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
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