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

01Chapter 9 The Strangest House Anyone Ever Lived In It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place anyone could imagine.

02The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of climbing roses, which were so thick that they were matted together.

03Mary Lennox knew they were roses, because she had seen a great many roses in India.

04All 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.

05There were numbers of standard roses which had so spread their branches that they were like little trees.

06There 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.

07There were neither leaves nor roses on them now, and Mary did not know whether they were dead or alive.

08But 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.

09It was this hazy tangle from tree to tree which made it all look so mysterious.

10Mary had thought it must be different from other gardens which had not been left by themselves so long, and indeed it was different from any other place she had ever seen in her life.

11How still it is!

12How still!

13Then she waited a moment and listened at the stillness.

14The robin who had flown to his tree-top was as still as all the rest.

15He did not even flutter his wings.

16He sat without stirring and looked at Mary.

17No wonder it is still!

18She whispered again.

19I am the first person who has spoken in here for ten years!

20She moved away from the door, stepping as softly as if she were afraid of awakening some one.

21She was glad that there was grass under her feet and that her steps made no sounds.

22She walked under one of the fairy-like grey arches between the trees, and looked up at the sprays and tendrils which formed them.

23I wonder if they are all quite dead, she said.

24Is it all a quite dead garden?

25I wish it wasn't.

26If she had been Ben Weatherstaff she could have told whether the wood was alive by looking at it, but 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.

27But 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.

28The 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.

29The robin flew down from his tree-top, and hopped about or flew after her from one bush to another.

30He chirped a good deal and had a very busy air, as if he were showing her things.

31Everything was strange and silent, and she seemed to be hundreds of miles away from anyone.

32But somehow she did not feel lonely at all.

33All that troubled her was her wish that she knew whether the roses were dead, or if perhaps some of them had lived and might put out leaves and buds as the weather got warmer.

34She did not want it to be a quite dead garden.

35If it were a quite alive garden, how wonderful it would be, and what thousands of roses would grow on every side!

36Her 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.

37There 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.

38As she came near the second of these alcoves she stopped skipping.

39There 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.

40She remembered what Ben Weatherstaff had said, and she knelt down to look at them.

41Yes, they are tiny growing things, and they might be crocuses or snowdrops or daffodils.

42She whispered.

43She bent very close to them and sniffed the fresh scent of the damp earth.

44She liked it very much.

45Perhaps there are some other ones coming up in other places, she said.

46I will go all over the garden and look.

47She did not skip, but walked.

48She went slowly and kept her eyes on the ground.

49She 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.

50It isn't a quite dead garden, she cried out softly to herself.

51Even if the roses are dead, there are other things alive.

52She 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 enough room to grow.

53She 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.

54Now they look as if they could breathe, she said, after she had finished with the first ones.

55I am going to do ever so many more.

56I'll do all I can see.

57If I haven't time to-day I can come to-morrow.

58She 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.

59The exercise made her so warm that she first threw her coat off and then her hat, and without knowing it she was smiling down on to the grass and the pale-green points all the time.

60The robin was tremendously busy.

61He was very much pleased to see gardening begun on his own estate.

62He had often wondered at Ben Weatherstaff.

63Where gardening is done all sorts of delightful things to eat are turned up with the soil.

64Now 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.

65Mistress Mary worked in her garden until it was time to go to her midday dinner.

66In 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.

67She 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.

68I 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.

69Then she ran lightly across the grass, pushed open the slow old door, and slipped through it under the ivy.

70She had such red cheeks and such bright eyes, and ate such a dinner, that Martha was delighted.

71Two pieces o' meat and two helps o' rice pudding, she said.

72Eh!

73Mother will be pleased when I tell her what the skipping rope's done for thee.

74In 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.

75She 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.

76Martha, she said, what are those white roots that look like onions?

77They're bulbs, answered Martha.

78Lots o' spring flowers grow from em.

79The very little ones are snow-drops, and crocuses, and the big ones are narcissuses, and jonquils, and daffodone dillies.

80The biggest of all is lilies and purple flags.

81Eh!

82they are nice!

83Dickon's got a whole lot o' em planted in our bitter garden.

84Does Dickon know all about them?

85asked Mary, a new idea taking possession of her.

86Our Dickon can make a flower grow out of a brick walk.

87Mother says he just whispers things out o' the ground.

88Do bulbs live a long time?

89Would they live years and years if no one helped them?

90inquired Mary anxiously.

91Their things is helps themselves," said Martha.

92That's why poor folk can afford to have em.

93If you don't trouble em, most of em'll work away underground for a lifetime, and spread out and have little uns.

94There's a place in the park woods here where there's snow-drops by thousands.

95They're the prettiest sight in Yorkshire when the spring comes.

96No one knows when they was first planted." I wish the spring was here now," said Mary.

97I want to see all the things that grow in England." She had finished her dinner and gone to her favourite seat on the hearth-rug.

98I wish—I wish I had a little spade," she said.

99"'Whatever does the want to spade for?' asked Martha, laughing.

100"'A'at they're going to take to digging?

101I must tell mother that, too." Mary looked at the fire and pondered a little.

102She must be careful if she meant to keep her secret kingdom.

103She wasn't doing any harm, but if Mr.

104Craven found out about the open door he would be fearfully angry and get a new key and lock it up for evermore.

105She really could not bear that.

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

107"'The house is lonely, and the park is lonely and the gardens are lonely.

108So many places seem shut up.

109I 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 ayah told me stories.

110There is no one to talk to here except you and Ben Weatherstaff.

111And 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.'" Martha's face quite lighted up.

113"'Then now!' she exclaimed.

114"'If that wasn't one of the things Mother said.

115She 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?

116She'd dig and rake away and be right down happy over it.'" Then was the very word she said.

117"'Were they?' said Mary.

118"'How many things she knows, doesn't she?' "'Eh!' said Martha.

119"'It's like, she says, a woman as brings up twelve children learn something besides her A B C.

120Children's as good as arithmetic to set your finding out things.'" "'How much would a spade cost?

121A little one?' Mary asked.

122"'Well,' was Martha's reflective answer, "'at 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.'" "'I've got more than that in my purse,' said Mary.

123"'Mrs.

124Morrison gave me five shillings, and Mrs.

125Medlock gave me some money for Mr.

126Craven.'" "'Did he remember thee that much?' exclaimed Martha.

127"'Mrs.

128Medlock said I was to have a shilling a week to spend.

129She gives me one every Saturday.

130I didn't know what to spend it on.'" "'My word!

131That's riches!' said Martha.

132"'They can buy anything the world the wants.

133The rent of our cottage is only one and threepence, and it's like pulling our teeth to get it.

134Now, I've just thought of something,' putting her hands on her hips.

135"'What?' said Mary eagerly.

136"'In 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.

137He walks over to Thwaite many a day for the fun of it.

138Does the know how to print letters?' Suddenly, "'I know how to write,' Mary answered.

139Martha shook her head.

140"'Our Dickon can only read printing.

141If thar 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.'" "'Oh!

142you're a good girl,' Mary cried.

143"'You are, really?

144I didn't know you were so nice.

145I know I can print letters if I try.

146Let's ask Mrs.

147Medlock for a pen and ink and some paper.'" "'I've got some of my own,' said Martha.

148"'I bought them so I could print a bit of a letter to Mother of a Sunday.

149I'll go and get it.'" She ran out of the room, and Mary stood by the fire and twisted her thin little hands together with sheer pleasure.

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

151If I have seeds and can make flowers grow, the garden won't be dead at all.

152It will come alive.'" She 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, and when she got into the kitchen, Mrs.

153Medlock was there and told her to do something.

154So Mary waited for what seemed to her a long time before she came back.

155Then it was a serious piece of work to write to Dickon.

156Mary had been taught very little, because her governess had disliked her too much to stay with her.

157She could not spell particularly well, but she found that she could print letters when she tried.

158This was the letter Martha dictated to her.

159"'My dear Dickon, This comes hoping to find you well as it leaves me at present.

160Miss Mary has plenty o' money, and will go to Thwaite and buy her some flower seeds and a set o' garden tools to make a flower-bed.

161Pick the prettiest ones and easy to grow, because she has never done it before and lived in India which is different.

162Give my love to mother and every one of you.

163Miss 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.

164Your loving sister, Martha Phoebe Sobe.

165We'll put the money in the envelope, and I'll get the butcher-boy to take it in his cart.

166He's a great friend o' Dickon's,' said Martha.

167"'How shall I get the things when Dickon buys them?' "'He'll bring them to you himself.

168He'll like to walk over this way.' "'Oh!' exclaimed Mary.

169"'Then I shall see him.

170I never thought I should see Dickon.' "'Does the one to see him?' asked Martha suddenly, for Mary had looked so pleased.

171"'Yes, I do.

172I never saw a boy foxes and crows loved.

173I want to see him very much.' Martha gave a little start, as if she remembered something.

174"'Now to think,' she broke out, "'to think o' me forgetting that there.

175And I thought I was going to tell you first thing this morning.

176I asked mother, and she said she'd ask Mrs.

177Medlock her own self.' "'Do you mean?' Mary began.

178"'What a said Tuesday.

179Ask her if you might be driven over to our cottage some day, and have a bit o mother's hot oak cake and butter, and a glass o' milk.' It seemed as if all the interesting things were happening in one day.

180To think of going over the moor in the daylight, and when the sky was blue.

181To think of going into the cottage, which had twelve children.

182"'Does she think Mrs.

183Medlock would let me go?' She asked quite anxiously.

184"'Aye, she thinks she would.

185She knows what a tidy woman mother is, and how clean she keeps the cottage.' "'If I went I should see your mother as well as Dickon,' said Mary, thinking it over and liking the idea very much.

186"'She doesn't seem to be like the mothers in India.' Her work in the garden and the excitement of the afternoon ended by making her feel quiet and thoughtful.

187Martha stayed with her until tea-time, but they sat in comfortable quiet and talked very little.

188But just before Martha went downstairs for the tea-tray, Mary asked a question.

189"'Martha,' she said, "'has the scullery-maid had the toothache again today?' Martha certainly started slightly.

190"'What makes thee ask that?' she said.

191"'Because 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, and I heard that far-off crying again, just as we heard it the other night.

192There isn't a wind to-day, so you see it couldn't have been the wind.' "'Eh?' said Martha restlessly.

193"'There mustn't go walking about in the corridors and listening.

194Mr.

195Craven would be that there angry.

196There's no knowing what he'd do.' "'I wasn't listening,' said Mary.

197"'I was just waiting for you, and I heard it.

198That's three times.' "'My word, there's Mrs.

199Medlock's bell,' said Martha, and she almost ran out of the room.

200"'It'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.

201Fresh air and digging and skipping rope had made her feel so comfortably tired that she fell asleep.

202End of chapter 9