“Look what I’ve brought you,” he said to his little girl, as he took the Monkey and the Doll out of his pocket on reaching home.

“Oh, aren’t they funny!” cried the little girl, dancing up and down.  “May I have them to keep?”

“Gracious me! what is going to happen now?” thought the Monkey on a Stick.

CHAPTER IV

A QUEER RIDE

“Look out for the ink on the Doll’s face,” said the janitor to his little girl, as he handed her the toy.  “And see, the Monkey also has ink on the end of his tail.  I brought them home to you, to see if you could clean them.”

“Oh, then I can’t keep them!” exclaimed the little girl in a sad voice.  “And they are so cute, too, even if they are covered with ink!  How did it happen?”

“A water pipe burst in the school, and there was so much running around that an ink bottle in the teacher’s desk got upset, I suppose, and then the ink splashed on the Monkey and the Doll,” said the janitor.

“But how did they get in the teacher’s desk?” the little girl wanted to know.

“I guess she must have taken them away from the children who had them out, playing with them during lesson time,” answered the janitor.  And he was right about that, as we know, but he was wrong about the bottle of ink.

“But perhaps you can clean them,” said the janitor to his little girl.  “That’s why I brought the toys home to you.”

“Yes, I can wash the Doll’s face with soap and water,” answered the little girl.  “But I don’t believe I can get the ink off the Monkey’s tail.  He’s made of plush, and ink stains that very badly.”

Then she got a basin of soap and water and began to wash the Doll’s face.  In a little while the ink spots began to fade away, for the Doll’s head was of porcelain, though she was stuffed with cotton.

“It’s going to leave the Doll a little darker color, though,” said the little girl to her father.  “I can’t get her as nice and white as she was at first.”

“Well, never mind, you can pretend she went to the seashore and got tanned,” said the janitor, laughing.  “Did you get the ink out of the Monkey’s tail?” he asked.

“No, it won’t come out,” was the answer, and it would not.  The ink on the tail of the Monkey on a Stick was there to stay, so it seemed.

“There!  Just see what happened by your fooling!” said the Doll to the Monkey a little later, when they were left alone for a few minutes.  “My face will always be dark, and your tail will be inky.”

“I don’t so much mind about my tail,” answered the Monkey.  “I think it will be rather stylish to have it dark and inky on the end.  But I am sorry about your face.  I never thought about the ink staying on or I never would have daubed you the way I did.”

“Well, don’t feel too bad about it,” advised the Doll, with a smile.  “I just happened to remember that it is stylish to be tanned.  All the other dolls and toys will think I have spent a vacation at the seashore, as the janitor says.  Really, after I get used to it, I shall be glad you put the ink on me.”