Of course it did not happen, I willed her to say.

‘You did not turn your back on your sister, with this secret child, for one minute?’ demanded Mr Leith.

‘Well, of course I had to turn my back and tidy up the room and all of that,’ said Joan. ‘She was in the bed.’

‘Ah, but is it possible that your sister could have taken the chance, in that moment, to do a quick but terrible deed? For one swift action would change the course of her fate, and make sure she could get to London and freely live the life she had yearned for, instead of being forced to care for a child.’

Joan! Tell this court I would never kill a child!

‘I cannot remember,’ Joan stuttered, in floods of tears now, which ran down her face, bloating it.

She stared at me, as though searching for forgiveness, but I had none.

For she had the chance, didn’t she? To stand up for me and say that I would never have done such a thing as to murder my own newborn babe. But Joan did not. And whether it was the fear of that petrifying courtroom or the ceaseless interrogation of that devil Lord Leith, my sister did not stand up for me when I most needed her.

When all the drama and the weeping had finally ceased, and my family were back in their chairs, Ma and Da with their arms around my sobbing sister, Lord Leith turned to the sheriff. He pointed at me with a ringed finger, but did not look in my direction.

‘Mistress Dickson is clearly a woman of secretive motives, with no hint of maternal love about her. There is nothing I can say to you other than that the facts of this case speak for themselves. She did wilfully conceal an unwanted pregnancy. Even her own sister only found out by her own guesswork. And it is perfectly clear to me that when that babe was born, Mistress Dickson took her chance to snuff out its life in order that she could fulfil her selfish ambitions.’

He went to his table and picked up a piece of parchment and read from it.

‘Under the Act Anent Murthering of Children 1690, if any woman shall conceal her being with child and shall not call for assistance during birth, then if the child is found dead the mother shall be found guilty of the murder of her own child, regardless of whether there is any direct evidence of murder. In such cases as this, when the infant has died, the concealment of the pregnancy is a crime, Sheriff McAllister, and there is no defence.’

The sheriff looked emotionless, and then my counsel, Mr Suttie, stood up and addressed him.