ore to say.

CHAPTER XX

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY

St. Valentine's Day was now close at hand, and all of the children of
the neighborhood were saving their money with which to buy valentines.

"I know just the ones I am going to get," said Nan.

"I want some big red hearts," put in Freddie. "Just love hearts, I do!"

"I want the kind you can look into," came from Flossie. "Don't you know,
the kind that fold up?"

Two days before St. Valentine's Day the children gathered around the
sitting-room table and began to make valentines. They had paper of
various colors and pictures cut from old magazines. They worked very
hard, and some of the valentines thus manufactured were as good as many
that could be bought.

"Oh, I saw just the valentine for Freddie," whispered Nan to Bert. "It
had a fireman running to a fire on it."

There were a great many mysterious little packages brought into the
house on the afternoon before St. Valentine's Day, and Mr. Bobbsey had
to supply quite a few postage stamps.

"My, my, but the postman will have a lot to do to-morrow," said Mr.
Bobbsey. "If this keeps on he'll want his wages increased, I am afraid."

The fun began early in the morning. On coming down to breakfast each of
the children found a valentine under his or her plate. They were all
very pretty.

"Where in the world did they come from?" cried Nan. "Oh, mamma, did you
put them there?"

"No, Nan," said Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Then it must have been Dinah!" said Nan, and rushed into the kitchen.
"Oh, Dinah, how good of you!"

"'Spect da is from St. Valentine," said the cook, smiling broadly.

"Oh, I know you!" said Nan.

"It's just lubby!" cried Freddie, breaking out into his baby talk. "Just
lubby, Dinah! Such a big red heart, too!"

The postman came just before it was time to start for school. He brought
six valentines, three for Flossie, two for Freddie and one for Bert.

"Oh, Nan, where is yours?" cried Bert.

"I--I guess he forgot me," said Nan rather soberly.

"Oh, he has made some mistake," said Bert and ran after the letter man.
But it was of no use--all the mail for the Bobbseys had been delivered.

"Never mind, he'll come again this afternoon," said Mrs. Bobbsey, who
saw how keenly Nan was disappointed.

On her desk in school Nan found two valentines from her schoolmates. One
was very pretty, but the other was home-made and represented a girl
running away from a figure labeled GHOST. Nan put this out of