` As I ca n't be anything important , ' said Tootles , ` would any of you like to see me do a trick ? ' ` No , ' they all replied . Then at last he stopped . ' I had n't really any hope , ' he said . The hateful telling broke out again . ` Slightly is coughing on the table . ' ` The twins began with mammee-apples . ' ` Curly is taking both tappa rolls and yams . ' ` Nibs is speaking with his mouth full . ' ' I complain of the twins . ' ' I complain of Curly . ' ' I complain of Nibs . ' ` Oh dear , oh dear , ' cried Wendy , ` I 'm sure I sometimes think that children are more trouble than they are worth . ' She told them to clear away , and sat down to her work-basket : a heavy load of stockings and every knee with a hole in it as usual . ` Wendy , ' remonstrated Michael , ` I 'm too big for a cradle . ' ' I must have somebody in a cradle , ' she said almost tartly , ` and you are the littlest . A cradle is such a nice homely thing to have about a house . ' While she sewed they played around her ; such a group of happy faces and dancing limbs lit up by that romantic fire . It had become a very familiar scene this in the home under the ground , but we are looking on it for the last time . There was a step above , and Wendy , you may be sure , was the first to recognise it .
` Children , I hear your father 's XXXXX .
children cradle faces ground group house mouth step thing time