The secret garden

372 THE SECRET GARDEN!Aren't you glad? I'm going to live forever and4ever and ever!Mr. Craven put his hands on both the boy'sshoulders and held him still. He knew he darednot even try to speak for a moment.last.Take me into the garden, my boy," he " said atAnd tell me all about it."And so they led him in.The place was a wilderness of autumn gold andpurple and violet blue and flaming scarlet andon every side were sheaves of late lilies standingtogether lilies which were white or white andruby. He remembered well when the first of themhad been planted that just at this season of theyear their late glories should reveal themselves.Late roses climbed and hung and clustered and thesunshine deepening the hue of the yellowing treesmade one feel that one stood in an emboweredtemple of gold. The newcomer stood silent justas the children had done when they came into itsgrayness. He looked round and round.it'I thought it would be dead," he said."Mary thought so at first," said Colin." Butcame alive."Then they sat down under their tree all butColin, who wanted to stand while he told thestory.It was the strangest thing he had ever heard,