with her the minute Cynthia took her out of her box. I am going to
marry her."

"But she's a lady of high degree," said Ridiklis quite alarmed.

"That's why she'll have me," said Peter Piper in his most cheerful
manner. "Ladies of high degree always marry the good looking ones
in rags and tatters. If I had a whole suit of clothes on, she
wouldn't look at me. I'm very good-looking, you know," and he
turned round and winked at Ridiklis in such a delightful saucy way
that she suddenly felt as if he _was_ very good-looking, though she
had not thought of it before.

"Hello," he said all at once. "I've just thought of something to
attract her attention. Where's the ball of string?"

Cynthia's kitten had made them a present of a ball of string which
had been most useful. Ridiklis ran and got it, and all the others
came running upstairs to see what Peter Piper was going to do. They
all were delighted to hear he had fallen in love with the lovely,
funny Lady Patsy. They found him standing in the middle of the
attic unrolling the ball of string.

"What are you going to do, Duke?" they all shouted.

"Just you watch," he said, and he began to make the string into a
rope ladder--as fast as lightning. When he had finished it, he
fastened one end of it to a beam and swung the other end out of
the window.