e 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 compassion
disturb his sombre breast? The man was not wholly evil; he loved flowers
(I have been told) and sweet music (he was himself no mean performer on
the harpsichord); and, let it be frankly admitted, the idyllic nature of
the scene stirred him profoundly. Mastered by his better self he would
have returned reluctantly up the tree, but for one thing.

What stayed him was Peter's impertinent appearance as he slept. The
open mouth, the drooping arm, the arched knee: they were such a
personification of cockiness as, taken together, will never again, one
may hope, be presented to eyes so sensitive to their offensiveness. They
steeled Hook's heart. If his rage had broken him into a hundred pieces
every one of them would have disregarded the incident, a