"You don't quite mean that, Mollie," her aunt said gravely. "The
Patchwork Society can't afford to lose one of its members, certainly not
for so small a difference as the choice of a seat. We must have Fanny
back, if I give up my seat to her. But come into this room, girls. I
have something pretty to show you. Softly! or you will frighten him
away."

There was a honeysuckle vine trained close to the window, in full bloom,
and darting in and out among the flowers, taking a sip now and then from
a honey-cup, or resting on a leaf or twig, was a large butterfly with
black-velvet wings and spots and bands of blue and red and yellow.

"O you beauty!" said Miss Ruth. "Do you know, girls, of all the moths
and butterflies I have raised from the larvæ,--and I have had Painted
Ladies, and Luna Moths, and one lovely Cecropia which was the admiration
of all beholders,--my favorite has always been the Swallow-tailed?
Perhaps it was because he was my first love. I was no older than you,
Nellie, when, half curious and half disgusted, I held at arm's length on
a bit of fennel-stalk, and dropped in an old ribbon-box Aunt Susan
provided for the purpose, the great green worm that, after various
stages of insect life, turned into just such a beautiful creature as you
see flying about among the flowers. Since then I have raised dozens of
them."

"I don't see how you could have any thing to do with worms," said Eliza
Jones. "I hate them--the horrid, squirming things!"

"So did I, Eliza, till I studied into their ways and learned what
wonderful things they can do; and now, I assure you, I have a high
respect and admiration for them."