<h2><SPAN name="XI" id="XI"></SPAN>XI</h2>
<h3>A SLY ONE</h3>
<p><span class="smcap">When</span> 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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>"I think you ought to warn her," he replied,
after some thought. "You ought to
tell Betsy Butterfly that she must stop
pilfering."</p>
<p>"No doubt your advice is good," Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_53" id="p_53"></SPAN></span>
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."</p>
<p>"Oh, I'll come!" he cried in his thin,
quavering voice, though what she meant
by a "witness" was more than he knew.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_54" id="p_54"></SPAN></span>"Goodness!" she cried, looking about her
in surprise. "How nice of you all to call
on me! I'm <i>so</i> glad to see you!"</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"She's a bold piece!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed,
under her breath.</p>
<p>"Perhaps you won't be so happy to see
us when you hear what we have to say to
you," Mrs. Ladybug began.</p>
<p>"There hasn't been an accident, I hope!"
Betsy cried. "Your house hasn't burned?"</p>
<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_55" id="p_55"></SPAN></span>
you're in the habit of taking it from
Farmer Green—yes! and eggs, too!"</p>
<p>"Why, I don't know what you're talking
about!" Betsy Butterfly faltered. She was
really greatly surprised.</p>
<p>"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>I</i> was the one that's
been stealing it from her, right along."</p>
<p>And then Mrs. Ladybug was amazed by
what followed. For Betsy Butterfly actually
smiled at her.</p>
<p>"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?"</p>
<p>"I don't know anything about that,"
said Mrs. Ladybug. "And besides, I didn't<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_56" id="p_56"></SPAN></span>
come here to be questioned," she added
tartly. "If you have any questions to ask,
just ask 'em of <i>him</i>, for he's seen you with
your face buried in butter!" And she
pointed at Daddy Longlegs.</p>
<p>And now it was <i>his</i> turn to look uncomfortable.
For he considered Betsy Butterfly
to be very beautiful indeed.</p>
<hr class="chapter" />
<p class="chapter"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="p_57" id="p_57"></SPAN></span></p>
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