merely due to his being too
fat. But he saw no reason for quarreling with him.

"Can't you think of some plan by which I could meet Betsy Butterfly?"
Dusty Moth persisted. "Perhaps if I could see her just once I'd be able
to get my mind _off_ her--and _on_ my meals again."

"I don't know how I can help you," Freddie Firefly confessed. "You see,
Betsy goes home exactly at sunset. And at present she never seems to
make her home in the same place for even two nights. So one can never be
sure where she will be.

"Of course, when the sun is shining you can always find her among the
flowers. But that won't help you any, because you're such a sleepy-head
in the daytime that you couldn't see anything even if it was stuck right
into your eyes."

"Can't you explain my sad case to Betsy Butterfly?" Dusty Moth asked
hopefully. "I've heard that she's very kind-hearted. And if she knew how
I'm suffering on her account I'm sure she'd be glad to meet me some
pleasant, dark night."

He begged so piteously that in the end Freddie Firefly agreed to do what
he could.

"But I warn you--" he said--"I warn you that I can't give you much
hope."

XVIII

SOLOMON OWL'S IDEA

FREDDIE FIREFLY actually did send a message to Betsy Butterfly, telling
her that Dusty Moth wanted to see her, and saying that unless she would
agree to meet him in the meadow some night soon, Dusty was afraid he
would lose his appetite entirely.

But Betsy thought the whole affair was only a joke. So she merely
laughed--and sent Freddie no answer at all; for she hardly believed
that she needed to explain to him that nothing could induce her to
stir out after sunset.

Freddie Firefly was much upset because he received no answer to his
message. Perhaps he would not have cared so much had Dusty Moth not made
his life miserable each night from dusk to dawn. But that persistent
fellow kept asking Freddie every few minutes if he had "heard from her"
yet. And naturally anyone would grow tired if he had to keep saying "No!
no! no!" all night long.

At the same time Dusty Moth kept insisting in a most annoying way that
if he lost much more of his appetite he would be ill, and it would be
Freddie Firefly's fault.

So Freddie Firefly began to worry. He came finally to detest Dusty Moth.
And Freddie's family noticed that he was growing quite thin, because
Dusty Moth left him little time--between questions--in which to eat his
meals comfortably.

"I declare,