The Secret Garden

Doctor Craven comes to see Colin in the afternoon. He is surprised to see Colin and Mary laughing and looking at pictures in one of Mary’s garden books. Colin announces that he is feeling much better today and intends to go outdoors in his chair in a day or two. The doctor stops on his way out of the house for a word with Mrs. Medlock and remarks that he has never seen Colin so composed. Mrs. Medlock says Mrs. Sowerby told her that children need the company of other children and that Mary and Colin will be good for each other. The doctor acknowledges that Mrs. Sowerby is a wise woman and that he highly regards her ability as a healer.

The next morning, Dickon arrives after breakfast with all his pets–the fox, the crow, and the two squirrels–and a newborn lamb in his arms. Colin doesn’t know what to say, but Dickon lays the lamb in Colin’s lap and tells the story of how he had been standing on the moor at dawn and heard a lamb bleating weakly, and he searched relentlessly until he found it.

Later, the children sit and look at pictures in the gardening books.