"I brought you some things. They ain't much, but I thought you would
like to have them."

There were a half-dozen pink and white shells, a starfish, and a few
pretty pebbles.

"I picked them up on the beach," said Tommy, "and I thought you might
like them."

"It was awfully good of you to think of me," said little Anne,
gratefully.

"I wanted to buy you something," apologized Tommy. "There was some
lovely jewelry made out of fish-scales, but I didn't have a cent to
spare."

"I would rather have these, really, Tommy," said Anne, with
appreciation, "because you found them yourself."

She tied them up carefully in her little clean white handkerchief, and
then she folded her hands in her lap and told Tommy everything that had
happened since he left home.

The sky was red with the blaze of the setting sun when the carriage
started. Overhead the crows were flying in a straight black line to
the woods to roost. As Anne talked on, the fireflies began to shine
against the blue-gray of the twilight; then came darkness and the stars.

"It seems awfully good to be at home," confessed Tommy, as the lights