"'We have, your honor,' responded the foreman.
"'How say you, then? Is the prisoner at the bar guilty or not guilty of the crime with which she is charged?'
"'Guilty!' was the awful response.
"At that word, there rose a cry that thrilled through every heart; and Willard Drummond, like a man possessed of a demon, fled from the house, while the appalled crowd fell back in turn before him. A dreadful silence followed; and then the judge arose, and in a voice that trembled in spite of himself, said:
"'Prisoner, arise, and receive the sentence of the law.'
"Every breath was suspended, every voice was hushed, but the prisoner neither moved nor stirred. She seemed frozen into the attitude in which she had fallen, at the news of Willard Drummond's perfidy.
"Mr. Brantwell, who was standing near, with a face pale with deepest pity, touched her on the shoulder, and said, in a faltering voice:
"'Sibyl, my dearest girl, arise; let me assist you.'
"He took her arm and supported her to her feet; but when she lifted her head, all beheld a face so cold, so white, so rigid, with such frozen eyes and colorless lips, such an awful look of woman's deepest woe, that every face grew pale, and every eye was filled with tears. As for me, I felt as if I were going mad. I heard the judge saying something—to save my soul I could not tell what, until the last awful words met my ears:
"'Prisoner, the sentence of the court is, that you be taken hence to the prison from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and that there you be hanged by the neck until you are dead!'