`` I 'm spry as a cricket this winter , though I have the realagy sometimes . Many a good bite I 've had in your ma 's kitchen . I owe yez a meal . '' No more protests were made . We sat in awed silence , gazing with timid curiosity about the room , the stained , plastered walls of which were well-nigh covered with a motley assortment of pictures , chromos , and advertisements , pasted on without much regard for order or character . We had heard much of Peg 's pets and now we saw them . Six cats occupied various cosy corners ; one of them , the black goblin which had so terrified us in the summer , blinked satirically at us from the centre of Peg 's bed . Another , a dilapidated , striped beastie , with both ears and one eye gone , glared at us from the sofa in the corner . A dog , with only three legs , lay behind the stove ; a crow sat on a roost above our heads , in company with a matronly old hen ; and on the clock shelf were a stuffed monkey and a grinning skull . We had heard that a sailor had given Peg the monkey . But where had she got the skull ? And whose was it ? I could not help puzzling over these gruesome questions . Presently tea was ready and we gathered around the festal board -- a board literally as well as figuratively , for Peg 's table was the work of her own unskilled hands . The less said about the viands of that meal , and the dishes they were served in , the better . But we ate them -- bless you , yes ! -- as we would have eaten any witch 's banquet set before us . Peg might or might not be a witch -- common sense said not ; but we knew she was quite capable of turning every one of us out of doors in one of her sudden fierce fits if we offended her ; and we had no mind to trust ourselves again to that wild forest where we had fought a losing fight with the demon forces of night and storm . But it was not an agreeable meal in more ways than one . Peg was not at all careful of anybody 's feelings .
She hurt Felix 's cruelly as she passed him his cup XXXXX tea .
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