ith Ojo stood beside her, touched the bottle marked
"Cleverness."

"Little," said he.

"A little 'Cleverness'? Well, perhaps you are right, sir," said she, and
was about to take down the bottle when the Crooked Magician suddenly
called to her excitedly from the fireplace.

"Quick, Margolotte! Come and help me."

She ran to her husband's side at once and helped him lift the four
kettles from the fire. Their contents had all boiled away, leaving in
the bottom of each kettle a few grains of fine white powder. Very
carefully the Magician removed this powder, placing it all together in a
golden dish, where he mixed it with a golden spoon. When the mixture was
complete there was scarcely a handful, all told.

[Illustration]

"That," said Dr. Pipt, in a pleased and triumphant tone, "is the
wonderful Powder of Life, which I alone in the world know how to make.
It has taken me nearly six years to prepare these precious grains of
dust, but the little heap on that dish is worth the price of a kingdom
and many a king would give all he has to possess it. When it has become
cooled I will place it in a small bottle; but meantime I must watch it
carefully, lest a gust of wind blow it away or scatter it."

Unc Nunkie, Margolotte and the Magician all stood looking at the
marvelous Powder, but Ojo was more interested just then in the Patchwork
Girl's brains. Thinking it both unfair and unkind to deprive her of any
good qualities that were handy, the boy took down every bottle on the
shelf and poured some of the contents in Margolotte's dish. No one saw
him do this, for all were looking at the Powder of Life; but soon the
woman remembered what she had been doing, and came back to the cupboard.

"Let's see," she remarked; "I was about to give my girl a little
'Cleverness,' which is the Doctor's substitute for 'Intelligence'--a
quality he has not yet learned how to manufacture." Taking down the
bottle of "Cleverness" she added some of the powder to the heap on the
dish. Ojo became a bit uneasy at this, for he had already put quite a
lot of the "Cleverness" powder in the dish; but he dared not interfere
and so he comforted himself with the thought that one cannot have too
much cleverness.

Margolotte now carried the dish of brains to the bench. Ripping the seam
of the patch on the girl's forehead, she placed the powder within the
head and then sewed up the seam as neatly and securely as before.

"My girl is all ready for your Powd