t on her
desk, and then, turning to face the children, she said:

"I am very sorry about this. I thought, after what had happened to
Helen, that you were going to settle down and study your lessons. Why
did you bring this auto to school, Charlie? And why did you take it
out?"

Charlie was silent a moment, and then he answered, saying:

"I--I didn't exactly take it out, Miss Bradley. It came out when I took
out my handkerchief. I--I didn't mean to do it."

"Very well then, you didn't," the teacher agreed, with a little smile,
for she knew Charlie was telling the truth. "But why did you bring the
auto to school at all?"

Then Charlie told of having bought the toy that morning, on his way to
school with Bunny Brown.

"I didn't have time to go home with it after I bought it," he said, "so
I put it in my pocket. We played with it at recess, and I forgot and
wound it up and stuck it in my pocket. I didn't mean to let it get out
and run down the aisle."

Miss Bradley wanted to smile, but she knew it would not be just the
thing to do. So she said:

"Well, Charlie, I will excuse you this time. But please don't bring any
more toys into the schoolroom. And now, as we have lost much time from
our lessons, we must study extra hard to make it up. Come to me after
school, Charlie, and I'll give you back your auto."

Miss Bradley put the toy in her desk for safe keeping, and went on with
the lessons. But it was rather hard for the pupils to get their minds
back on their studies, because so much had happened that day from the
time the parrot had screeched "Cracker! Cracker!" in the cloakroom
until Charlie's auto fell out of his pocket and went buzzing down the
aisle to bang into the teacher's foot.

However, the day came to an end at last, and then, talking and laughing,
the boys and girls ran out of doors. Charlie stayed after the others,
and walked shyly up to the desk at which Miss Bradley sat, looking over
some examination papers. The room was very still and quiet after the
noise and excitement of the children's outgoing.

"Yes, Charlie. What is it?" asked Miss Bradley, as she saw him standing
near her desk.

"If you please--my auto----"

"Oh, yes," and she opened her desk and handed it to him. "It is a cute
little toy," and she smiled at Charlie.

"You ought to see it go!" he exclaimed eagerly, for Miss Bradley was
really a friend to her pupils, and she knew how to make kites and spin
tops almost as good as a boy