Chapter 20 of the secret garden : I Shall Live Forever – and Ever – and Ever!

The garden continues to heal Colin, who now experiences the joy of movement and life. He begins to walk and run, defying the expectations placed on him. His newfound freedom and strength inspire those around him, and the garden becomes a place of miraculous transformations for everyone involved. Summary by Dream Audio Books

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. This reading by Kara Shallenberg www
dot kay dot org. The Secret Garden by Francis Hodson Burnett,

(00:25):
Chapter twenty. I shall live forever and ever and ever.
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

(00:46):
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 and hedges and on the borders of streams. The
things he had to tell about otters and badgers and

(01:09):
water rats houses, not to mention birds nests and field
mice and their burrows were enough to make you almost
tremble with excitement when you heard all the intimate details
from an animal charmer and realized with what thrilling eagerness
and anxiety. The whole busy underworld was working. They're the

(01:31):
same as us, said Dickon, only they have to build
their homes every year, and I keep them so busy
they fare scuffle to get em done. The most absorbing thing, however,
was the preparations to be made before Colin could be
transported with sufficient secrecy to the garden. No one must

(01:52):
see the chair carriage and Dickon and Mary after they
turned a certain corner of the shrubbery and entered upon
the walk out side the ivied walls. As each day passed,
Colin had become more and more fixed in his feeling
that the mystery surrounding the garden was one of its
greatest charms. Nothing must spoil that. No one must ever

(02:17):
suspect that they had a secret. People must think that
he was simply going out with Mary and Dickon because
he liked them and did not object to their looking
at him. They had long and quite delightful talks about
their route. They would go up this path and down
that one, and cross the other, and go round among

(02:38):
the fountain flower beds, as if they were looking at
the bedding out plants. The head gardener, mister Roach, had
been having arranged that would seem such a rational thing
to do that no one would think it at all mysterious.
They would turn into the shrubbery walks and lose themselves
until they came to the long walls. It was almost

(03:00):
as serious and elaborately thought out as the plans of
march made by great generals in time of war. Rumors
of the new and curious things which were occurring in
the Invalid's apartments had of course filtered through the servants hall,
into the stable yards, and out among the gardeners. But

(03:21):
notwithstanding this, mister Roach was startled one day when he
received orders from Master Collins's room to the effect that
he must report himself in the apartment no outsider had
ever seen as the invalid himself desired to speak to him. Well, well,
he said to himself, as he hurriedly changed his coat.

(03:45):
What's to do now, his Royal Highness, that wasn't to
be looked at, Calling up a man he's never set
eyes on. Mister Roach was not without curiosity. He had
never caught even a glimpse of the boy, and had
heard a dozen exaggerated stories about his uncanny looks and ways,
and his insane tempers. The thing he had heard oftenest

(04:09):
was that he might die at any moment, and there
had been numerous fanciful descriptions of a humped back and
helpless limbs given by people who had never seen him.
Things are changing in this house, mister Roach, said Missus Medlock,
as she led him up the back staircase to the corridor,
on to which opened the hitherto mysterious chamber. Let us

(04:34):
hope they're changing for the better, Missus Medlock, he answered.
They couldn't well change for the worse. She continued, And
queer as it all is, there's them as finds their
duties made a lot easier to stand up under. Don't
you be surprised, mister Roach, if you find yourself in
the middle of a menagerie and Martha Sowerby's Dickon more

(04:57):
at home than you or me could ever be. There
really was a sort of magic about Dickon, as Mary
always privately believed. When mister Roach heard his name, he
smiled quite leniently. He'd be at home in Buckingham Palace
or at the bottom of a coal mine, he said.

(05:18):
And yet it's not impudence either. He is just fine
is that lad? It was Perhaps well he had been prepared,
or he might have been startled. When the bedroom door
was opened, a large crow, which seemed quite at home,
perched on the high back of a carven chair, announced

(05:39):
the entrance of a visitor by saying aw aw quite loudly.
In spite of Missus Medlock's warning, mister roach only just escaped,
being sufficiently undignified to jump backward. The young Rajah was
neither in bed nor on his sofa. He was sick

(06:00):
in an arm chair, and a young lamb was standing
by him, shaking its tail in feeding lamb fashion as
Dickon knelt giving it milk from its bottle. A squirrel
was perched on Dickon's bent back, attentively nibbling a nut.
The little girl from India was sitting on a big
footstool looking on. Here is mister roach, master colin, said

(06:24):
Missus Medlock. The young Rajah turned and looked his servitor over.
At least that was what the head gardener felt happened.
Oh you are a roach, are you? He said? I
sent for you to give you some very important orders.
Very good, sir, answered roach, wondering if he was to

(06:48):
receive instructions to fell all the oaks in the park
or to transform the orchards into water gardens. I am
going out in my chair this afternoon, said, If the
fresh air agrees with me, I may go out every day.
When I go, none of the gardeners are to be

(07:08):
anywhere near the long walk by the garden walls. No
one is to be there. I shall go out about
two o'clock and every one must keep away until I
send word that they may go back to their work.
Very good, sir, replied mister Roach, much relieved to hear
that the oaks might remain and that the orchards were safe.

(07:33):
Mary said colin turning to her, what is that thing
you say in India when you have finished talking and
want people to go, You say you have my permission
to go, answered Mary. The Rajah waved his hand. You
have my permission to go, Roach, he said, but remember

(07:57):
this is very important. Caw caw, remarked the crow hoarsely,
but not impolitely. Very good sir, thank you, sir, said
mister Roach, and missus Medlock took him out of the
room outside in the corridor, being a rather good natured man.

(08:19):
He's smiled until he almost laughed my word. He said.
He's got a fine lordly way with him, hasn't he.
You'd think he was a whole royal family rolled into
one prince consort and all ey, protested Missus Medlock. We've

(08:39):
had to let him trample all over every one of
us ever since he had feet, and he thinks that's
what folks was born for. Perhaps he'll grow out of
it if he lives, suggested mister Roach. Well there's one
thing pretty sure, said Missus Medlock. If he does live,
and that Indian child's days here, I'll warrant she teaches

(09:02):
him that the whole orange does not belong to him,
as Susan Sowerby says, and he'll be likely to find
out the size of his own quarter. Inside the room,
Colin was leaning back on his cushions. It's all safe now,
he said, And this afternoon I shall see it. This

(09:23):
afternoon I shall be in it. Dickon went back to
the garden with his creatures, and Mary stayed with Colin.
She did not think he looked tired, but he was
very quiet before their lunch came, and he was quiet
while they were eating it. She wondered why and asked
him about it. What big eyes you've got, Colin, She said,

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when you are thinking, they get as big as saucers.
What are you thinking about now? I can't help thinking
about what it will look like, he answered. The guard
asked Mary the springtime, he said, I was thinking that
I've really never seen it before. I scarcely ever went out,

(10:10):
and when I did go I never looked at it.
I didn't even think about it. I never saw it
in India because there wasn't any, said Mary. Shut in
and morbid as his life had been, Colin had more
imagination than she had, and at least he had spent
a good deal of time looking at wonderful books and pictures.

(10:33):
That morning, when you ran in and said it's come,
It's come, you made me feel quite queer. It sounded
as if things were coming, with a great procession and
big pursts and wafts of music. I've a picture like
it in one of my books, crowds of lovely people
and children with garlands and branches with blossoms on them,

(10:55):
everyone laughing and dancing and crowding and playing on pipes.
That was why I said, perhaps we shall hear golden
trumpets and told you to throw open the window. How funny,
said Mary. That's really just what it feels like. And
if all the flowers and leaves and green things and

(11:16):
birds and wild creatures danced past at once, what a
crowd it would be. I'm sure they'd dance and sing
and flute, and that would be the wafts of music.
They both laughed, but it was not because the idea
was laughable, but because they both so liked it. A

(11:37):
little later, the nurse made Colin ready. She noticed that,
instead of lying like a log while his clothes were
put on, he sat up and made some efforts to
help himself, and he talked and laughed with Mary all
the time. This is one of his good days, sir,
she said to doctor Craven, who dropped in to inspect him.

(11:59):
He's insane, such good spirits that it makes him stronger.
I'll call in again later in the afternoon after he
has come in, said doctor Craven. I must see how
the going out agrees with him. I wish, in a
very low voice, that he would let you go with him.

(12:20):
I'd rather give up the case this moment, sir, than
even stay here while it suggested, answered the nurse with
sudden firmness. I hadn't really decided to suggest it, said
the doctor, with his slight nervousness. We'll try the experiment, dickens,
a lad i'd trust with a new born child. The

(12:43):
strongest footman in the house carried Colin downstairs and put
him in his wheeled chair, near which Dickon waited outside.
After the manservant had arranged his rugs and cushions, the
Rajah waved his hand to him and to the nurse.
You have my permission to go, he said, and they

(13:04):
both disappeared quickly, and it must be confessed, giggled. When
they were safely inside the house, Dickon began to push
the wheeled chair slowly and steadily. Mistress Mary walked beside it,
and Colin leaned back and lifted his face to the sky.

(13:24):
The arch of it looked very high, and the small
snowy clouds seemed like white birds floating on outspread wings
below its crystal blueness. The wind swept in soft, big
breaths down from the moor and was strange with a wild,
clear scented sweetness. Colin kept lifting his thin chest to

(13:47):
draw it in, and his big eyes looked as if
it were they which were listening, listening instead of his ears.
There are so many sounds of singing and humming and
calling out, He said, what is that scent? The puffs
of wind bring it's gorse on the moor that's open

(14:08):
and out, answered Dickon, Eh, the bees are at it.
Wonderful to day. Not a human creature was to be
caught sight of in the paths they took. In fact,
every gardener or gardener's lad had been witched away. But
they wound in and out among the shrubbery, and out

(14:28):
and round the fountain beds, following their carefully planned rout
for the mere mysterious pleasure of it. But when at
last they turned into the long walk by the ivied walls,
the excited sense of an approaching thrill made them, for
some curious reason they could not have explained, begin to
speak in whispers. This is it, breathed Mary. This is

(14:53):
where I used to walk up and down and wonder
and wonder is it? Cried k And his eyes began
to search the ivy with eager curiousness. But I can
see nothing, he whispered, there is no door that's what
I thought, said Mary. Then there was a lovely, breathless silence,

(15:18):
and the chair wheeled on. That is the garden where
ben Weatherstaff works, said Mary. Is it? Said Colin? A
few yards more, and Mary whispered again. This is where
the robin flew over the wall, she said, is it?

(15:40):
Cried Colin. Oh, I wish he'd come again. And that
said Mary with solemn delight, pointing under a big lilac bush.
Is where he perched on the little heap of earth,
and showed me the key. Then Colin sat up where

(16:00):
where there he cried, and his eyes were as big
as the wolf's in Red riding Hood. When Red riding
Hood felt called upon to remark on them, Dickon stood still,
and the wheeled chair stopped. And this said Mary, stepping
on to the bed close to the ivy. Is where

(16:22):
I went to talk to him when he chirped at
me from the top of the wall. And this is
the ivy. The wind blew back, and she took hold
of the hanging green curtain. Oh is it is it?
Gasped Colin. And here is the handle, and here is
the door. Dickon, Push him in, Push him in, quickly,

(16:46):
and Dickon did it with one strong, steady, splendid push.
But Colin had actually dropped back against his cushions, even
though he gasped with delight, And he had covered his
eyes with his hands and held them there, shutting out everything,
until they were inside, and the chair stopped, as if

(17:08):
by magic, and the door was closed. Not till then
did he take them away and look round and round
and round, as Dickon and Mary had done, and over
walls and earth, and trees and swinging sprays and tendrils,
the fair green veil of tender little leaves had crept,

(17:30):
and in the grass under the trees, and the gray
urns and the alcoves, and here and there, everywhere were
touches or splashes of gold and purple and white, and
the trees were showing pink and snow above his head,
and there were flutterings of wings and faint sweet pipes,

(17:51):
and humming, and scents and scents, and the sun fell
warm upon his face like a hand with a lovely touch,
and in wonder Mary and Dickon stood and stared at him.
He looked so strange and different, because a pink glow

(18:11):
of color had actually crept all over him, ivory face
and neck and hands and all. I shall get well.
I shall get well, he cried out Mary Dickon. I
shall get well, and I shall live forever and ever

(18:33):
and ever. End of Chapter twenty, read by Kara Shallenberg
on February eleventh, two thousand six, in Oceanside, California,