Much to Mrs. Ladybug’s
surprise, she did not find Betsy Butterfly in the
flower garden.
“It’s too bad she’s
not here,” Mrs. Ladybug remarked to her friend
Jennie Junebug, who accompanied her. “We’ll
have to look in the meadow. And it may take a
long time to find Betsy there.”
Jennie Junebug yawned right in Mrs. Ladybug’s
face.
“Then I can’t come with
you,” she said. “I’m getting
terribly sleepy again. And since I expect to
be up all night, I’m going to take a nap.”
Mrs. Ladybug looked at Jennie with
great disapproval as that fat young person crept under
a leaf and went to sleep.
“Things have come to a pretty
pass when ladies stay out all night!” she muttered.
“It was not that way when I was a girl.
But times have changed for the worse.”
The longer Mrs. Ladybug stared at
her sleeping friend, the more she thought that she
ought to wake her up. “If I rouse her she’ll
be so drowsy to-night that she’ll simply have
to go to bed,” Mrs. Ladybug thought.
So she poked Jennie Junebug several times.
But Jennie Junebug only stirred slightly
and murmured something in her sleep.
And seeing that it was useless to
try to awaken her Mrs. Ladybug set out for the meadow
alone.
The sun hung low in the west when
Mrs. Ladybug found Betsy Butterfly among a clump of
milk-weed blossoms. But Mrs. Ladybug did not care
what time it was. She was satisfied when she
saw that Betsy was just as dusty as ever. For,
to tell the truth, little Mrs. Ladybug was so jealous
of the beautiful Betsy that she wanted to say
something disagreeable to her.
“Hasn’t this been a lovely
day?” Betsy Butterfly cried happily, as soon
as she noticed Mrs. Ladybug. “I’ve
enjoyed every moment of it. Ever since I saw
you in the flower garden this morning I’ve been
here in the meadow, flitting from one blossom to another.”
“You might better have spent
a little of your time in a different way,” Mrs.
Ladybug remarked with a frown.
Betsy Butterfly looked up in surprise,
withdrawing her long tongue from the blossom in which
she had just buried it.
“Ugh!” A shudder
shook prim Mrs. Ladybug. “Please coil your
tongue!” she begged. “I can’t
bear the sight of it. But I must say that I ought
not to expect good manners in a person who goes about
looking as untidy as you do.”
Betsy Butterfly laughed gaily.
“I didn’t know you were such a joker!”
she exclaimed.
“Oh, I’m not joking,” Mrs. Ladybug
said. “I mean every word I say.”
“Then I wouldn’t talk
so much, if I were you,” Betsy Butterfly advised
her with a merry twinkle in her eye. And before
Mrs. Ladybug could say another word Betsy Butterfly
flew away and left her spluttering and choking.
“She insulted me!” Mrs.
Ladybug screamed, as soon as she was able to speak.
“She insulted me. And then she hurried off
because she didn’t dare stay!”
But Mrs. Ladybug was mistaken about
one thing. Betsy Butterfly knew that she had
just time to reach home before sunset. So that
was why she left so suddenly. For she never was
willing to travel when the sun was not shining.
“I’ll see Betsy in the
morning,” Mrs. Ladybug promised herself savagely.
“I’ll make it my business to follow her
everywhere she goes, until I’ve given her a
good talking to.”