"Girls have been heroines," replied Alice with some animation. "In this very book which I have been reading—'Memorials of Agnes Jones'—there is an anecdote of her courage when she was a child of but eight years old which might have done credit to a boy of ten, even if he bore the name of Theodore Vassy," added the elder sister gaily.
Theodore prided himself on his manly spirit, though it was a spirit which more often carried him into difficulties than bore him bravely through them. For instance, Theodore had boasted that he would clear his father's cellar of the troublesome rats that had made it their home; and he had made an attempt to do so. The boy had even succeeded in catching a rat by the tail! But no sooner had the fierce little prisoner turned and bit his captor's finger, than Theodore, giving a cry of pain, had let the rat go, and had retreated at once from the cellar, leaving the honours of the battle-field to his small four footed foe.
Luckily for Theodore, no one had been present to witness the fight; and the boy took good care not to mention his adventure. Not even Alice knew where her brother had got the little mark left on his hand by the teeth of the rat.
"Let's hear your anecdote, if it's worth the hearing," said Theodore Vassy. "I never yet knew a girl who would not cry at the prick of a needle."
Alice turned back the pages of the book which she had been reading, till she came to the part relating to the childhood of Agnes Jones.
"This memoir is written by the sister of Agnes," observed Alice; "and it is one of the most beautiful books which I ever read in my life."
"And who was this Agnes?" asked Theodore.
"A young lady, the daughter of an officer," replied Alice Vassy. "When she was a little child, she accompanied her parents to the island of Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, where occurred the following incident, thus related by her sister." And Alice read as follows:—
"At Mauritius, when she was about eight years old, a friend sent her a present of a young kangaroo from Australia. An enclosure was made for it in the garden, and Agnes delighted to feed and visit it daily."
"I've seen a kangaroo in the Zoological Gardens," interrupted Theodore. "It was larger than our big dog, and went springing and jumping on its long hind legs, as if it were set on springs. I never saw such a creature for leaping! I was told that the kangaroo has tremendous strength in those hind legs, and that, when hunted, it makes itself dangerous even to the dogs. I suppose that this little girl's kangaroo was very tame as well as young, or she might have had more pain than pleasure from her plaything." Theodore was thinking of his fight with the rat.