. M. .I.. .n ..7+3.~&.w\ . \ 77¢ , \ , .— vac-. ..~zw . ‘7 . wv.lp< ~§q.. / v . - f N n w w 1 .,_ 1*» I‘ v \ . I . I . \ . 7, if.n v. .._ vi_,x. Racketty- Packetty H0us€ As told by Queen Crosspatch By Frances kHodgson Eurnett Author of “ Little Lord F auntleioy " With Illustrations by Harrison Cady The Century Co. New York [avenile Collecliov VI’. l7 15 9'? l 5’ J K Q’ Copyright, 1906, by THE CENTURY C0. Published, Nam’mber, 1906 Printed in the U. S. A. NOW this is the story aooat the doll family I liked and the doll family I didn’t. When you read it you are to remember something 1 am going to tell you. This is it: if you think dolls never do anything you don’t see them do, you are very much mistaken. When feople are not looking at them they can do anything they choose. They can dance and sing and flay on the piano and have all sorts of But they can only move about and talk when people turn their backs n RACKETTY-PACKETTY HOUSE RACKETTY-PACKETTY HOUSE was in a corner of Cynthia’s nursery. And it was not in the best corner either. It was in the corner behind the door, and that was not at all a fashionable neigh- borhood. Racketty-Packetty House had been pushed there to be out of the way when Tidy Castle was brought in, on Cynthia’s birthday. As soon as she saw Tidy Castle Cynthia did not care for Racketty- 1 ||l|| ‘I'll-.ll I: ‘I III '\ _I III! Bl-M WI .ixi i i i Racketty-Packetty House 11 House now? It is too shabby and old-fashioned to stand near it.” In fact, that was the way in which the old dolls’ house got its name. It had always been called, “The Dolls’ House,” before, but after that it was pushed into the unfashionable neighborhood behind the door and ever afterwards— When it was spoken of at all—it was just called Racketty-Packetty, House, and nothing else. Of course Tidy Castle was grand, and Tidy Castle was new and had all the modern improvements in it, and Racketty-Packetty House was as old-fashioned as it could be. It had belonged to Cynthia’s Grand- 12 Racketty-Packetty House mamma and had been made in the days when Queen Victoria was a lit- tle girl, and when there were noelec- tric lights even in Princesses’ dolls’ houses. Cynthia’s Grandmamma had kept it very neat because she had been a good housekeeper even when she was seven years old. But Cynthia was not a good house- keeper and she did not re-cover the furniture when it got dingy, or v re-paper the walls, or mend the carpets and bedclothes, and she never thought of such a thing as making new clothes for the doll family, so that of course their early Victorian frocks and capes and bon- nets grew in time to be too shabby Racketty-Packetty House 13 . for words. You see, when Queen Victoria was a little girl, dolls wore queer frocks and long pantalets and boy dolls wore funny frilled trousers and coats which it would almost make you laugh to look at. But the Racketty-Packetty House family had known better days. I and my Fairies had known them when they were quite new and had been a birthday present just as Tidy Castle was when Cynthia turned eight years old, and there was as much fuss about them when their house arrived as Cynthia made when she saw Tidy Castle. Cynthia’s Grandmamma had danced about and clapped her hands l4 Racketty-Packetty House with delight, and she had scrambled down upon her knees and taken the dolls out one by one and thought \ their clothes beautiful. And she had given each one of them a grand name. “This one shall be Amelia,” she said. “And this one is Charlotte, and this is Victoria Leopoldina, and this one Aurelia Matilda, and this one Leontine, and this one Clotilda, and these boys shall be Augustus and Rowland and Vincent and Charles Edward Stuart.” For a long time they led a very gay and fashionable life. They had parties and balls and were present- ed at Court and went to Royal Racketty-Packetty House 19 aturned up nose and round saucer blue eyes and a comical mouth. He and Cynthia had called her, “ Rid- iklis ” instead of Leontine, and she had been called that ever since. All the dolls were jointed Dutch dolls, so it was easy to paint any kind of features on them and stick out their arms and legs in any way you liked, and Leontine did look funny after Cynthia’s cousin had finished. She certainly was not a beauty but her turned up nose and her round eyes and funny mouth always seemed to be laughing so she really was the most good-na- tured-looking creature you ever saw. 20 Racketty-Packetty House Charlotte and Amelia, Cynthia had called Meg and Peg, and Cl0- tilda she called Kilmanskeg, and Augustus she called Gustibus, and Charles Edward Stuart was nothing but Peter Piper. So that was the end of their grand names. The truth was, they went through all sorts of things, and if they had not been such a jolly lot of dolls they might have had fits and ap- pendicitis and died of grief. But not a bit of it. If you will believe it, they got fun out of everything. They used to just scream with laughter over the new names, and they laughed so much over them that they got quite fond of them. Racketty-Packetty House 21 When Meg’s pink silk flounces were torn she pinned them up and did n’t mind in the least, and when Peg’s lace mantilla -was played with by a kitten and brought back to her in rags and tags, she just put afew stitches in it and put it on again; and when Peter Piper lost almost the whole leg of one of his trousers he just laughed and said it made it easier for him to kick about and turn somersaults and he wished the other leg would tear off too. You never saw a family have such fun. They could make up stories and pretend things and in- vent games out of nothing. And my Fairies were so fond of them 22 Racketty-Packetty House that I could n’t keep them away from the dolls’ house. They would go and have fun with Meg and Peg and Kilmanskeg and Gustibus and Peter Piper, even when I had work for them to do in Fairyland. But there, I was so fond of that shabby disrespectable family myself that I never would scold much about them, and I often went to see them. That is how I know so much about them. They were so fond of each other and so good-natured and al- ways in such spirits that everybody who knew them was fond of them. And it was really only Cynthia who did n’t know them and thought them only a lot of old disreputable look- 26 Racketty-Packetty House became the useful one, and did all the kitchen work, and sat up and made poultices and beef tea when any of the rest were ill. And the Newfoundland puppy saw she was right, for the whole family simply adored Ridiklis and could not pos- sibly have done without her. Meg and Peg and Kilmanskeg could have married any minute if they had liked. There were two cock sparrows and a gentleman mouse, who proposed. to them over and over again. They all three said they did not want fashionable wives but cheerful dispositions and a happy home. But Meg and Peg were like Ridiklis and. could not bear to leave their families—be- Racketty-Packetty House 27 sides not wanting to live in nests, and hatch eggs—and Kilmanskeg said she would die of a broken heart if she could.not be with Ri- diklis, and Ridiklis did not like cheese and crumbs and mousy things, so they could never live together in a mouse hole. But neither the gentleman mouse nor the sparrows were offended because the news was broken to them so sweetly and they went on visiting just as before. Everything was as shabby and disrespectable and as gay and happy as it could be until Tidy Castle was brought into the nursery and then the whole family had rather a fright. It happened in this way: 28 Racketty-Packetty House When the dolls’ house was lifted by the nurse and carried into the corner behind the door, of course it was rather an exciting and shaky thing for Meg and Peg and Kil- manskeg and Gustibus and Peter Piper (Ridiklis was out shopping). The furniture tumbled about and everybody had to hold on to any- thing they could catch hold of. As it was, Kilmanskeg slid under a table and Peter Piper sat down in the coal-box ; but notwithstanding all this, they did not lose their tempers and when the nurse sat their house down on the floor with v a bump, they all got up and began to laugh. Then they ran and "They did not want fashionable wives, but cheerful dispositions.” Racketty-Packetty House 31 peeped out of the windows and then they ran back and laughed again. “Well,” said Peter Piper, “we have been called Meg and Peg and Kilmanskeg and Gustibus and Peter Piper instead of our grand names, and now we live in a place called Racketty-Packetty House. Who cares ! Let ’s join hands and have a dance.” And they joined hands and danced round and round and kicked up their heels, and their rags and tatters flew about and they laughed until they fell down, one on top of the other. It was just at this minute that Racketty-Packetty House 35 “We ’ve had such fun here,” said Peg. And Kilmanskeg shook her head from side to side and wiped her eyes on her ragged pocket-handkerchief. There is no knowing what would have hap- pened to them if Peter Piper had n’t cheered up as he always did. “I say,” he said, "do you hear that noise?” They all listened and heard a rumbling. Peter Piper ran to the window and looked out and then ran back grinning. “It ’s the nurse rolling up the arm-chair before the house to hide it, so that it won’t disgrace the castle. Hooray! Hooray! If they don’t see us they will forget all 38 Racketty-Packetty House of another, and Ridiklis could scarcely get her dishes washed and her potatoes pared because she could see the Castle kitchen from her scullery window. It was so exciting! The Castle dolls were grand be- yond words, and they were all lords and ladies. These were their names. There was Lady Gwen- dolen Vere de Vere. She was haughty and had dark eyes and hair and carried her head thrown back and her nose in the air. There was Lady Muriel Vere de Vere, and she was cold and lovely and indifferent and looked down the bridge of her delicate nose. .And Ridiklis does the cooking. Racketty-Packetty House 41 there was Lady Doris, who had fluffy golden hair and laughed mockingly at everybody. And there was Lord Hubert and Lord Rupert and Lord Francis, who were all handsome enough to make you feel as if you could faint. And there was their mother, the . Duchess of Tidyshire; and of course there were all sorts of maids and footmen and cooks and scullery maids and even gardeners. “We never thought of living to see such grand society,” said Peter Piper to his brother and sisters. “It’s quite a kind of blessing.” “ It ‘s almost like being grand ourselves, just to be able to watch 42 Racketty-Packetty House them,” said Meg and Peg and Kilmanskeg, squeezing together and flattening their noses against the attic windows. They could see bits of the sump- tuous white and gold drawing-room with the Duchess sitting reading near the fire, her golden glasses upon her nose, and Lady Gwen- dolen playing haughtily upon the harp, and Lady Muriel coldly listen- ing to her. Lady Doris was having her golden hair dressed by her maid in her bed-room and Lord Hubert was reading the newspai per with a high-bred air, while Lord Francis was writing letters to noblemen of his acquaintance, ire. \The Duchess of Tidysh Racketty-Packetty House 47 “They are going to have a din- ner of ten courses,” sighed Ridik- lis, “I can see them cooking it from my scullery window. And I have nothing but turnips to give you.” “Who cares !” said Peter Piper, “ Let ’s have ten courses of turnips and pretend each course is exactly like the one they are having at the Castle.” “ I like turnips almost better than anything — almost — perhaps not quite,” said Gustibus. “ I can eat ten courses of turnips like a shot.” "Let ’s go and find out what their courses are,” said Meg and Peg and Kilmanskeg, “and then 8 Racketty-Packetty House 49 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 was n’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 Peter Piper announcing the names of the dishes. Racketty-Packetty House 53 Room of their own, and they made tissue paper trains and glass bead crowns for diamond tiaras, and sometimes Gustibus pretended to be the Royal family, and the others were presented to him and kissed his hand, and then the others took turns and he was presented. And suddenly the most delightful thing occurred to Peter Piper. He thought it would be rather nice to make them all into lords and ladies and he did it by touching them on the shoulder with the drawing-room poker which he straightened be- cause it was so crooked that it was almost bent double. It is not ex- _actly the way such things are done Racketty-Packetty House 57 the shoulder with the poker, be- cause it took more thumps to make a Duke than a common or garden Lord. The day after this another much more exciting thing took place. The nurse was in a bad temper and when she was tidying the nursery she pushed the easy chair aside and saw Racketty-Packetty House. “Oh!” she said, “there is that Racketty-Packetty old thing still. I had forgotten it. It must be carried down-stairs and burned. I will go and tell one of the footmen to come for it.” Meg and Peg and Kilmanskeg Racketty-Packetty House 59 said Ridiklis, wiping her eyes with her kitchen duster. Peter Piper was rather pale, but he was extremely brave and re- membered that he was the head of the family. “Now, Lady Meg and Lady Peg and Lady Kilmanskeg,” he said, “let us all keep cool.” “We shan’t keep cool when they set our house on fire,” said Gusti- bus. Peter Piper just snapped his fingers. “Pooh!” he said. “We are only made of wood and it won’t vhurt a bit. We shall just snap and crackle and go off almost like fire- works and then we shall be ashes 60 Racketty-Packetty House and fly away into the air and see all sorts of things. Perhaps it may be more fun than anything we have done yet.” “But our nice old house! Our nice old Racketty-Packetty House,” said Ridiklis. “I do so love it. The kitchen is so convenient— even though the oven won’t bake any more.” And things looked most serious because the nurse really was be- ginning to push the arm-chair away. But it would not move and I will tell you why. One of my Fairies, who had come down the chimney when they were talking, had called me and I had come in a second \u l 1unny.‘ . .i.l .. Queen Crosspatch makes the footman remember Cynthia’s box. R ‘14"! :n she“ L“ ;_ - Racketty—Packetty House. 70 Racketty-Packetty House a soft chair by the window and there she used to sit and look out; and the Racketty-Packetty House dolls crowded round their window and adored her. After a few days, they noticed that Peter Piper was often missing and one morning Ridiklis went up into the attic and found him sitting at a window all by himself and staring and staring. “ Oh! Duke,” she said (you see they always tried to remember each other’s titles). “ Dear me, Duke, what are you doing here P ” “I am looking at her,” he an- swered. “I ’m in love. I fell in love with her the minute Cynthia Racketty-Packetty House 73 took her out of her box. I am going to marry her.” “But she ’s a lady of high de- gree,” said Ridiklis quite alarmed. “That ’s why she ’ll have me,” said Peter Piper in his most cheer- ful manner. “ Ladies of high de- gree always marry the good look- ing ones in rags and tatters. If I had a whole suit of clothes on, she would n’t look at me. I’m very good-looking, you know,” and he turned round and winked at Ridik- lis 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 “ They all crowded round their window and chuckled and chuckled as they watched him.” Racketty-Packetty House 79 made a cheerful bow. The Rack- etty-Packettys saw Lady Patsy be- gin 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 80 Racketty-Packetty House his tattered leg put forward grace- fully 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, 82 Racketty-Packetty House dainfully and scornfully and scath- ingly: - “If you sit there so much, those low Racketty-Packetty House peo- ple will think you are looking at them.” “I am,” said Lady Patsy, show- ing 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 in- stant they caught sight of one of the Racketty-Packettys they turned up their noses and sniffed aloud, and several times the Duchess said Racketty-Packetty House 83 she would remove because the neighborhood was absolutely low. They all scorned the Racketty- Packettys—they just scorned them. One moonlight night Lady Patsy was sitting at her window and she heard a whistle in the garden. When she peeped out carefully, there stood Peter Piper waving his ragged cap at her, and he had his rope ladder under his arm. “ Hello,” he whispered as loud as he could. “Could you catch a bit of rope if I threw it up to you?” “Yes,” she whispered back. “ Then catch this,” he whispered again and he threw up the end of 84 Racketty-Packetty .House a string and she caught it the first throw. It was fastened to the rope ladder. “Now pull,” he said. She pulled and pulled until the rope ladder reached her window and then she fastened that to a hook under the sill and the first thing that happened—just like lightning -was that Peter Piper ran up the ladder and leaned over her window ledge. “Will you marry me,” he said. “I have n’t anything to give you to eat and I am as ragged as a scarecrow, but will you P ” She clapped her little hands. “I eat very little,” she said. Racketty-Packetty House 85 “And I would do without anything at all, if I could live in your funny old shabby house.” “ It is a ridiculous, tumbled-down old barn, is n’t it?" he said. “But every one of us is as nice as we can be. We are perfect Turkish Delights. It ’s laughing that does it. Would you like to come down the ladder and - see what a jolly, shabby old hole the place is ? ” “Oh! do take me,” said Lady ' Patsy. , So he helped her down the lad- der and took her under the arm- chair and into Racketty-Packetty House and Meg and Peg and Kil- manskeg and Ridiklis and Gustibus 86 Racketty-Packetty House all crowded round her and gave little screams of joy at the sight of her. They were afraid to kiss her at first, even though she was engaged to Peter Piper. She was so pretty and her frock had so much lace on it that they were afraid their old rags might spoil her. But she did not care about her lace and flew at them and kissed and hugged them every one. “I have so wanted to come here,” she said. “ It ’s so dull at the Castle I had to break my leg just to get a change. The Duchess sits reading near the fire with her gold eye-glasses on her nose and Racketty-Packetty House 89 Lady Gwendolen plays haughtily on the harp and Lady Muriel coldly listens to her, and Lady Doris is always laughing mockingly, and Lord Hubert reads the news- paper with a high-bred air, and Lord Francis writes letters to noblemen of his acquaintance, and Lord Rupert glances over his love letters from ladies of title, in an aristocratic manner—until I could scream. Just to see you dears dancing about in your rags. and tags and laughing and inventing games as if you did n’t mind any- thing, is such a relief.” She nearly laughed her little curly head off when they all went 92 Racketty-Packetty House new games and stories and they really never wentto bed until day- light. But the Castle dolls grew more and more scornful every day, and tossed their heads higher and higher and sniffed louder and louder until it sounded as if they all had influenza. They never lost an opportunity of saying disdainful things and once the Duchess wrote a letter to Cynthia, saying that she insisted on removing to a decent neighborhood. She laid the letter in her desk but the gentleman mouse came in the night and carried it away. So Cynthia never saw it and I don’t believe she could have read it if she had seen it be- 1.§A:":‘1\511N1v1. 91‘, .a... - v. . I 3 a . . . “ The gentleman mouse brought the shavings from , his nest.” Racketty-Packetty House 95 cause the Duchess wrote very badly—even for a (l0ll. And then what do you suppose happened? One morning Cynthia began to play that all the Tidy Castle dolls had scarlet fever. She said it had broken out in the night and she undressed them all and put them into bed and gave them medi- cine. She could not find Lady Patsy, so she escaped the contagion. The truth was that Lady Patsy had stayed all night at Racketty-Pack- etty House, where they were giving an imitation Court Ball with Peter Piper in a tin crown, and shavings for supper—because they had noth- ing else, and in fact the gentleman 5 96 Racketty-Packetty House Mouse had brought the shavings from his nest as a present. Cynthia played nearly all day and the Duchess and Lady Gwendolen and Lady Muriel and Lady Doris and Lord Hubert and Lord Fran- cis and Lord Rupert got worse and worse. By evening they were all rag- ing in delirium and Lord Francis and Lady Gwendolen had strong mustard plasters on their chests. And right in the middle of their agony Cynthia suddenly got up and went away and left them to their fate—just as if it did n’t matter in the least. Well in the middle of the night Meg and Peg and Lady Patsy wakened all at once. 100 Racketty-Packetty House v Peter Piper,”they said, and they rushed to the staircase and met Kilmanskeg and Ridiklis and Gus- tibus and Peter Piper coming scrambling up panting because the noise had wakened them as well. They were all over at Tidy Castle in a minute. They just tumbled over each other to get there -- the kind-hearted things. The servants were every one fast asleep, though the noise was awful. The loudest groans came from Lady Gwendolen and Lord Francis because their mustard plasters were blistering them fright- fully. Ridiklis took charge, because she Racketty-Packetty House 105 g‘. —just like lightning—and stood on his head and wiggled his ragged legs at them until suddenly they heard a snort from one of the beds and it was Lord Hubert beginning to laugh and then Lord Francis laughed and then Lord Hubert shouted, and then Lady Doris squealed, and Lady Muriel screamed, and Lady Gwen- dolen and the Duchess rolled over and over in their beds, laughing as if they would have fits. “ Oh ! you delightful, funny, shabby old loves!” Lady Gwen- dolen kept saying. “ To think that we scorned you.” “ They ’ll be all right after this,” said Peter Piper. “There ’s nothing 106 Racketty-Packetty House cures scarlet fever like cheering up. Let’s all join hands and dance round and round once for them before we go back to bed. It’ll throw them into a nice light perspiration and they ’11 drop off and sleep like tops.” And they did it, and before they had finished, the whole lot of them were perspiring gently and snoring as softly as lambs. . When they went back to Rack- etty-Packetty House they talked a good deal about Cynthia and won- dered and wondered why she had left her scarlet fever so suddenly. And at last Ridiklis made up her mind to tell them something she had heard. “The Duchess told me,” she H She put her ragged old apron over her face and cried.” 112 Racketty-Packetty House 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. “ 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 114 Racketty-Packetty House “ No, it is n’t ! ” I said. “You leave this to me. Itold the Prin- cess to come here, though she does n’t know it in the least.” A whole army of my Working Fairies began to swarm 'in at the nursery window. The nurse was working very hard to put things in order and she had not sense enough to see Fairies at all. So she did not see mine, though there were hundreds of them. As soon as she made one corner tidy, they ran after her and made it untidy. They held her back by her dress and hung and swung on her apron until she could scarcely move and kept wondering why she was so Ill-‘I'l l " They went all over the house together.” 118 Racketty-Packetty House Fairies to stand ready to obey me the instant I spoke. The Princess was a nice child and was very polite to Cynthia when she showed her all her dolls, and last but not least, Tidy Castle itself. She looked at all the rooms and the furniture and said polite and admiring things about each of them. But Cynthia realized that she was not so much interested in it as she had thought she would be. The fact was that the Princess had so many grand dolls’ houses in her palace that Tidy Castle did not sur- prise her at all. It was just when Cynthia was finding this out that I gave the. order to my Working Fairies. 122 Racketty-Packetty House house, your Highness,” Cynthia stammered out. “ It belonged to my Grandmamma, and it ought not to be in the nursery. I thought you had had it burned, Nurse!” “ Burned! ” the little girl Princess cried out in the most shocked way. “Why if it was mine, I would n’t have it burned for worlds! Oh! please push the chair away and let me look at it. There are no doll’s houses like it anywhere in these days.” And when the arm-chair was pushed aside she scrambled down on to her knees just as if she was not a little girl Princess at ' all. “Oh! Oh! Oh!" she said. Racketty-Packetty House 129 the other dolls’ houses used to make deep curtsies when a Rack- etty-Packetty House doll passed them, and Peter Piper could scarcely stand itibecause it always made him want to stand on his head and laugh—and so when they were curtsied at—because they were related to the Royal Dolls House—they used to run into their drawing-room and fall into fits of giggles and they could only stop them by all joining hands together in a ring and dancing round and round and round and kicking up their heels and laughing until they tumbled down in a heap. ' 130 Racketty-Packetty House And what do you think of that for a story. And does n’t it prove to you what a valuable Friend a Fairy is—particularly a Queen one?