will take her home with me and will
clean her up tonight and will bring her back day after tomorrow."

So Raggedy was wrapped in a newspaper that evening and carried away.

All the dolls felt sad that night without Raggedy Ann near them.

"Poor Raggedy! I could have cried when I saw her all covered with
paint!" said the French doll.

"She didn't look like our dear old Raggedy Ann at all!" said the tin
soldier, who wiped the tears from his eyes so that they would not run
down on his arms and rust them.

"The paint covered her lovely smile and nose and you could not see the
laughter in her shoe-button eyes!" said the Indian doll.

And so the dolls talked that night and the next. But in the daytime
when the painters were there, they kept very quiet.

The second day Raggedy was brought home and the dolls were all anxious
for night to come so that they could see and talk with Raggedy Ann.

At last the painters left and the house was quiet, for Mistress had been
in and placed Raggedy on the shelf with the other dolls.

"Tell us all about it, Raggedy dear!" the dolls cried.

"Oh I am so glad I fell in the paint!" cried Raggedy, after she had
hugged all the dolls, "For I have had the happiest time. The painter
took me home and told his Mamma how I happened to be covered with paint
and she was very sorry. She took a rag and wiped off my shoe-button eyes
and then I saw that she was a very pretty, sweet-faced lady and she got
some cleaner and wiped off most of the paint on my face.

[Illustration]

"But you know," Raggedy continued, "the paint had soaked through my rag
head and had made the cotton inside all sticky and soggy and I could not
think clearly. And my yarn hair was all matted with paint.

"So the kind lady took off my yarn hair and cut the stitches out of my
head, and took out all the painty cotton.

"It was a great relief, although it felt queer at first and my thoughts
seemed scattered.

"She left me in her work-basket that night and hung me out upon the
clothes-line the next morning when she had washed the last of the paint
off.

"And while I hung out on the clothes-line, what do you think?"

"We could never guess!" all the dolls cried.

"Why a dear little Jenny Wren came and picked enough cotton out of me to
make a cute little cuddly nest in the grape arbor!"

"Wasn't that sweet!" cried all the dolls.

"Yes indeed it was!" replied Raggedy Ann, "It made me very happy. Then
when the lady took