burned, early to-morrow
morning. That's what the Duchess _said_--"

Meg and Peg and Kilmanskeg clutched at their hearts and gasped and
Gustibus groaned and Lady Patsy caught Peter Piper by the arm to
keep from falling. Peter Piper gulped--and then he had a sudden
cheerful thought.

"Perhaps she was raving in delirium," he said.

"No, she wasn't," said Ridiklis shaking her head, "I had just given
her hot water and cold, and gruel, and broth, and castor oil, and
ipecacuanha and put ice almost all over her. She was as sensible as
any of us. To-morrow morning we shall not have a house over our
heads," and she put her ragged old apron over her face and cried.

[Transcriber's Note: See picture apron.jpg]

"If she wasn't raving in delirium," said Peter Piper, "we shall not
have any heads. You had better go back to the Castle tonight,
Patsy. Racketty-Packetty House is no place for you."

Then Lady Patsy drew herself up so straight that she nearly fell
over backwards.

"I--will--_never_--leave you!" she said, and Peter Piper couldn't
make her.

You can just imagine what a doleful night it was. They went all
over the house together and looked at every hole in the carpet and
every piece of stuffing sticking out of the dear old shabby sofas,
and every broken window and chair leg and table and ragged blanket--
and the tears ran down their faces for the first time in their
lives. About six o'clock in the morning Peter Piper made a last
effort.

[Transcriber's Note: See picture together.jpg]

"Let's all join hands in a circle," he said quite faintly, "and
dance round and round once more."

But it was no use. When they joined hands they could not dance, and
when they found they could not dance they all tumbled down in a
heap and cried instead of laughing and Lady Patsy lay with her arms
round Peter Piper's neck.

Now here is where I come in again--Queen Crosspatch--who is telling
you this story. I always come in just at the nick of time when
people like the Racketty-Packettys are in trouble. I walked in at
seven o'clock.

"Get up off the floor," I said to them all and they got up and
stared at me. They actually thought I did not know what had
happened.

"A little girl Princess is coming this morning," said Peter Piper,
and our house is going to be burned over our heads. This is the end
of Racketty-Packetty House."

"No, it isn't!" I said. "You leave this to me. I told the Princess
to come here, though she doesn'