or of the lake.
You'd have thought there were two dragon-flies. Both moved their
crystal wings so swiftly and finely that it seemed as though a
brilliant sheen of silver were streaming around them.

Maya quite forgot her grief over poor Jack Christopher and all
sense of her own danger.

"How lovely! How lovely!" she cried enthusiastically, clapping
her hands.

"Do you mean me?" The dragon-fly spoke in astonishment, but
quickly added: "Yes, I must admit I am fairly presentable.
Yesterday I was flying along the brook, and you should have
heard some human beings who were lying on the bank rave
over me."

"Human beings!" exclaimed Maya. "Oh my, did you see human
beings?"

"Of course," answered the dragon-fly. "But you'll be very
interested to know my name, I'm sure. My name is Loveydear,
of the order Odonata, of the family Libellulidae."

"Oh, do tell me about human beings," implored Maya, after she
had introduced herself.

The dragon-fly seemed won over. She seated herself on the leaf
beside Maya. And the little bee let her, knowing Miss Loveydear
would be careful not to come too close.

"Have human beings a sting?" she asked.

"Good gracious, what would they do with a sting! No, they have
worse weapons against us, and they are very dangerous. There
isn't a soul who isn't afraid of them, especially of the little
ones whose two legs show--the boys."

"Do they try to catch you?" asked Maya, breathless with
excitement.

"Yes, can't you understand why?" Miss Loveydear glanced at her
wings. "I have seldom met a human being who hasn't tried to
catch me."

"But why?" asked Maya in a tremor.

"You see," said Miss Loveydear, with a modest smirk and a
drooping, sidewise glance, "there's something attractive about
us dragon-flies. That's the only reason I know. Some members of
our family who let themselves be caught went through the
cruellest tortures and finally died."

"Were they eaten up?"

"No, no, not exactly that," said Miss Loveydear comfortingly.
"So far as is known, man does not feed on dragon-flies. But
sometimes he has murderous desires, a lust for killing, which
will probably never be explained. You may not believe it, but
cases have actually occurred of the so-called boy-men catching
dragon-flies and pulling off their legs and wings for pure
pleasure. You doubt it, don't you?"

"Of course I doubt it," cried Maya indignantly.

Miss Loveydear shrugged her glistening shoulders. Her face
looked o