The Heart of Mid-Lothian - Penn State University

hands; “and ye sall hae a’ my skill and knowledge to gar
the siller gang far—I’ll tape it out weel—I ken how to
gar the birkies tak short fees, and be glad o’ them too—
it’s only garring them trow ye hae twa or three cases of
importance coming on, and they’ll work cheap to get
custom. Let me alane for whilly-whaing an advocate:—
it’s nae sin to get as muckle flue them for our siller as we
can—after a’, it’s but the wind o’ their mouth—it costs
them naething; whereas, in my wretched occupation of
a saddler, horse milliner, and harness maker, we are out
unconscionable sums just for barkened hides and
leather.”
“Can I be of no use?” said Butler. “My means, alas!
are only worth the black coat I wear; but I am young—
I owe much to the family—Can I do nothing?”
“Ye can help to collect evidence, sir,” said Saddletree;
“if we could but find ony ane to say she had gien the
least hint o’ her condition, she wad be brought aft wi’ a
wat finger—Mr. Crossmyloof tell’d me sae. The crown,
says he, canna be craved to prove a positive—was’t a
positive or a negative they couldna be ca’d to prove?—
The Heart of Mid-Lothian
170
it was the tane or the tither o’ them, I am sure, and it
maksna muckle matter whilk. Wherefore, says he, the
libel maun be redargued by the panel proving her defences.
And it canna be done otherwise.”
“But the fact, sir,” argued Butler, “the fact that this
poor girl has borne a child; surely the crown lawyers
must prove that?” said Butler.
Saddletree paused a moment, while the visage of
Dumbiedikes, which traversed, as if it had been placed
on a pivot, from the one spokesman to the other, assumed
a more blithe expression.
“Ye—ye—ye—es,” said Saddletree, after some grave
hesitation; “unquestionably that is a thing to be proved,
as the court will more fully declare by an interlocutor
of relevancy in common form; but I fancy that job’s
done already, for she has confessed her guilt.”
“Confessed the murder?” exclaimed Jeanie, with a
scream that made them all start.
“No, I didna say that,” replied Bartoline. “But she
confessed bearing the babe.”
“And what became of it, then?” said Jeanie, “for not