Old Primrose “129

houses, and had painted his clothes with
it; then he had dabbed brown spots all
along the back, and had painted his bald
head black ; so he really looked exactly
like a caterpillar unless one peered into
him and detected his spectacles, and boots,
and so on.

“What a great caterpillar!” exclaimed
Daisy Tinkler; “and how ugly it is—why,
it’s quite like old Mr. Primrose.”

Now this remark rather troubled old Re
for he could not feel certain whether Daisy
was really deceived, or whether she recog~
nised him and was poking fun at him.

However, he threw himself into the part,
and crawled slowly on his waistcoat to the
cabbage-bed, and all over the cabbages,
biting pieces out. There was one thing
which caused him great regret—he could
not for the life of him recollect what sort
of noise a caterpillar makes—whether it
grunts, or croaks, or squeaks, or hoots.

So he tried little short jerky grunts, and
looked out of the corner of his eye to see
how Daisy took it. He fancied Daisy

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