5O EYE SPY 
confessed and did penance. Had he realized what 
a commotion his innocent prank was destined to 
create, he would not have yielded to temptation. 
But his sister was primarily to blame. Why had 
she placed that bottle so conspicuously upon his 
wash-stand ? He had noted her fondness for pan- 
sies, and a minute later had read " Ammonia " on 
the label of the bottle, and association of ideas 
and mischief did the rest. In a casual stroll about 
the pansy-beds he had then gathered a dozen or 
so of the several varieties and taken them to his 
room. Laying a piece of crumpled paper in a 
saucer, he then poured about a teaspoonful of the 
ammonia upon it, afterwards gently laying the pan- 
sies in a pile upon the paper, and thus free from 
actual contact with the liquid, and covering the 
whole with a tumbler. In two or three minutes 
the fumes of the ammoniacal gas had done their 
work, and lo ! when he removed the tumbler his 
pansies had doffed their blues and purples, and 
were transfigured in velvets of all imaginable em- 
erald and peacock and mineral greens, though still 
retaining their perfect shape and petal texture. 
To more completely confound the innocent with 
this experiment, the "operator" should suddenly 
discover an entire plant with all its flowers thus 
tinted in emerald a feat which may be accom- 
plished by submitting the whole plant to similar 
treatment beneath a bell glass or other air-tight 
