Millicent shuddered as she heard the case called, and faltered for the first time in her desire to see justice done to the murderer of Ah Lam. It is such a terrible responsibility, the taking of life; can man’s law make it guiltless? The great question which all of modern thought has not yet solved, troubled the mind of the young woman, who could accept no judgment or creed on faith; she painfully and laboriously solved the problems of life by the force of her own reasoning. "There is Pierson, the counsel for the defence," whispered Hal, as a little man strutted up the aisle between the benches full of people, and entered the green-railed enclosure. He was perhaps the most grotesque-looking person Millicent had ever seen. His height could not have been above five feet; and this, with his small hands and feet, gave him an exceedingly effeminate appearance. His small round head was like a ball, on the surface of which little globular eyes and a beak-like nose had been very casually placed. These features did not seem at all a necessary part of the head, which resembled that of a parrot. Before he spoke he put his head on one side, in a bird-like fashion; and he occasionally shook himself, very much as a canary does when anything has ruffled its composure. Millicent had learned from Galbraith that this man was the most prominent criminal lawyer in California. As she looked at his high, narrow forehead and mean, pinched smile she thought that among all the malefactors in San Bernardino prison she had seen no face as bad as that of Pierson, the great criminal lawyer. The prisoner was now brought into the court. After stating his name, age, residence, and occupation, he was asked the question,-- "Are you guilty or not guilty of the wilful murder of Ah Lam at Carey’s Bridge, on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 16?" The noisy court-room had grown perfectly still; and the prisoner’s low-spoken answer was heard in the farthest corner with perfect distinctness,-- "Not guilty." The counsel for the defence now stated that the prisoner acknowledged having been at Carey’s Bridge on the day of the murder. He had there seen and spoken to Miss Almsford, but had fled at the approach of some gentlemen of the party. He admitted that he had assaulted Miss Almsford, but pleaded that he had no intention of injuring her. "What were you doing at the mill?" "I come there to meet a man as I had ’gaged to." "What man was it?" The prisoner declined to answer this question, and finally declared that he did not know the man’s name. "For what purpose did you meet this man?" "To do a job as we was hired for." "And what were you hired to do?" "To carry off the young lady." At this astonishing statement a moment’s silence fell upon the court-room, which was broken by Pierson’s sharp voice: he asked his client to name the person who had engaged him to kidnap the young girl.