fresh air an doesn t do nothin but lie on his back an read
picture-books an take medicine. He s weak and hates th trouble o
bein taken out o doors, an he gets cold so easy he says it makes him
ill.
Mary sat and looked at the fire.
I wonder, she said slowly, if it would not do him good to go out
into a garden and watch things growing. It did me good.
One of th worst fits he ever had, said Martha, was one time they
took him out where the roses is by the fountain. He d been readin in a
paper about people gettin somethin he called rose cold an he began
to sneeze an said he d got it an then a new gardener as didn t know
th rules passed by an looked at him curious. He threw himself into a
passion an he said he d looked at him because he was going to be a
hunchback. He cried himself into a fever an was ill all night.
If he ever gets angry at me, I ll never go and see him again, said
Mary.
He ll have thee if he wants thee, said Martha. Tha may as well know
that at th start.
Very soon afterward a bell rang and she rolled up her knitting.
I dare say th nurse wants me to stay with him a bit, she said. I
hope he s in a good temper.
She was out of the room about ten minutes and then she came back with a
puzzled expression.
Well, tha has bewitched him, she said. He s up on his sofa with his
picture-books. He s told the nurse to stay away until six o clock. I m
to wait in the next room. Th minute she was gone he called me to him
an says, I want Mary Lennox to come and talk to me, and remember
you re not to tell anyone. You d better go as quick as you can.
Mary was quite willing to go quickly. She did not want to see Colin as
much as she wanted to see Dickon; but she wanted to see him very much.
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