nd third application made
a good black.

The process, however, of covering the whole sheet of paper with ink was
extremely messy, and before it was finished, Marjorie's fingers were
dyed black, and her desk was smudged from one end to the other.

But so interested was she in making a sheet of black paper that she paid
no heed to the untidiness.

Gladys, who had turned her back on Marjorie, in order to study her
lesson without distraction, turned round suddenly and gave an
exclamation of dismay. This startled Marjorie, and she dropped her
sponge full of ink on her white apron.

She straightened herself up, with a bewildered air, aghast at the state
of things, and as her curls tumbled over her forehead, she brushed them
back with her inky hands.

This decorated her face with black fingermarks, and several of the
pupils, looking round at her, burst into incontrollable laughter.

Midget was usually very dainty, and neatly dressed, and this besmeared
maiden was a shock to all beholders.

Miss Lawrence turned sharply to see what the commotion might be, and,
when she saw the inky child, she had hard work to control her own
merriment.

"What _is_ that all over you, Marjorie?" she said, in as stern tones as
she could command.

"Ink, Miss Lawrence," said Midget, demurely, her simple straightforward
gaze fixed on her teacher's face. This calm announcement of a fact also
struck Miss Lawrence ludicrously, but she managed to preserve a grave
countenance.

"Yes, I see it's ink. But why do you put it on your face and hands and
apron?"

"I don't know, Miss Lawrence. You see, I was using it, and somehow it
put itself all over me."

"What were you doing with it?" Miss Lawrence was really stern now, for
she had advanced to Marjorie's desk, and noted the sponge and paper.

"Why, I was just making some white paper black."

"Marjorie, you have been extremely naughty. What possessed you to ink
that large sheet of paper?"

"I wanted to be a witch," said Marjorie, so ruefully that Miss Lawrence
had to laugh after all.

"You _are_ one, my child. You needn't ever make any effort in that
direction!"

"And so," went on Midget, cheered by Miss Lawrence's laughing face, "I
thought I'd make me a witch's hat, to wear at recess. Truly, I wasn't
going to put it on in school. But I had my lessons all done, and so----"

But by this time the whole class was in a gale.

The inky little girl, so earnestly explaining why she was inky,