There was no way of knowing, save by going down. Hook let his cloak
slip softly to the ground, and then biting his lips till a lewd blood
stood on them, he stepped into the tree. He was a brave man, but for a
moment he had to stop there and wipe his brow, which was dripping like
a candle. Then, silently, he let himself go into the unknown.
He arrived unmolested at the foot of the shaft, and stood still again,
biting at his breath, which had almost left him. As his eyes became
accustomed to the dim light various objects in the home under the trees
took shape; but the only one on which his greedy gaze rested, long
sought for and found at last, was the great bed. On the bed lay Peter
fast asleep.
Unaware of the tragedy being enacted above, Peter had continued, for a
little time after the children left, to play gaily on his pipes: no
doubt rather a forlorn attempt to prove to himself that he did not
care. Then he decided not to take his medicine, so as to grieve Wendy.
Then he lay down on the bed outside the coverlet, to vex her still
more; for she had always tucked them inside it, because you never know
that you may not grow chilly at the turn of the night. Then he nearly
cried; but it struck him how indignant she would be if he laughed
instead; so he laughed a haughty laugh and fell asleep in the middle of
it.
Sometimes, though not often, he had dreams, and they were more painful
than the dreams of other boys. For hours he could not be separated from
these dreams, though he wailed piteously in them. They had to do, I
think, with the riddle of his existence. At such times it had been
Wendy s custom to take him out of bed and sit with him on her lap,
soothing him in dear ways of her own invention, and when he grew calmer
to put him back to bed before he quite woke up, so that he should not
know of the indignity to which she had subjected him. But on this
occasion he had fallen at once into a dreamless sleep. One arm dropped
over the edge of the bed, one leg was arched, and the unfinished part
of his laugh was stranded on his mouth, which was open, showing the
little pearls.
Thus defenceless Hook found him. He stood silent at the foot of the
tree looking across the chamber at his enemy. Did no feeling of
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