He had pushed forward in haste,--not, alas! with the most
distant hope of saving Fergus, but to see him for the last time. I ought
to have mentioned, that he had furnished funds for the defence of the
prisoners in the most liberal manner, as soon as he heard that the day
of trial was fixed. A solicitor, and the first counsel, accordingly
attended; but it was upon the same footing on which the first physicians
are usually summoned to the bedside of some dying man of rank;--the
doctors to take the advantage of some incalculable chance of an exertion
of nature--the lawyers to avail themselves of the barely possible
occurrence of some legal flaw. Edward pressed into the court, which was
extremely crowded; but by his arriving from the north, and his extreme
eagerness and agitation, it was supposed he was a relation of the
prisoners, and people made way for him. It was the third sitting of
the court, and there were two men at the bar. The verdict of GUILTY was
already pronounced. Edward just glanced at the bar during the momentous
pause which ensued. There was no mistaking the stately form and noble
features of Fergus Mac-Ivor, although his dress was squalid, and
his countenance tinged with the sickly yellow hue of long and close
imprisonment.
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