ficent reasoning was of course unanswerable; and
the rebuked petitioner abandoned her bootless errand in despair. Messrs.
Roberts, I should have mentioned, had by some accident discovered the
nature of the misfortune which had befallen their officer, and had
already made urgent application to the Admiralty for his release.

The Old Bailey sessions did not come on for some time: I, however, took
care to secure at once, as I did not myself practice in that court, the
highest talent which its bar afforded. Willy, who had been placed in a
workhouse by the authorities, we had properly taken care of till he could
be restored to his mother; or, in the event of her conviction, to his
relatives in Devonshire.

The sessions were at last on: a "true bill" against Esther Mason for
shoplifting, as it was popularly termed, was unhesitatingly found, and
with a heavy heart I wended my way to the court to watch the proceedings.
A few minutes after I entered, Mr. Justice Le Blanc and Mr. Baron Wood,
who had assisted at an important case of stockjobbing conspiracy, just
over, left the bench: the learned recorder being doubtless considered
quite equal to the trial of a mere capital charge of theft.

The prisoner was placed in the dock; but try as I might, I could not
look at her. It happened to be a calm bright summer day; the air, as if
in mockery of those death-sessions, humming with busy, lusty life; so
that, sitting with my back to the prisoner, I could, as it were, read
her demeanor in the shadow thrown by her figure on the opposite
sun-lighted wall. There she stood, during the brief moments which sealed
her earthly doom, with downcast eyes and utterly dejected posture; her
thin fingers playing mechanically with the flowers and sweet-scented
herbs spread scantily before her. The trial was very brief: the
evidence, emphatically conclusive, was confidently given, and vainly
cross-examined. Nothing remained but an elaborate _ad misericordiam_
excusative defence, which had been prepared by me, and which the
prisoner begged her counsel might be allowed to read. This was of course
refused; the recorder remarking, they might as well allow counsel for
felons to _address_ juries, as read defences; and _that_, as every
practical man knew, would be utterly subversive of the due
administration of justice. The clerk of the court would read the paper,
if the prisoner felt too agitated to do so. This was done; and very
vilely done. The clerk, I da