Page:Guy Mannering Vol 3.djvu/329

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GUY MANNERING.
319

nering was invited to sit down with them. The examination being previous to trial, was private in other respects. The Counsellor resumed and re-interrogated former evidence. He then examined the clergyman and surgeon respecting the dying declaration of Meg Merrilies. They stated, that she distinctly, positively, and repeatedly, declared herself an eye-witness of Kennedy's death by the hands of Hatteraick, and two or three of his crew; that her presence was accidental; that she believed their resentment at meeting him, when they were in the act of losing their vessel, through means of his information, led to the commission of the crime: that she said there was one witness of the murder, but who refused to participate in it, still alive,—her nephew, Gabriel Faa; and she had hinted at another person, who was an accessory after, not before, the fact; but her strength there failed her. They did not forget to mention her declaration, that she had saved the child, and that he was torn