asked Cecily , by way of changing the conversation . `` Pat is n't a bit better . He just mopes about the kitchen , '' said the Story Girl anxiously . `` I went out to the barn and I saw a mouse . I had a stick in my hand and I fetched a swipe at it -- so . I killed it stone dead . Then I took it in to Paddy . Will you believe it ? He would n't even look at it . I 'm so worried . Uncle Roger says he needs a dose of physic . But how is he to be made take it , that 's the question . I mixed a powder in some milk and tried to pour it down his throat while Peter held him . Just look at the scratches I got ! And the milk went everywhere except down Pat 's throat . '' `` Would n't it be awful if -- if anything happened to Pat ? '' whispered Cecily . `` Well , we could have a jolly funeral , you know , '' said Dan . We looked at him in such horror that Dan hastened to apologize . `` I 'd be awful sorry myself if Pat died .
But if he DID , we 'd have XXXXX give him the right kind of a funeral , '' he protested .
Peter Roger about at except if in of to while