All a chap s got to do to make em thrive, mother, he would say, is
to be friends with em for sure. They re just like th creatures. If
they re thirsty give em drink and if they re hungry give em a bit o
food. They want to live same as we do. If they died I should feel as if
I d been a bad lad and somehow treated them heartless.
It was in these twilight hours that Mrs. Sowerby heard of all that
happened at Misselthwaite Manor. At first she was only told that
Mester Colin had taken a fancy to going out into the grounds with
Miss Mary and that it was doing him good. But it was not long before it
was agreed between the two children that Dickon s mother might come
into the secret. Somehow it was not doubted that she was safe for
sure.
So one beautiful still evening Dickon told the whole story, with all
the thrilling details of the buried key and the robin and the gray haze
which had seemed like deadness and the secret Mistress Mary had planned
never to reveal. The coming of Dickon and how it had been told to him,
the doubt of Mester Colin and the final drama of his introduction to
the hidden domain, combined with the incident of Ben Weatherstaff s
angry face peering over the wall and Mester Colin s sudden indignant
strength, made Mrs. Sowerby s nice-looking face quite change color
several times.
My word! she said. It was a good thing that little lass came to th
Manor. It s been th makin o her an th savin, o him. Standin on
his feet! An us all thinkin he was a poor half-witted lad with not a
straight bone in him.
She asked a great many questions and her blue eyes were full of deep
thinking.
What do they make of it at th Manor him being so well an cheerful
an never complainin ? she inquired.
They don t know what to make of it, answered Dickon. Every day as
comes round his face looks different. It s fillin out and doesn t look
so sharp an th waxy color is goin . But he has to do his bit o
complainin , with a highly entertained grin.
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