The Tale of Betsy Butterfly | Page 5

Mrs. Ladybug was waiting for Betsy Butterfly among the flowers. She had been in such haste to reach the garden early that she had not stopped to have her breakfast. And like many people who have not drunk their morning cup of coffee, she was in a very peevish mood.
"Now, Miss Pert, I want you to listen to me!" That was Mrs. Ladybug's greeting to Betsy Butterfly on one of the most delightful days of the whole summer. "It's my unpleasant duty--" said Mrs. Ladybug, who by that time was enjoying herself thoroughly--"it's my unpleasant duty to tell you that people are talking about you. They say that you're going about covered with dust! And as a friend, I advise you to give yourself a thorough brushing each morning, and as often thereafter as may be necessary."
Betsy Butterfly had listened in amazement to Mrs. Ladybug's words. And she had hard work not to laugh, too, because she thought Mrs. Ladybug's advice decidedly funny.
"Thank you very much!" Betsy said most politely. "I'll remember what you've told me."
Somehow Mrs. Ladybug thought that Betsy meant she would follow her advice. And she looked quite pleased.
"I shall expect a great improvement in your appearance the next time I see you," she announced. And with the manner of a person who has just done somebody a good turn she hurried away to get the breakfast that was waiting for her, somewhere.
Then Betsy Butterfly enjoyed a good laugh.
"How ridiculous!" she said to herself. "But I won't tell Mrs. Ladybug of her mistake, because she might feel upset if I did." And you can see, just by that, how kind-hearted Betsy was. She did not even tell her own family about the joke, for fear of hurting Mrs. Ladybug's feelings.
But jealous little Mrs. Ladybug had no such misgivings. She went out of her way to explain to people that if they noticed a change in Betsy Butterfly's appearance, they might thank her for it.... "I told Betsy that she ought to brush the dust off herself," she informed her friends.
Naturally she was displeased when she met Betsy that very afternoon and saw that the dust still lay thick on her wings.
"I believe you actually want to be untidy!" Mrs. Ladybug cried. "And if you aren't going to brush that dust off, I shall do it myself!" And grasping a small Indian paint-brush, the weight of which she could scarcely stagger under, Mrs. Ladybug advanced upon Betsy Butterfly with a determined look in her eye.
"Oh, don't do that!" cried Betsy.
"It's my painful duty to give you a thorough dusting," Mrs. Ladybug declared.

VII
BUTTERFLY BILL
NOW, a crowd had gathered quickly around Betsy Butterfly and Mrs. Ladybug; for the field people are quick to notice anything unusual. And a sprightly young cousin of Betsy's known as Butterfly Bill said to Mrs. Ladybug, with a wink at everybody else:
"I suppose you'll dust the rest of us, too?"
"Only those that need it!" replied Mrs. Ladybug.
"Then you'll have your hands full," Butterfly Bill told her. "Maybe you haven't noticed that every member of the Butterfly family in Pleasant Valley is covered with dust just as Betsy is."
Mrs. Ladybug looked surprised.
"Is that so?" she said faintly.
"It certainly is!" Bill cried. "Maybe you never knew that the dust is what gives us our--ahem--our beautiful colors," he added proudly. "And I warn you that if you so much as touch my lovely cousin with that brush you'll have every one of us fellows in your hair."
Of course poor Mrs. Ladybug was quite bald. But she knew what Butterfly Bill meant. And she was so upset that she promptly let the paint-brush fall to the ground.
Then Betsy's cousin nodded approvingly.
"Now you'd better hurry home," he told Mrs. Ladybug. "There's a rumor around the meadow that your house is on fire. And they say your children are in great danger."
Little Mrs. Ladybug at once fell to weeping.
"It's that horrid Freddie Firefly!" she shrieked. "I've told him to keep away from my home. I've told him that he would set it to blazing with that light of his. But he's forever sneaking around my house as soon as my back is turned."
"There, there! Don't be frightened!" Betsy Butterfly said to her soothingly. "It's only a rumor, you know."
"That's so," Mrs. Ladybug admitted, drying her eyes. "I hear it almost every day, too. But I never can get used to it.... I suppose this is only a false alarm, after all."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Butterfly Bill said wickedly, with a shake of his head. "And if I were you I'd look after my own family a little more carefully, instead of troubling myself with other people's affairs."
Several of Bill's friends applauded his speech. But Betsy Butterfly whispered to him to hush.
"Don't you see that Mrs. Ladybug is not