The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug: Chapter 24

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. For Mrs. Ladybug was recounting her adventures at the farmhouse.

"I flew in through an open window," Mrs. Ladybug began. And she heaved a deep 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 to trouble the family. I knew I could find my way about the house after a little. 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 and went into the first chamber I saw. There was a fine, big closet off that room. The door leading into it was ajar; so I had no trouble slipping inside it. And there, high up on a broad shelf, I picked out the very spot where I could have spent the winter with every comfort in the world."

At this point Mrs. Ladybug was overcome by her feelings for a few moments. But the company waited politely until she could go on with her story.

She soon continued.

"All went well--" said Mrs. Ladybug--"all went well until one day--this morning, to be exact--Mrs. Green opened the closet door and began to brush and sweep and wipe and dust. I heard her say that she was doing her fall cleaning. And of course that pleased me; for I was glad to learn that she was a neat housekeeper.

"And then--" here Mrs. Ladybug's voice broke slightly--"and then, the first 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 I played dead the moment she touched me. And I fell into the dustpan and never so much as wriggled a toe.

"Soon afterward Mrs. Green set the dustpan beside the window which she had already opened. That was my chance. I seized it. I flew out of the window. 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 that anybody should mistake me for a Carpet Bug! Mrs. Green ought to know that 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't strange that she should have felt insulted.

"Anyhow," she added, "Mrs. Green is the loser. Toward spring I would have kept her house plants free from insects. But now, of course, she'll have to do that herself."

"Well," said the neighbors (or words to this effect), "we're glad to see you 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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