself beset, the Student’s face, as he listened with eager attention to every word that Lester uttered concerning his niece, testified how alive he yet was to the least incident that related to Madeline, and how easily her innocent and peaceful remembrance could allure him from himself. “This room,” said Lester, looking round, “will be, I conclude, after Madeline’s own heart; but will you always suffer her here? students do not sometimes like even the gentlest interruption.” “I have not forgotten that Madeline’s comfort requires some more cheerful retreat than this,” said Aram, with a melancholy expression of countenance. “Follow me, Lester; I meant this for a little surprise to her. But Heaven only knows if I shall ever show it to herself?”