st the ground, and it required all the
strength of her guards to push and pull her along.

"Verily, I say such a duty," answered Joshua, on whose grave features
there came a smile. "Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
could make more speed."

"I am in no hurry," she answered.

"I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
been over."

The urchins and older persons began to cry:

"Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees."

"I will scratch your eyes out!" she hissed, as she was forced down to
the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
his hair, causing him to yell with pain.

"Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!" he cried to
his companion.

The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
to the chair.

"See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
she would drown," said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.

"'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this," she cried. "Dorothe
Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows."

Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
friend Roger, blushed.

At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
nearest heard the official answer:

"No, no, the judgment of the court, the