reely, and I knew that my strength was coming
back. The ropes being removed I was allowed to stand a minute, so that
my numbed body might become sensitive to the lash of the whip, but I
thought not of it. I kept my eyes steadily on Naomi Penryn, and fed upon
the look of pity on her face. I knew that she must think of me as a
savage brute, and yet she felt kindly toward me. She did not ask to go
away again; she seemed to be held by a strange fascination, and watched
while the rope was fastened to the ring in the whipping-post. Then I saw
Richard Tresidder come up. He had a scar on his cheek, and from his eyes
flashed a look of anger, as though he gloated over the thought of my
shame and suffering. No sooner did she see him than she came to him and
asked that I might be spared the whipping, but Tresidder would not
listen to her.

"He deserves to be hanged, my dear," he said; "if such low fellows as he
are allowed to bully gentlemen in the streets, what is to become of us?"

Now this was hard to bear, for as all the world knows the Pennington
family is one of the best in the county, but I saw that he wanted to
embitter her mind against me.

Then I saw Lawyer Trefry come up, and two justices with him, and while
my old friend did not speak to me, I knew that he thought of me kindly.

"The lad hath been much provoked," he said. "I have known him as a good
lad for years, and but for unfair treatment, matters would be reversed."

At this two of the justices nodded their heads, while Richard Tresidder
called out for the constables to do their work, for he saw that people
began to sympathise with me.

Again I turned to Naomi Penryn, and as I saw the look on her face I
determined that I would not bear the lash. Not that I feared the pain of
body, but I could bear the degradation no longer. Then they lifted me
from the platform on which I had been standing, and the people could see
that my neck was cruelly discoloured, while my hands were blue.

"He hath suffered much," I heard it whispered, "and Squire Tresidder
hates him. He's a Pennington, and his father was robbed. Isn't he a
fine, strapping fellow; no wonder they are afraid of him."

This and other things I heard, until I knew that Lawyer Trefry had been
making the mob friendly; for I have noticed again and again that
ignorant people are easily changed from one state of feeling to another.

Now when I came to the whipping-post I began to look around for a means
of esc