Mrs.X.said (of course) that the caterpillar was not conscious and didn't suffer.

She should have known better.

No caterpillar can deceive Nature.

If this one couldn't suffer, Nature would have known it and would have hunted up another caterpillar.
Not that she would have let this one go, merely because it was defective.
No.

She would have waited and let him turn into a night-moth; and then fried him in the candle.
Nature cakes a fish's eyes over with parasites, so that it shan't be able to avoid its enemies or find its food.