"Prisoner at the bar," resumed the judge, "though you have made this confession, you are at liberty to retract it, and to plead, 'Not Guilty,' if you please, and so to take your trial. Your plea of 'Guilty' will avail you nothing in the sentence which must follow. Consider then your answer." Margaret replied, "I am not able now, my lord, to plead 'Not Guilty.'" "Why not?" said the judge. "Because I know that I am 'Guilty.'" This was too sound an argument to be disputed; and the judge did not attempt any further explanation. Margaret's appearance was not remarkable for beauty, nor was it by any means unpleasing. Her figure was not masculine. She was tall, and rather slender. She had a dark eye, dark hair, and a countenance pale from emotion. The judge then addressed her in the following words:--"Prisoner at the bar, it is my painful duty to address one of your sex in such a situation. I cannot possibly judge of your motives for committing such a crime. They do not appear in your confession, and I am at a loss to conceive what can have induced you to commit it. The sentence to which you have subjected yourself is death. Have you anything to say why this sentence of the law should not be passed upon you? Have you any friends in court to speak to your character?" There was evidently a stir in the body of the court, and several persons were seen crowding forward to the witness-box, and all ready to enter it. At this juncture the prisoner expressed a wish to know if she might speak a few words to the judge. "Prisoner at the bar," said the Chief Baron, "I am quite ready to hear what you have to say." There was now a hushed and breathless silence in the court, and the prisoner spoke calmly, clearly, and audibly, in the following words:--