"Just in time to give you a lesson, my buck,"
replied Bantry, grimly. "In GOOD time for that,
my playful step-brother."

He began to twist the other's wrist--a treatment
of bone and ligament in the application of which
school-boys and even freshmen are often adept.
Eugene made the torture acute, and was apparently
enjoying the work, when suddenly--without any
manner of warning--he received an astounding
blow upon the left ear, which half stunned him
for the moment, and sent his hat flying and himself
reeling, so great was the surprise and shock of it.
It was not a slap, not an open-handed push, nothing
like it, but a fierce, well-delivered blow from a
clinched fist with the shoulder behind it, and it
was the girl who had given it.

"Don't you dare to touch Joe!" she cried,
passionately. "Don't you lay a finger on him."

Furious and red, he staggered round to look at
her.

"You wretched little wild-cat, what do you mean
by that?" he broke out.

"Don't you touch Joe!" she panted. "Don't
you--" Her breath caught and there was a break