Page:Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1912, Hodder & Stoughton).djvu/312

 live without her. ‘She will forget her mother in time, and be happy with me,’ he kept saying to himself, and he hurried her on, giving her thimbles by the way.

But even when she had seen the boat and exclaimed ecstatically over its loveliness, she still talked tremblingly about her mother. ‘You know quite well, Peter, don’t you,’ she said, ‘that I wouldn’t come unless I knew for certain I could go back to mother whenever I want to? Peter, say it.’

He said it, but he could no longer look her in the face.

‘If you are sure your mother will always want you,’ he added rather sourly.

‘The idea of mother’s not always wanting me!’ Maimie cried, and her face glistened.

‘If she doesn’t bar you out,’ said Peter huskily.

‘The door,’ replied Maimie, ‘will always, always be open, and mother will always be waiting at it for me.’

‘Then,’ said Peter, not without grimness, ‘step in, if you feel so sure of her,’ and he helped Maimie into the Thrush’s Nest.