so well.

"_Bon jour, mademoiselle!_" said the Butterfly, who always spoke in a
foreign tongue when there was no need for it, and then he continued in
his own, for he was not very perfect in the foreign tongue after all.
"How charming you look this morning! What shall we do to the Lilac for
denying us so long the sight of your beauty? I say, Moth, we shall have
to attend to that fellow." The Moth, who remained in a corner merely
bowed and smiled; he was not so brilliant as his companion, and besides
was always in a state of anxiety about his coat, which was liable to be
rubbed.

"Oh, Mr. Butterfly," said the Rose, "the Lilac is not to blame, and the
day is all the more charming for being a little later."

"It is not the day that is so charming," said the Butterfly with a
smirk. "But we have a few calls yet to make--seventy-five or a hundred,
say. Come, Moth. _Au revoir, Mademoiselle_," and they fluttered off.
"Did you see her blush, Moth, when I said that about the day not being
so charming?" said the Butterfly. "That's what they like. Halloa! there
goes that simpleton of a Humming-Bird. He thinks he's got the gayest
coat in the Garden. What a conceited fellow!"

He said this loud enough for the Humming-Bird to hear, but that graceful
creature took no notice of it. He also was out, but he made only one
call, and that was to the Honeysuckle, for they were betrothed. Of
course it never would do to say what they whispered to each other.

The Spring Crocus also kept open house, though she was so old that the
others said it was all affectation. But she dressed herself in a yellow
dress, which, however, did not make her look any younger. She had one
caller. It was the Grasshopper, who was clad in his major's uniform. He
came along the Garden walk that led to the Crocus in a very formal
fashion, taking step with great precision, for he went exactly the same
distance at each spring, and halted the same length of time between the
jumps. The last spring--for he had calculated it exactly--landed him by
the Crocus. The Crocus, who had watched him coming, was highly flattered
though rather flustered. It was the first call she had received that
day, and she had even feared she might not receive any.

"Your most obedient, madam," said the Grasshopper, lifting his elbow.

"Yes, a very warm day," said the Crocus, not quite at her ease.

"The Lilac is later than usual," continued the Grasshopper.

"Oh, yes, the Lilac, yes," said