I ought to have been specially careful on a Friday , ' she used to say afterwards to her husband , while perhaps Nana was on the other side of her , holding her hand . ` No , no , ' Mr. Darling always said , ' I am responsible for it all . I , George Darling , did it . Mea culpa , mea culpa . ' He had had a classical education . They sat thus night after night recalling that fatal Friday , till every detail of it was stamped on their brains and came through on the other side like the faces on a bad coinage . ` If only I had not accepted that invitation to dine at 27 , ' Mrs. Darling said . ` If only I had not poured my medicine into Nana 's bowl , ' said Mr. Darling . ` If only I had pretended to like the medicine , ' was what Nana 's wet eyes said . ` My liking for parties , George . ' ` My fatal gift of humour , dearest . ' ` My touchiness about trifles , dear master and mistress . ' Then one or more of them would break down altogether ; Nana at the thought , ` It 's true , it 's true , they ought not to have had a dog for a nurse . ' Many a time it was Mr. Darling who put the handkerchief to Nana 's eyes . ` That fiend ! ' Mr. Darling would cry , and Nana 's bark was the echo of it , but Mrs. Darling never upbraided Peter ; there was something in the right-hand corner of her mouth that wanted her not to call Peter names . They would sit there in the empty nursery , recalling fondly every smallest detail of that dreadful evening . It had begun so uneventfully , so precisely like a hundred other evenings , with Nana putting on the water for Michael 's bath and carrying him to it on her back . ' I wo n't go to bed , ' he had shouted , like one who still believed that he had the last word on the subject , ' I wo n't , I wo n't . Nana , it is n't six o'clock yet .
Oh dear , oh dear , I sha n't love you any more , XXXXX .
Darling George Michael Nana Peter coinage culpa evening night o'clock