three stately summersaults and stood on his feet and made
a cheerful bow. The Racketty-Packettys saw Lady Patsy begin to
giggle that minute. Then he took an antimacassar out of his pocket
and fastened it round the edge of his torn trousers leg, as if it
were lace trimming and began to walk about like a Duke--with his
arms folded on his chest and his ragged old hat cocked on one side
over his ear. Then the Racketty-Packettys saw Lady Patsy begin to
laugh. Then Peter Piper stood on his head and kissed his hand and
Lady Patsy covered her face and rocked backwards and forwards in
her chair laughing and laughing.

Then he struck an attitude with his tattered leg put forward
gracefully and he pretended he had a guitar and he sang right up at
her window.

"From Racketty-Packetty House I come,
It stands, dear Lady, in a slum,
A low, low slum behind the door
The stout arm-chair is placed before,
(Just take a look at it, my Lady).

"The house itself is a perfect sight,
And everybody's dressed like a perfect fright,
But no one cares a single jot
And each one giggles over his lot,
(And as for me, I'm in love with you).

"I can't make up another verse,
And if I did it would be worse,
But I could stand and sing all day,
If I could think of things to say,
(But the fact is I just wanted to make you look at me)."

And then he danced such a lively jig that his rags and tags flew
about him, and then he made another bow and kissed his hand again
and ran up the ladder like a flash and jumped into the attic.

After that Lady Patsy sat at her window all the time and would not
let the trained nurse put her to bed at all; and Lady Gwendolen and
Lady Muriel and Lady Doris could not understand it. Once Lady
Gwendolen said haughtily and disdainfully and scornfully and
scathingly:

"If you sit there so much, those low Racketty-Packetty House people
will think you are looking at them."

"I am," said Lady Patsy, showing all her dimples at once. "They are
such fun."

And Lady Gwendolen swooned haughtily away, and the trained nurse
could scarcely restore her.

When the castle dolls drove out or walked in their garden, the
instant they caught sight of one of the Racketty-Packettys they
turned up their noses and sniffed aloud, and several times the
Duchess said she would remove because the neighborhood was
absolutely low. They all scorned the Racketty-Packettys--th