50 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 ! w^hen 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-ti^ht 



