ur insolence to-night.'

'You are a liar,' calmly responded the other--'I am neither a shopman
nor a mechanic, and if I were, I should be far superior to such a
scoundrel as you. I am a gentleman; your equal in birth and
fortune--your superior in manhood and in honor. If you desire
satisfaction for my conduct to-night, you will find me at the Tremont
House, at any time. My name is Francis Sydney. I shall see this lady in
safety to her residence.'

Radcliff was led away by the two officers. They had proceeded but a
short distance, when he thus addressed them--

'My good fellow, it is scarcely worth while to trouble yourselves to
detain me on account of this trifling affair. Here's five dollars a
piece for you--will that do?'

'Why, sir,' said one of the fellows, pocketing his V, and giving the
other to his companion--'we can't exactly let you go, but if you tip us
over and run for it, perhaps we shan't be able to overtake you.'

'I understand you,' said Radcliff, and he gave each of those _faithful_
officers a slight push, scarce sufficient to disturb the equilibrium of
a feather, whereupon one of them reeled out into the street to a
distance of twenty feet, while the other fell down flat on the sidewalk
in an apparently helpless condition, and the prisoner walked away at a
leisurely pace, without the slightest molestation.

Meanwhile, Frank Sydney escorted Sophia to the door of her residence in
Washington street. The young lady warmly thanked her deliverer, as she
termed him.

'No thanks are due me, miss,' said Frank--'I have but done my duty, in
protecting you from the insults of a villain. I now leave you in safety
with your friends.'

'Friends!' said the fair girl, with a deep sigh--'alas, I have no
friends on earth.'

The tone and manner of these words went to the heart of our hero; he
turned for a moment to conceal a tear--then raised her hand respectfully
to his lips, bade her farewell, and departed.

Sophia entered the house, and found her mother and sister in the parlor.
They greeted her with smiles.

'My darling Soph,' said Mrs. Franklin--'that charming fellow was much
disappointed to find that you had gone out. We told him that you had
probably gone to walk on the Common, and he went in search of you.'

Sophia related all that had occurred to her during her absence. She
complained of the libertine's treatment of her with mingled indignation
and grief.

'Pooh! sis,' exclaimed Josephine,--'you m