and I starve, and our children will be flung into the
streets.'

Even then Mrs. Darling was placid. 'Let me try, dear,' she said, and
indeed that was what he had come to ask her to do; and with her nice
cool hands she tied his tie for him, while the children stood around to
see their fate decided. Some men would have resented her being able to
do it so easily, but Mr. Darling was far too fine a nature for that; he
thanked her carelessly, at once forgot his rage, and in another moment
was dancing round the room with Michael on his back.

'How wildly we romped!' says Mrs. Darling now, recalling it.

'Our last romp!' Mr. Darling groaned.

'O George, do you remember Michael suddenly said to me, "How did you
get to know me, mother?"'

'I remember!'

'They were rather sweet, don't you think, George?'

'And they were ours, ours, and now they are gone.'

The romp had ended with the appearance of Nana, and most unluckily Mr.
Darling collided against her, covering his trousers with hairs. They
were not only new trousers, but they were the first he had ever had with
braid on them, and he had to bite his lip to prevent the tears coming.
Of course Mrs. Darling brushed him, but he began to talk again about its
being a mistake to have a dog for a nurse.

'George, Nana is a treasure.'

'No doubt, but I have an uneasy feeling at times that she looks upon the
children as puppies.'

'Oh no, dear one, I feel sure she knows they have souls.'

'I wonder,' Mr. Darling said thoughtfully, 'I wonder.' It was an
opportunity, his wife felt, for telling him about the boy. At first he
pooh-poohed the story, but he became thoughtful when she showed him the
shadow.

'It is nobody I know,' he said, examining it carefully, 'but he does
look a scoundrel.'

'We were still discussing it, you remember,' says Mr. Darling, 'when
Nana came in with Michael's medicine. You will never carry the bottle in
your mouth again, Nana, and it is all my fault.

Strong man though he was, there is no doubt that he had behaved rather
foolishly over the medicine. If he had a weakness, it was for thinking
that all his life he had taken medicine boldly; and so now, when Michael
dodged the spoon in Nana's mouth, he had said reprovingly, 'Be a man,
Michael.'

'Won't; won't,' Michael cried naughtily. Mrs. Darling left the room to
get a chocolate for him, and Mr. Darling thought this showed want of
firmness.

'Mother, don't pamper him,' he called after her. '