“Certainly.”

“Well, then, Mr. Kensett, I don’t think I shall be able to prove my innocence, and therefore it is advisable that you aid me to escape.”

“I will save you if possible,” said the magistate, in a low voice. “But how is it to be effected? That’s the question.”

“How!” cried Sutherland. “It is easy enough, I fancy.”

“Not without compromising myself; I am quite powerless in this case, and yet——”

“You have no wish to see your grandson cast into a cell?”

The magistrate shuddered.

“Suppose you let me overpower you—​tie you to a chair, and then get clear off.”

“Impossible!”

“Ah, it’s possible enough if you will only oblige me by taking off these handcuffs.”