MRS. GREEN'S MISTAKE
MRS. LADYBUG spoke at last. Her listeners crowded close about her,jostling one another in their eagerness to hear every word she said. ForMrs. Ladybug was recounting her adventures at the farmhouse.
"I flew in through an open window," Mrs. Ladybug began. And she heaved adeep sigh, as if the telling of the tale was costing her much pain.
"I said nothing to anybody," she explained, "because I didn't wish totrouble the family. I knew I could find my way about the house after alittle. And it wasn't long before I had discovered the stairway.
"I didn't walk on the stairs for fear there might be mud on my feet,"said Mrs. Ladybug. "I didn't walk, but flew up to the second floor andwent into the first chamber I saw. There was a fine, big closet off thatroom. The door leading into it was ajar; so I had no trouble slippinginside it. And there, high up on a broad shelf, I picked out the veryspot where I could have spent the winter with every comfort in theworld."
At this point Mrs. Ladybug was overcome by her feelings for a fewmoments. But the company waited politely until she could go on with herstory.
She soon continued.
"All went well--" said Mrs. Ladybug--"all went well until one day--thismorning, to be exact--Mrs. Green opened the closet door and began tobrush and sweep and wipe and dust. I heard her say that she was doingher fall cleaning. And of course that pleased me; for I was glad tolearn that she was a neat housekeeper.
"And then--" here Mrs. Ladybug's voice broke slightly--"and then, thefirst thing I knew she spied me and cried 'Ah, ha! A Carpet Bug!'
"The next instant she whisked me off the shelf with a brush. Of course Iplayed dead the moment she touched me. And I fell into the dustpan andnever so much as wriggled a toe.
"Soon afterward Mrs. Green set the dustpan beside the window which shehad already opened. That was my chance. I seized it. I flew out of thewindow. And here I am."
Mrs. Ladybug's listeners shook their heads in sympathy.
"You had a narrow escape," they told her. "It's a wonder you got away."
"Yes!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "And I'm glad now that that window was open.But for a moment I didn't much care what became of me. To think thatanybody should mistake me for a Carpet Bug! Mrs. Green ought to knowthat the Carpet Bug family are covered with black, white and red scales.Ugh!"
Mrs. Ladybug shuddered. She was smooth and shiny herself. So it wasn'tstrange that she should have felt insulted.
"Anyhow," she added, "Mrs. Green is the loser. Toward spring I wouldhave kept her house plants free from insects. But now, of course, she'llhave to do that herself."
"Well," said the neighbors (or words to this effect), "we're glad to seeyou again. And now--tell us!--where do you expect to spend the winter?"
"I'll let you decide that," Mrs. Ladybug replied.
THE END.
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