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through her and for a moment I thought she would break down, but she set her jaw hard; I saw the muscles clench. I paused a moment, then got painfully to my feet. As I did so,
there was a rustle from the straw on the other side of the cell and I turned to see the old woman raising herself slowly on her elbows. She shook her head solemnly.
    ‘She won’t speak, gentlemen,’ she said in a cracked voice. ‘I’ve been here three days and she’s said nothing.’
    ‘What are you here for?’ I asked her.
    ‘They say my son and I stole a horse. We’re for trial on Saturday too.’ She sighed and ran her tongue over her cracked lips. ‘Have you any drink, sir? Even the most
watery beer.’
    ‘No, I’m sorry.’
    She looked over at Elizabeth. ‘They say she has a demon inside her, that one, a demon that holds her fast.’ She laughed bitterly. ‘But demon or no, it’s all one to the
hangman.’
    I turned to Joseph. ‘I don’t think there’s any more I can do here now. Come, let us go.’ I led him gently to the door and knocked. It opened at once: the gaoler must have
been outside listening. I glanced back; Elizabeth still lay quite still, unmoving.
    ‘The old beldame’s right,’ the turnkey said as he locked the door behind us. ‘She has a devil inside her.’
    ‘Then have a care when you bring people down to goggle at her through that spy hatch,’ I snapped. ‘She might turn herself into a crow and fly at their faces.’ I led
Joseph away. A minute later we were outside again, blinking in the bright sunlight. We returned to the tavern and I set a beer in front of him.
    ‘How many times have you visited since she was taken?’ I asked.
    ‘Today’s the fourth. And each time she sits there like a stone.’
    ‘Well, I can’t move her. Not at all. I confess I’ve never seen anything like it.’
    ‘You did your best, sir,’ he said disappointedly.
    I tapped my fingers on the table. ‘Even if she were found guilty, there may just be ways of stopping her from being hanged. The jury might be persuaded she was mad, she could even claim
she was pregnant, then she couldn’t be hanged till the baby was born. It would buy us time.’
    ‘Time for what, sir?’
    ‘What? Time to investigate, find what really happened.’
    He leaned forward eagerly, nearly knocking over his tankard. ‘Then you believe she is innocent?’
    I gave him a direct look. ‘You do. Though her treatment of you, in all honesty, is cruel.’
    ‘I believe her because I know her. And because, when I see her there, I see—’ He struggled for words.
    ‘A woman whose air is of one who has been done a great wrong, rather than one who has committed a great crime?’
    ‘Yes,’ he said eagerly. ‘Yes. That is it exactly. You feel it too?’
    ‘Ay, I do.’ I looked at him evenly. ‘But what you or I feel is not evidence, Joseph. And we may be wrong. It is not good for a lawyer to base his work on instinct. He needs
detachment, reason. I speak from experience.’
    ‘What can we do, sir?’
    ‘You must go and see her every day between now and Saturday. I don’t think she can be persuaded to speak, but it will show her she is not forgotten and I feel that is important, for
all that she ignores us. If she says anything, if her manner changes at all, tell me and I will come again.’
    ‘I’ll do it, sir,’ he said.
    ‘And if she still does not speak, I will appear in court on Saturday. I don’t know if Forbizer will even hear me, but I’ll try and argue that her mind is disturbed—’
    ‘God knows, it must be. She has no reason to treat me so. Unless – ’ he hesitated – ‘unless the old woman is right.’
    ‘There’s no profit in thinking that way, Joseph. I’ll try to argue that the issue of her sanity should be remitted to a jury. I am sure there are precedents, though Forbizer
doesn’t have to follow them. Again, that would buy us time.’ I looked at him seriously. ‘But I am not optimistic. You must prepare