ige me. No, if they were dying by
inches for want of their kettle I would not stir one step to give it
them."

_Serena._--"How severe you are upon them, little Mother, I hate the sight
of them, but I don't think I could see them starve."

_Sybil._--"Indeed I should not care what became of them, or what fate
happened to them so that they were all dead."

_Gatty._--"There, Madame, there, hear what your pattern of gentleness
and goodness says. Don't talk to me any more about being more like a boy
than a girl. Here Syb declares she would like to see the pirates roasted
alive."

_Sybil._--"Now, Gatty, how can you?"

_Gatty._--"You said you did not care what became of them; perhaps flayed
alive will suit you better."

_Sybil._--"Horrid girl, how you make me shudder."

_Madame._--"I feel perfectly correct in saying, Gertrude, that you are
merely giving voice to your own ideas, and not to my gentle Sybil's."

_Sybil._--"Then, dear Madame, I must undeceive you, for, when I look at
Serena, I don't think I should care whether they were roasted or not."

_Madame._--"My child, my dear child, since when have you adopted these
notions, so foreign to your mild nature?"

_Sybil._--"I don't know, indeed, Madame; but I am ready to fire off a
gun if it is necessary to drive them away."

_Madame._--"You see, Madam, what an effect it has had upon our household
already, the visit of these pirates."

_Mother._--"Then, Madame, we must hope no worse effects will ensue. At
present I admire Sybil's spirit and energy, and think she wanted but
that to make her almost what you think her, perfection."

_Gatty._--"I don't like the change at all. Nothing I can do to her now
frightens her. I found the most frightful old bloated toad yesterday,
and put it on her fat white arm, saying 'there's a pirate for you, Syb,'
and, would you believe it, she neither shrieked or screamed, but said
quite savagely, 'I only wish it was, and that I could make away with him
as quickly as I could this poor toad.' It is quite provoking, all my fun
is gone."

_Oscar._--"Perhaps, aunt Sib, you won't mind learning to fire a gun
now."

_Sybil._--"Not at all, dear boy, but (adding quickly) you know we must
not shoot at present for fear of discovering ourselves."

_Felix._--"Oh, she's a coward yet, she most certainly is."

_Lilly._--"She was no coward when she went to the ship that dark night,
boy" (indignantly).

_Zoe._--"I am sure she is as brave as any of