3. Mr. Scatchard's attempts, and all other attempts, to clear him from
"blood-guilty stain," must be equally futile, for he himself confessed his
guilt while he was in prison.

Some time ago, a dozen years or more, there appeared in the _Literary
Gazette_, as a communication from a correspondent, an anecdote concerning
Aram, which well deserves to be repeated. During the time that he was in
the school of Lynn, it was the custom for the head-master, at the
termination of every half-year, to invite the parents of the boys to an
entertainment, and all {361} who accepted the invitation were expected to
bring with them the money due on account of their sons, which, _postquam
exempta fames epulis_, they paid into the head-master's hands. The master
would thus retire to rest with a considerable sum in his possession. On one
of these occasions, after he had gone to his chamber and supposed that all
the family were in bed, he heard a noise in a passage not far distant, and,
going out to see what was the cause of it, found Aram groping about in the
dark, who, on being asked what he wanted, said that he had been obliged to
leave his room on a necessary occasion, and had missed his way to the place
which he sought. The passage was not one into which he was likely to wander
by mistake, but the master accepted his excuse, and thought no more of the
matter till Aram was arrested for the robbery and murder of Clarke, when he
immediately recollected the circumstance, and suspected that he had
intended on that night to commit another robbery or murder. I have not the
number of the _Literary Gazette_ in which this statement was given to refer
to, but I am sure that I have repeated the substance of it correctly, and
remember that it was inserted as being worthy of credit. It is another
illustration of the fact that the nature of a man is unchangeable.

Bulwer's novel, which elevates Aram from a school-assistant into a private
gentleman, may have pleased those, if there were such, who knew nothing of
Arum's acts before they began to read it. But all who knew what Aram was,
must be disgusted at the threshold. I regarded the book, at the time of its
appearance, as one of the most presumptuous falsifications of biography
that had ever been attempted. It is not easy to see why Bulwer might not
have made an equally interesting story, if he had kept Aram in his proper
station.

J. S. W.

Stockwell.

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