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 sight as soon as she saw it. All that day valentines were being delivered in various ways. Freddie found one in his cap, and Bert one between the leaves of his geography. Flossie found one pinned to her cloak, and Nan received another in a pasteboard box labeled Breakfast Food. This last was made of paper roses and was very pretty. The letter man came that afternoon just as they arrived home from school. This time he had three valentines for Nan and several for the others. Some were comical, but the most of them were beautiful and contained very tender verses. There was much guessing as to who had sent each. "I have received just as many as I sent out," said Nan, counting them over. "I sent out two more than I received," said Bert. "Never mind, Bert; boys don't expect so many as girls," answered Nan. "I'd like to know who sent that mean thing that was marked GHOST," went on her twin brother.