Orakel Children's Books
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, prepared as a public-domain Orakel edition with 27 chapter-aware companion links.
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CHAPTER I: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT
CHAPTER I: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT from The Secret Garden. When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another. Her father had held a position under the
Open2CHAPTER II: MISTRESS MARY QUITE CONTRARY
CHAPTER II: MISTRESS MARY QUITE CONTRARY from The Secret Garden. Mary had liked to look at her mother from a distance and she had thought her very pretty, but as she knew very little of her she could scarcely have been expected to love her or to miss her very much when she was gone. She did not miss her at all, in fact, and as she was a self-absorbed child she gave her entire thought to herself, as she had always done. If she had been older she would no doubt have been very
Open3CHAPTER III: ACROSS THE MOOR
CHAPTER III: ACROSS THE MOOR from The Secret Garden. She slept a long time, and when she awakened Mrs. Medlock had bought a lunchbasket at one of the stations and they had some chicken and cold beef and bread and butter and some hot tea. The rain seemed to be streaming down more heavily than ever and everybody in the station wore wet and glistening waterproofs. The guard lighted the lamps in the carriage, and Mrs. Medlock cheered up very much over her tea and chicken
Open4CHAPTER IV: MARTHA
CHAPTER IV: MARTHA from The Secret Garden. When she opened her eyes in the morning it was because a young housemaid had come into her room to light the fire and was kneeling on the hearth-rug raking out the cinders noisily. Mary lay and watched her for a few moments and then began to look about the room. She had never seen a room at all like it and thought it curious and gloomy. The walls were covered with tapestry with a forest scene embroidered on it.
Open5CHAPTER V: THE CRY IN THE CORRIDOR
CHAPTER V: THE CRY IN THE CORRIDOR from The Secret Garden. At first each day which passed by for Mary Lennox was exactly like the others. Every morning she awoke in her tapestried room and found Martha kneeling upon the hearth building her fire; every morning she ate her breakfast in the nursery which had nothing amusing in it; and after each breakfast she gazed out of the window across to the huge moor which seemed to spread out on all sides and climb up to the sky, and
Open6CHAPTER VI: "THERE WAS SOME ONE CRYING--THERE WAS!"
CHAPTER VI: "THERE WAS SOME ONE CRYING--THERE WAS!" from The Secret Garden. The next day the rain poured down in torrents again, and when Mary looked out of her window the moor was almost hidden by gray mist and cloud. There could be no going out
Open7CHAPTER VII: THE KEY OF THE GARDEN
CHAPTER VII: THE KEY OF THE GARDEN from The Secret Garden. Two days after this, when Mary opened her eyes she sat upright in bed immediately, and called to
Open8CHAPTER VIII: THE ROBIN WHO SHOWED THE WAY
CHAPTER VIII: THE ROBIN WHO SHOWED THE WAY from The Secret Garden. She looked at the key quite a long time. She turned it over and over, and thought about it. As I have said before, she was not a child who had been trained to ask permission or consult her elders about things. All she thought about the key was that if it was the key to the closed garden, and she could find out where the door was, she could perhaps open it and see what was inside the walls, and what had happened to
Open9CHAPTER IX: THE STRANGEST HOUSE ANY ONE EVER LIVED IN
CHAPTER IX: THE STRANGEST HOUSE ANY ONE EVER LIVED IN from The Secret Garden. It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of climbing roses which were so thick that they were matted together. Mary Lennox knew they were roses because she had seen a great many roses in India. All the ground was covered with grass of a wintry brown and out of it grew clumps of bushes which were surely rose-bushes
Open10CHAPTER X: DICKON
CHAPTER X: DICKON from The Secret Garden. The sun shone down for nearly a week on the secret garden. The Secret Garden was what Mary called it when she was thinking of it. She liked the name, and she liked still more the feeling that when its beautiful old walls shut her in no one knew where she was. It seemed almost like being shut out of the world in some fairy place. The few books she had read and liked had been fairy-story books, and she had read of
Open11CHAPTER XI: THE NEST OF THE MISSEL THRUSH
CHAPTER XI: THE NEST OF THE MISSEL THRUSH from The Secret Garden. For two or three minutes he stood looking round him, while Mary watched him, and then he began to walk about softly, even more lightly than Mary had walked the first time she had found herself inside the four walls. His eyes seemed to be taking in everything--the gray trees with the gray creepers climbing over them and hanging from their branches, the tangle on the walls and among the grass, the evergreen alcoves
Open12CHAPTER XII: "MIGHT I HAVE A BIT OF EARTH?"
CHAPTER XII: "MIGHT I HAVE A BIT OF EARTH?" from The Secret Garden. Mary ran so fast that she was rather out of breath when she reached her room. Her hair was ruffled on her forehead and her cheeks were bright pink. Her dinner was waiting on the table, and Martha was waiting near
Open13CHAPTER XIII: "I AM COLIN"
CHAPTER XIII: "I AM COLIN" from The Secret Garden. Mary took the picture back to the house when she went to her supper and she showed it to
Open14CHAPTER XIV: A YOUNG RAJAH
CHAPTER XIV: A YOUNG RAJAH from The Secret Garden. 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
Open15CHAPTER XV: NEST BUILDING
CHAPTER XV: NEST BUILDING from The Secret Garden. After another week of rain the high arch of blue sky appeared again and the sun which poured down was quite hot. Though there had been no chance to see either the secret garden or Dickon, Mistress Mary had enjoyed herself very much. The week had not seemed long. She had spent hours of every day with Colin in his room, talking about Rajahs or gardens or Dickon and the cottage on the moor. They had looked at the
Open16CHAPTER XVI: "I WON'T!" SAID MARY
CHAPTER XVI: "I WON'T!" SAID MARY from The Secret Garden. 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
Open17CHAPTER XVII: A TANTRUM
CHAPTER XVII: A TANTRUM from The Secret Garden. She had got up very early in the morning and had worked hard in the garden and she was tired and sleepy, so as soon as Martha had brought her supper and she had eaten it, she was glad to go to bed. As she laid her head on the pillow she murmured to
Open18CHAPTER XVIII: "THA' MUNNOT WASTE NO TIME"
CHAPTER XVIII: "THA' MUNNOT WASTE NO TIME" from The Secret Garden. Of course Mary did not waken early the next morning. She slept late because she was tired, and when Martha brought her breakfast she told her that though Colin was quite quiet he was ill and feverish as he always was after he had worn himself out with a fit of crying. Mary ate her breakfast slowly as she
Open19CHAPTER XIX: "IT HAS COME!"
CHAPTER XIX: "IT HAS COME!" from The Secret Garden. Of course Dr. Craven had been sent for the morning after Colin had had his tantrum. He was always sent for at once when such a thing occurred and he always found, when he arrived, a white shaken boy lying on his bed, sulky and still so hysterical that he was ready to break into fresh sobbing at the least word. In fact, Dr. Craven dreaded and detested the difficulties of these visits. On this occasion he was away
Open20CHAPTER XX: "I SHALL LIVE FOREVER--AND EVER--AND EVER!"
CHAPTER XX: "I SHALL LIVE FOREVER--AND EVER--AND EVER!" from The Secret Garden. But they were obliged to wait more than a week because first there came some very windy days and then Colin was threatened with a cold, which two things happening one after the other would no doubt have thrown him into a rage but that there was so much careful and mysterious planning to do and almost every day Dickon came in, if only for a few minutes, to talk about what was happening on the moor and in the lanes
Open21CHAPTER XXI: BEN WEATHERSTAFF
CHAPTER XXI: BEN WEATHERSTAFF from The Secret Garden. One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one's head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost
Open22CHAPTER XXII: WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN
CHAPTER XXII: WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN from The Secret Garden. "Go and meet him," he said; and Mary flew across the grass to the door under the
Open23CHAPTER XXIII: MAGIC
CHAPTER XXIII: MAGIC from The Secret Garden. Dr. Craven had been waiting some time at the house when they returned to it. He had indeed begun to wonder if it might not be wise to send some one out to explore the garden paths. When Colin was brought back to his room the poor man looked him over
Open24CHAPTER XXIV: "LET THEM LAUGH"
CHAPTER XXIV: "LET THEM LAUGH" from The Secret Garden. The secret garden was not the only one Dickon worked in. Round the cottage on the moor there was a piece of ground enclosed by a low wall of rough stones. Early in the morning and late in the fading twilight and on all the days Colin and Mary did not see him, Dickon worked there planting or tending potatoes and cabbages, turnips and carrots and herbs for his mother. In the company of his "creatures" he did wonders
Open25CHAPTER XXV: THE CURTAIN
CHAPTER XXV: THE CURTAIN from The Secret Garden. And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles. In the robin's nest there were Eggs and the robin's mate sat upon them keeping them warm with her feathery little breast and careful wings. At first she was very nervous and the robin himself was indignantly watchful. Even Dickon did not go near the close-grown corner in those days, but waited until by the quiet working of some
Open26CHAPTER XXVI: "IT'S MOTHER!"
CHAPTER XXVI: "IT'S MOTHER!" from The Secret Garden. Their belief in the Magic was an abiding thing. After the morning's incantations Colin sometimes gave them Magic
Open27CHAPTER XXVII: IN THE GARDEN
CHAPTER XXVII: IN THE GARDEN from The Secret Garden. In each century since the beginning of the world wonderful things have been discovered. In the last century more amazing things were found out than in any century before. In this new century hundreds of things still more astounding will be brought to light. At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done--then it is done and
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