The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan | Page 4

side.
Ribby explained that her guest had swallowed a patty-pan.
"Spinach? ha! HA!" said he, and accompanied her with alacrity.
[Illustration: DR. MAGGOTTY'S MIXTURE]
He hopped so fast that Ribby had to run. It was most conspicuous. All
the village could see that Ribby was fetching the doctor.
"I knew they would over-eat themselves!" said Cousin Tabitha
Twitchit.
[Illustration]
But while Ribby had been hunting for the doctor--a curious thing had
happened to Duchess, who had been left by herself, sitting before the
fire, sighing and groaning and feeling very unhappy.
"How could I have swallowed it! such a large thing as a patty-pan!"
She got up and went to the table, and felt inside the pie-dish again with
a spoon.
"No; there is no patty-pan, and I put one in; and nobody has eaten pie
except me, so I must have swallowed it!"
[Illustration]
She sat down again, and stared mournfully at the grate. The fire

crackled and danced, and something sizz-z-zled!
Duchess started! She opened the door of the top oven; out came a rich
steamy flavour of veal and ham, and there stood a fine brown pie,--and
through a hole in the top of the pie-crust there was a glimpse of a little
tin patty-pan!
Duchess drew a long breath--
"Then I must have been eating MOUSE!... No wonder I feel ill.... But
perhaps I should feel worse if I had really swallowed a patty-pan!"
Duchess reflected--"What a very awkward thing to have to explain to
Ribby! I think I will put my pie in the back-yard and say nothing about
it. When I go home, I will run round and take it away." She put it
outside the back-door, and sat down again by the fire, and shut her eyes;
when Ribby arrived with the doctor, she seemed fast asleep.
[Illustration]
"Gammon, ha, HA?" said the doctor.
"I am feeling very much better," said Duchess, waking up with a jump.
"I am truly glad to hear it! He has brought you a pill, my dear
Duchess!"
"I think I should feel quite well if he only felt my pulse," said Duchess,
backing away from the magpie, who sidled up with something in his
beak.
"It is only a bread pill, you had much better take it; drink a little milk,
my dear Duchess!"
"Gammon? Gammon?" said the doctor, while Duchess coughed and
choked.
"Don't say that again!" said Ribby, losing her temper--"Here, take this
bread and jam, and get out into the yard!"
[Illustration]
"Gammon and Spinach! ha ha HA!" shouted Dr. Maggotty
triumphantly outside the back door.
"I am feeling very much better my dear Ribby," said Duchess. "Do you
not think that I had better go home before it gets dark?"
"Perhaps it might be wise, my dear Duchess. I will lend you a nice
warm shawl, and you shall take my arm."
"I would not trouble you for worlds; I feel wonderfully better. One pill
of Dr. Maggotty--"
"Indeed it is most admirable, if it has cured you of a patty-pan! I will

call directly after breakfast to ask how you have slept."
Ribby and Duchess said goodbye affectionately, and Duchess started
home. Half-way up the lane she stopped and looked back; Ribby had
gone in and shut her door. Duchess slipped through the fence, and ran
round to the back of Ribby's house, and peeped into the yard.
Upon the roof of the pig-stye sat Dr. Maggotty and three jackdaws. The
jackdaws were eating pie-crust, and the magpie was drinking gravy out
of a patty-pan.
"Gammon, ha, HA!" he shouted when he saw Duchess's little black
nose peeping round the corner.
Duchess ran home feeling uncommonly silly!
When Ribby came out for a pailful of water to wash up the tea-things,
she found a pink and white pie-dish lying smashed in the middle of the
yard. The patty-pan was under the pump, where Dr. Maggotty had
considerately left it.
[Illustration: SO THERE REALLY WAS A PATTY-PAN]
Ribby stared with amazement--"Did you ever see the like! so there
really was a patty-pan?... But my patty-pans are all in the kitchen
cupboard. Well I never did!... Next time I want to give a party--I will
invite Cousin Tabitha Twitchit!"
[Illustration]

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Patty Pan by Beatrix Potter
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