The secret garden — Chapter Four The Robin and the gardener

　　He began to dig again, while the little robin hopped around, looking busy and happy.

　　"What is your name?" Mary asked the old man.

　　"Ben Weatherstaff," he said. He laughed a little. "I"m lonely myself, except when the robin is with me. He"s the only friend I"ve got."

　　"I have no friends at all," said Mary. "I"ve never had any. In India, my Ayi didn"t like me, and I never played with anyone. People never like me, and 1 never like people."

　　It is the custom of the Yorkshire people of England to say exactly what they think. Ben Weatherstaff was a Yorkshire man. "You and me are a lot alike." he said. "We"re not good-looking, and we"re both as sour and angry as we look. We"ve got the same nasty tempers, 1 think!"

　　This was fact, and Mary had never heard the truth about herself. In India, the servants always agreed with mid obeyed you, whatever you did. Mary had never thought much about her looks, but she wondered if she was as unattractive as Ben Weatherstaff said. She wondered if she really was "nasty". She began to feel uncomfortable.

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