James Matthew Barrie - The Complete Works of J. M. Barrie (With Illustrations)

MR. DARLING (giving her his hat loftily). If you will be so good, Liza. (The cheering is resumed.) It is very gratifying!

LIZA (contemptuous). Lot of little boys.

MR. DARLING (with the new sweetness of one who has sworn never to lose his temper again). There were several adults to-day.

(She goes off scornfully with the hat and the two men, but he has not a word of reproach for her. It ought to melt us when we see how humbly grateful he is for akiss from his wife, so much more than he feels he deserves. One may think he is wrong to exchange into the kennel, but sorrow has taught him that he is the kind of man who whatever he does contritely he must do to excess; otherwise he soon abandons doing it.)

MRS. DARLING (who has known this for quite a long time).What sort of a day have you had, George?

(He is sitting on the floor by the kennel.)

MR. DARLING. There were never less than a hundred running round the cab cheering, and when we passed the Stock Exchange the members came out and waved.

(He is exultant but uncertain of himself, and with a word she could dispirit him utterly.)

MRS. DARLING (bravely). I am so proud, George.

MR. DARLING (commendation from the dearest quarter ever going to his head). I have been put on a picture postcard, dear.

MRS. DARLING (nobly). Never!

MR. DARLING (thoughtlessly). Ah, Mary, we should not be such celebrities if the children hadn't flown away.

MRS. DARLING (startled). George, you are sure you are not enjoying it?,

MR. DARLING (anxiously). Enjoying it! See my punishment: living in a kennel.

MRS. DARLING. Forgive me, dear one.

MR. DARLING. It is I who need forgiveness, always I, never you. And now I feel drowsy. (He retires into the kennel.) Won't you play me to sleep on the nursery piano? And shut that window, Mary dearest; I feel a draught.

MRS. DARLING. Oh, George, never ask me to do that. The window must always be left open, for them, always, always.

(She goes into the day nursery, from which we presently hear her playing the sad song of Margaret. She little knows that her last remark has been overheard by a boy crouching at the window. He steals into the room accompanied by a ball of light.)

PETER. Tink, where are you? Quick, close the window. (It closes.) Bar it. (The bar slams down.) Now whenWendy comes she will think her mother has barred her out, and she will have to come back to me! (TINKER BELL sulks.) Now, Tink, you and I must go out by the door. (Doors, however, are confusing things to those who are used to windows, and he is puzzled when he finds that this one does not open on to the firmament. He tries the other, and sees the piano player.) It is Wendy's mother! (TINK. pops on to his shoulder and they peep together.) She is a pretty lady, but not so pretty as my mother. (This is a pure guess.) She is making the box say 'Come home, Wendy.' You will never see Wendy again, lady, for the window is barred! (He flutters about the room joyously like a bird, but has to return to that door.) She has laid her head down on the box. There are two wet things sitting on her eyes. As soon as they go away another two come and sit on her eyes. (She is heard moaning 'Wendy, Wendy, Wendy.') She wants me to unbar the window. I won't! She is awfully fond of Wendy. I am fond of her too. We can't both have her, lady! (A funny feeling comes over him.) Come on, Tink; we don't want any silly mothers.

(He opens the window and they fly out.

It is thus that the truants find entrance easy when they alight on the sill, JOHN to his credit having the tired MICHAEL on his shoulders. They have nothing else to their credit; no compunction for what they have done, not the tiniest fear that any just person may be awaiting them with a stick. The youngest is in a daze, but the two others are shining virtuously like holy people who are about to give two other people a treat.)

MICHAEL (looking about him). I think I have been here before.

JOHN. It's your home, you stupid.

WENDY. There is your old bed, Michael.

MICHAEL. I had nearly forgotten.

JOHN. I say, the kennel!

WENDY. Perhaps Nana is in it.

JOHN (peering). There is a man asleep in it.

WENDY (remembering him by the bald patch). It's father!

JOHN. So it is!

MICHAEL. Let me see father. (Disappointed) He is not as big as the pirate I killed.

JOHN (perplexed). Wendy, surely father didn't use to sleep in the kennel?

WENDY (with misgivings). Perhaps we don't remember the old life as well as we thought we did.

JOHN (chilled). It is very careless of mother not to be here when we come back.

(The piano is heard again.)

WENDY. H'sh! (She goes to the door and peeps.) That is her playing! (They all have a peep.)

MICHAEL. Who is that lady?

JOHN. H'sh! It's mother.

MICHAEL. Then are you not really our mother, Wendy?

WENDY (with conviction). Oh dear, it is quite time to be back!

JOHN. Let us creep in and put our hands over her eyes.

WENDY (more considerate). No, let us break it to her gently.

(She slips between the sheets of her bed; and the others, seeing the idea at once, get into their beds. Then when the music stops they cover their heads. There are now three distinct bumps in the beds. MRS. DARLING sees the bumps as soon as she comes in, but she does not believe she sees them.)

MRS. DARLING. I see them in their beds so often in my dreams that I seem still to see them when I am awake! I'll not look again. (She sits down and turns away her face from the bump, though of course they are still reflected in her mind.) So often their silver voices call me, my little children whom I'll see no more.

(Silver voices is a good one, especially about JOHN; but the heads pop up.)

WENDY (perhaps rather silvery). Mother!

MRS. DARLING (without moving). That is Wendy.

JOHN, (quite gruff). Mother!

MRS. DARLING. Now it is John.

MICHAEL (no better than a squeak). Mother!

MRS. DARLING. Now Michael. And when they call I stretch out my arms to them, but they never come, they never come!

(This time, however, they come, and there is joy once more in the Darling household. The little boy who is crouching at the window sees the joke of the bumps in the beds, but cannot understand what all the rest of the fuss is about.

The scene changes from the inside of the house to the outside, and we see MR. DARLING romping in at the door, with the lost boys hanging gaily to his coat-tails. Some may conclude that WENDY has told them to wait outside until she explains the situation to her mother, who has then sent MR. DARLING down to tell them that they are adopted. Of course they could have flown in by the window like a covey of birds, but they think it better fun to enter by a door. There is a moment's trouble about SLIGHTLY, who somehow gets shut out. Fortunately LIZA finds him.)

LIZA. What is the matter, boy?

SLIGHTLY. They have all got a mother except me.

LIZA (starting back). Is your name Slightly?

SLIGHTLY. Yes'm.

LIZA. Then I am your mother.

SLIGHTLY. How do you know?

LIZA (the good-natured creature). I feel it in my bones.

(They go into the house and there is none hazier now than SLIGHTLY, unless it be NANA as she passes with the importance of a nurse who will never have another day off. WENDY looks out at the nursery window and sees a friend below, who is hovering in the air knocking off tall hats with his feet. The wearers don't see him. They are too old. You can't see PETER if you are old. They think he is a draught at the corner.

WENDY. Peter!

PETER (looking up casually). Hullo, Wendy.

(She flies down to him, to the horror of her mother, who rushes to the window.)

WENDY (making a last attempt). You don't feel you would like to say anything to my parents, Peter, about a very sweet subject?