134 Old Primrose

me as a favour, before he started, to look to
things in his absence.”

You see George was artfully clearing the
way for himself.

Old Primrose now decided that the right
time had come for him to turn into a grub ;
so he lay down quite still on the garden seat,
having covered himself with great cabbage-
leaves. He gave his mind to trying to
shrink and turn a dirty brown all over.

Daisy came from time to time, and turned
up a corner of a cabbage-leaf, to see how he
was getting on.

“ Mustn’t dfsturb him too much just now,”
remarked George the pig, casually strolling
up. “Very critical time with caterpillars.
Need complete repose and quiet.”

Nevertheless Daisy, being inquisitive,
could not resist the temptation to go and
peep daily at old P.; and now old P. had
another trouble—he had neglected to inquire
what sort of noise grubs make. He knew
that the sound would not be likely to be the
same as that made by the caterpillar; and
it occurred to him that the grub, being in a