"I have read those very stories myself," said Irma, "so if you wish to astonish me, please think of something new."
That evening as she sat on the balcony, Marion approached Irma with an expression even more serious than usual.
"What is your idea of a hero?" he asked abruptly, as he slipped into the chair beside her.
"Why, the same as everybody's," responded Irma, after a moment's hesitation. "A man who does a brave thing, without fear of danger, and without thinking what he will gain from it."
"Can't a boy be a hero?"
"Yes, indeed—and a girl also," she replied.
"But I noticed to-day that you said Conradin, if he had lived, might have been a hero, but he was seventeen—just my age."
"I was not thinking especially of his age," said Irma. "I only meant that thus far Conradin had had no chance to show what great things he could do. But he might have had chances had he lived longer."
"Oh! Then a hero must do great things."