"Mrs. Sheldon, you have a very fine boy there," he said, nodding toward Fred, who turned quite red in the face.
"I am glad to hear you have such a good opinion of him," was the modest manner in which the mother acknowledged the compliment to her only child.
"I understand that he is the brightest scholar in school, and has the reputation of being truthful and honest, and I know him to be as full of pluck and courage as a—a—spring lamb," added the constable, clearing his throat again, to help him out of his search for a metaphor.
Mrs. Sheldon simply bowed and smiled, while Archie looked at his right hand, which was still swollen and tender from its violent contact with the stump that he mistook for the lion some nights before.
He remarked something about hurting it in the crack of the door when playing with his children, and added:
"Fred has become quite famous from the shrewd manner in which he captured the lion."
"I don't see as he deserves any special credit for that," observed the mother, "for I understand the animal was such an old one that he was almost harmless, and then he was kind enough to walk into the smoke-house and give Fred just the chance he needed. I regard it rather as a piece of good fortune than a display of courage."
"You are altogether too modest, Mrs. Sheldon—altogether too modest. Think of his stealing up to the open door of the smoke or milk-house when the creatur' was crunching bones inside! I tell you, Mrs. Sheldon, it took a great deal more courage than you will find in most men to do that."
The lady was compelled to admit that it was a severe test of the bravery of a boy, but she insisted that Fred had been favored by Providence, or good fortune, as some called it.