ing _bang_ into anybody. But
he did not know that she indulged in that unladylike trick _only after
dark_.

"Of course I didn't mean you!" he said hastily.

"And I hope you didn't mean my friend Mrs. Ladybug, either," Jennie
Junebug added. "For if you did----"

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.