(They make a paling of themselves in front of WENDY as PETER skims round the tree-tops and reaches earth.)
PETER. Greeting, boys! (Their silence chafes him.) I am back; why do you not cheer? Great news, boys, I have brought at last a mother for us all.
SLIGHTLY (vaguely). Ay, ay.
PETER. She flew this way; have you not seen her?
SECOND TWIN (as PETER evidently thinks her important). Oh mournful day!
TOOTLES (making a break in the paling). Peter, I will show her to you.
THE OTHERS (closing the gap). No, no.
TOOTLES (majestically). Stand back all, and let Peter see.
(The paling dissolves, and PETER sees WENDY prone on the ground.)
PETER. Wendy, with an arrow in her heart! (He plucks it out.) Wendy is dead. (He is not so much pained as puzzled.)
CURLY. I thought it was only flowers that die.
PETER. Perhaps she is frightened at being
