A beautiful jelly it looked like.

He took up his spoon and was just about to help himself, when Mr.Noah whispered ardently, 'Don't!' and as Philip looked at him in astonishment he added, still in a whisper, 'Pretend, can't you?
Have you never had a pretending banquet ?' But before he had caught the whisper, Philip had tried to press the edge of the leaden spoon into the shape of jelly.

And he felt that the jelly was quite hard.

He went through the form of helping himself, but it was just nothing that he put on his plate.

And he saw that Mr.Noah and Lucy and all the other guests did the same.