Billy.
"I guess it would," replied Betsy.
"Have you a box that I could put it in?" asked Billy.
"I'll go see," said Betsy, running off to the house.
In a few moments she returned with an empty candy box. "You can have this," she said.
With a little twig Billy guided the worm into the box.
Just then Thumpy trotted past the children. He was carrying a bone in his mouth and he was covered with soft earth. "Oh, Thumpy!" cried Betsy. "You've been digging!"
"And he has dug up a bone," said Billy.
Thumpy started off on a run. He was afraid the children might take his bone away from him. He had dug deep for that bone and he didn't mean to lose it now.
But the children were too much interested in the worm to bother about Thumpy and his bone.
"You don't mind if I take this worm home, do you, Betsy?" asked Billy.
"No," replied Betsy, "but I would like to see it when it turns into a butterfly."
"Oh, sure!" said Billy, as he put the lid on the box.
After about a half hour Billy went home. He carried the box very carefully.
Betsy played in the garden until dinner time. When Mother called her, she went upstairs to wash her hands. Suddenly she remembered her lovely dress. She had forgotten to hang it up.
She went to her closet and took out a hanger. Then she went into the guest room. Betsy took one look at the bed. Then she screamed. "Thumpy! Thumpy!" For there lay Thumpy, sound asleep, in the very middle of Betsy's pink taffeta dress.
Thumpy jumped from the bed and dashed out of the room. To Betsy's horror, there lay the bone, right in the center of her pink skirt. The marks of Thumpy's paws were all over the dress.
"Oh, Mother! Mother!" she screamed. "Mother, come quick!"
Mother came running up the stairs. When she saw Betsy's dress, she said, "Oh, Betsy! Why didn't you hang it up as I asked you to?"
Betsy began to cry. "I forgot, Mother," she sobbed. "I went out into the garden to see Billy. And now my dress is spoiled and I won't be able to be a flower girl."
By this time Father had arrived. He had come upstairs to see what was the trouble.
Mother picked up the bone and handed it to Father. "Here," she said, "do take this awful bone."
Father took the bone downstairs and Mother picked up Betsy's dress. "Well, it certainly is a sight," she said. "What will I ever do with it?"
Just then Father came dashing up the stairs, two steps at a time. "Give it to me, right away," he said. "It's five minutes of six. If I can get it to the cleaner's by six o'clock, it will be back by six o'clock tomorrow night."
Father flew down the stairs with the dress under his arm. Betsy tore after him. "Let me go with you, Father," she cried. "Please let me go with you."
Father jumped into the car and Betsy climbed in after him.
"I couldn't stand waiting for you to come back," said Betsy, as Father started the car. "I have to see if the cleaner is still open."
Father drove as fast as he could. Soon they were on the main street. There was a good bit of traffic and Father had to slow down. At the next corner there was a traffic light. Father had to stop. "At this rate we won't make it," he said.
"Oh, Father! We have to make it," said Betsy.
Just then Betsy spied Mr. Kilpatrick, the policeman who always took the children across the street.
When Mr. Kilpatrick saw Betsy, he called out, "Hello, Little Red Ribbons. How are you?"
"Just awful," replied Betsy.
"What's that?" said Mr. Kilpatrick, walking over to the car.
Betsy began to cry again, so Father told Mr. Kilpatrick that they were rushing to the cleaner's with Betsy's flower girl dress.
Mr. Kilpatrick jumped on the running board. He blew his whistle. "Step on it," he said to Betsy's father.
Father stepped on the gas and the car shot ahead. Mr. Kilpatrick kept blowing his whistle and Father drove like the wind, right down the middle of the main street. In no time at all they reached the cleaner's shop. Mr. Kilpatrick took the dress from Father. Before Father had come to a full