I am going to die, she thought. It is sunny, and the whole of London is happy and joyous because I am going to die.’

The great Marquess herself had come to enjoy the show.

‘Speech! Speech!’ roared the crowd.

Polly raised her hands and the crowd fell silent.

‘My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,’ said Polly from the foot of the gallows. ‘Why is it that such as I who am poor and have nothing should hang for a petty theft when such as she,’ – here Polly paused and pointed straight toward the woman who’d captured her – ‘Mrs. Blanchard, that abbess of Covent Garden, can commit murder on the souls of innocent country girls over and over again, and yet go free!’

With those words Polly said her farewells and at last, ‘I bid you good day, my friends. We shall meet again. For such as you who enjoy a spectacle such as this will surely roast in hell!