Again Mrs. Darling screamed , this time in distress for him , for she thought he was killed , and she ran down into the street to look for his little body , but it was not there ; and she looked up , and in the black night she could see nothing but what she thought was a shooting star . She returned to the nursery , and found Nana with something in her mouth , which proved to be the boy 's shadow . As he leapt at the window Nana had closed it quickly , too late to catch him , but his shadow had not had time to get out ; slam went the window and snapped it off . You may be sure Mrs. Darling examined the shadow carefully , but it was quite the ordinary kind . Nana had no doubt of what was the best thing to do with this shadow . She hung it out at the window , meaning ` He is sure to come back for it ; let us put it where he can get it easily without disturbing the children . ' But unfortunately Mrs. Darling could not leave it hanging out at the window ; it looked so like the washing and lowered the whole tone of the house . She thought of showing it to Mr. Darling , but he was totting up winter greatcoats for John and Michael , with a wet towel round his head to keep his brain clear , and it seemed a shame to trouble him ; besides , she knew exactly what he would say : ` It all comes of having a dog for a nurse . ' She decided to roll the shadow up and put it away carefully in a drawer , until a fitting opportunity came for telling her husband . Ah me ! The opportunity came a week later , on that never-to-be-forgotten Friday . Of course it was a Friday . ' 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 XXXXX 's wet eyes said .
Darling John Michael Mr. Nana coinage culpa drawer invitation night