"I can noan bear it; my head's swimmin' again!"
Dr. White administered another dose of powerful stimulant, and the girl breathed more easily.
"You can bear it now, Emily," he said kindly. "And you've been a brave lass."
"I know I ought not to have killed him," said the girl, "but he treated me bad, and he said things to me which no man ought ever to say to ony lass. But theer——"
The lawyer came close to the bed and read the girl's confession aloud.
"Ay, that's right," she said when he had finished. "It's all true, every word, so help me God!"
"Will you sign your name here?" said the lawyer.
They propped her up in bed, and a pen was placed in her hand. Judge Bolitho was afraid for the moment that she would never have strength enough to perform the task of writing her name; but the girl, almost by a superhuman effort, conquered her weakness. She seized the pen and wrote her name.
"Thank you," he said. "That will do."
The girl lay back on her pillow, panting for her very life. A minute later the document was witnessed by the others in the room.