WORRY, THE MATURE 91 



she was queen of the air ; what matter the germs of 

 death they were but sticky fun to her. 



Our germ-laden fly now led a life of busy days and 

 peaceful nights. She wandered from house to house, 

 contaminating food and milk. Sometimes she found 

 herself imprisoned in a room, and she spent many 

 weary hours crawling up and down the window-pane in 

 the hope of obtaining her freedom ; she saw the daylight 

 outside but could not understand the glass which stood 

 between her and liberty. Some one kindly though 

 unintentionally assisted her by opening the window, and 

 again she set out on her wanderings. One morning 

 she awoke in a bedroom, and she amused herself by 

 settling persistently on the face of its sleeping occupant ; 

 he brushed her away, and she amused herself by play- 

 ing hide-and-seek with his hand. She waited until 

 he slept again and then returned to his face once 

 more. Again he drove her away and again she re- 

 turned. This all pleased her mightily. Then she 

 was nearly caught in the net which Scraggy, the 

 spider, had spun ; but she escaped by a sidelong turn 

 of her wings. Once she found herself in the sick-room 

 of a child. She heard the doctor giving the nurse 

 instructions. " The child has typhoid, and you must 

 give her nothing but milk, good, new, fresh milk with 

 a little water or soda-water. Please see that the 

 patient has nothing but milk." Worry flew to the 

 doctor's forehead and pestered the overworked man 

 while the nurse went to fetch the milk for his in- 

 spection. The doctor tasted the milk ; so did the fly ; 

 but the latter also dipped her filthy feet into the sick 

 child's only food. Worry went away delighted with 

 her adventure after having walked about on the patient's 

 parched lips. Away she flew to the give disease to others, 



