Chapter 13 A Mysterious Boy.
That's a picture of a thrush nesting, Martha said when Mary showed her the note.
Then Mary understood.
The garden was a nest, and she was like a thrush.
Dickon would keep their secret.
She looked forward to seeing Dick in the next day, but during the night she awoke to the sound of rain beating at her window and the wind roaring.
She sat up in bed, feeling angry.
The weather is as contrary as I am.
She tossed and turned for about an hour, then she heard something fretful.
She sat up again and listened.
It wasn't the wind.
It was crying.
"'Mary made up her mind to find out who it was.
"'She got out of bed and put on her robe and slippers.
"'She lighted a candle and headed down the long and dark hallway.
"'Mary was too excited to be afraid.
'She remembered the way to the door behind the tapestry, 'where Mrs Medlock had been so angry to find her?
"'The crying grew louder as she approached it, "'down some passages and up a few steps.'
She pushed the tapestry aside and opened the hidden door.
The crying was clearer now.
She saw a faint light under another door and went in.
She found herself inside a big room with handsome furniture and a hearth fire.
A candle flickered on a table beside a big four-poster bed.
On it lay a boy, crying pitifully.
She crept forward.
Her bright candle attracted the boy's attention.
Ghost? he asked in a half-frightened voice.
No, Mary whispered.
Are you?
He stared at her with big, gray eyes that looked too large for his thin face.
I'm calling Craven, the boy said.
I'm Mary Lennox.
Mr. Craven's my uncle.
He's my father, the boy said.
Mary was stunned.
"'No one told me he had a boy,' she gasped.
"'Come closer,' Colin said.
He put out his hand and touched her.
"'You are real,' he said softly.
"'I thought you were one of my dreams.'
Colin sat up.
"'Where did you come from?' he asked.
"'My room.
Didn't anyone tell you I live here?' wouldn't dare, he said.
They know that I won't let people see me.
Why not?
Mary asked.
Because I'm ill.
I was born too soon, and if I live, I'll probably be a hunchback, but I probably won't.
I don't like people to see me and talk about me.
My father only comes when I'm asleep.
He doesn't want to see me either.
Why not?
Mary asked.
It was all such a mystery.
My mother died when I was born.
He doesn't think I know, but I hear people talking.
He almost hates me and wishes I were dead.
Don't you ever go outside?
She inquired.
Never.
I used to be taken to the seaside in my wheelchair, but...
People stared at me.
I had to wear irons on my legs.
A doctor from London said I needed fresh air, but I hate fresh air.
I can't stand people gawking at me.
Mary asked if she should go away, but Colin motioned her to sit next to him on a big stool.
He wanted to know more about her.
"'Everybody here has to do what I want,' he said as if it were normal.
They can't make me angry because I probably won't grow up.
Then he asked, How old are you?
Ten, she said, just like you.
When you were born, your father locked the garden and buried the key.
This got Colin's attention.
His eyes grew larger.
What garden?
Why did he lock it? he demanded.
Mary felt nervous, she thought.
He hates the garden because his wife died.
Out loud, she said, It's the garden your father hates.
No one has been inside it for ten years.
No one is even allowed to talk about it.
I can make them talk, Colin declared.
If I were to live, Miss Othwaite would be mine.
They'd have to tell me.
This comment scared Mary.
If he asked questions, what might happen?
She changed the subject. really think you won't live?
I don't suppose I will, he replied crossly.
I don't really want to live, but I don't want to die.
When I'm sick, I think about it all the time.
It makes me afraid, and I cry.
He paused.
But about the garden, I could make them open it.
Mary twisted her hands in anguish.
She cried out, Don't do that.
If they open the garden, it will spoil everything.
If we could find it, if no one could go there but us, don't you see it would be our secret?
Colin lay back on his pillows.
I've never had a secret before.
I'm sure I can find the garden.
Mary went on.
Then you could go there.
Maybe we could find a nice boy to push your wheelchair.
I'd like that, he said in a dreamy kind of voice.
Mary felt a little safer.
She began telling him about the other gardens and about Ben Weatherstaff.
Colin smiled when he heard about the robin.
After a while, he said, I want to show you something.
He pointed at a curtain that hung above the mantle and told Mary to pull the cord.
Behind the curtain was a painting of a laughing girl.
Her dark hair was tied with a blue ribbon and her gray eyes looked just like Colin's.
That's my mother, he said with disgust.
I don't know why she had to die.
If she'd lived, maybe I wouldn't be sick.
Maybe my father wouldn't hate to look at me.
He turned away and ordered Mary to close the curtain.
"'I don't like her to look at me.'
Again Mary asked if she should leave.
She was afraid that Mrs. Medlock might find her.
"'I won't allow Mrs. Medlock to be angry at you,' Colin said.
"'I'm glad you're here, and I want this to be our secret.
"'I'll tell Martha whenever I want to see you.
"'She stays with me when my nurse is away.'
Then he said quietly, I wish I could go to sleep before you leave.
Mary pulled the footstool closer.
I can sing for you like my Aya used to sing for me.
Just close your eyes.
Mary sang him an Indian lullaby she learned as a baby while stroking his hand.
That is nice, Colin said as he drifted off to sleep.
Mary crept away softly.
