' 



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v_ 



were all the same kind, and that I would be sur- 

 prised at what would come out of them, and you 

 may be sure I was. They have given me three sur- 

 prises, and I don't understand them a bit. Mamma 

 says that she believes you knew all the time just 

 what would happen, and that if these first three 

 cocoons are a sample of your collection she would 

 like a dozen, and she will promise not to be sur- 

 prised now at anything that may come out of 

 them, from a pug-dog to a fiddler -crab. But I 

 don't believe you knew it at all, be- 

 cause you spoke only of 'some- 

 thing beautiful ' for my collec- 

 tion, and I know you would 

 not have disappointed me, so 

 I am going to tell you all about 

 it, and hope that you will explain it 

 to me, for I am dreadfully puzzled. . . . 



" You told rrie to put the cocoons in a 

 box, and towards spring to take a look at 

 them every day or so. I put them on 

 my shelf, intending to get a box 

 pretty soon, but forgot aboiit it ; and 

 one morning when I woke up I look- 

 ed towards the mantel, and thought 

 I must be dreaming, for there, hang- 

 ing on a drooping leaf of grass from a 

 vase, was a great butterfly with brown 

 wings, and with two spots like big eyes 

 staring right at me across the room. I 

 never saw such a beautiful butterfly before. 

 I called mamma, and she put a pin in it, and 

 killed it with chloroform, and it is now all 

 nicely spread in my cabinet. Now that was 

 a double surprise, for the butterfly came out 

 in winter instead of spring, as you said 

 and it was so much bigger and lovelier than 

 anything I had expected. I was very glad, 



