a courage which she had not yet
exhibited.
    »The bitterness of it is now past,« she said, and then boldly addressed the
Court. »My Lords, if it is your pleasure to gang on wi' this matter, the
weariest day will hae its end at last.«
    The Judge, who, much to his honour, had shared deeply in the general
sympathy, was surprised at being recalled to his duty by the prisoner. He
collected himself, and requested to know if the panel's counsel had more
evidence to produce. Fairbrother replied, with an air of dejection, that his
proof was concluded.
    The King's Counsel addressed the jury for the crown. He said in a few words,
that no one could be more concerned than he was for the distressing scene which
they had just witnessed. But it was the necessary consequence of great crimes to
bring distress and ruin upon all connected with the perpetrators. He briefly
reviewed the proof, in which he showed that all the circumstances of the case
concurred with those required by the act under which the unfortunate prisoner
was tried: That the counsel for the panel had totally failed in proving, that
Euphemia Deans had communicated her situation to her sister: That, respecting
her previous good character, he was sorry to observe, that it was females who
possessed the world's good report, and to whom it was justly valuable, who were
most strongly tempted, by shame and fear of the world's censure, to the crime of
infanticide: That the child was murdered, he professed to entertain no doubt.
The vacillating and inconsistent declaration of the prisoner herself, marked as
it was by numerous refusals to speak the truth on subjects, when, according to
her own story, it would have been natural, as well as advantageous, to have been
candid; even this imperfect declaration left no doubt in his mind as to the fate
of the unhappy infant. Neither could he doubt that the panel was a partner in
this guilt. Who else had an interest in a deed so inhuman? Surely neither
Robertson, nor Robertson's agent, in whose house she was delivered, had the
least temptation to commit such a crime, unless upon her account, with her
connivance, and for the sake of saving her reputation. But it was not required
of him, by the law, that he should bring precise proof of the murder, or of the
prisoner's accession to it. It was the very purpose of the statute to substitute
a certain chain of presumptive evidence in place of a probation, which