u don't mean to tell me that there
is a fairy in this room!'

'She was here just now,' he said a little impatiently. 'You don't hear
her, do you?' and they both listened.

'The only sound I hear,' said Wendy, 'is like a tinkle of bells.'

'Well, that's Tink, that's the fairy language. I think I hear her too.'

The sound came from the chest of drawers, and Peter made a merry face.
No one could ever look quite so merry as Peter, and the loveliest of
gurgles was his laugh. He had his first laugh still.

'Wendy,' he whispered gleefully, 'I do believe I shut her up in the
drawer!'

He let poor Tink out of the drawer, and she flew about the nursery
screaming with fury. 'You shouldn't say such things,' Peter retorted.
'Of course I'm very sorry, but how could I know you were in the drawer?'

Wendy was not listening to him. 'O Peter,' she cried, 'if she would
only stand still and let me see her!'

'They hardly ever stand still,' he said, but for one moment Wendy saw
the romantic figure come to rest on the cuckoo clock. 'O the lovely!'
she cried, though Tink's face was still distorted with passion.

'Tink,' said Peter amiably, 'this lady says she wishes you were her
fairy.'

Tinker Bell answered insolently.

'What does she say, Peter?'

He had to translate. 'She is not very polite. She says you are a great
ugly girl, and that she is my fairy.'

He tried to argue with Tink. 'You know you can't be my fairy, Tink,
because I am a gentleman and you are a lady.'

To this Tink replied in these words, 'You silly ass,' and disappeared
into the bathroom. 'She is quite a common fairy,' Peter explained
apologetically; 'she is called Tinker Bell because she mends the pots
and kettles.'

They were together in the armchair by this time, and Wendy plied him
with more questions.

'If you don't live in Kensington Gardens now----'

'Sometimes I do still.'

'But where do you live mostly now?'

'With the lost boys.'

'Who are they?'

'They are the children who fall out of their perambulators when the
nurse is looking the other way. If they are not claimed in seven days
they are sent far away to the Neverland to defray expenses. I'm
captain.'

'What fun it must be!'

'Yes,' said cunning Peter, 'but we are rather lonely. You see we have no
female companionship.'

'Are none of the others girls?'

'Oh no; girls, you know, are much too clever to fall out of their
prams.'

This flattered Wendy immensely. 'I think,' she