"I have several and shall be pleased to present you with a couple."
"But——"
"No buts, please, dear; it is such a very little thing."
"Oh, very well," Nan replied weakly, seeing it would hurt her aunt to refuse.
"Then I am sure there must be a silk handkerchief in that trunk."
"Of course there is. I never thought of that, and I saw it only to-day. Why that is half the eight already."
"Then—let me see—did you ever see a devil penwiper made from a wishbone? I'll show you how to make one. It costs nothing and that makes five, you see. I think a blotter always does very well to give a schoolboy."
Nan sighed. There would be blotting paper to be bought. Her aunt read her thought and did not insist upon this. "A burnt match-receiver can be easily made," she went on, "and it is nice to give things for a boy's room when he is away from home. There is a kind that is made by crocheting a cover over a goblet from which the stem has been broken."
"I am sure we can get that easily enough," laughed Nan. "I suppose worsted will do for the crocheted part, and I have some of that."
"Worsted is the proper thing. It will make a nice, useful present."