[27].”
Really, he thought they now talked enough about fairies. He looked about the room and it struck him that Tinker Bell disappeared! He called Tink by name.
“Peter,” cried Wendy, “is there a fairy in this room?”
“She was here just now,” he said a little impatiently. “You don’t hear her, do you?” and they both listened.
“The only sound I hear,” said Wendy, “is like a tinkle of bells.”
Peter, who knew the fairy language, of course understood it.
“Well, that’s Tink, that’s the fairy language. I think I hear her too.”
The sound came from the chest of drawers[28], and Peter made a merry face.
“Wendy,” he whispered, “I shut her up in the drawer!”
He pulled open the drawer, and out sprang Tinker Bell, very angry with him.
“Of course I’m very sorry, but how could I know you were in the drawer?”
Wendy saw the romantic figure on the cuckoo clock. “O the lovely!” she cried, though Tink’s face was still distorted with passion.
“Tink,” said Peter amiably, “this lady says she wishes you were her fairy.”
Tinker Bell answered insolently.
“What does she say, Peter?”
“She is not very polite. She says you are a great ugly girl, and that she is my fairy.”
He tried to argue with Tink. “You know you can’t be my fairy, Tink, because I am an gentleman and you are a lady.”
Tink disappeared into the bathroom. “She is quite a common fairy,” Peter explained.
They were together in the armchair by this time, and Wendy plied him with more questions.
“Peter, if you don’t live with the fairies, where do you live?”
“I live with the Lost Boys.”
“Who are they?”
“They are the children who fall out of their perambulators when the nurse is looking the other way[29]. If they are not claimed[30] in seven days they are sent far away to the Neverland to defray expenses. I’m their Captain.”
“Oh! What fun!”
“Yes,” said Peter, “but we are rather lonely. You see we have no girls there.”
“Are none of the others girls?”
“Oh, no; girls, you know, are much too clever to fall out of their prams.”
“You are very kind,” said Wendy, “so you may give me a kiss. It’s like this.” She kissed him.
“Funny!” said Peter gravely. “Now shall I give you a kiss?”
“If you wish to,” said Wendy.
But suddenly Wendy cried, “Somebody was pulling my hair.”
“That must be Tink. I never knew her so naughty before.”