She TOLD me I 'd get the wish I made on it . I 'm going to try whenever I get home . '' `` It ca n't do any harm , anyhow , '' said Peter , `` but I 'm afraid you 've left it too late . If Pat is dead even a witch 's wishbone ca n't bring him back to life . '' `` I 'll never forgive myself for not thinking about it before , '' mourned Cecily . As soon as we got home she flew to the little box upstairs where she kept her treasures , and brought therefrom the dry and brittle wishbone . `` Peg told me how it must be done . I 'm to hold the wishbone with both hands , like this , and walk backward , repeating the wish nine times . And when I 've finished the ninth time I 'm to turn around nine times , from right to left , and then the wish will come true right away . '' `` Do you expect to see Pat when you finish turning ? '' said Dan skeptically . None of us had any faith in the incantation except Peter , and , by infection , Cecily . You never could tell what might happen . Cecily took the wishbone in her trembling little hands and began her backward pacing , repeating solemnly , `` I wish that we may find Paddy alive , or else his body , so that we can bury him decently . '' By the time Cecily had repeated this nine times we were all slightly infected with the desperate hope that something might come of it ; and when she had made her nine gyrations we looked eagerly down the sunset lane , half expecting to see our lost pet . But we saw only the Awkward Man turning in at the gate . This was almost as surprising as the sight of Pat himself would have been ; but there was no sign of Pat and hope flickered out in every breast but Peter 's . `` You 've got to give the spell time to work , '' he expostulated . `` If Pat was miles away when it was wished it would n't be reasonable to expect to see him right off . '' But we of little faith had already lost that little , and it was a very disconsolate group which the Awkward Man presently joined .
He was smiling -- his rare , beautiful smile which only children ever saw -- and he lifted his hat to the girls XXXXX no trace of the shyness and awkwardness for which he was notorious .
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