-- did I say nine nine seven ? yes , I said nine nine seven ; the question is , can we try it for a year on nine nine seven ? ' ` Of course we can , George , ' she cried . But she was prejudiced in Wendy 's favour , and he was really the grander character of the two . ` Remember mumps , ' he warned her almost threateningly , and off he went again . ` Mumps one pound , that is what I have put down , but I daresay it will be more like thirty shillings -- do n't speak -- measles one five , German measles half a guinea , makes two fifteen six -- do n't waggle your finger -- whooping-cough , say fifteen shillings ' -- and so on it went , and it added up differently each time ; but at last Wendy just got through , with mumps reduced to twelve six , and the two kinds of measles treated as one . There was the same excitement over John , and Michael had even a narrower squeak ; but both were kept , and soon you might have seen the three of them going in a row to Miss Fulsom 's Kindergarten school , accompanied by their nurse . Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so , and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours ; so , of course , they had a nurse . As they were poor , owing to the amount of milk the children drank , this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog , called Nana , who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her . She had always thought children important , however , and the Darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington Gardens , where she spent most of her spare time peeping into perambulators , and was much hated by careless nursemaids , whom she followed to their homes and complained of to their mistresses . She proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse . How thorough she was at bath-time ; and up at any moment of the night if one of her charges made the slightest cry . Of course her kennel was in the nursery . She had a genius for knowing when a cough is a thing to have no patience with and when it needs stocking round your throat . She believed to her last day in old-fashioned remedies like rhubarb leaf , and made sounds of contempt over all this new-fangled talk about germs , and so on . It was a lesson in propriety to see her escorting the children to school , walking sedately by their side when they were well behaved , and butting them back into line if they strayed . On John 's footer days she never once forgot his sweater , and she usually carried an umbrella in her mouth in case of rain . There is a room in the basement of Miss Fulsom 's school where the nurses wait . They sat on forms , while Nana lay on the floor , but that was the only difference . They affected to ignore her as of an inferior social status to themselves , and she despised their light talk .
She resented visits to the nursery from Mrs. Darling 's friends , but if they did come she first whipped off Michael 's pinafore and put him into the one with blue braiding , and smoothed out XXXXX and made a dash at John 's hair .
Darling Darlings German John Michael Nana Wendy days nursemaids pound