American library books ยป Other ยป The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (story reading txt) ๐Ÿ“•

Read book online ยซThe Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (story reading txt) ๐Ÿ“•ยป.   Author   -   Frances Hodgson Burnett



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air or on treetops.

After a while the boy began to move about as the others did, but all three of the children at times did unusual things. They would stand under the trees and move their arms and legs and heads about in a way which was neither walking nor running nor sitting down. They went through these movements at intervals every day and the robin was never able to explain to his mate what they were doing or trying to do. He could only say that he was sure that the Eggs would never flap about in such a manner; but as the boy who could speak robin so fluently was doing the thing with them, birds could be quite sure that the actions were not of a dangerous nature. Of course neither the robin nor his mate had ever heard of the champion wrestler, Bob Haworth, and his exercises for making the muscles stand out like lumps. Robins are not like human beings; their muscles are always exercised from the first and so they develop themselves in a natural manner. If you have to fly about to find every meal you eat, your muscles do not become atrophied (atrophied means wasted away through want of use).

When the boy was walking and running about and digging and weeding like the others, the nest in the corner was brooded over by a great peace and content. Fears for the Eggs became things of the past. Knowing that your Eggs were as safe as if they were locked in a bank vault and the fact that you could watch so many curious things going on made setting a most entertaining occupation. On wet days the Eggsโ€™ mother sometimes felt even a little dull because the children did not come into the garden.

But even on wet days it could not be said that Mary and Colin were dull. One morning when the rain streamed down unceasingly and Colin was beginning to feel a little restive, as he was obliged to remain on his sofa because it was not safe to get up and walk about, Mary had an inspiration.

โ€œNow that I am a real boy,โ€ Colin had said, โ€œmy legs and arms and all my body are so full of Magic that I canโ€™t keep them still. They want to be doing things all the time. Do you know that when I waken in the morning, Mary, when itโ€™s quite early and the birds are just shouting outside and everything seems just shouting for joyโ โ€”even the trees and things we canโ€™t really hearโ โ€”I feel as if I must jump out of bed and shout myself. And if I did it, just think what would happen!โ€

Mary giggled inordinately.

โ€œThe nurse would come running and Mrs. Medlock would come running and they would be sure you had gone crazy and theyโ€™d send for the doctor,โ€ she said.

Colin giggled himself. He could see how they would all lookโ โ€”how horrified by his outbreak and how amazed to see him standing upright.

โ€œI wish my father would come home,โ€ he said. โ€œI want to tell him myself. Iโ€™m always thinking about itโ โ€”but we couldnโ€™t go on like this much longer. I canโ€™t stand lying still and pretending, and besides I look too different. I wish it wasnโ€™t raining today.โ€

It was then Mistress Mary had her inspiration.

โ€œColin,โ€ she began mysteriously, โ€œdo you know how many rooms there are in this house?โ€

โ€œAbout a thousand, I suppose,โ€ he answered.

โ€œThereโ€™s about a hundred no one ever goes into,โ€ said Mary. โ€œAnd one rainy day I went and looked into ever so many of them. No one ever knew, though Mrs. Medlock nearly found me out. I lost my way when I was coming back and I stopped at the end of your corridor. That was the second time I heard you crying.โ€

Colin started up on his sofa.

โ€œA hundred rooms no one goes into,โ€ he said. โ€œIt sounds almost like a secret garden. Suppose we go and look at them. You could wheel me in my chair and nobody would know where we went.โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s what I was thinking,โ€ said Mary. โ€œNo one would dare to follow us. There are galleries where you could run. We could do our exercises. There is a little Indian room where there is a cabinet full of ivory elephants. There are all sorts of rooms.โ€

โ€œRing the bell,โ€ said Colin.

When the nurse came in he gave his orders.

โ€œI want my chair,โ€ he said. โ€œMiss Mary and I are going to look at the part of the house which is not used. John can push me as far as the picture-gallery because there are some stairs. Then he must go away and leave us alone until I send for him again.โ€

Rainy days lost their terrors that morning. When the footman had wheeled the chair into the picture-gallery and left the two together in obedience to orders, Colin and Mary looked at each other delighted. As soon as Mary had made sure that John was really on his way back to his own quarters below stairs, Colin got out of his chair.

โ€œI am going to run from one end of the gallery to the other,โ€ he said, โ€œand then I am going to jump and then we will do Bob Haworthโ€™s exercises.โ€

And they did all these things and many others. They looked at the portraits and found the plain little girl dressed in green brocade and holding the parrot on her finger.

โ€œAll these,โ€ said Colin, โ€œmust be my relations. They lived a long time ago. That parrot one, I believe, is one of my great, great, great, great aunts. She looks rather like you, Maryโ โ€”not as you look now but as you looked when you came here. Now you are a great deal fatter and better looking.โ€

โ€œSo are you,โ€ said Mary, and they both laughed.

They went to the Indian room and amused themselves with the ivory elephants. They found the rose-colored brocade boudoir and the hole in the cushion the mouse had left but

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