Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

ilt for humans. But no one has really seen it, except just three or four, and they have not only seen it but slept in it, and unless y

e name of his father's office. Angela Clare, who loves to have a tooth extracted because then she is treated to tea in a shop, saw more than one light, she saw hundreds of them all together; and this must have been the fairies building the house, for they build it every night, and always in a different part of the Gardens. She thought on

Tony, who was a magnificent fellow of six, took notice of her, and she looked up to him in the right way, and tried in vain to imitate him, and was flattered rather than annoyed when he sho

s the fairi

now become so wheedling and she so mysterious was (in brief) that they knew they were about to be sent to bed. It was then that Maimie was terrible. Tony entreated her not to do it to-night, and the mother and their coloured nurse threatened her, but Maimie merely smiled her agitating smile. And by and by when they were alone with their night-light she would start up in bed crying 'Hsh! what was that?' Tony beseeches her, 'It was nothing-don't, Maimie, d

boy, and no one was so proud of it as Maimie. She would have loved to have a ticket on her saying that she was his sister. And at no time did she admire

th awful respect, 'but the

' replied To

lling, 'Peter Pan will gi

eplied Tony; no wonde

stra

kled him on

ng fro

r that Tony was a marked boy. They loosened the rails before he sat on them, so that down he came on the back of his head; they tripped him up by catching his bootlace, and bribed the ducks to

main behind in the Gardens after Lock-out he merely replied, 'Just some day'; he was quite vague about which day except when she asked, 'Wil

ce on the Round Pond; not thick enough to skate on, but at least you could spoil it f

as she said this she glanced at the time-board to see when the Gardens closed that night. It read half-past five. Poor ayah! she i

the fairies, and so did not see (as Maimie and Tony saw at once) that they had changed the hour because there was to be a ball to-night. She said there was only time now to walk to the top of the Hump and

were overhe

nd then nodded. Maimie slipped her hand into Tony's, and hers was hot, but his was cold. She did a very kind thing; she took o

whispered to her, 'I'm afraid nurse wou

en there were so many unknown terrors to fear, and she said aloud, 'Tony, I shal

er doting eyes were crying when she got a dreadful shock; instead of hiding, her hero had run out at the gate! At this bitter sight Maimie stopped blankly, as if all her lapful of dar

the last one, who always has to run for it, but Maimie saw them not. She had shut her eyes tight and glued them with passionate tears. When she opened them something very cold ran up her legs

'So that's all right.' It had a wooden sound and seemed to come from above, an

e their summer curtain

plied, 'Not particularly, but you do get numb standing so long on one leg,' and he flapped his arms vigorously just as the cabmen do before they drive off. Maimie was quite surprised to see that a num

t nothing of her showed except her dear little face and her curls. The rest of her real self was hidden far awa

in a jerky sort of way certainly, but that was because they used crutches. An elderberry hobbled across the walk, and stood chatting with some young quinces, and they all had cr

d deal going on

e way he did it was this: he pressed a spring in the trunks and they shut like umbrellas, deluging the little plants beneath with s

her, and said so pointedly, 'Hoity-toity, what is this?' that she had to come out

n the Gardens we

spered together, 'but you know quite well you ought not to be here, and per

it was wrong,' and of course after this they could not well carry tales. They then said, 'Well-a-day,' and 'Such is life,' for they can be frightfully sarcastic; but she felt sorry fo

ting an arm or a finger round the very frail, setting their leg right when it got too ridiculous, and treat

ut it was quite unintentional, and she was too much of a lady to cry out. So much walking tired her, and she was anxious to be off to the ball, but she

o death, or compel you to nurse their children, or turn you into something tedious, like an evergreen oak.' As they

usly cosy it is to stand here buttoned to the ne

selves, and they drew for Maimie a very gloomy picture of the p

St. Govor's

could not fall in love with one of them. Queen Mab, who rules in the Gardens, had been confident that her girls would bewitch him, but alas! his heart, the doctor said, remained cold. This rather irritating doctor, who was his private physician, felt the Duke's heart immediately after any lady was presente

fools' caps!' Maimie cried, and away she ran to look for t

een it and all the populous parts of the Gardens, on which those invited may walk to the dance w

m up the Baby Wa

n front and six behind; in the middle walked a prim lady wearing a long train held up by two pages, and on the train, as if it were a couch, reclined a lovely girl, for in this way do aristocratic fairies travel about. She was dressed in golden rain, but the most enviable part of her was her neck, which was blue in colour and of a velv

eir noses higher than it can be safe for even fairies to tilt them, and she conclu

s the walk, and stood chatt

mb out. At first this little damsel was afraid of Maimie, who most kindly went to her aid, but soon she sat in her hand chatting gaily and exp

s made Maimie uncomfortable, for indeed the simple

ult to know w

ave no chance,' Brow

'of course your face is just a tiny bit home

autiful ladies in London were on view for half a crown the second day, but on his return home, instead of being dissa

o longer the slightest doubt that the Duke would choose her. So she scudded away up

en Spanish chestnuts she saw a wonderful light. She crept forward u

, and said pointedly, 'Ho

dazzling canopy over the fairy ring. There were thousands of little people looking on, but they were in shadow and drab in colour compared to t

of love his dusky grace still was: you could see it by the shamed looks of the Queen and court (though they pretended not to care), by

is parrot cry, and she was particularly sorry for the Cupids, who stood in their fools' caps in ob

late that night. It was because his boat had got wedged on the Serpentine between fields

rts. They forget all the steps when they are sad, and remember them again when they are merry

r broke out among the onlookers, caused by Brownie, who had just

elf, who, however, was absolutely confident. She was led before his grace, and the doctor putting a finger carelessly on the ducal heart, which fo

st he shook the heart like a wat

ime of course the excitement among the spectator

warne

ould like to run away. 'Good gracious me!' the doctor was heard muttering, and now the heart

pense w

' said the physician elatedly, 'I have the honour to

Chamberlain, and the ladies of the court leapt into the arms of her gentlemen, for it is etiquette to follow her example in everything. Thus in a s

s as if they were ribbons in a May dance and waltzed in wild abandon round the fairy ring. Most gladsome sight of all, the Cup

little friend's good fortune, so she took several steps

ame upon Maimie; too late she remembered that she was a lost child in a place where no human must be between the locking and the opening of the

g she was sure of was that she must never cease to run, and she thought she was still running long after she had dropped in the Figs and gone to sleep. She thought the snowflakes falling on her face were her mother kissing her good-night. She t

h such cries as 'Slay her!' 'Turn her into something extremely unpleasant!' and so on, but the pursuit was delayed while the

t that.' But when they learned how Maimie had befriended Brownie and so enabled her to attend the ball to their great glory and renown, they gave three huzzas for the litt

ugh the form of thanking her-that is to say, the new King stood on her body and read her a long address of welcome, but she heard not

he doctor's, but the only thing they could think of that does not mind cold was a sn

cried, and at once everybody perceived that this was the thing to do; in a moment a hundred fairy sawyers were among the branches, architects were running round Maimie, measuring her; a bricklayer's yard sprang up at her feet, seventy-five masons rushed up with

who rules i

e the size of a coloured picture-book and the door rather smaller, but it would be easy for her to get out by taking off the roof. The fairies, as is their custom, clapped their hands with delight over their clev

them ran up a ladder

is quite finishe

n up the ladder, and tied

inishes it,' they

to wake without seeing a night-light she might

a china merchant, 'and I

t was absolu

dear

nufacturer, 'there's no handle

up with a door-mat. Carpenters arrived with a wat

hed a

ers arrived with fairy carts and spades and seeds and bulbs and forcing-houses, and soon they had a flower-garden to the right of the verandah, and a veg

ad and murmured,

o leave it and return to the dance. They all kissed their hands to it as they went away, and the las

swer, she sat up, whereupon her head hit the roof, and it opened like the lid of a box, and to her bewilderment she saw all around her the Kensington Gardens lying deep in snow. As she was not in the nursery she wondered whether this was really herself, so she pinched her cheeks, and then she knew it was herself, and this reminded her that she was in the middle of a great ad

you sweet! O you

ler and smaller, and the garden dwindled at the same time, and the snow crept closer, lapping house and garden up. Now the house was the size of a little dog's kennel, and now of a Noah's Ark, but still you could see the smoke and the door-handle and the roses on the wall, every one complete. The glow-worm light was waning too, but it w

eel happy': what they sa

kind voice say, 'Don't cry, pretty human, don't cry,' and then she turned round and saw a b