Acceptable Risk Read Online Free

silence. Ronald had to pull out a handkerchief to cover his nose from the smell.
    At the top of a stone staircase, William stopped to light a shielded candle. After opening another stout oak door, they descended into the worst area of the prison. The stench was overwhelming. The basement consisted of two large rooms. The walls were damp granite. The many prisoners were all manacled to the walls or the floor with either wrist or leg irons or both. Ronald had to step over people to follow William. There was hardly room for another person.
    “Just a moment,” Ronald said.
    William stopped and turned around.
    Ronald squatted down. He’d recognized someone he knew to be a pious woman. “Rebecca Nurse?” Ronald questioned. “What in God’s name are you doing here?”
    Rebecca shook her head slowly. “Only God knows,” she managed to say.
    Ronald stood up feeling weak. It was as if the town had gone crazy.
    “Over here,” William said, pointing toward the far corner of the basement. “Let us finish this.”
    Ronald followed. His anger had been overwhelmed by pity. William stopped and Ronald looked down. In the candlelight he could barely recognize his wife. Elizabeth was covered with filth. She was manacled in oversized chains and barely had the energy to scatter the vermin which freely roamed the semidarkness.
    Ronald took the candle from William and bent down next to his wife. Despite her condition she smiled at him.
    “I’m glad you are back,” she said weakly. “Now I don’t have to worry about the children. Are they all right?”
    Ronald swallowed with difficulty. His mouth had gone dry. “I have come directly from the ship to the prison,” he said. “I have yet to see the children.”
    “Please do. They will be happy to see you. I fear they are disquieted.”
    “I shall attend to them,” Ronald promised. “But first I must see to getting you free.”
    “Perhaps,” Elizabeth said. “Why are you so late in returning?”
    “The outfitting of the ship took longer than planned,” Ronald said. “The newness of the design caused us much difficulty.”
    “I sent letters,” Elizabeth said.
    “I never got any,” Ronald replied.
    “Well, at least you are home now,” Elizabeth said.
    “I shall be back,” Ronald said as he stood up. He was shaking with panic and beside himself with concern. He motioned to William for them to leave and followed him back to the office.
    “I’m just doing my duty,” William said meekly. He was unsure of Ronald’s state of mind.
    “Show me the papers,” Ronald demanded.
    William shrugged, and after searching through the debris on the top of his desk, handed Ronald Elizabeth’s mittimus and her execution warrant. Ronald read them and handed them back. Reaching into his purse, he pulled out a few coins. “I want Elizabeth moved and her situation improved.”
    William happily took the money. “I thank you, kind sir,” he said. The coins disappeared into the pocket of his breeches. “But I cannot move her. Capital cases are always housed on the lower level. I also cannot remove the irons since they are specified in the mittimus to keep her specter from leaving her body. But I can improve her condition in response to your kind consideration.”
    “Do what you can,” Ronald said.
    Outside, it took Ronald a moment to climb into the carriage. His legs felt unsteady and weak. “To Magistrate Corwin’s house,” he said.
    Chester urged the horse forward. He wanted to ask about Elizabeth but he dared not. Ronald’s distress was much too apparent.
    They rode in silence. When they reached the corner of Essex and Washington streets, Ronald climbed down from the carriage. “Wait,” he said laconically.
    Ronald rapped on the front door, and when it was opened he was relieved to see the tall, gaunt frame of his old friend Jonathan Corwin standing in the doorway. As soon as Jonathan recognized Ronald, his petulant expression changed to one of sympathetic concern.