The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett (recommended reading .TXT) đ
- Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Book online «The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett (recommended reading .TXT) đ». Author Frances Hodgson Burnett
She put the key in her pocket and walked up and down her walk. No one but herself ever seemed to come there, so she could walk slowly and look at the wall, or, rather, at the ivy growing on it. The ivy was the baffling thing. Howsoever carefully she looked she could see nothing but thickly-growing, glossy, dark green leaves. She was very much disappointed. Something of her contrariness came back to her as she paced the walk and looked over it at the treetops inside. It seemed so silly, she said to herself, to be near it and not be able to get in. She took the key in her pocket when she went back to the house, and she made up her mind that she would always carry it with her when she went out, so that if she ever should find the hidden door she would be ready.
Mrs. Medlock had allowed Martha to sleep all night at the cottage, but she was back at her work in the morning with cheeks redder than ever and in the best of spirits.
âI got up at four oâclock,â she said. âEh! it was pretty on thâ moor with thâ birds gettinâ up anâ thâ rabbits scamperinâ about anâ thâ sun risinâ. I didnât walk all thâ way. A man gave me a ride in his cart anâ I can tell you I did enjoy myself.â
She was full of stories of the delights of her day out. Her mother had been glad to see her and they had got the baking and washing all out of the way. She had even made each of the children a dough-cake with a bit of brown sugar in it.
âI had âem all pipinâ hot when they came in from playinâ on thâ moor. Anâ thâ cottage all smelt oâ nice, clean hot bakinâ anâ there was a good fire, anâ they just shouted for joy. Our Dickon he said our cottage was good enough for a king to live in.â
In the evening they had all sat round the fire, and Martha and her mother had sewed patches on torn clothes and mended stockings and Martha had told them about the little girl who had come from India and who had been waited on all her life by what Martha called âblacksâ until she didnât know how to put on her own stockings.
âEh! they did like to hear about you,â said Martha. âThey wanted to know all about thâ blacks anâ about thâ ship you came in. I couldnât tell âem enough.â
Mary reflected a little.
âIâll tell you a great deal more before your next day out,â she said, âso that you will have more to talk about. I dare say they would like to hear about riding on elephants and camels, and about the officers going to hunt tigers.â
âMy word!â cried delighted Martha. âIt would set âem clean off their heads. Would thaâ really do that, Miss? It would be same as a wild beast show like we heard they had in York once.â
âIndia is quite different from Yorkshire,â Mary said slowly, as she thought the matter over. âI never thought of that. Did Dickon and your mother like to hear you talk about me?â
âWhy, our Dickonâs eyes nearly started out oâ his head, they got that round,â answered Martha. âBut mother, she was put out about your seeminâ to be all by yourself like. She said, âHasnât Mr. Craven got no governess for her, nor no nurse?â and I said, âNo, he hasnât, though Mrs. Medlock says he will when he thinks of it, but she says he maynât think of it for two or three years.âââ
âI donât want a governess,â said Mary sharply.
âBut mother says you ought to be learninâ your book by this time anâ you ought to have a woman to look after you, anâ she says: âNow, Martha, you just think how youâd feel yourself, in a big place like that, wanderinâ about all alone, anâ no mother. You do your best to cheer her up,â she says, anâ I said I would.â
Mary gave her a long, steady look.
âYou do cheer me up,â she said. âI like to hear you talk.â
Presently Martha went out of the room and came back with something held in her hands under her apron.
âWhat does thaâ think,â she said, with a cheerful grin. âIâve brought thee a present.â
âA present!â exclaimed Mistress Mary. How could a cottage full of fourteen hungry people give anyone a present!
âA man was drivinâ across the moor peddlinâ,â Martha explained. âAnâ he stopped his cart at our door. He had pots anâ pans anâ odds anâ ends, but mother had no money to buy anythinâ. Just as he was goinâ away our âLizabeth Ellen called out, âMother, heâs got skippinâ-ropes with red anâ blue handles.â Anâ mother she calls out quite sudden, âHere, stop, mister! How much are they?â Anâ he says âTuppence,â anâ mother she began fumblinâ in her pocket anâ she says to me, âMartha, thaâs brought me thy wages like a good lass, anâ Iâve got four places to put every penny, but Iâm just goinâ to take tuppence out of it to buy that child a skippinâ-rope,â anâ she bought one anâ here it is.â
She brought it out from under her apron and exhibited it quite proudly. It was a strong, slender rope with a striped red and blue handle at each end, but Mary Lennox had never seen a skipping-rope before. She gazed at it with a mystified expression.
âWhat is it for?â she asked curiously.
âFor!â cried out Martha. âDoes thaâ mean that theyâve not got skippinâ-ropes in India, for all theyâve got elephants and tigers and camels! No wonder most of âemâs
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