I didn't half appreciate you last year." A swift flush rose to her cheeks.

"I didn't appreciate any one.

I missed knowing Overton's best, but I'm so thankful that part of that best has come back again, so that I can really show how much I care," she finished, her eyes very bright.
The little company lingered on the platform, for there was so much to be said that they were loath to move on.

So absorbed were they in their own affairs they did not observe that a tall, raw-boned, roughly dressed man, with a gaunt, disagreeable face had been stealthily edging nearer the group until within a few feet of them.

All at once a long bony hand was thrust into their midst.