The Secret Garden

Mary Lennox lived in India with her mother and father, but they did not want her, so she almost never saw them.An Indian servant she called her Ayah took care of her and gave her everything she asked for.Because no one ever said no to her, Mary grew up cross, selfish, and unkind.

One very hot morning Mary woke up and found a strange servant beside her bed instead of her Ayah.“Where is my Ayah?” she asked, but the woman only looked frightened and hurried away.All through the house people were whispering, and Mary’s mother stood in the doorway, talking in a low, scared voice to a young officer.

A terrible illness called cholera had come to the town, and people were dying very quickly.That day the house filled with crying and running feet, and everyone forgot about Mary.She hid in her room, frightened and alone, and after a long time she cried herself to sleep.

When she woke, the house was completely silent — no voices, no footsteps, nothing at all.Mary did not know that the illness had taken almost everyone, and that the rest had run away.She only wondered who would feed her now, and who would be her new Ayah.

She walked through the empty rooms and saw a small snake slide across the floor, the only living thing left.In the dining room a meal sat half eaten, the chairs pushed back as if people had jumped up in a hurry.Mary ate a little fruit and some biscuits, then went back to her room and fell asleep again.

At last some men came into the quiet house, and one of them cried, “There is no one left — and here is a child everyone forgot!”Mary’s mother, her father, and her Ayah were all gone, and the unwanted little girl was sent far away to live with an uncle in England.