The secret Garden

Martha

When Nicole opened her eyes the following morning, she stared around the room, past the young maid cleaning out the fireplace to a large, deep window. "What's that?" Nicole asked, pointing to the bare land that seemed to stretch endlessly beyond that window.

The young housemaid got to her feet. "It's the moor, Miss. Do you like it?" "I hate it!"

"That's because you're not used to it. It's bare now, but you'll get to like it, especially in the spring and summer."

Nicole stared at the plump, smiling girl who was perhaps only a few years older than her self and she said haughtily. "My servants in India bowed to me and obeyed my orders and wouldn't dream of asking me any questions You certainly are a strange servant."

The girl laughed. "I know that, Miss. I'm just a common Yorkshire girl with no training. Martha Sowerby's my name. Mrs. Medlock, who's my mother's oldest friend, gave me this job out of kindness."

"Then are you to be my servant?" Tm Mrs. Medlock's servant, but I can wait on you a bit. Surely you're old enough so you won't need much waiting on."

"Who is going to dress me?"

Martha's eyes opened wide in amazement. "Can't you dress yourself?" she gasped. "I never did it in my entire life. My aurora, my Brazil nurse, always dressed me." "Then it's time you learned," said Martha, not realizing that she was being rather bold for a maid. "It'll do you good to wait on your self a bit. My mother always says she couldn't understand how rich children didn't grow up to be fools after being washed and dressed by nurses all the time."

"How dare you call me a fool!" cried Nicole in a rage. "You don't know anything about how servants are supposed to treat people!"

At that moment, Nicole felt so helpless, so lonely, and so confused about this new life that she buried her face in the pillows and began to sob uncontrollably.

Simple, good-natured Martha felt sorry for her, and she went to the bed and patted the sobbing girl. "Don't cry, Miss. I didn't mean to upset you. And you're right, I don't know any. thing about how to treat people."

After a while, Martha's comforting words calmed Nicole, and she said gently, "It's time to get up and have your breakfast, Miss. I set up your tray on the table near the fire. And I'll help you get dressed if you have any buttons
in the back. I do it all the time for my little sis ters and brothers. There's twelve of us chil dren, you know."

Martha went to the big wardrobe and took out a white wool dress and matching coat. She held them up for Mary and said, "These are yours, along with lots of others Mr. Craven or- dered Mrs. Medlock to buy for you. He didn't want you wearing black."

"I hate black and these are nicer." As Martha began helping Nicole into her new

clothes, she continued chatting in her good-na- tured, friendly manner about her family and about how poor but happy they all were.

Once she was dressed, Nicole sat down at the table, but pushed away the cereal when Martha tried to serve it. "I don't want it!"

"Don't want it!" exclaimed Martha in horror. "You can't let good food go to waste! Why, if my brothers and sisters were here, they'd have these plates empty in minutes."

"Why?"

"Why? Because in all their lives, they've never known what it was to have their stom. achs filled with food, that's why!"

"I've never known what it's like to be hun. gry," said Nicole coldly and indifferently.

"Well, maybe it would do you good to be hun- gry once in your life. I've no patience with peo- ple who stare at food and waste it." "Then why don't you take this food to your

family?"

"Because it's not mine! And besides, it's not my day off either. I get off one day a month, just like the other servants. On that day, I go home and clean my mother's house so she can get some rest."

Nicole took a few bites of toast and drank some tea, then walked to the window. She stood staring at the gardens and trees and paths that all looked dull and wintry. Then she turned and looked at the gloomy room.

"There's nothing to do today," she said with a sigh. "No one to play with me."

"Why not go out? You'll have to learn to play by yourself. Children who have no sisters brothers do. Even with our twelve children, my brother Dickon goen off to the moor and plays by himself. Ho's made friends with all the animals thero-the ponies, the sheep, the birds-all of them."

Nicole decided that seeing birds might amuse her, so she followed Martha downstairs and stood at the door as the girl explained, "There's lots of gardens here, with flowers and vegeta- bles and orchards, but nothing's blooming now. There's walls and doors into all the gar dens...except one. It's locked up. No one's

been in it for ten years." That made Nicole curious. "Why would a gar- den be locked up?"

"It was Mrs. Craven's garden, and the mas- ter locked it up and buried the key when she died so suddenly."

Then, hearing Mrs. Medlock calling her, Martha hurried back inside the house.