"No one."
"How did you get it, then?"
"I took it from a stall."
"O Minnie!" exclaimed Joshua, grieved and shocked; "that was very wicked."
"I know it was," said Minnie simply; "but I did it for you. Two days afterwards, when father had money given to him, I asked him for some, and he gave it me. I went to the stall where the shells were, and asked the man how much each they were. 'A penny,' he said. I gave him two pence and ran away. That was good, wasn't it?"
Joshua shook his head.
"It was very wicked to steal the shell; and I don't think you made up for it by paying double when you got the money."
But Minnie set her teeth close, and said between them, "It was wicked at first, but it wasn't wicked afterwards, was it, shell?"--She listened with a coaxing air to the shell's reply.--"The shell says it wasn't'. Besides, I did it for you; Dan wouldn't have done it."
"No, that he wouldn't."
"Shows he doesn't love you as much as I do," muttered Minnie with jealous intonation. "If he did, he would have thought of a shell, and would have got it somehow. If he did, he would go with you, and would never, never leave you!"