Chapter 13
ON HER WAY BACK to the barn, Nellie came past the quay where the carpenters were taking a small break from erecting the platform where the sentence would be carried out.
The wooden platform sat half over the water, held in place by a couple of weights in the corners. Nellie assumed that when all the people stood on the top, these would be removed, causing the platform to tip. The men had coated the top planks with wax so there would be nothing to hold onto.
Apart from this simple mechanism, the carpenters had also built a second, lower, platform where she assumed chairs for the Regent and other important witnesses would be placed on the day. She wondered who would be present to watch this horrible spectacle.
Shepherd Wilfridus usually attended hangings of criminals to bless
