“Tha’ knows us won’t trouble thee,”
he said to the robin. “Us is near bein’
wild things ourselves. Us is nest-buildin’
too, bless thee. Look out tha’ doesn’t
tell on us.”
And though the robin did not answer, because his beak
was occupied, Mary knew that when he flew away with
his twig to his own corner of the garden the darkness
of his dew-bright eye meant that he would not tell
their secret for the world.
“I WON’T!” SAID MARY
They found a great deal to do that morning and Mary
was late in returning to the house and was also in
such a hurry to get back to her work that she quite
forgot Colin until the last moment.
“Tell Colin that I can’t come and see
him yet,” she said to Martha. “I’m
very busy in the garden.”
Martha looked rather frightened.
“Eh! Miss Mary,” she said, “it
may put him all out of humor when I tell him that.”
But Mary was not as afraid of him as other people
were and she was not a self-sacrificing person.
“I can’t stay,” she answered.
“Dickon’s waiting for me;” and she
ran away.
The afternoon was even lovelier and busier than the
morning had been. Already nearly all the weeds
were cleared out of the garden and most of the roses
and trees had been pruned or dug about. Dickon
had brought a spade of his own and he had taught Mary
to use all her tools, so that by this time it was
plain that though the lovely wild place was not likely
to become a “gardener’s garden” it
would be a wilderness of growing things before the
springtime was over.
“There’ll be apple blossoms an’
cherry blossoms overhead,” Dickon said, working
away with all his might. “An’ there’ll
be peach an’ plum trees in bloom against th’
walls, an’ th’ grass’ll be a carpet
o’ flowers.”
The little fox and the rook were as happy and busy
as they were, and the robin and his mate flew backward
and forward like tiny streaks of lightning. Sometimes
the rook flapped his black wings and soared away over
the tree-tops in the park. Each time he came back
and perched near Dickon and cawed several times as
if he were relating his adventures, and Dickon talked
to him just as he had talked to the robin. Once
when Dickon was so busy that he did not answer him
at first, Soot flew on to his shoulders and gently
tweaked his ear with his large beak. When Mary
wanted to rest a little Dickon sat down with her under
a tree and once he took his pipe out of his pocket
and played the soft strange little notes and two squirrels
appeared on the wall and looked and listened.
“Tha’s a good bit stronger than tha’
was,” Dickon said, looking at her as she was
digging. “Tha’s beginning to look
different, for sure.”
Mary was glowing with exercise and good spirits.
“I’m getting fatter and fatter every day,”
she said quite exultantly. “Mrs. Medlock
will have to get me some bigger dresses. Martha
says my hair is growing thicker. It isn’t
so flat and stringy.”
