Can they be John and Michael ? They are ! '' `` Oh ! '' '' ` See , dear brothers , ' says Wendy pointing upwards , ` there is the window still standing open . Ah , now we are rewarded for our sublime faith in a mother 's love . ' So up they flew to their mummy and daddy , and pen can not describe the happy scene , over which we draw a veil . '' That was the story , and they were as pleased with it as the fair narrator herself . Everything just as it should be , you see . Off we skip like the most heartless things in the world , which is what children are , but so attractive ; and we have an entirely selfish time , and then when we have need of special attention we nobly return for it , confident that we shall be rewarded instead of smacked . So great indeed was their faith in a mother 's love that they felt they could afford to be callous for a bit longer . But there was one there who knew better , and when Wendy finished he uttered a hollow groan . `` What is it , Peter ? '' she cried , running to him , thinking he was ill . She felt him solicitously , lower down than his chest . `` Where is it , Peter ? '' `` It is n't that kind of pain , '' Peter replied darkly . `` Then what kind is it ? '' `` Wendy , you are wrong about mothers . '' They all gathered round him in affright , so alarming was his agitation ; and with a fine candour he told them what he had hitherto concealed . `` Long ago , '' he said , `` I thought like you that my mother would always keep the window open for me , so I stayed away for moons and moons and moons , and then flew back ; but the window was barred , for mother had forgotten all about me , and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed . ''
I am not sure that this was true , but XXXXX thought it was true ; and it scared them .
John Michael Peter Wendy affright agitation children mummy need scene