t the same moment that there came from behind her a sound
that shattered all the fairy romance of the night at a blow. She turned
sharply, and immediately, like a fiendish chorus, it came again spreading
and echoing along the cliffs--the yelling of drunken laughter.

Several men were coming along the path that she had travelled. She saw
them vaguely in the dimness a little way below her, and realized that her
retreat in that direction was cut off. Swiftly she considered the
position, for there was no time to be lost. To pursue the path would be
to go farther and farther away from the village and civilization, but for
the moment she saw no other course. On one hand the gorse bushes made a
practically impenetrable rampart, and on the other the cliff overhung the
shore which at that point was nearly two hundred feet below. From where
she stood, no way of escape presented itself, and she turned in despair
to follow the path a little farther. But as she did so, she heard another
wild shout from behind her, and it flashed upon her with a stab of dismay
that her light dress had betrayed her. She had been sighted by the
intruders, and they were pursuing her. She heard the stamp and scuffle of
running feet that were not too sure of their stability, and with the
sound something very like panic entered into Juliet. Her heart jolted
within her, and the impulse to flee like a hunted hare was for a second
almost too urgent to be withstood. That she did withstand it was a matter
for life-long thankfulness in her estimation. The temptation was great,
but she did not spring from the stock that runs away. She pulled herself
up sharply with burning cheeks, and deliberately turned and waited.

They came up the path, yelling like hounds on a scent, while she stood
perfectly erect and motionless, facing them. There were five of them,
hulking youths all inflamed by drink if not actually tipsy, and they came
around her with shouts of idiotic laughter and incoherent joking,
evidently taking her for a village girl.

She stood her ground with her back to the cliff-edge, not yielding an
inch, contempt in every line. "Will you kindly go your way," she said,
"and allow me to go mine?"

They responded with yells of derision, and one young man, emboldened by
the jeers of his companions, came close to her and leered into her face
of rigid disdain. "I'm damned if I won't have a kiss first!" he swore,
and flung a rough arm about her.

Juliet moved th