Chapter 2

But Butterfly Bill waited to hear no more. Thoroughly frightened, he sought safety in flight. And as he flew away Mrs. Ladybug couldn't help noticing the dust on his wings.

"They're certainly a peculiar lot--that Butterfly family!" she muttered.

VIII

DO YOU LIKE BUTTER?

AFTER Mrs. Ladybug failed in her attempt to brush the dust off Betsy Butterfly she grew more jealous of Betsy than ever.

It was really a shame that Mrs. Ladybug should feel like that. Usually she was quite harmless, even if she was a busybody and a gossip. But she simply couldn't forgive Betsy Butterfly for being so beautiful. And now Mrs. Ladybug began to neglect her children more than ever, in order to spy upon Betsy in the hope of discovering some new fault in her.

Betsy Butterfly soon noticed that wherever she went she was sure to see Mrs. Ladybug, who had a way of bobbing up in a most startling fashion. But Betsy was always quite polite to the jealous little creature. And she never failed to inquire for her health and that of her children as well, even if she met Mrs. Ladybug a dozen times a day.

For some reason Mrs. Ladybug seemed quite touchy, where her family was concerned.

"You don't need to ask about my children," she told Betsy at last in a somewhat sharp tone. "They are in the best of health. And I'll let you know in case they fall ill.... It's strange," she continued, "how everybody in this neighborhood is always prying into my household affairs."

Betsy Butterfly smiled to herself. She did not care to quarrel with Mrs. Ladybug--nor with anyone else, for that matter. So she abruptly changed the subject.

"Do you like butter?" she asked.

"Why, no!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "I don't care anything about it. At least, I never ate any."

"Then I don't see how you know whether you like it or not," Betsy observed, "unless you've looked into a buttercup to find out."

Mrs. Ladybug was interested, in spite of herself.

"Can a person tell by doing that?" she wanted to know.

"It's a sure way," said Betsy Butterfly. "I was just looking into this buttercup that I'm sitting on when you flew up and spoke to me."

"Do _you_ like butter?" Mrs. Ladybug inquired.

"I'm afraid not," Betsy told her.

"I'd like to try, myself," Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed eagerly. "But I don't know how."

"It's simple enough," Betsy Butterfly replied. "You just look into a buttercup blossom.

"And if it makes your face yellow, then you're fond of butter--whether you ever had any or not."

So Mrs. Ladybug perched herself on a big blossom and peered earnestly into its cup.

"Is my face yellow?" she asked Betsy.

"I do believe it is!" Betsy Butterfly cried.

And Mrs. Ladybug looked much pleased.

"I've always known I had refined tastes," she remarked with a lofty air. "And now I'd like to sample a bit of butter; but I don't know where to find any."

"Butter? They make it at the farmhouse," Betsy informed her.

"Then perhaps Farmer Green's wife will let me have a little," Mrs. Ladybug said hopefully. "I'll go over to the farmhouse at once.... It's too bad you don't like butter, too," she added.

But secretly she was delighted that Betsy Butterfly had looked into a buttercup in vain.

IX

UNEXPECTED NEWS

LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug had a disappointment when she reached the farmhouse. She found, to her dismay, that she couldn't get inside it; for wire screens blocked her way through both doors and windows. And nobody paid the slightest attention to her when she stopped at the buttery window and asked if she couldn't please have a bit of butter.

There was plenty of golden butter right there in plain sight, since it happened to be churning day. And Farmer Green's wife, with her sleeves rolled above her elbows, was working busily on the other side of the window screen.

"I should think she might easily spare me a small sample!" Mrs. Ladybug cried at last. "I'm afraid Farmer Green's wife is stingy."

Mrs. Ladybug hoped that Johnnie Green's mother would hear her remark. But she didn't. And in the end Mrs. Ladybug had to fly away with her longing for butter still unsatisfied.

Meanwhile Betsy Butterfly had been amusing herself in the meadow to her heart's content. To tell the truth, it was rather a relief to be rid of Mrs. Ladybug's society for so long a time. And Betsy hoped that Mrs. Ladybug's errand to the farmhouse would keep that busybody engaged for the rest of the day.

Now, after she left the farmhouse Mrs. Ladybug set out to find Betsy Butterfly again. But meeting Daddy Longlegs near the stone wall, she stopped to gossip with him, telling him how she had learned that she liked butter, and explaining that she had not yet tasted any.

"So you looked into a buttercup to find out, eh?" said Daddy Longlegs. "I'll have to do that, myself. Maybe I've always liked butter, too, without knowing that I do."

"You can't tell till you try," Mrs. Ladybug remarked. "But you mustn't be too sure. You may be disappointed. There's Betsy Butterfly! She doesn't care for butter at all."

"Are you sure about that?" Daddy Longlegs inquired. "Really, I think you must be mistaken, for I saw her with her face just _buried_ in butter this very day."

At first Mrs. Ladybug looked at him in amazement. And then she grew very angry.

"Betsy Butterfly deceived me!" she cried in a shrill voice. "She was afraid that if I knew she ate butter she would have to share it with me.... I'd like to know where she gets her butter," Mrs. Ladybug mused.

"She was standing on some of Farmer Green's, when I saw her," Daddy Longlegs explained.

"Did she ask him for it?" Mrs. Ladybug demanded.

"I don't believe she did," he admitted. "I think she just took it."

A wicked gleam came into Mrs. Ladybug's eyes when she learned that. And she threw up her hands, exclaiming, "She steals! Betsy Butterfly steals butter! When the field people hear the news they won't think she's so fine." And then Mrs. Ladybug turned to Daddy Longlegs once more and demanded whether he knew of anything else that Betsy Butterfly was in the habit of taking from Farmer Green.

"Eggs!" he replied promptly.

"Eggs!" Mrs. Ladybug repeated after him. "Betsy Butterfly steals butter and eggs!"

And before Daddy Longlegs could stop her she had hurried away to spread the news far and wide.

X

THE NIGHT WATCH

LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug stopped everybody she met in the meadow and related how Betsy Butterfly was taking Farmer Green's butter--and his eggs, too--without asking his permission.

"She's going to get some of us into trouble," Mrs. Ladybug informed her neighbors. "Just as likely as not Farmer Green and his wife will think others are stealing from them. Why, I went to the farmhouse to-day and asked for a bit of butter. And what do you think? Mrs. Green pretended not to hear me! I thought it was queer, at the time. But now I know that she's angry with me. She must have missed some of her butter; and she thinks I'm the guilty party." Mrs. Ladybug shook her finger at her neighbors. "We'll have to do something to put a stop to Betsy Butterfly's thieving," she declared.

Jealous Mrs. Ladybug's story amazed all the field people. They could scarcely believe that anyone so beautiful and dainty as Betsy Butterfly would bemean herself by robbing Farmer Green--or anybody else. But Mrs. Ladybug said that Daddy Longlegs had _seen_ Betsy with her face buried in Farmer Green's butter. And no one could doubt the word of so respectable a person as Daddy Longlegs.

"What steps do you think we ought to take to prevent Betsy from eating any more butter and eggs that don't belong to her?" asked the queen of the Bumblebee family.

"I think we ought to set a careful watch on her," said Mrs. Ladybug. "I'm sure I don't see when she gets her stolen goods, because I've watched her very closely myself for some time. And I've seen her dine on nothing but flowers."

"Perhaps she goes to the farmhouse at night," Jennie Junebug suggested.

"That's a happy thought!" said Mrs. Ladybug approvingly. "We'll have to get Freddie Firefly to follow her about after dark."

So Mrs. Ladybug and her neighbors made arrangements with Freddie Firefly to have Betsy Butterfly spied upon that very night.

"I'll watch her till sunset," Mrs. Ladybug agreed. "And then _you_ must relieve me," she told Freddie. "Don't let her out of your sight until sunrise!" she warned him.

Freddie Firefly promised that he would be faithful to his trust. And later that afternoon, when the sun began to drop behind the mountains, he relieved Mrs. Ladybug, who had been spying upon Betsy ever since their talk earlier in the day.

"She's behaved herself fairly well so far," Mrs. Ladybug whispered to Freddie, as she prepared to fly home to her children. "But there's no knowing when she may start for the farmhouse. So you mustn't take your eyes off her all night long!"

"You can trust me," Freddie assured her. And then Mrs. Ladybug said good evening.

* * * * *

Freddie Firefly always claimed that that was the longest night he ever spent. And he said that if he had realized that he would have to stay in one place from sunset to dawn he never would have agreed to watch Betsy Butterfly.

For Betsy Butterfly went to sleep the moment the sun went down. Freddie had to remain for hours and hours where he could flash his light upon her. And all the while he knew that his whole family was having a delightful time dancing in the hollow over towards the swamp.

It was especially hard for Freddie because he could see the gay lights of the Fireflies twinkling through the dark.

But Betsy Butterfly knew nothing of his long vigil. She slept and slept the whole night long. And Freddie Firefly had to admit to himself, as he watched her, that she didn't _act_ like a robber in the least.

XI

A SLY ONE

WHEN Freddie Firefly reported to Mrs. Ladybug and her neighbors that Betsy Butterfly had taken neither butter nor eggs from Farmer Green during the night the field people were much puzzled.

"She's certainly a sly one!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed. "What do you think we ought to do now?" she asked Daddy Longlegs, who was supposed to be very old, and therefore very wise.

"I think you ought to warn her," he replied, after some thought. "You ought to tell Betsy Butterfly that she must stop pilfering."

"No doubt your advice is good," Mrs. Ladybug observed. "And I'll speak to Betsy this very morning.... You must come with me," she told Daddy. "I naturally want to have a witness."

"Oh, I'll come!" he cried in his thin, quavering voice, though what she meant by a "witness" was more than he knew.

So Mrs. Ladybug and Daddy Longlegs set forth to find Betsy Butterfly. And behind them followed a crowd of their neighbors. Even lazy Buster Bumblebee joined the procession. Though he was a drone, and never worked, he was always ready to exert himself for the sake of any new excitement.

The strange company wandered back and forth across the meadow for some time without finding Betsy Butterfly. But at last Mrs. Ladybug spied her. And soon Betsy found herself surrounded by the mob.

"Goodness!" she cried, looking about her in surprise. "How nice of you all to call on me! I'm _so_ glad to see you!"

Betsy Butterfly was so cordial that Mrs. Ladybug couldn't help looking somewhat uncomfortable. She couldn't avoid a strange feeling of guilt. And yet she told herself that Betsy Butterfly was really the guilty one.

"She's a bold piece!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed, under her breath.

"Perhaps you won't be so happy to see us when you hear what we have to say to you," Mrs. Ladybug began.

"There hasn't been an accident, I hope!" Betsy cried. "Your house hasn't burned?"

"No!" replied Mrs. Ladybug. And again she said, "No!" in a very decided manner. "We've come to warn you that we've found out about your trickery," she announced. "We know that you like butter, and that you're in the habit of taking it from Farmer Green--yes! and eggs, too!"

"Why, I don't know what you're talking about!" Betsy Butterfly faltered. She was really greatly surprised.

"It won't help you to be untruthful," Mrs. Ladybug told her severely. "It's no wonder--" she added--"it's no wonder Mrs. Green wouldn't give me a bit of butter when I went to the farmhouse yesterday. She thought _I_ was the one that's been stealing it from her, right along."

And then Mrs. Ladybug was amazed by what followed. For Betsy Butterfly actually smiled at her.

"You're mistaken," she said. "I never eat butter. I don't like it. And as for eggs, how could I ever break through an egg-shell?"

"I don't know anything about that," said Mrs. Ladybug. "And besides, I didn't come here to be questioned," she added tartly. "If you have any questions to ask, just ask 'em of _him_, for he's seen you with your face buried in butter!" And she pointed at Daddy Longlegs.

And now it was _his_ turn to look uncomfortable. For he considered Betsy Butterfly to be very beautiful indeed.

XII

A TERRIBLE BLUNDER

WHEN the beautiful Betsy Butterfly turned her gaze on him, Daddy Longlegs couldn't help wishing that he had worn his new coat that day. However, he straightened his necktie carefully and tried to look as well as he could.

"So you've seen me eating butter, have you?" Betsy Butterfly asked him.

"Not _eating_ it!" he corrected her. "I've seen you _standing_ on it. And your face was hidden in it, too."

Mrs. Ladybug shot a triumphant glance at the crowd, of which she and Betsy Butterfly and Daddy Longlegs were the center.

"What have you to say now, my fine lady?" she demanded of Betsy with a sneer.

And still Betsy Butterfly was quite unruffled.

"Where did you see me doing that?" she asked Daddy Longlegs pleasantly enough.

"I object!" Mrs. Ladybug interrupted hastily. "You needn't answer her question," she advised Daddy Longlegs. "I know her tricks! She'll keep us talking here until we forget what our errand was!"

But Daddy Longlegs paid no attention to Mrs. Ladybug's advice.

"I saw you in this meadow," he explained.

And Mrs. Ladybug began to look somewhat worried.

"Come!" she cried. "Let's all go home now. We've warned her; and we'll leave her to think over what she's done.... I hope--" Mrs. Ladybug added, turning to Betsy Butterfly--"I hope you'll decide to turn over a new leaf."

"Why, that's exactly what she did, that time when I saw her!" Daddy Longlegs shouted. "While I was watching her I saw her turn over a leaf. So what's the use of her turning over another."

And now it was Mrs. Ladybug's turn to look amazed and bewildered.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she snapped, glaring at Daddy Longlegs. "And I don't believe you know, yourself."

"Oh! yes, I do!" he retorted shrilly.

"Butter has no leaves," said Mrs. Ladybug with a knowing air. "I saw heaps and heaps of it in Farmer Green's buttery yesterday. And there wasn't a leaf on it."

"How about eggs, then?" shouted somebody in the crowd. It was stupid Buster Bumblebee! And of course nobody paid any heed to his silly question.

As he stared at Mrs. Ladybug dully Daddy Longlegs let his mouth fall wide open.

"Why, what do you mean?" he demanded at last. "You and I aren't talking about the same sort of butter at all! You're describing the kind of butter that Mrs. Green makes at the farmhouse."

"And what, pray tell, have you been talking about all this time?" Mrs. Ladybug gasped.

"The butter-and-eggs in the meadow!" Daddy Longlegs informed her. "I suppose you know the plant, don't you?"

"I've heard of it," Mrs. Ladybug replied. "But I doubt if there is such a thing."

"And I say there is!" Buster Bumblebee clamored. "We Bumblebees are very fond of butter-and-eggs. And we're about the only field people that know how to open a blossom and reach its nectar."

Little Mrs. Ladybug waited to hear no more.

"You've made a terrible blunder!" she told Daddy Longlegs hurriedly. And before he could answer her she had hastened away.

Like many another jealous body, Mrs. Ladybug had behaved very foolishly. And it was no wonder that she wanted to get away from the crowd.

She didn't even beg Betsy Butterfly's pardon for calling her a thief. But all the rest of the field people realized at last that Betsy was no thief.

The butter-and-eggs plant, they were well aware, was as free as the clover, or the milk-weed blossoms, or any other of the wild flowers. Everybody knew that Farmer Green laid no claim to them, though they did grow in his meadow.

And when Betsy Butterfly thanked Daddy Longlegs for his explanation he wished more than ever that he had worn his new coat that day--and his new hat, too.

XIII

THE FRIENDLY STRANGER

OF course, anyone so beautiful as Betsy Butterfly was bound to attract attention. Wherever she went people turned their heads--if they could--to look at her. And those whose heads were so fastened to their bodies that they simply couldn't crane their necks at anybody--even those unlucky creatures wheeled themselves about in order to gaze at Betsy.

If they happened to be ladies they stared at her because they wanted to see what was the latest style in gowns, or maybe hats. And if they happened to be gentlemen they looked at her because they just couldn't help it.

It was no wonder, then, that Betsy Butterfly had many admirers. In fact, she was so accustomed to their flittering after her that usually she paid little heed to them. But now and then one of them made himself so agreeable that Betsy favored him slightly more than the others.

Such was a stranger dressed in yellowish brown whom she chanced to meet among the flowers one day. He was flying from flower to flower with a loud buzzing. And he reminded Betsy Butterfly of somebody, but she couldn't just think who it was.

"Ah!" said the stranger, as soon as he caught Betsy's eye. "The blossoms are fine and fresh after last night's shower, aren't they?"

Betsy had to admit that what the stranger said was true. And when he came right over to the flower where she was breakfasting and began buzzing around her, and eating pollen, Betsy Butterfly thought that for a stranger he seemed very friendly.

She looked at him for a time, out of the corner of her eye, while she tried to recall whom the newcomer resembled. But he looked like no one she had even seen. And then all at once Betsy knew what was so familiar about him. It was his voice!

"You remind me of a friend of mine," she remarked. "He lives in the meadow not far from here. It's your buzzing," she explained. "If I didn't see you I should think you were Buster Bumblebee."

Betsy's remark seemed to please the stranger. And he smiled smugly while he buzzed louder than ever.

"It's not surprising that I make you think of him," he observed. "Indeed it would be odd if I didn't, for I'm a sort of cousin of Buster's, so to speak. Perhaps you didn't know that my name is Bumble--Joseph Bumble."

Naturally Betsy and Joseph became good friends on the spot. And after that people often saw them rambling together among the flowers.

Now, Joseph Bumble proved to be a great talker. And since Betsy Butterfly was an excellent listener, they spent many agreeable hours together.

At least, Joseph enjoyed every minute that he spent in Betsy Butterfly's company. And if at times she found his prattle a bit tiresome, she was too well-mannered to say so.

If the truth were known, Joseph Bumble proved to be somewhat of a braggart. He was forever boasting of his connection with the Bumblebee family. And Betsy couldn't say anything to him without his remarking that his cousin Buster Bumblebee's mother, the well-known Queen, thought this or that.

"And being of royal blood, the Queen ought to know what's what," he frequently said.

"I suppose--" Betsy said to him at last--"I suppose you're of royal blood yourself, Mr. Bumble?"

"Oh, very!" he replied with a smirk. "We're all of us very royal indeed."

And Betsy Butterfly thought how pleasant it was to be friends with anyone who came from such a fine family as Joseph Bumble's.

XIV

A DEEP PLOT

AS time passed, Betsy continued to see a great deal of Joseph Bumble. And she noticed one peculiar thing: Although he talked continually of his cousin Buster Bumblebee, the Queen's son, no one had ever seen the two together.

"How does it happen," she asked Joseph at last, "that I never find you with your cousin? Aren't you friends?"

"We're certainly not _enemies_," said Joseph Bumble, "though I must admit that we're not quite so intimate as we might be. You see, Buster and I have different tastes. And now that the red clover is in blossom he spends all his time in the clover field. But as you know, like you I am very fond of flowers. And I'd far rather be here in the meadow--or the flower garden--with you, than in the clover patch with Buster Bumblebee."

Naturally such an answer was bound to please Betsy Butterfly. And after that she bothered her head no more about the friendship between the two cousins. Certainly Joseph Bumble's explanation sounded reasonable. And she had no cause to doubt his statement.

Meanwhile there were others among Betsy Butterfly's admirers who became very peevish on observing how much time Betsy and the newcomer in the neighborhood, Joseph Bumble, were spending in each other's society. And they agreed among themselves that something ought to be done to put an end to the upstart Bumble's boasting.

"Betsy Butterfly thinks the fellow is a cousin of Buster Bumblebee's," said Chirpy Cricket. "But I've noticed that he and Buster are never together. Let's ask Buster to come over to the meadow so that he may meet this cousin of his! And then perhaps we'll learn something more about Joseph Bumble than we know now."

Everybody said that that was a good plan. And Betsy's admirers chose Daddy Longlegs to call on Buster Bumblebee and invite him to a party to be given in the meadow the following day.

Daddy Longlegs agreed to do the errand, in spite of the fact that for him it was half a day's journey to the Bumblebee's home from the stone wall where he lived. But he thought that by hurrying he ought to be able to get back in time to put on his best coat and go to the party, though he might arrive somewhat late.

"Don't forget to ask Betsy Butterfly to the party!" Daddy called, as he started off on his long trip.

"Don't worry! I'll attend to that myself," Chirpy Cricket promised.

"And don't forget to invite Joseph Bumble!" Daddy cautioned him.

"Oh! we don't need to ask him," said Chirpy Cricket. "_He'll_ come without being invited, unless I'm greatly mistaken."

* * * * *

Luckily for Daddy Longlegs there was not a breath of wind either that day or the following one. So he made excellent time to the Bumblebee home, where he found Buster Bumblebee and gave him his invitation. Then Daddy turned around and started back towards his stone wall. Buster Bumblebee had promised to come to the party. And Daddy wanted to be present when the two cousins, Buster Bumblebee and Joseph Bumble, met--with Betsy Butterfly right there to watch them.

XV

JOSEPH BUMBLE'S COMPLAINT

IT happened just as Chirpy Cricket had expected. Betsy Butterfly arrived at the party with her admirer, Joseph Bumble, buzzing close behind her. Although he had not been invited, he did not feel the least bit shy about coming.

"Being of a royal family, I never wait to be asked to a place," he had explained loftily to Betsy. "And you'll see that everybody will be glad to see me at the party. People always consider it an honor to have me at their entertainments."

Joseph's words proved partly true, anyhow. Anyone could see that Joseph Bumble was more than welcome. Chirpy Cricket and Daddy Longlegs--as well good many others--rushed up to him and told him how pleased they were to see him.

And Joseph Bumble was having a very agreeable time talking in a loud voice about himself and his family when he suddenly stopped short. A look of displeasure crossed his face. And Daddy Longlegs asked him if he had eaten something that disagreed with him.