"You might better have spent a little of your time in a different way," Mrs. Ladybug remarked with a frown.
[p. 25]Betsy Butterfly looked up in surprise, withdrawing her long tongue from the blossom in which she had just buried it.
"Ugh!" A shudder shook prim Mrs. Ladybug. "Please coil your tongue!" she begged. "I can't bear the sight of it. But I must say that I ought not to expect good manners in a person who goes about looking as untidy as you do."
Betsy Butterfly laughed gaily.
"I didn't know you were such a joker!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm not joking," Mrs. Ladybug said. "I mean every word I say."
"Then I wouldn't talk so much, if I were you," Betsy Butterfly advised her with a merry twinkle in her eye. And before Mrs. Ladybug could say another word Betsy Butterfly flew away and left her spluttering and choking.
[p. 26]"She insulted me!" Mrs. Ladybug screamed, as soon as she was able to speak. "She insulted me. And then she hurried off because she didn't dare stay!"
But Mrs. Ladybug was mistaken about one thing. Betsy Butterfly knew that she had just time to reach home before sunset. So that was why she left so suddenly. For she never was willing to travel when the sun was not shining.
"I'll see Betsy in the morning," Mrs. Ladybug promised herself savagely. "I'll make it my business to follow her everywhere she goes, until I've given her a good talking to."