`` No , indeed , '' replied the twins ; `` it 's awfully difficult to be a twin . '' `` As I ca n't be anything important , '' said Tootles , `` would any of you like to see me do a trick ? '' `` No , '' they all replied . Then at last he stopped . `` I had n't really any hope , '' he said . The hateful telling broke out again . `` Slightly is coughing on the table . '' `` The twins began with cheese-cakes . '' `` Curly is taking both butter and honey . '' `` Nibs is speaking with his mouth full . '' `` I complain of the twins . '' `` I complain of Curly . '' `` I complain of Nibs . '' `` Oh dear , oh dear , '' cried Wendy , `` I 'm sure I sometimes think that spinsters are to be envied . '' She told them to clear away , and sat down to her work-basket , a heavy load of stockings and every knee with a hole in it as usual . `` Wendy , '' remonstrated -LSB- scolded -RSB- Michael , `` I 'm too big for a cradle . '' `` I must have somebody in a cradle , '' she said almost tartly , `` and you are the littlest . A cradle is such a nice homely thing to have about a house . '' While she sewed they played around her ; such a group of happy faces and dancing limbs lit up by that romantic fire . It had become a very familiar scene , this , in the home under the ground , but we are looking on it for the last time .
There was a step above , and XXXXX , you may be sure , was the first to recognize it .
Curly Michael Nibs Tootles Wendy butter cheese-cakes fire spinsters work-basket