little man, she said, though he was tall as herself, and she got out
her housewife, and sewed the shadow on to Peter s foot.
I daresay it will hurt a little, she warned him.
Oh, I shan t cry, said Peter, who was already of the opinion that he
had never cried in his life. And he clenched his teeth and did not cry,
and soon his shadow was behaving properly, though still a little
creased.
Perhaps I should have ironed it, Wendy said thoughtfully, but Peter,
boylike, was indifferent to appearances, and he was now jumping about
in the wildest glee. Alas, he had already forgotten that he owed his
bliss to Wendy. He thought he had attached the shadow himself. How
clever I am! he crowed rapturously, oh, the cleverness of me!
It is humiliating to have to confess that this conceit of Peter was one
of his most fascinating qualities. To put it with brutal frankness,
there never was a cockier boy.
But for the moment Wendy was shocked. You conceit, she exclaimed,
with frightful sarcasm; of course I did nothing!
You did a little, Peter said carelessly, and continued to dance.
A little! she replied with hauteur; if I am no use I can at least
withdraw, and she sprang in the most dignified way into bed and
covered her face with the blankets.
To induce her to look up he pretended to be going away, and when this
failed he sat on the end of the bed and tapped her gently with his
foot. Wendy, he said, don t withdraw. I can t help crowing, Wendy,
when I m pleased with myself. Still she would not look up, though she
was listening eagerly. Wendy, he continued, in a voice that no woman
has ever yet been able to resist, Wendy, one girl is more use than
twenty boys.
Now Wendy was every inch a woman, though there were not very many
inches, and she peeped out of the bed-clothes.
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