she's ... crying dreadful. You _must_ go back. Go quick;
don't wait for us."

Peter went.

* * * * *

Jan very rarely cried. When she did it hurt fiercely and absorbed all
her attention. She was crying now as if she would never stop. If people
seldom cry it has a devastating effect on their appearance when they do.
Jan's eyelids were swollen, her nose scarlet and shiny, her features all
bleared and blurred and almost scarred by tears.

Someone touched her gently on the shoulder, and she looked up.

"My dear," said Peter, "you must not cry like this. I was losing my
temper--that's why I went off."

Jan sprang to her feet and flung her arms round his neck. She pressed
her ravaged face against his: "I'll do anything you like," she
whispered, "if you'll only like it. I can't stand by myself any more."

This was true, for as she spoke her knees gave under her.

Peter held her close. Never had Jan looked less attractive and never had
Peter loved her more, or realised so clearly how dear and foolish and
wise and womanly she was.

"You see," she sobbed, "you said yourself everyone _must_ do his job,
and I thought----"

"But surely," said Peter, "I _am_ your job--part of it, anyway."

Jan sobbed now more quietly, with her head against his shoulder.

Tony and William came and looked in at the window.

His aunt was still crying, crying hard, though Peter was there close
beside her, very close indeed.

Surely this was most unreasonable.

"She said," Tony remarked accusingly to Peter, "she was crying because
you had gone, so I ran to fetch you back. And now I _have_ fetched you,
she's crying worse nor ever."

But William Bloomsbury knew better. William had cause to know the
solitary bitter tears that hurt. These tears were different.

So William wagged his tail and ran into the room, jumping joyously on
Peter and Jan.

[Transcriber's Note:

The following corrections were made:

p. 44: Daddy to Daddie, to match all other occurrences (Daddie was very
daylight.)

p. 113: log to long (long grey dust-cloak)

p. 113: froward to forward (Anthony came forward)

p. 118: bread-an-butter to bread-and-butter (several pieces of
bread-and-butter)

p. 152: minunte to minute (pondered this for a minute)

p. 284: quit to quick ("I came as quick as I could,")

p. 318: fluttered to flattered (rather flattered)

In the Latin-1 plain text version, an a-macron and an o-breve have