` Wendy , ' he continued , in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist , ` Wendy , one girl is more use than twenty boys . ' Now Wendy was every inch a woman , though there were not very many inches , and she peeped out of the bedclothes . ` Do you really think so , Peter ? ' ` Yes , I do . ' ' I think it 's perfectly sweet of you , ' she declared , ` and I 'll get up again ' ; and she sat with him on the side of the bed . She also said she would give him a kiss if he liked , but Peter did not know what she meant , and he held out his hand expectantly . ` Surely you know what a kiss is ? ' she asked , aghast . ' I shall know when you give it to me , ' he replied stiffly ; and not to hurt his feelings she gave him a thimble . ` Now , ' said he , ` shall I give you a kiss ? ' and she replied with a slight primness , ` If you please . ' She made herself rather cheap by inclining her face toward him , but he merely dropped an acorn button into her hand ; so she slowly returned her face to where it had been before , and said nicely that she would wear his kiss on the chain round her neck . It was lucky that she did put it on that chain , for it was afterwards to save her life . When people in our set are introduced , it is customary for them to ask each other 's age , and so Wendy , who always liked to do the correct thing , asked Peter how old he was . It was not really a happy question to ask him ; it was like an examination paper that asks grammar , when what you want to be asked is Kings of England . ' I do n't know , ' he replied uneasily , ` but I am quite young . ' He really knew nothing about it ; he had merely suspicions , but he said at a venture , ` Wendy , I ran away the day I was born . ' Wendy was quite surprised , but interested ; and she indicated in the charming drawing-room manner , by a touch on her night-gown , that he could sit nearer her . ` It was because I heard father and mother , ' he explained in a low voice , ` talking about what I was to be when I became a man . ' He was extraordinarily agitated now . '
I do n't want ever to be a XXXXX , ' he said with passion . '
age bed boys chain inch kiss man set suspicions thimble