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“Do you think she might be pretty?” Colin asked Mary and Dickon.
The three children had been slowly walking around the garden for most of the morning. Everyone was in various states of excitement or panic, preparing for the arrival of the new governess the next day. The children, too nervous to play, had been shooed outside by Mrs. Medlock, who crisply announced she was “too busy to bother with restless children.”
Even the delights of the Secret Garden, with its fresh green scent of spring, could not distract them.
“Perhaps she’ll wear lovely dresses like my mother did,” Mary replied. She briefly stopped pacing to examine the new buds sprouting from flowers in the fountain flowerbed. “Maybe she’ll have a pleasantly light laugh and blue eyes and want to walk with us in the gardens.”
“Perhaps she will play games with us.” Colin’s eyes became distant as he imagined what might happen.
“Does tha’ know for certain to expect a woman?” Dickon said, petting Soot the crow who perched on his shoulder. The black bird nibbled the boy’s ear affectionately.
Mary and Colin’s eyes widened with surprise. They had never considered another possibility. Perhaps Lord Craven would think a man better suited to the job. The children were considerably behind in their formal learning compared to most their age. Perhaps Archibald Craven would prefer the stern, disciplined hand of a man. This could change everything. Mary and Colin looked wordlessly at each other.
“Eh! Cheer up, both o’ you!” Dickon said. “You’ll still be gettin’ a proper education like is right. An’ tha’ won’t even have to walk a spell like the rest o’ us do.”
Mary and Colin plucked distractedly at a few weeds and dead leaves.
“We shall know soon enough, I suppose,” Mary said quietly.
“Whatever the result, we must meet it in the proper way. It would not do for our new tutor to see us as difficult and sullen,” Colin said, pulling himself straighter.
“Eh!” Dickon laughed. “Tha shouldn’t waste tha time worryin’ ‘bout what tha can’t change. All will be, as it should. Tha’ll see.”
“Yes, indeed,” agreed Mary, somewhat sadly. “But I really do hope for a lady in pretty dresses with a nice laugh and bright smile. Wouldn’t that be nice don’t you think?”
“Yes, I do,” Colin said, as Dickon nodded. “But a man can smile just as well, and laugh just as readily.” He paused a moment, thinking. “Perhaps whoever it is will know something about magic. Garden magic and life magic.”
“Could be they’ll know a bit about those scientific things you always go on about,” Dickon said, remembering Colin’s desire to be a “Scientific Discoverer.”
“Oh, wouldn't that be fine?” said Colin, a glow of anticipation creeping up his cheeks. “Perhaps our new tutor can teach me how to do better experiments, real ones we can document and show the world.” He began to pace with excitement. At that moment, Colin’s small world became that much larger as he realized opportunities lay ahead he had never considered before.
“Well, experiments or not, it’s time for tea.” Mary began moving in the direction of the ivy-covered door to the garden.
“Ay, time I get mysel’ a bit o’ bread an’ milk. Mother’s sure to have ‘em ready.” Dickon, still carrying Soot the crow on his shoulder, whistled his way out of the garden.
The children were greeted inside the door of the Manor by the smells of something wonderful being created in the kitchen.
The cook, Mrs. Penterly, was a round, pleasant woman who liked to sing while she baked. But not that day. She had made special plans for the welcome meal the next day, and had been hard at work since sunrise, pausing only hurriedly to put together two trays for Mary and Colin’s noontime meal. She quickly bustled back to her complex preparations for the next day, shooing the children away with a distracted tisk-tisk. Martha and another maid carried the trays, and the quartet went upstairs to Colin’s room.
Mrs. Medlock had issued strict orders she was not to be disturbed as she completed her own tasks overseeing preparations. She had spent the better part of that week readying a room for the new arrival and making sure the household was strictly in order.
Mary and Colin ate their muffins and marmalade in quiet thought. Dark tea made rich with cream and sweet with honey washed it down. The rest of the day was spent wandering distractedly about the gardens. As night fell, both children had worried themselves tired and went to bed quite early.
Much to everyone’s relief, the day of arrival finally came, proving even a watched pot must boil.
Hoping to distract herself from the mixture of excitement and worry that had been turning her insides into a bothersome mess all night, Mary hurried out to the garden after a hasty breakfast.
She sighed contentedly as her fingers dug into rich soil, warmed by the spring sun. Quietly she recited a verse, once hated but now oddly comforting in its familiarity.
“Mary, Mary quite contrary
How does your garden grow?”
To her surprise, the voice of Colin answered back:
“With silver bells and cockle shells
And marigolds all in a row.”
Looking over her shoulder, Mary saw him trotting toward her through the organized chaos of the garden. She smiled a tired greeting.
“I see you had the same thought as I. Did you sleep as poorly also?” Colin sank onto the grass as Mary extracted a weed and tossed it into a small pile nearby.
“Only a wink or two. I couldn’t eat, either. Martha didn’t say anything but gave me a look that said she wanted to.” She paused a moment in her weeding, troubles wrinkling her forehead. “Oh, Colin! What if she hates me? What if she’s a mean old tyrant? What if...” She stopped, lost for words in her growing anxieties.
“You mean what if she’s like your parents?” Colin quietly asked.
“Yes,” Mary whispered. “What if she only deals with me out of necessity and feels contempt at the sight of me?”
“I doubt that would happen, and if it does, always remember Father can send her away and get another.” With the matter logically solved, Colin began adding weeds to the small pile.
“Yes, that’s true, but I want to show Uncle Craven I can learn and be proper,” Mary said as she gently patted the earth around a small green sprout.
“I’m sure Father has no doubt you shall try your best,” Colin replied as he turned the earth with his hands, letting the soft moistness sift through his fingers.
“Does he? Sometimes I think so. He told me he was glad I was here. That is certainly something I’ve never heard before.” Mary said.
“Well, that seems to be a good start, doesn’t it?” Colin asked.
“Yes.” Mary nodded.
They worked for a time in silence, letting the warm spring breezes playfully touch their faces. They breathed deeply of the earth-scented air, and watched the sun’s rays poke through the branches and leaves in twinkling rays.
It was not until Captain the fox tried to climb into her lap that Mary realized Dickon had silently joined them. Dickon always came and went like a spirit in the wind. Everyone just accepted this as part of his unique charm.
Mary and Colin waved dirty hands in the air in a happy greeting.
“Tryin’ ta git away from it all, are tha’?” He joined his friends at the flowerbed.
“I thought the magic of the garden might make me feel right again.” Mary said, taking a deep breath.
“That it will. None can be wrong on a day as this.” He replied, his wide mouth pulling itself into a large grin.
The natural peace of the garden settled about them, broken only by the rustlings of their work.
After what seemed all too short a time, Martha appeared through the garden door, looking like she would bust with excitement.
“Tha mus’ come quick! The new gov’ness ha’ arrived!”
After the slightest of hesitations, the children jumped up, brushing themselves off as they ran. All, that is, except Dickon, on whom a smudge of dirt and bits of leaves seemed perfectly natural.
With Martha leading, spurred on by Mrs. Medlock’s call, they hurried back to the house. Along the way, Dickon quietly disappeared.
The first thing the children saw upon arriving at the courtyard in front of the manor was Martha and a few other servants gathering carpet bags and traveling cases as the manor’s elegant coach sat nearby. Everyone gathered around, blocking any further view.
“Do you see her?” whispered Mary.
“No. Everyone’s in the way,” Colin whispered back.
Their first view of the new household addition was a bobbing hat and swaying cloak as the new arrival spoke to Mrs. Medlock. The children stopped, waiting and watching from the corner of the carriage, hoping to catch an unnoticed glimpse of their new tutor. The children’s presence was not overlooked for long. Mrs. Medlock soon caught sight of them and marched over.
“There you are, children! I had begun to think Martha had failed to find you.”
The governess turned around in what seemed to Mary and Colin like slow motion. The children held their breath.
