Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/241

Rh he would spin himself into a chrysalis; for, as the cover of the box fell off, out dropped, not  only the captive worm, now dead, but also a  multitude of little yellow wrigglers, that quickly  squirmed away.

“The worst of it all is,” said Bess ruefully, when her mother brought up the subject, “people seem to think that I am having this done for my own especial pleasure and profit. I don’t see what they think I want of them, unless I collect them, as the Chinese do the bones of their ancestors and friends, to bury them in some particular, consecrated spot. I was writing the other day, in a great hurry to finish my letter  to Mr. Allen in time for the steamer, when  Bridget came up to my room, and said some  little girls wanted to see me. I went down to the back door, and there stood the five Tracy  children, in a row. As soon as I appeared, the oldest, who acted as spokeswoman, came forward and solemnly presented me with three  tattered butterflies. I had such hard work to be just grateful enough to satisfy them, and yet  not encourage them to bring me any more. And the last time Mrs. Walsh called, that day