Sleep Story: The Secret Garden Chapter 14

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Chapter 14 The Young Raja The moor was hidden in mist when the morning came,

And the rain had not stopped pouring down.

There could be no going out of doors.

Martha was so busy that Mary had no opportunity of talking to her,

But in the afternoon she asked her to come and sit with her in the nursery.

She came bringing the stocking she was always knitting when she was doing nothing else.

What's the matter with these?

She asked as soon as they sat down,

The looks as if that's something to say.

I have.

I have found out what the crying was,

Said Mary.

Mary let her knitting drop on her knee and gazed at her with startled eyes.

The hasn't,

She exclaimed,

Never.

I heard it in the night Mary went on,

And I got up and went to see where it came from.

It was Colin.

I found him.

Martha's face became red with fright.

Hey,

Miss Mary,

She said half crying.

That shouldn't have done that.

That shouldn't.

Thou'll get me in trouble.

I never told thee nothing about him,

But thou'll get me in trouble.

I shall lose my place,

And what'll my mother do?

You won't lose your place,

Said Mary.

He was glad I came.

We talked and talked,

And he said he was glad I came.

Was he,

Cried Martha?

Art the shore?

That doesn't know what he's like when anything vexes him.

He's a big lad to cry like a baby,

But when he's in a passion,

He'll fair scream just to frighten us.

He knows us daren't call our souls our own.

He wasn't vexed,

Said Mary.

I asked him if I should go away,

And he made me stay.

He asked me questions,

And I sat on a big footstool and talked to him about India and about the robin and the gardens.

He wouldn't let me go.

He let me see his mother's picture.

Before I left him,

I sang him to sleep.

Martha fairly gasped with amazement.

I can scarcely believe thee,

She protested.

It's as if they'd walked straight into a lion's den.

If he'd been like he is most times,

He'd have thrown himself into one of his tantrums and roused the house.

He won't let strangers look at him.

He let me look at him.

I looked at him all the time,

And he looked at me.

We stared,

Said Mary.

I don't know what to do,

Cried,

Agitated Martha.

If Miss Medlock finds out,

She'll think I broke orders and told thee,

And I shall be packed back to mother.

He is not going to tell Miss Medlock anything about it yet.

It's to be a sort of secret just at first,

Said Mary firmly,

And he says everybody is obliged to do as he pleases.

Ay,

That's true enough,

The bad lad,

Sighed Martha,

Wiping her forehead with her apron.

He says Miss Medlock must,

And he wants me to come and talk to him every day,

And you are to tell me when he wants me.

Me,

Said Martha?

I shall lose my place,

I shall for sure.

You can't if you're doing what he wants you to do,

And everyone is ordered to obey him,

Mary argued.

Does the mean to say,

Cried Martha with wide open eyes,

That he was nice to thee?

I think he almost liked me,

Mary answered.

Then the must have bewitched him,

Decided Martha,

Drawing a long breath.

Do you mean magic?

Inquired Mary.

I've heard about magic in India,

But I can't make it.

I just went into his room,

And I was so surprised to see him,

I stood and stared,

And then he turned round and stared at me,

And he thought I was a ghost or a dream,

And I thought perhaps he was,

And it was so queer being there alone together in the middle of the night,

And not knowing about each other,

And we began to ask each other questions,

And when I asked him if I must go away,

He said I must not.

The world's coming to an end,

Gasped Martha.

What is the matter with him,

Asked Mary?

Nobody knows for sure and certain,

Said Martha.

Mr.

Craven went off his head like when he was a born.

The doctors thought he'd have to be put in asylum.

It was because Miss Craven died,

Like I told you.

He wouldn't set eyes on the baby.

He just raved and said it'd be another hunchback like him,

And it'd better die.

Is Colin a hunchback?

Mary asked.

He didn't look like one.

He isn't yet,

Said Martha,

But he began all wrong.

Mother said that there was enough trouble and raging in the house to set any child wrong.

They was afraid his back was weak,

And they've always been taking care of it,

Keeping him lying down and not letting him walk.

Once they made him wear a brace,

But he fretted so he was downright ill.

Then a big doctor came to see him and made them take it off.

He talked to the other doctor quite rough,

In a polite way.

He said there'd been too much medicine and too much letting him have his own way.

I think he's a very splendid boy.

But spoiled,

Said Mary.

He's the worst young gnat as ever was,

Said Martha.

I won't say as he hasn't been ill a good bit.

He's had coughs and colds that's nearly killed him two or three times.

Once he had rheumatic fever and once he had typhoid.

Miss Medlock did get a fright then.

He'd been out of his head,

And she was talking to the nurse,

Thinking he didn't know nothing.

And she said,

He'll die this time for sure,

And best thing for him and everybody.

And she looked at him,

And there he was with his big open eyes,

Staring at her as sensible as she was herself.

She didn't know what happened,

But he just stared at her and says,

You give me some water and stop talking.

Do you think he will die?

Asked Mary.

Mother says there's no reason why any child should live that gets no fresh air and doesn't do nothing but lie on his back and read picture books and take medicine.

He's weak and hates the trouble of being taken outdoors,

And he gets cold so easy he says it makes him ill.

Mary sat and looked at the fire.

I wonder,

She said slowly,

If it would not do him good to go out into a garden and watch things grow.

It did me good.

One of the worst fits he ever had,

Said Martha,

Was one time they took him out where the roses by the fountain.

He'd been reading in a paper about people getting something he called rose cold,

And he began to sneeze,

And he'd got it,

And then a new gardener,

As didn't know the rules,

Passed by and looked at him curious.

He threw himself into a passion,

And he said he'd looked at him because he was going to be a hunchback.

He cried himself into a fever and was ill all night.

If he ever gets angry at me,

I'll never go and see him again,

Said Mary.

He'll have thee if he wants thee,

Said Martha.

The maids will know that at the start.

Very soon after a bell rang and she rolled up her knitting.

I dare say the nurse wants me to sit with him for a bit,

She said.

I hope he's in a good temper.

She was out of the room about ten minutes,

And then she came back with a puzzled expression.

Well,

The has bewitched him,

She said.

He's up on his sofa with his picture books.

He's told the nurse to go away until six o'clock.

I'm to wait in the next room.

The minute she was gone,

He called me to him and says,

I want Mary Lennox to come and talk to me,

And remember,

You're not to tell anyone.

You'd better go as quick as you can.

Mary was quite willing to go quickly.

She did not want to see Colin as much as she wanted to see Dickon,

But she wanted to see him very much.

There was a bright fire in the hearth when she entered his room,

And in the daylight she saw it was a very beautiful room indeed.

There were rich colors in the rugs and hangings and pictures and books on the walls which made it look glowing and comfortable,

Even in spite of the gray sky and falling rain.

Colin looked rather like a picture himself.

He was wrapped in a velvet dressing gown and sat against a big brocaded cushion.

He had a red spot on each cheek.

Come in,

He said,

I've been thinking about you all morning.

I've been thinking about you too,

Answered Mary.

You don't know how frightened Martha is.

She says Miss Medlock will think she told me about you,

And then she'll be sent away.

He frowned.

Go and tell her to come here,

He said.

She's in the next room.

Mary went and brought her back.

Poor Martha was shaken in her shoes.

Colin was still frowning.

Have you to do what I please,

Or have you not,

He demanded.

I have to do what you please,

Sir,

Martha faltered,

Turning quite red.

Has Medlock to do what I please?

Everybody has,

Sir,

Said Martha.

Well then,

If I order you to bring Miss Mary to me,

How can Medlock send you away if she finds it out?

Please don't tell her,

Sir,

Pleaded Martha.

I'll send her away if she dares to say a word about such a thing,

Says Master Craven grandly.

She wouldn't like that,

I can tell you.

Thank you,

Sir,

Bobbing a curtsy.

I want to do my duty,

Sir.

What I want is your duty,

Said Colin more grandly still.

I'll take care of you.

Now go away.

When the door closed behind Martha,

Colin found Mistress Mary gazing at him as if he had set her wandering.

Why do you look at me like that,

He said?

What are you thinking about?

I'm thinking about two things.

What are they?

Sit down and tell me.

This is the first one,

Said Mary,

Seating herself on a big stool.

Once in India,

I saw a boy who was a Raja.

He had rubies and emeralds and diamonds stuck all over him.

He spoke to his people just as you spoke to Martha.

Everybody had to do everything he told them in a minute.

I think they would have been killed if they hadn't.

I shall make you tell me about Rajas presently,

He said,

But first tell me what the second thing was.

I was thinking,

Said Mary,

How quite different you are from Dickon.

Who is Dickon,

He said?

What a queer name.

She might as well tell him.

She thought she could talk about Dickon without mentioning the secret garden.

She would like to hear Martha talk about him.

Besides,

She longed to talk about him.

It would seem to bring him nearer.

He is Martha's brother.

He is twelve years old,

She explained.

He is not like anyone else in the world.

He can charm foxes and squirrels and birds just as the natives in India charm snakes.

He plays a very soft tune on a pipe and they come and listen.

There were some big books on a table at his side and he dragged one suddenly toward him.

There is a picture of a snake charmer in this,

He exclaimed.

Come and look at it.

The book was a beautiful one with superb colored illustrations and he turned to one of them.

Can he do that,

He asked eagerly.

He played on his pipe and they listened,

Mary explained.

But he doesn't call it magic.

He says it's because he lives on the moor so much and he knows their ways.

He says he feels sometimes as if a bird or a rabbit himself.

He likes them so.

I think he asked the robin questions.

It seemed as if they talked to each other in soft chirps.

Colin lay back on the cushion and his eyes grew larger and larger and the spots on his cheeks burned.

Tell me some more about him,

He said.

He knows all about eggs and nests,

Mary went on,

And he knows where foxes and badgers and otters live.

He keeps them secret so that other boys won't find their holes and frighten them.

He knows about everything that grows or lives on the moor.

Does he like the moor,

Said Colin?

He can.

How can he when it's such a great,

Bare,

Dreary place?

It's the most beautiful place,

Protested Mary.

Thousands of lovely things grow on it and there's thousands of little creatures all busy building nests and making holes in burrows and chippering or singing or squeaking to each other.

They are so busy and having so much fun under the earth or in the trees or in the heather.

It's their world.

How do you know all that,

Said Colin,

Turning on his elbow to look at her?

I've never been there.

Once,

Really,

Said Mary,

Suddenly remembering.

I only drove over it in the dark.

I thought it was hideous.

Martha told me about it first and then Dickon.

When Dickon talks about it,

You feel as if you saw the things and you heard them and as if you were standing in the heather with the sun shining and the gores smelling like honey and all full of bees and butterflies.

You never see anything if you're ill,

Said Colin restlessly.

You look like a person listening to a new sound in the distance and wondering what it was.

You can't if you stay in your room,

Said Mary.

I couldn't go on the moor,

He said in a resentful tone.

Mary was silent for a minute and then she said something bold.

You might sometime.

He moved as if he was startled.

Go to the moor?

How could I?

I'm going to die.

How do you know,

Said Mary unsympathetically.

She didn't like the way he had of talking about dying.

She did not feel very sympathetic.

She felt rather as if he almost boasted about it.

Oh,

I've heard it ever since I remember,

He answered crossly.

They're always whispering about it and thinking I don't notice.

They wish I would too.

Mistress Mary felt quite contrary.

She pinched her lips together.

If they wished I would,

She said,

I wouldn't.

Who wishes you would?

The servants and of course Dr.

Craven because he would get miscal weight and be rich instead of poor.

He daren't say so,

But he always looks cheerful when I'm worse.

When I had typhoid fever,

His face got quiet fat.

I think my father wishes it too.

I don't believe he does,

Said Mary quite obstinately.

That made Colin turn and look at her again.

Don't you,

He said.

And then he lay back on the cushion and was still as if he was thinking.

And there was quite a long silence.

Perhaps they were both of them thinking strange things children do not usually think.

I like the grand doctor from London because he made them take the iron thing off,

Said Mary at last.

Did he say you were going to die?

No.

What did he say?

He didn't whisper,

Colin answered.

Perhaps he knew I hated whispering.

I heard him say one thing quite loud,

He said.

That lad might live if he would make up his mind to it.

Put him in the humor.

It sounded as if he was in a temper.

I'll tell you who would put you in the humor perhaps,

Said Mary,

Reflecting.

She felt as if she would like this thing to be sentled one way or another.

I believe Dickon would.

He's always talking about live things.

He never talks about dead things or things that are ill.

He's always looking up in the sky to watch birds flying or looking down at the earth to see something growing.

He has such round blue eyes,

And they are so wide open with looking about.

And he laughs such a big laugh with his wide mouth,

And his cheeks are as red,

As red as cherries.

She pulls her stool nearer to the sofa,

And her expression quite change at the remembrance of the wide curving mouth and the wide open eyes.

See here,

She said,

Don't let us talk about dying.

I don't like it.

Let us talk about living.

Let us talk and talk about Dickon.

And then we will look at your pictures.

It was the best thing she could have said.

To talk about Dickon meant to talk about the moor and the cottage and the fourteen people who lived in on sixteen shillings a week,

And the children who got fat on the moor grass like the wild ponies,

And about Dickon's mother and the skipping rope,

And the moor and the sun on it,

And about pale green points sticking up out of the black sod.

And it was all so alive that Mary talked more than she ever had talked before,

And Colin both talked and listened as he'd never done either before.

And they both began to laugh over nothings as children will when they're happy together.

And they laughed so that in the end they were making as much noise as if they'd been too ordinary,

Healthy,

Natural ten-year-old creatures instead of hard,

Little,

Unloving girl and a sickly boy who believed that he was going to die.

They enjoyed themselves so much they forgot the pictures,

And they forgot about the time.

They'd been laughing quite loudly over Ben Weatherstaff and his Robin,

And Colin was actually sitting up as if he had forgotten about his week back when he suddenly remembered something.

Do you know there is one thing we never thought of,

He said?

We are cousins.

It seemed so queer that they talked so much and never remembered the simple thing that they began to laugh more than ever,

Because they had gotten to the humor to laugh at anything.

And in the midst of the fun the door opened and in walked Dr.

Craven and Miss Medlock.

Dr.

Craven started an actual alarm and Miss Medlock almost fell back because he had accidentally bumped into her.

Good Lord,

Exclaimed poor Miss Medlock,

With her eyes almost starting out of her head.

Good Lord!

What is this?

Said Dr.

Craven coming forward.

What does it mean?

The Mary was reminded of the boy,

Raja,

Again.

Dr.

Craven answered as if neither the doctor's alarm nor Miss Medlock's terror were the slightest consequence.

He was as little disturbed or frightened as if an elderly cat and dog had walked into the room.

This is my cousin,

Mary Lennox.

I've asked her to come and talk to me.

I like her.

She must come and talk to me whenever I send for her.

Dr.

Craven turned reproachfully to Miss Medlock.

Oh,

Sir,

She panted.

I don't know how it's happened.

There's not a servant on the place that would dare talk.

They've all had their orders.

Nobody told her anything,

Said Colin.

She heard me crying and she found me herself.

I'm glad she came.

Don't be silly,

Medlock.

Mary saw that Dr.

Craven did not look pleased,

But it was quite plain that he'd dare not oppose his patient.

He sat down by Colin and felt his pulse.

I'm afraid there's been too much excitement.

Excitement is not good for you,

My boy.

I should be excited if she's kept away,

Answered Colin,

His eyes beginning to look dangerously sparkly.

I am better.

She makes me better.

The nurse must bring her to tea with me.

We will have tea together.

Miss Medlock and Dr.

Craven looked at each other in a troubled way,

But there was evidently nothing that could be done.

He does look rather better,

Sir,

Ventured Miss Medlock.

She came into the room last night.

She stayed with me a long time.

She sang a Hindu sthanti song to me and it made me go to sleep,

Said Colin.

I was better when I wakened up.

I would like my breakfast.

I want my tea now.

Tell Nurse Medlock.

Dr.

Craven did not stay long.

Colin looked fretful and kept his strange black eyes fixed on Dr.

Craven's face.

I want to forget it,

He said at last.

She makes me forget it.

That's why I want her.

Dr.

Craven did not look happy when he left the room.

He gave a puzzled glance at the little girl sitting on the large stool.

She had become a stiff,

Silent child again as soon as he entered,

And he could not see what the attraction was.

The boy actually did look brighter,

However,

And he sighed rather heavily as he went down the corridor.

They are always wanting me to eat things when I don't want to,

Said Colin,

As the nurse brought in the tea and put it on the table by the sofa.

Now if you'll eat,

I will.

Those muffins look so nice and hot.

Tell me about the Rajas.

That is the end of our story this evening.

I hope you have sweet dreams.

Until next time.