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"Oh, if you look at it in that way!"

"What other way is there in which to look at it?"

You see, the woman had no proper spirit.

I had meant to say extraordinarily nice things about her; but I despise her, and not one of them will I say now.

She does not really need to be told to have things ready, for they are ready.

All the beds are aired, and she never leaves the house, and observe, the window is open.

For all the use we are to her, we might well go back to the ship.

However, as we are here we may as well stay and look on.

That is all we are, lookers-on.

Nobody really wants us.

So let us watch and say jaggy things, in the hope that some of them will hurt.

The only change to be seen in the night-nursery is that between nine and six the kennel is no longer there.

When the children flew away, Mr. Darling felt in his bones that all the blame was his for having chained Nana up, and that from first to last she had been wiser than he.

Of course, as we have seen, he was quite a simple man; indeed he might have passed for a boy again if he had been able to take his baldness off; but he had also a noble sense of justice and a lion's courage to do what seemed right to him; and having thought the matter out with anxious care after the flight of the children, he went down on all fours and crawled into the kennel.

To all Mrs. Darling's dear invitations to him to come out he replied sadly but firmly:

"No, my own one, this is the place for me."

In the bitterness of his remorse he swore that he would never leave the kennel until his children came back.

Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did he had to do in excess, otherwise he soon gave up doing it.

And there never was a more humble man than the once proud George Darling, as he sat in the kennel of an evening talking with his wife of their children and all their pretty ways.

Very touching was his deference to Nana. He would not let her come into the kennel, but on all other matters he followed her wishes implicitly.

Every morning the kennel was carried with Mr. Darling in it to a cab, which conveyed him to his office, and he returned home in the same way at six.

Something of the strength of character of the man will be seen if we remember how sensitive he was to the opinion of neighbours: this man whose every movement now attracted surprised attention.

Inwardly he must have suffered torture; but he preserved a calm exterior even when the young criticised his little home, and he always lifted his hat courteously to any lady who looked inside.

It may have been Quixotic, but it was magnificent.

Soon the inward meaning of it leaked out, and the great heart of the public was touched.

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