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

And if you'll believe it, that was what they did. They divided
their turnips into ten courses and they called the first one--"Hors
d'oeuvres," and the last one "Ices," with a French name, and Peter
Piper kept jumping up from the table and pretending he was a
footman and flourishing about in his flapping rags of trousers and
announcing the names of the dishes in such a grand way that they
laughed till they nearly died, and said they never had had such a
splendid dinner in their lives, and that they would rather live
behind the door and watch the Tidy Castle people than be the Tidy
Castle people themselves.

And then of course they all joined hands and danced round and round
and kicked up their heels for joy, because they always did that
whenever there was the least excuse for it--and quite often when
there wasn't any at all, just because it was such good exercise and
worked off their high spirits so that they could settle down for a
while.

This was the way things went on day after day. They almost lived at
their windows. They watched the Tidy Castle family get up and be
dressed by their maids and valets in different clothes almost every
day. They saw them drive out in their carriages, and have parties,
and go to balls. They all nearly had brain fever with delight the
day they watched Lady Gwendolen and Lady Muriel and Lady Doris,
dressed in their Court trains and feathers, going to be presented
at the first Drawing-Room.