She had never expected to see a woman whipped savagely naked to the waist and she had sat paralysed in her seat until, when the blood was running down the woman’s back and she was almost unconscious, the hammer came down and the scourging ceased.
Lady Roysdon had risen to her feet to move blindly from the Court followed by the Earl.
Then, before she really knew what was happening, they had passed into the prison itself and were walking along the corridors with their cages on either side.
She saw women at work beating hemp and a cell was opened on the Earl’s instructions and they walked in to inspect what was being done.
Still bemused by what she had seen in the Court, Lady Roysdon was looking without interest at what a jailer was pointing out to them until she saw an overseer armed wit
