force of the brute was beaten down,
melted like lofty battlements of snow before the burning arrows of the
sun, and he slowly, surlily, shrank in size, in spirit, in space. A paw
drew back from the edge of the block, the eyes drooped, the head dropped
a little, and the terrible mane seemed terrible no more, as slowly,
doggedly, mightily, aye doggedly and majestically, too, at the same
time, this noble creature forced himself sidewise and back a little.

Then he hesitated. Rebellion was in his mighty heart. He turned suddenly
and looked her full in the face once more. All the beast that was in him
rose up. The terrible mane now seemed more terrible than before. With
great head tossed, tail whipped back, and teeth in the air, talons
unsheathed and legs gathered under him, he was about to bound forward.

But the woman was before him! With eyes still fastened on his face, she
with one long leap forward drove not only her shining soul but her snowy
body right against his teeth. Or rather, she had surely done so had not
the lion, half turned about, shrank back as she leaped forward. Then
slowly, looking back with his blazing but cowering eyes, feeling back
with his spirit still defiant, if but to see whether her courage failed
her in the least or her mighty spirit was still in battle armor; and
then he passed. His companions had drawn back and into a depression in
the desert where he slowly and sullenly joined them.

One, two, three, four dim yet distinct black silhouettes against the
yellow east; then but a single confused black etching; away, away,
smaller and smaller, gone!

I gathered up her robe, crossed over, and letting it fall on her
shoulders where she still stood, looking down and after the beast. I
picked up my pistol from where it had fallen, a few feet below, and as
she turned about, carefully reloaded it from cartridges by chance in my
vest pocket.

Returning to the summit, I found her again resting on her couch at the
corner of the huge slab, tranquilly as if we had not been disturbed. I
did not speak. Not a single word had been uttered all this time.

I sat down at the feet of this woman--not at her side, as before--and
let my own feet dangle down over the edge on the side farthest away from
the isolated columns. Neither of us spoke; nor did she move hand or foot
till morning.

THE CHEATED JULIET.

BY Q.

_Extracted from the Memoirs of a Retired Burglar._

The house in question was what Pet