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. Alice went on reading the sister's account of the little Agnes and her pet kangaroo:— "One day, as she opened the gate, it escaped, and bounded off into our neighbour's plantation. Agnes followed, fearing it might do mischief, climbed over the low wall which separated the two gardens, and after a long chase succeeded in capturing the fugitive. Some minutes afterwards my mother came into the garden, and was horror-struck to see her returning from the pursuit—the kangaroo, which she held bravely by its ears, struggling wildly for freedom, and tearing at her with its hind feet; while her dress was streaming with blood from the wounds inflicted by its nails." "I say!" exclaimed Theodore involuntarily, "I'd have let the horrid beast go!" "But she would not do so," continued Alice, still reading, "until she got it safely into its house; although it was many a long day before she lost the marks of her battle and its victory." "She was a gallant little soul!" exclaimed Theodore. "What a pity it is that Agnes was a girl, and not a boy! For, after all, courage is not of much use to a woman."