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7S THE SECRET GARDEN
end of her nose with the back of her hand as if puzzled for a moment, but she ended quite positively.
" Well, she's that sensible an' hard workin' an' good-natured an' clean that no one could help likin' her whether they'd seen her or not. When I'm goin' home to her on my day out I just jump for joy when I'm crossin' th' moor."
" I like Dickon," added Mary. " And I've never seen him."
" Well," said Martha stoutly, " I've told thee that th' very birds likes him an' th' rabbits an' wild sheep an' ponies, an' th' foxes themselves. I wonder," staring at her reflectively, " what Dickon would think of thee?"
" He wouldn't like me," said Mary in her stiff, cold little way. " No one does."
Martha looked reflective again.
" How does tha' like thysel' ? " she inquired, really quite as if she were curious to know.
Mary hesitated a moment and thought it over.
" Not at all — really," she answered. " But I never thought of that before."
Martha grinned a little as if at some homely recollection.
u Mother said that to me once," she said. " She was at her wash-tub an' I was in a bad temper an' talkin' ill of folk, an' she turns round on me |
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