down and ask a man whom she saw by the boat-houses, but half-way down the slope she met some one who was coming upwards. She could not possibly have seen him sooner, because he was below her at the steepest part of the hill, but now she recognized him, and slackened her pace.
Per must also have seen her, although he was looking down, for at a few paces from her he left the main path, and took one that was a little lower. When therefore they were alongside each other, she was a little above him. Per had a basket on his back, and Madeleine could see there was seaweed in it.
Neither of them spoke, but both of them felt as if they were half choking. When he had got a pace beyond her, she turned round and asked, "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
