"
Just then his father entered. "Ah! Tony, where hast thou been, my boy? I
thought thee lost to us forever."
Tony looked at his parents and then at the shining necklace, which he
had almost forgotten, and thought, "_Then it is not all a dream_! Dear
father, I have been with the little brown men of the mountain, and they
gave me these shining stones, and here is a present for you," taking
the pomegranate from his pocket; "you will know how to use it; and this
is for you, dear mother," handing her the orange. His mother received
and ate it with a great relish. Not so the father; he examined it with
suspicion, and asked who this little brown man was.
"Why, don't you remember, father, the little man who came to the mill
and begged some meal? You would not give him any, and drove him away,
but I was so sorry for him, that I filled his bag out of the finest we
had in the store-house, and told mother about it, and if I did wrong I
am very sorry."
"And does the brown man send me this as a present?" said the
conscience-stricken father, almost dropping the fruit upon the ground;
"there may be something hidden in it to destroy me."
"Oh, no, father! they are too good to take revenge; they are all love
and kindness, depend upon it.
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