"What have you got in the basket, Per?"

"A lobster," answered he, as he swung the basket off his back and put it
down upon the path.

"Let me see it," said Madeleine.

He hastily drew aside the seaweed, and took out a gigantic lobster,
which was flapping its broad, scaly tail.

"That is a splendid great lobster!" she cried.

"Yes, it isn't a bad un!"

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Ask your father if he would like to have it."

"What do you want for it?" she asked, although she knew perfectly well
that it was a present.

"Nothing," answered Per, curtly.

"That is good of you, Per."

"Oh, it's nothing," he answered, as he laid the seaweed back in the
basket; and now, when the moment came to say good-bye, he said, "How's
your foot?"

"Thanks, all right. I got the brandy."