"I only meant, sir," she stammered,--"I only meant--I--did n't think
you were very humble, because you seemed very proud about the place
being yours. I thought you were 'stuck up,' as my brother says."

"Stuck up? Where?" queried Mr. Bombus, anxiously. "Pray don't make
such unpleasant insinuations. They quite set my heart to throbbing.
I knew--I mean I saw a humble-bee once," he remarked impressively, "and
would you believe it, a little boy caught him and impaled him on a pin.
It was horrible. He died in the most dreadful agony,--the bee, not the
boy,--and then the boy secured him to the wall; made him fast there.
So he was stuck up. You surely can't mean--"

"Oh, no, indeed! I meant only proud," replied Betty, contritely; for
Mr. Bombus's face had really grown pale with horror at the remembrance
of the bee's awful fate, and she was very sorry she had occasioned him
such discomfort.

"Then why did n't you say only 'proud'?" asked her companion, sharply.
"You said 'proud,' and then added 'stuck up.'"

Betty thought it was about time to change the subject, so she observed
quietly that By-and-by seemed a long way off.

"Of course it is a long way off," replied her companion. "Don't you
wish it to be a long way off?"

Betty hesitated. "Well, I don't think I ever wished much about it.
Can you tell me how many miles it is from some place I know about? You
see, Mr. Bombus, I am pretty sure it is n't in the geography. At
least, I don't remember that I ever saw it on the map. Could n't you