s
sitting.

"I think you 're real mean," said Betty, as he slowly recovered
himself; "I don't like folks to laugh at me, now!"

"I 'm not laughing at you _now_," explained the humble-bee, gravely; "I
was laughing at you _then_. Do you object to that?"

Betty disdained to reply, and began to pull a dry clover-blossom to
pieces.

"Tut, tut, child! Don't be so touchy! A body can laugh, can't he, and
no harm done? You 'd better be good-tempered and jolly, and then I 'll
tell you where I 'm going,--which, I believe, was what you wished to
know in the first place, was n't it?"

Betty nodded her head, but did not speak.

"Oho!" said the humble-bee, rising and preparing to take his departure.
And now Betty discovered, on seeing him more closely, that he was not a
humble-bee at all, but just a very corpulent old gentleman dressed in
quite an antique fashion, with black knee-breeches, black silk
stockings, black patent-leather pumps with large buckles, a most
elaborate black velvet waistcoat with yellow and orange stripes across,
and a coat of black velvet to correspond with the breeches; while in
his hand he carried a very elegant three-cornered hat, which, out of
respect to her, he had removed from his head at the first moment of
their meeting. "So we are sulky?" he went on. "Dear, dear! That is a
very disagreeable condition to allow one's self to relapse into. H'm,
h'm! very unpleasant, very! Under the circumstances I think I 'd
better be going; for if you 'll believe me, I 'm pressed for time, and
have none to waste, and only came back to converse with you because you
addressed a civil question to me, which, being a gentleman, I was bound
to answer. Good--"

He would have said "by;" but Betty sprang to her feet and cried:
"Please don't leave me. I 'll be good and pleasant, only please don't
go. _Please_ tell me where you 're going, and if--if you would be so
good, I 'd like ever and ever so much to go along. Don't--do--may I?"

The little gentleman looked her over from head to foot, and then
replied in a hesitating sort of way: "You may not be aware of it, but
you are extremely incautious. What would you do if I were to whisk you
off and never bring you back, eh?"

"You don't look like a kidnapper, sir," said Betty, respectfully.

"A what?" inquired the little gentleman.

"A kidnapper," repeated Betty.

"What's that?" questioned her companion.

"Oh, a person who steals little children. Don't yo