The secret garden — Chapter Nine Behind the garden walls

　　CHAPTER NINE

　　BEHIND THE GARDEN WALLS

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　　Mary couldn"t imagine a more wonderful place than the secret garden. It seemed that the garden"s owner had loved roses, for the garden was filled with many rose bushes and rose vines. They looked brown, dry, and dead, however. So did the grass. The rose vines dropped onto the trees like curtains. "If this garden were green, how many roses there would be!" thought Mary. "How still and quiet it is here!"

　　The robin was sitting on a tree in the garden. He didn"t sing anymore; he only looked at Mary, as if to see what she would do next.

　　"Of course it"s quiet," whispered Mary to herself. "I"m the only person who"s been in here for ten years."

　　She began to explore the garden. "I wonder if all these trees and plants are really dead," she thought. "Is this a dead garden? Oh, I wish it wasn"t! Just think how many roses there would be, if this garden were alive!"

　　If Mary had been a gardener, like Ben Weatherstaff, she would have been able to tell whether a plant was dead or not. But she wasn"t -- all she saw were many brown and gray trees, vines, and bushes. They certainly looked dead. But suddenly Mary gave a little cry. In one corner of the garden there was a patch of black dirt. In the dirt were tiny green plants! Mary remembered what Ben Weatherstaff had said. She bent down to look at them.

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