"Oh," said the other, "they'll go home and talk of me for days to come; I should not wonder if they expected to see me returning in search of them within a short time, as not being able to live out of their company." The old gentleman then turned to the young woman, who had sat a silent spectator like the Butterfly, and bade her take a lesson from what she had seen and heard, not to believe what was said to her; "you may perhaps one day or other meet with an idle fellow," continued he "who may think proper to amuse himself by talking thus, but do not you pay so ill a compliment to your own understanding, as to sit with a simper on your countenance at whatever nonsense he may chuse to utter."
The young woman expressed her thanks, while the disconsolate beau sat with his head half out of the window, as if wishing to avoid any farther conversation.
The weather seemed now cleared away, the wind and the rain had ceased, and the Butterfly began to prepare for flight. On seeing this the old gentleman said, "Ah, go, poor harmless creature, I am glad for your sake, and this young woman's, that I have travelled this way to-day, or neither of you would have been admitted."
Our adventurer would have thanked him if he could, and leaving the window had the pleasure of seeing he was very near the place he wished to be in; he saw some hives at a distance, and among them was his friend's abode, who, on seeing his approach, came to meet him, and to whom the Butterfly, after they had expressed their pleasure at again being together, related the adventures he had met with, particularly the way in which he had been brought back, and many were the moralizing remarks occasioned by the recital of what had passed during his ride.
"The race of human beings must certainly be degenerated," observed the Bee, "since all other creatures were first put under their subjection, and in no other way can I account for the superior conduct, and in many respects the superior wisdom also, of those whom they think so much below them."
The Butterfly then asked in what state of forwardness the new hive was in, and was happy to learn, that during his absence they had nearly completed the building within it, and that his friend was now ready to accompany him on his flights as usual.
[CHAP. VII.]
"Not all that tempts your wandering eyes,
"And heedless hearts, is lawful prize,
"Nor all that glitters gold."