As to the young fellow having killed Mr.
Mulready it did not even occur to Ned for a moment.
As, seated by the side of the chief constable, he drove along that afternoon, Ned turned it over anxiously in his mind whether it would be honest to allow this letter to be produced in court, knowing that it was only the device of a friend, Finally he decided to let matters take their course.
"I am innocent," he said to himself, "and what I have got to live for is to clear myself from this charge.

Mr.Wakefield said this letter would not be of value one way or the other, and if I were to say Bill wrote it he might insist upon Bill's being arrested, and he might find it just as hard to prove his innocence as I do." The assizes were to come on in three weeks.

Ned was treated with more consideration than was generally the case with prisoners in those days, when the jails were terribly mismanaged; but Mr.Simmonds had written to the governor of the prison asking that every indulgence that could be granted should be shown to Ned, and Mr.Porson had also, before the lad left Marsden, insisted on his accepting a sum of money which would enable him to purchase such food and comforts as were permitted to be bought by prisoners, able to pay for them, awaiting their trial.
Thus Ned obtained the boon of a separate cell, he was allowed to have books and writing materials, and to have his meals in from outside the prison.
The days, however, passed but slowly, and Ned was heartily glad when the time for the assizes was at hand and his suspense was to come to an end.
His case came on for trial on the second day of the sessions.

On the previous evening he received a visit from Mr.Wakefield, who told him that Mr.Porson, Dr.Green and Charlie had come over in the coach with him.
"You will be glad to hear that your mother will not be called," the lawyer said.

"The prosecution, I suppose, thought that it would have a bad effect to call upon a mother to give evidence against her son; besides, she could prove no more than your brother will be able to do.
If they had called her, Green would have given her a certificate that she was confined to her bed and could not possibly attend.