Chapter XVII. WHEN WENDY GREW UP · page 31 2 3201“Yes.”202“Boy or girl?”203“Girl.”204Now surely he would understand; but not a bit of it.205“Peter,” she said, faltering, “are you expecting me to fly away with you?”206“Of course; that is why I have come.”207He added a little sternly, “Have you forgotten that this is spring cleaning time?”208She knew it was useless to say that he had let many spring cleaning times pass.209“I can’t come,” she said apologetically, “I have forgotten how to fly.”210“I’ll soon teach you again.”211“O Peter, don’t waste the fairy dust on me.”212She had risen; and now at last a fear assailed him.213“What is it?” he cried, shrinking.214“I will turn up the light,” she said, “and then you can see for yourself.”215For almost the only time in his life that I know of, Peter was afraid.216“Don’t turn up the light,” he cried.217She let her hands play in the hair of the tragic boy.218She was not a little girl heart-broken about him; she was a grown woman smiling at it all, but they were wet-eyed smiles.219Then she turned up the light, and Peter saw.220He gave a cry of pain; and when the tall beautiful creature stooped to lift him in her arms he drew back sharply.221“What is it?” he cried again.222She had to tell him.223“I am old, Peter.224I am ever so much more than twenty.225I grew up long ago.”226“You promised not to!”227“I couldn’t help it.228I am a married woman, Peter.”229“No, you’re not.”230“Yes, and the little girl in the bed is my baby.”231“No, she’s not.”232But he supposed she was; and he took a step towards the sleeping child with his dagger upraised.233Of course he did not strike.234He sat down on the floor instead and sobbed; and Wendy did not know how to comfort him, though she could have done it so easily once.235She was only a woman now, and she ran out of the room to try to think.236Peter continued to cry, and soon his sobs woke Jane.237She sat up in bed, and was interested at once.238“Boy,” she said, “why are you crying?”239Peter rose and bowed to her, and she bowed to him from the bed.240“Hullo,” he said.241“Hullo,” said Jane.242“My name is Peter Pan,” he told her.243“Yes, I know.”244“I came back for my mother,” he explained, “to take her to the Neverland.”245“Yes, I know,” Jane said, “I have been waiting for you.”246When Wendy returned diffidently she found Peter sitting on the bed-post crowing gloriously, while Jane in her nighty was flying round the room in solemn ecstasy.247“She is my mother,” Peter explained; and Jane descended and stood by his side, with the look in her face that he liked to see on ladies when they gazed at him.248“He does so need a mother,” Jane said.249“Yes, I know,” Wendy admitted rather forlornly; “no one knows it so well as I.”250“Good-bye,” said Peter to Wendy; and he rose in the air, and the shameless Jane rose with him; it was already her easiest way of moving about.251Wendy rushed to the window.252“No, no,” she cried.253“It is just for spring cleaning time,” Jane said, “he wants me always to do his spring cleaning.”254“If only I could go with you,” Wendy sighed.255“You see you can’t fly,” said Jane.256Of course in the end Wendy let them fly away together.257Our last glimpse of her shows her at the window, watching them receding into the sky until they were as small as stars.258As you look at Wendy, you may see her hair becoming white, and her figure little again, for all this happened long ago.259Jane is now a common grown-up, with a daughter called Margaret; and every spring cleaning time, except when he forgets, Peter comes for Margaret and takes her to the Neverland, where she tells him stories about himself, to which he listens eagerly.260When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter’s mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.1 2 3← previousChapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME↑ back to Peter PanThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/18/page/3/