And strange to say, Mrs. Ladybug couldn't have
told exactly what it was in her cousin that displeased her. It wasn't
alone the yellow gown that the new cousin wore. Nor her simpering smile.
Nor her trifling manner. It was something else--something that made
Mrs. Ladybug feel that she was not to be trusted.

"I must hurry back to the orchard," Mrs. Ladybug announced. "There's
work waiting for me there. I really ought not to have left it to come to
see you."

"Don't take your work so seriously!" her cousin advised her. "You ought
to take more time for amusement. I hope you'll come to see me often."

Mrs. Ladybug's opinion of the stranger sank even lower.

"If some of us weren't earnest about our work the rest of the world
would have a sorry time," she declared. "I may as well tell you that I
shall not be able to call on you again. I shall be too busy. And there's
no use of my urging you to come to see me, because of course you have
your work to do too."

"Oh, naturally!" said Mrs. Ladybug's cousin with an odd smile. "Still, I
could leave it once in a while to make a cousinly call."

"It won't be necessary," Mrs. Ladybug told her. "If I need you, I'll
send for you." And she said to herself grimly, under her breath, "She'll
never hear from me."

"If I can help you at any time, don't fail to let me know," the cousin
told Mrs. Ladybug. "Doubtless I could be of some service, though I'd
always rather work on vines--squash and pumpkin preferred."

Mrs. Ladybug thanked her. "I shouldn't want her helping me," she
thought. "I'll warrant she's so careless that she would do more harm
than good." And Mrs. Ladybug looked at the vine on which they were
standing.

"I see you're helping Farmer Green with his squash vines at present,"
she remarked aloud.

"Yes!" said her cousin. "I have this one almost finished."

"Good!" said Mrs. Ladybug. And she took a closer look at the vine. It
seemed far from healthy. In fact she noticed that the leaves were
tattered and torn.

"What are these great holes in the squash leaves?" she inquired.

Her cousin fidgeted and made no reply. Glancing at her, Mrs. Ladybug
thought she was growing a bit red in the face.

Then all at once Mrs. Ladybug guessed the dreadful truth.

"You've been _eating_ these leaves!" she cried.

Her cousin tossed her head.

"A person has to eat something," she retorted.

Mrs. Ladybug threw up her hands.

"I _knew_ you weren't trustworthy," she muttered. "I _