use violence, I have tried to accomplish my object by entreaty.--Now,
since you will not listen to my entreaties, I shall resort to
force.--This very night I have arranged to visit you, and then--and
_then_, sweet one--'

He drew the shrinking girl towards him, and in spite of her resistance,
profaned her pure lips with unholy kisses. During the conversation just
related, day had softly melted into dim twilight, and the loungers on
the Common had mostly taken their departure; very few were in the
vicinity of Radcliff and Sophia--and there was but one person who saw
the scene of kissing and struggling that we have described. That person
was a young and handsome man, well-dressed, and possessing an open,
generous and manly countenance. Observing what was going on between the
pair, and seeing that the young lady was suffering violence from her
companion, he silently approached, nobly resolved to protect the weaker
party, at all hazards.

Sophia had partially escaped from the grasp of Radcliff, and he was
about to seize her again, when the young man just mentioned stepped
forward, and said, calmly--

'Come, sir, you have abused that young lady enough; molest her no
further.'

'And who the devil may you be, who presumes thus to interfere with a
gentleman's private amusements?' demanded the libertine, with savage
irony: but the bold eyes of the other quailed not before his fierce
glance.

'It matters not particularly who I am,' replied the young man,
sternly--'suffice it for you to know that I am one who is bound to
protect a lady against the assaults of a ruffian, even if that ruffian
is clad in the garb of a gentleman.'

'Oh, sir,' said Sophia, bursting into tears--'God will reward you for
rescuing me from the power of that bad man.'

Radcliff's eyes literally blazed with fury as he strode towards the
young lady's protector.

'You called me a ruffian,' said he, 'take _that_ for your impudence,'
and he attempted to strike the young man--but the blow was skillfully
warded off, and he found himself extended on the grass in a twinkling.

Two policeman now ran up and demanded the cause of the fracas. The young
man related everything that had occurred, whereupon the officers took
Radcliff into custody.

'Fellow,' said the individual, haughtily addressing his
antagonist,--'you are, I presume, nothing more than a shopman or common
mechanic, beneath my notice; you therefore may hope to escape the just
punishment of yo