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swung around.
    Lord Augustus, the magistrate, the prison governor, and the constable came hurrying up to the scaffold. ‘Release the prisoner!’ shouted the governor. ‘He is innocent.’
    Benjamin looked dazed. But then, Hannah thought, how could a deaf man know he had been miraculously reprieved?
    ‘Write it down,’ shrieked Penelope. In a shaky hand, Hannah scribbled, ‘You are a Free Man.’ She climbed the scaffold as the executioner removed the rope from around Benjamin’s neck. Four flaring pine torches were burning at each corner of the scaffold. Benjamin held the paper up and read what was written on it.
    Then he slowly sank down on one knee and raised the hem of Hannah’s dress to his lips.
    ‘Enough of that!’ cried Hannah. ‘I am not your saviour. It is Lord Augustus you should thank. Oh, of course, you cannot hear a word I am saying.’ She wrote it down. Benjamin rose and read it. He shook his head in bewilderment.
    Hannah Pym took his hand in hers and then, as if leading a child, she took him down from the scaffold.

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    Though in silence, with blighted affection, I pine, Yet the lips that touch liquor must never touch mine!
    G.W. Young
    The departure of the stage-coach was delayed while the formalities of securing Benjamin’s release were gone through.
    Miss Trenton was incensed, so much so that the glory of Lord Augustus’s title faded in her eyes. For once her sympathies almost seemed to be with Penelope. His lordship sat at his ease in front of the inn fire with the magistrate and laconically went over his statement. Penelope was listening, round-eyed. Yes, said Lord Augustus, he had bedded Lady Carsey and deuced exhausting it had been, too, but all in the interests of justice, don’t you know. The magistrate, an elderly man, said severely that although saving aninnocent man from the gallows was commendable, his methods were deplorable. Unrepentant, Lord Augustus pointed out that there did not seem to be any other way of obtaining proof.
    ‘Indeed!’ said the magistrate severely. ‘Would it not have been better to have put your suspicions before me, my lord, and then we could have obtained a warrant and made a search?’
    ‘Tish,’ said Lord Augustus, half closing his eyes. ‘I can see it all now. You arrive at the Manor with the warrant but full of obsequious apologies. My lady would have been all help and compliance. She would have ordered her maid to fetch her jewel box and the maid, already knowing her mistress had lied, would have hidden the brooch where it could never be found. I have made my statement and am weary of this town and wish to be on my way.’
    ‘As you will,’ said the magistrate, removing his glasses and stowing them away with fussy care in a shagreen case. ‘But Lady Carsey is a well-respected member of this town, my lord. I am convinced she made an innocent mistake.’
    He rose to his feet, gathered his papers, and walked out.
    ‘Heigh-ho!’ said Lord Augustus. ‘Thank goodness that’s over. What becomes of our Benjamin?’
    Hannah fumbled in her reticule and took out two guineas and handed them to Benjamin. He pushed them away and stared at her in mute appeal.
    ‘He wants to write something,’ said Penelope. ‘Give him a piece of paper.’
    Hannah took out her notebook and gave it to Benjamin. He wrote busily and then handed it back to her. She read, ‘I wish to be Yr. Servant. No wages. Food will be enough.’
    ‘What does he want?’ asked Mr Cato.
    ‘He wants to be my servant.’
    Miss Trenton tittered and then said in a shrill voice, ‘The impertinence of the fellow. Of course you must refuse. In my opinion, Lady Carsey knew something about him which led her to believe he took that brooch.’
    ‘He would be better to register at one of the agencies and go out to America as a bonded servant,’ said Mr Cato. ‘I’ll arrange it for the fellow.’
    Benjamin kept his eyes fixed on Hannah.
    ‘I could employ him for a little,’ said Hannah slowly,