e blood of murder, she replied that she had never regarded the
death of the "Mr. James Sharp" as being murder. Her testimony was
so self-condemnatory that, according to the law of the day, there
appeared to be no recourse but to sentence her to hanging. She says:
"The Lords pitied me, for [said they] we find reason and a quick wit
in you; and they desired me to take it to advisement. I told them I
had been advising on it these seven years, and I hoped not to change
now. They asked if I was distempered? I told them that I was always
solid in the wit that God had given me." She was then remanded for
trial before the Judiciary Court. Leaving the thread of her story for
a while, we will take up that of another young woman, who at
about this time had come under a like accusation and was suffering
imprisonment. She was but a poor serving woman, who had been a
domestic at the house of a woman who had sheltered one of the same
fugitives whose cause had gotten Isobel Alison into her straits. The
story of her relations with the Covenanters, as told by her to the
authorities, was a simple one. From the age of fourteen she had heard
the field preaching of the Covenanters, and finally she had been
informed against and arrested. Her demeanor during the ordeal of
examination was firm and composed. The questions put to her she
answered without hesitancy or reservation. The result of the
examination showed her full sympathies with those who were under the
taint of rebellion and treason. She justified their acts by affirming
that the king had broken his covenant oath, and it was lawful to
disown him.

She and her older sister in misfortune were brought together
before the Judiciary Court, and both of the young women declined to
acknowledge the authority of the king and lords. There was nothing
remaining to do but to put them on trial, which was accordingly
done. They both stood indicted for treason. The only evidence adduced
against them was their own confessions, and because of the nature of
these a verdict of guilty was rendered. The court postponed sentence
until the following Friday, when they were condemned to be hanged.
Not a particle of proof had been produced of their having joined in
concocting any schemes against either Church or State; they had simply
let their tongues wag too freely upon the impersonal question, so
far as it concerned them, as to whether a certain assassination was
justified. The prosecution had been conduct