The Secret Garden

that they were matted together. Mary Lennox knew they were roses because she had seen a great many roses in India. All the ground was covered with grass of a wintry brown and out of

ree to another and made lovely bridges of themselves. There were neither leaves nor roses on them now and Mary did not know whether they were dead or alive, but their thin gray or brown branches and sprays looked like a sort of hazy mantle spreading over everything, walls, and trees, and even brown grass, where they had

s!" she whisper

who had flown to his treetop, was still as all the rest. He did not

red again. "I am the first person w

er feet and that her steps made no sounds. She walked under one of the fairy-like gray arches between the trees and looked up at the sp

e by looking at it, but she could only see that there were only gray or brown

uld come through the door under the ivy any time a

He chirped a good deal and had a very busy air, as if he were showing her things. Everything was strange and silent and she seemed to be hundreds of miles away from any one, but somehow she did not feel lonely at all. All that troubled her was her wish that she knew whether all

skip round the whole garden, stopping when she wanted to look at things. There seemed to have been grass paths here and

ed in it, and she thought she saw something sticking out of the black earth-some sharp little pa

and they might be crocuses or sno

sniffed the fresh scent of the d

ing up in other places," she said. "I

e old border beds and among the grass, and after she had gone round, trying to miss nothing, sh

out softly to herself. "Even if the rose

g their way through that she thought they did not seem to have room enough to grow. She searched about until she found a rather s

inished with the first ones. "I am going to do ever so many more. I

to bed and into the grass under the trees. The exercise made her so warm that she first threw her coat off, and

t Ben Weatherstaff. Where gardening is done all sorts of delightful things to eat are turned up with the soil. Now here was

nd picked up her skipping-rope, she could not believe that she had been working two or three hours. She had been actually happy all the time; and dozens and dozens o

ing all round at her new kingdom, and speaking to

or and slipped through it under the ivy. She had such red cheeks a

'!" she said. "Eh! mother will be pleased when I

up a sort of white root rather like an onion. She had put it back in its place and patted th

at are those white root

ps an' crocuses an' th' big ones are narcissuses an' jonquils and daffydowndillys. Th' biggest of all is

them?" asked Mary, a new i

t of a brick walk. Mother says he jus

ey live years and years if no one he

'em'll work away underground for a lifetime an' spread out an' have little 'uns. There's a place in th' park woods here where there

" said Mary. "I want to see all

er and gone to her favori

oes tha' want a spade for?" asked Martha, laughing. "Art th

et kingdom. She wasn't doing any harm, but if Mr. Craven found out about the open door he would

id many things in India, but there were more people to look at-natives and soldiers marching by-and sometimes bands playing, and my Ayah told me stories. There is no one to talk to here except you and Ben Weathers

ace quite

oom in that big place, why don't they give her a bit for herself, even if she doesn't plant nothin' but parsl

y. "How many things s

up twelve children learns something besides her A B C. Chil

spade cost-a littl

or so an' I saw little garden sets with a spade an' a rake an' a fork all t

y. "Mrs. Morrison gave me five shillings and Mr

thee that much?"

a week to spend. She gives me one every Sa

nts. Th' rent of our cottage is only one an' threepence an' it's like pullin' eye-

said Mar

ckon he knows which is th' prettiest ones an' how to make 'em grow. He walks over to Th

to write," M

shook h

t we could write a letter to him an' ask him to go an'

dn't know you were so nice. I know I can print letters if I

letter to mother of a Sunday. I'll go and get it." She ran out of the room, and Ma

e and soft and dig up weeds. If I have seeds and can make flo

Medlock was there and told her to do something, so Mary waited for what seemed to her a long time before she came back. Then it was a serious piece of work to write to Dickon. Mary had been taught very little because

ools to make a flower-bed. Pick the prettiest ones and easy to grow because she has never done it before and lived in India which is different. Give my love to mother and

loving

Phoebe

get th' butcher boy to take it in his cart.

the things when D

u himself. He'll like

I shall see him! I never t

" asked Martha suddenly, fo

oy foxes and crows loved. I

out, "to think o' me forgettin' that there; an' I thought I was goin' to tell you firs

mean-" M

over to our cottage some day and have a bit o' moth

To think of going over the moor in the daylight and when the sky was

lock would let me go?" s

ows what a tidy woman mother is an

said Mary, thinking it over and liking the idea very m

thoughtful. Martha stayed with her until tea-time, but they sat in comfortable quiet and talke

the scullery-maid had t

ainly start

thee ask tha

corridor to see if you were coming. And I heard that far-off crying again, just as we hear

' about in corridors an' listenin'. Mr. Craven would

"I was just waiting for you-and

k's bell," said Martha, and s

ped her head on the cushioned seat of the armchair near her. Fresh air, and diggi