The Tale of Betsy Butterfly Part 9

"I ought to be," replied Jimmy Rabbit, "because I painted it myself, the very next day after I finished a portrait of old Mr. Crow."

"It ought to be a good one, if you made it," said Freddie. "But wasn't it some time ago that you were an artist?"

"It was earlier in the summer," Jimmy Rabbit admitted. "Of course, Betsy b.u.t.terfly has changed somewhat since then. But this picture was a fine likeness of her at the time I painted it.... I suppose," he added, "I was the first one in the whole valley to perceive that she was going to be a beauty when she got her full growth."

"Do you suppose she'll send me the picture, if I ask her, so I can show it to Dusty Moth?" Freddie asked.

Jimmy Rabbit looked a bit doubtful. He pondered for a few moments. And then he said:

"I'll tell you what I'll do! To-morrow morning I'll see Betsy and I've no doubt that she'll loan me the picture if I promise to return it to her."

"That'll be great!" cried Freddie. "Meet me near the duck pond as soon as it's dark to-morrow night; and be sure to bring Betsy's picture with you!"

Then Freddie Firefly hurried off to find Dusty Moth, who happened likewise to be looking for him, because he had a question to ask.

They met shortly. And Dusty Moth immediately cried:

"Have you heard from her?"--meaning Betsy b.u.t.terfly, of course.

"Now, see here!" Freddie Firefly said. "It's plain enough that Betsy doesn't care to meet you. But I have a plan that ought to suit you well enough. If you could look at her picture once you'd be satisfied, wouldn't you?"

"I would--" replied Dusty Moth--"if I got my appet.i.te back afterward."

"Well, will you promise to stop pestering me about Betsy b.u.t.terfly if I let you see this picture of her?"

"Yes! yes!" Dusty promised impatiently. "Where is it? Quick! Let me see it!"

"Oh! You'll have to wait till to-morrow night," Freddie explained.

"I shall not be able to eat a single mouthful till then!" Dusty Moth groaned.

"Well--you can suit yourself about that," Freddie told him impatiently.

"And please don't speak to me again to-night! I've been troubled enough on your account without being bothered by you any more."

"One moment!" cried Dusty, as Freddie Firefly started to leave him.

"Well--what do you want now?" Freddie growled, flas.h.i.+ng his light impatiently in Dusty Moth's eyes.

"Are you sure she will let you take the picture?" Dusty asked him.

"Yes! yes! Of course she will! Why shouldn't she, I should like to know?

You certainly do ask the silliest questions!"

And yet Freddie Firefly had put the same query himself, to Jimmy Rabbit, only a short time before. But now he was quite certain that his worries were almost at an end.

"Betsy b.u.t.terfly has caused me a powerful lot of trouble!" Freddie grumbled, as he hurried over the hollow, to join in the dance of the Firefly family.

XX

SOMETHING SEEMS WRONG

WHEN Jimmy Rabbit went to see Betsy b.u.t.terfly the next morning he found her quite willing to let him take her picture away with him.

"But I must say--" Betsy remarked--"I must say that I don't understand why anybody should want to borrow this old portrait. Everyone tells me I have changed a great deal since you made it."

"That's true," Jimmy Rabbit agreed. "But the person to whom I'm going to show it won't know the difference."

"I don't believe he knows me, then," she remarked.

"No! And probably he never will," said Jimmy Rabbit. "But don't you worry about that! From what I hear of him, he's a good deal of a bore."

"Don't bother to bring back that picture!" she called to Jimmy Rabbit as he hopped away.

"I'm afraid Betsy b.u.t.terfly is growing vain," he murmured to himself.

"To be sure, she _has_ changed. But I shall always like this portrait of her, because I painted it myself."

Later, when he was in Farmer Green's garden, he wrapped the picture carefully in a rhubarb leaf and hid it beneath a pile of brush. And he didn't come back for it until after dark, just as the moon peeped above the rim of the hills.

At the duck pond Jimmy Rabbit found Freddie Firefly waiting for him, hopping up and down and flas.h.i.+ng his light through the misty gloom.

"Did you get it?" Freddie demanded.

"It's safe in my pocket," Jimmy a.s.sured him.

"Let me have it!" said Freddie. "Dusty Moth is waiting for me at the fence-corner, near the orchard. And I want to give him a good look at Betsy b.u.t.terfly's picture before the moon gets too high, for he can't see well if there's too much light."

Jimmy Rabbit drew the picture carefully from his pocket. And Freddie Firefly took it and slung it across his back. He fairly staggered under the weight.

"Aren't you going to look at Betsy's picture yourself?" Jimmy Rabbit asked him. "It's a good bit of work, if I do say so."

"Oh! I don't care about seeing it. It's nothing to me, you know," said Freddie carelessly. "But I hope Dusty Moth will be satisfied with it."

"Well, I won't go with you, to see if he is," Jimmy Rabbit told him. "I usually have a light lunch at this hour. So I'll meet you here at the duck pond after I come back from the cabbage patch."

They parted then. And shortly afterward Freddie Firefly dropped down beside Dusty Moth, who made no attempt to conceal his pleasure.

"At last!" he cried. "At last I am to behold the beautiful Betsy b.u.t.terfly's picture!... I do hope it's a good likeness!" he added as he began, with trembling hands, to unwrap the rhubarb covering from the portrait.

"It certainly is," Freddie Firefly a.s.sured him. "It was made by a friend of mine, who once painted a famous picture of old Mr. Crow."

While Freddie danced along the top of the fence, Dusty Moth carried the picture into the shade of an apple tree, out of the moonlight, so that he might see it more clearly.

A few moments later Freddie Firefly was both surprised and alarmed to hear a cry of anguish from the direction of the apple tree.

"What's the matter?" he called. "There's nothing wrong, I hope?"