The Strangest House Anyone Ever Lived In (The Secret Garden)

01CHAPTER IX.

02The strangest house anyone ever lived in.

03It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place anyone could imagine.

04The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of climbing roses, which were so thick that they were matted together.

05Mary Lennox knew they were roses because she had seen a great many roses in India.

06All the ground was covered with grass of a wintry brown, and out of it grew clumps of bushes, which were surely rose-bushes if they were alive.

07There were numbers of standard roses which had so spread their branches that they were like little trees.

08There were other trees in the garden, and one of the things which made the place look strangest and loveliest was that climbing roses had run all over them and swung down long tendrils, which made light swaying curtains, and here and there they had caught at each other, or at a far-reaching branch, and had crept from one tree to another, and made lovely bridges of themselves.

09There were neither leaves nor roses on them now, and Mary did not know whether they were dead or alive.

10But their thin grey 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 fallen from their fastenings and run along the ground.

11It was this hazy tangle from tree to tree which made it all look so mysterious.

12Mary had thought it must be different from other gardens which had not been left all by themselves so long, and indeed it was different from any other place she had ever seen in her life.

13"'How still it is!' she whispered.

14"'How still!' Then she waited a moment and listened at the stillness.

15The robin, who had flown to his treetop, was still as all the rest.

16He did not even flutter his wings.

17He sat without stirring, and looked at Mary.

18"'No wonder it is still!' she whispered again.

19"'I am the first person who has spoken in here for ten years.' She moved away from the door, stepping as softly as if she were afraid of awakening someone.

20She was glad that there was grass under her feet, and that her steps made no sounds.

21She walked under one of the fairy-like grey arches between the trees, and looked up at the sprays and tendrils which formed them.

22"'I wonder if they are all quite dead,' she said.

23"'Is it all a quite dead garden?

24I wish it wasn't.' If she had been Ben Weatherstaff, she could have told whether the wood was alive by looking at it.

25But she could only see that there were only grey or brown sprays and branches, and none showed any signs of even a tiny leaf-bud anywhere.

26But she was inside the wonderful garden, and she could come through the door under the ivy any time, and she felt as if she had found a world all her own.

27The sun was shining inside the four walls, and the high arch of blue sky over this particular piece of mistlethwaite seemed even more brilliant and soft than it was over the moor.

28The robin flew down from his treetop and hopped about or flew after her from one bush to another.

29He chirped a good deal, and had a very busy air, as if he were showing her things.

30Everything was strange and silent, and she seemed to be hundreds of miles away from anyone.

31But somehow she did not feel lonely at all.

32All that troubled her was her wish that she knew whether all the roses were dead, or if perhaps some of them had lived, and might put out leaves and buds as the weather got warmer.

33She did not want it to be a quite dead garden.

34If it were a quite alive garden, how wonderful it would be, and what thousands of roses would grow on every side!

35Her skipping-rope had hung over her arm when she came in, and after she had walked about for a while she thought she would skip round the whole garden, stopping when she wanted to look at things.

36There seemed to have been grass paths here and there, and in one or two corners there were alcoves of evergreen with stone seats or tall, moss-covered flower-urns in them.

37As she came near the second of these alcoves she stopped skipping.

38There had once been a flower-bed in it, and she thought she saw something sticking out of the black earth, some sharp little pale green points.

39She remembered what Ben Weatherstaff had said, and she knelt down to look at them.

40Yes, they are tiny growing things, and they might be crocuses or snowdrops or daffodils, she whispered.

41She bent very close to them and sniffed the fresh scent of the damp earth.

42She liked it very much.

43Perhaps there are some other ones coming up in other places, she said.

44I will go all over the garden and look.

45She did not skip, but walked.

46She went slowly and kept her eyes on the ground.

47She looked in the old border-beds and among the grass, and after she had gone round, trying to miss nothing, she had found ever so many more sharp pale green points, and she had become quite excited again.

48It isn't a quite dead garden, she cried out softly to herself.

49Even if the roses are dead, there are other things alive.

50She did not know anything about gardening, but the grass seemed so thick in some of the places where the green points were pushing their way through, that she thought they did not seem to have room enough to grow.

51She searched about until she found a rather sharp piece of wood, and knelt down and dug and weeded out the weeds and grass, until she made nice little clear places around them.

52Now they look as if they could breathe, she said, after she had finished with the first ones.

53I am going to do ever so many more.

54I'll do all I can see.

55If I haven't time to-day, I can come to-morrow.

56She went from place to place, and dug and weeded, and enjoyed herself so immensely that she was led on from bed to bed, and into the grass under the trees.

57The exercise made her so warm that she first threw her coat off, and then her hat, and without knowing it she was smiling down onto the grass and the pale green points all the time.

58The robin was tremendously busy.

59He was very much pleased to see gardening begun on his own estate.

60He had often wondered at Ben Weatherstaff.

61Where gardening is done, all sorts of delightful things to eat are turned up with the soil.

62Now here was this new kind of creature, who was not half Ben's size, and yet had had the sense to come into his garden and begin at once.

63Mistress Mary worked in her garden until it was time to go to her midday dinner.

64In fact, she was rather late in remembering, and when she put on her coat and hat and picked up her skipping rope, she could not believe that she had been working two or three hours.

65She had been actually happy all the time, and dozens and dozens of the tiny pale green points were to be seen in cleared places, looking twice as cheerful as they had looked before, when the grass and weeds had been smothering them.

66I shall come back this afternoon, she said, looking all round at her new kingdom, and speaking to the trees and the rose bushes, as if they heard her.

67Then she ran lightly across the grass, and pushed open the slow old door, and slipped through it under the ivy.

68She had such red cheeks and such bright eyes, and ate such a dinner that Martha was delighted.

69Two pieces of meat and two helps a rice puddin', she said.

70Eh, mother will be pleased when I tell her what the skipping rope's done for thee.

71In the course of her digging with her pointed stick, Mistress Mary had found herself digging up a sort of white root, rather like an onion.

72She had put it back in its place, and patted the earth carefully down on it, and just now she wondered if Martha could tell her what it was.

73Martha, she said, what are those white roots that look like onions?

74They're bulbs, answered Martha.

75Lots of spring flowers grow from them.

76The very little ones are snowdrops and crocuses, and the big ones are narcissuses and jonquils and daffodown lilies.

77The biggest of all is lilies and purple flags.

78Eh, they are nice.

79Dickon's got a whole lot of them planted in our bitter garden.

80Does Dickon know all about them?

81Asked Mary.

82A new idea taking possession of her.

83Our Dickon can make a flower grow out of a brick walk.

84Mother says he just whispers things out of the ground.

85Do bulbs live a long time?

86Would they live years and years if no one helped them?

87inquired Mary anxiously.

88They're things as helps themselves, said Martha.

89That's why poor folk can afford to have them.

90If you don't trouble them, most of them will work away underground for a lifetime, and spread out and have little ones.

91There's a place in the park woods here where there's snowdrops by thousands.

92They're the prettiest site in Yorkshire when the spring comes.

93No one knows when they was first planted.

94I wish the spring was here now, said Mary.

95I want to see all the things that grow in England.

96She had finished her dinner and gone to her favourite seat on the hearthrug.

97I wish, I wish I had a little spade, she said.

98Whatever does the want a spade for?

99Asked Martha, laughing.

100Ar't the going to take to digging?

101I must tell Mother that, too.

102Mary looked at the fire and pondered a little.

103She must be careful if she meant to keep her secret kingdom.

104She wasn't doing any harm, but if Mr.

105Craven found out about the open door, he would be fearfully angry, and get a new key and lock it up for evermore.

106She really could not bear that.

107This is such a big, lonely place, she said slowly, as if she were turning matters over in her mind.

108The house is lonely, and the park is lonely, and the gardens are lonely.

109So many places seem shut up.

110I never did many things in India, but there were more people to look at, natives and soldiers marching by, and sometimes bands playing, and my Aya told me stories.

111There is no one to talk to here except you and Ben Weatherstaff, and you have to do your work, and Ben Weatherstaff won't speak to me often.

112I thought if I had a little spade, I could dig somewhere as he does, and I might make a little garden, if he would give me some seeds.

113Martha's face quite lighted up.

114There now!

115she exclaimed.

116If that wasn't one of the things Mother said!

117She says, There's such a lot of room in that big place, why don't they give her a bit for herself, even if she doesn't plant nothing but parsley and radishes?

118She'd dig and rake away, and be right down happy over it.

119Them was the very words she said.

120Were they?

121said Mary.

122How many things she knows, doesn't she?

123Hey!

124said Martha.

125It's like she says.

126A woman as brings up twelve children learns something besides her A, B, C.

127Children's as good as arithmetic, to set you findin' out things.

128How much would a spade cost?

129A little one?

130Mary asked.

131Well, was Martha's reflective answer.

132At Thwaite Village there's a shop or so, and I saw little garden sets, with a spade and a rake and a fork all tied together, for two shillings, and they was stout enough to work with, too.

133I've got more than that in my purse, said Mary.

134Mrs.

135Morrison gave me five shillings, and Mrs.

136Medlock gave me some money from Mr.

137Craven.

138Did he remember thee that much?

139exclaimed Martha.

140Mrs.

141Medlock said I was to have a shilling a week to spend.

142She gives me one every Saturday.

143I didn't know what to spend it on.

144My word!

145That's riches!

146said Martha.

147Tha can buy anything in the world tha wants.

148The rent of our cottage is only one and threepence, and it's like pullin' eye teeth to get it.

149Now I've just thought o' somethin'.

150Putting her hands on her hips.

151What?

152said Mary, eagerly.

153In the shop at Thwaite they sell packages of flower-seeds for a penny each, and our Dickon he knows which is the prettiest ones and how to make them grow.

154He walks over to Thwaite many a day just for the fun of it.

155Does tha know how to print letters?

156Suddenly.

157I know how to write, Mary answered.

158Martha shook her head.

159Our Dickon can only read printin'.

160If tha could print, we could write a letter to him and ask him to go and buy the garden tools and the seeds at the same time.

161Oh, you're a good girl, Mary cried.

162You are, really.

163I didn't know you were so nice.

164I know I can print letters if I try.

165Let's ask Mrs.

166Medlock for a pen and ink and some paper.

167I've got some of my own, said Martha.

168I bought em' so I could print a bit of a letter to mother of a Sunday.

169I'll go and get it.

170She ran out of the room and Mary stood by the fire and twisted her thin little hands together with sheer pleasure.

171If I have a spade, she whispered, I can make the earth nice and soft and dig up weeds.

172If I have seeds and can make flowers grow, the garden won't be dead at all.

173It will come alive.

174She did not go out again that afternoon because when Martha returned with her pen and ink and paper, she was obliged to clear the table and carry the plates and dishes downstairs.

175And when she got into the kitchen, Mrs.

176Medlock was there and told her to do something.

177So Mary waited for what seemed to her a long time before she came back.

178Then it was a serious piece of work to write to Dickon.

179Mary had been taught very little because her governesses had disliked her too much to stay with her.

180She could not spell particularly well, but she found that she could print letters when she tried.

181This was the letter Martha dictated to her.

182My dear Dickon, this comes hoping to find you well as it leaves me at present.

183Miss Mary has plenty of money and will you go to Thwaite and buy her some flower seeds and a set of garden tools to make a flower bed.

184Pick the prettiest ones and easy to grow because she has never done it before and lived in India which is different.

185Give my love to Mother and every one of you.

186Miss Mary is going to tell me a lot more so that on my next day out you can hear about elephants and camels and gentlemen going hunting lions and tigers.

187Your loving sister, Martha Phoebe Sowerby.

188We'll put the money in the envelope and I'll get the butcher boy to take it in his cart.

189He's a great friend of Dickon's, said Martha.

190How shall I get the things when Dickon buys them?

191He'll bring them to you himself.

192He'll like to walk over this way.

193Oh!

194exclaimed Mary.

195Then I shall see him.

196I never thought I should see Dickon.

197Does thou want to see him?

198Asked Martha suddenly, for Mary had looked so pleased.

199Yes, I do.

200I never saw a boy foxes and crows loved.

201I want to see him very much.

202Martha gave a little start, as if she remembered something.

203Now to think, she broke out, to think of me forgetting that there, and I thought I was going to tell you first thing this morning.

204I asked Mother, and she said she'd ask Mrs.

205Medlock her own self.

206Do you mean— Mary began— What I said Tuesday.

207Ask her if you might be driven over to our cottage some day, and have a bit of Mother's hot oat-cake and butter and a glass of milk.

208It seemed as if all the interesting things were happening in one day.

209To think of going over the moor in the daylight and when the sky was blue.

210To think of going into the cottage which held twelve children.

211Does she think Mrs.

212Medlock would let me go?

213She asked, quite anxiously.

214Aye, she thinks she would.

215She knows what a tidy woman Mother is and how clean she keeps the cottage.

216If I went, I should see your mother as well as Dickon, said Mary, thinking it over and liking the idea very much.

217She doesn't seem to be like the mothers in India.

218Her work in the garden and the excitement of the afternoon ended by making her feel quiet and thoughtful.

219Martha stayed with her until tea time, but they sat in comfortable quiet and talked very little.

220But just before Martha went downstairs for the tea tray, Mary asked a question.

221Martha, she said, has the scullery maid had the toothache again today?

222Martha certainly started slightly.

223What makes the ask that?

224she said.

225Because, when I waited so long for you to come back, I opened the door and walked down the corridor to see if you were coming.

226And I heard that far off crying again, just as we heard it the other night.

227There isn't a wind today, so you see, it couldn't have been the wind.

228Eh, said Martha restlessly, thou mustn't go walking about in corridors and listening.

229Mr.

230Craven would be that there angry, there's no knowing what he'd do.

231I wasn't listening, said Mary.

232I was just waiting for you, and I heard it.

233That's three times.

234My word, there's Mrs.

235Medlock's bell, said Martha, and she almost ran out of the room.

236It's the strangest house anyone ever lived in, said Mary drowsily, as she dropped her head on the cushioned seat of the armchair near her.

237Fresh air, and digging, and skipping rope had made her feel so comfortably tired.

238that she fell asleep.

239End of chapter 9 Read by Kara Schallenberg on January 20, 2006 in Oceanside, California.

240Thank you.

241Thank you.

242Thank you.

243Thank you.