<h2><SPAN name="VII" id="VII"></SPAN>VII</h2>
<h3>BUTTERFLY BILL</h3>
<p><span class="smcap">Now</span>, 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:</p>
<p>"I suppose you'll dust the rest of us,
too?"</p>
<p>"Only those that need it!" replied Mrs.
Ladybug.</p>
<p>"Then you'll have your hands full,"
Butterfly Bill told her. "Maybe you<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_33" id="p_33"></SPAN></span>
haven't noticed that every member of the
Butterfly family in Pleasant Valley is
covered with dust just as Betsy is."</p>
<p>Mrs. Ladybug looked surprised.</p>
<p>"Is that so?" she said faintly.</p>
<p>"It certainly is!" Bill cried. "Maybe
you never knew that the dust is what
gives us our—<i>ahem</i>—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."</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Then Betsy's cousin nodded approvingly.</p>
<p>"Now you'd better hurry home," he told
Mrs. Ladybug. "There's a rumor around
the meadow that your house is on fire.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_34" id="p_34"></SPAN></span>
And they say your children are in great
danger."</p>
<p>Little Mrs. Ladybug at once fell to
weeping.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"There, there! Don't be frightened!"
Betsy Butterfly said to her soothingly.
"It's only a rumor, you know."</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_35" id="p_35"></SPAN></span>
after my own family a little more carefully,
instead of troubling myself with
other people's affairs."</p>
<p>Several of Bill's friends applauded his
speech. But Betsy Butterfly whispered
to him to hush.</p>
<p>"Don't you see that Mrs. Ladybug is
not quite herself?" she asked him.</p>
<p>But Butterfly Bill was not a person to
be easily silenced like that.</p>
<p>"She's a meddling busybody!" he declared.
"And it's my opinion that she
ought to be put where she'll have to mind
her own business."</p>
<p>"Who—me?" called a wheezing voice
right in his ear.</p>
<p>Turning, Butterfly Bill saw that it was
Jennie Junebug who had spoken to him.
She had noticed the crowd from a distance.
And she had just arrived, quite
out of breath.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_36" id="p_36"></SPAN></span>Before Betsy Butterfly's cousin Bill
could answer, Jennie Junebug actually
threatened him.</p>
<p>"If you were talking about me I shall
have to knock you down," she declared.</p>
<p>He had heard that Jennie delighted in
flying <i>bang</i> into anybody. But he did
not know that she indulged in that unladylike
trick <i>only after dark</i>.</p>
<p>"Of course I didn't mean you!" he said
hastily.</p>
<p>"And I hope you didn't mean my
friend Mrs. Ladybug, either," Jennie Junebug
added. "For if you did——"</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"They're certainly a peculiar lot—that
Butterfly family!" she muttered.</p>
<hr class="chapter" />
<p class="chapter"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_37" id="p_37"></SPAN></span></p>
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