Chapter 8
A tantrum
By the Monday, the rain had cleared and Mary couldn’t wait to get outside. Nice as it was to talk to Colin she had missed the secret garden. She had missed Dickon too.
‘Right, I’m going digging in my garden,’ she decided after breakfast.
‘Aren’t you going to see Master Colin first?’ Martha asked.
‘No. I’ve got to grab the sunshine while it’s out. I’ll call in later.’
‘But what if he needs you?’
‘Later,’ Mary repeated.
She ran as fast as the moor wind across the grounds, down the side of the Long Walk, past the kitchen gardens and through to the secret garden. Dickon was already there. ‘You beat me!’ she said.
‘There’s work to be done,’ Dickon replied. He began to whistle a tone.
Together they dug and pruned and cleared. Green shoots were sprouting everywhere now.
Mary was especially pleased to see that the seed she had planted were growing, The garden was coming alive. ‘It’s grand, isn’t it?’ Mary said.
‘It’s nature. All nature’s grand.’
Mary went back to the manor house in such a good mood. She couldn’t wait to see Colin and tell him about her morning. ‘Martha! I’m starving!’ she announced.
‘Sorry, Miss Mary, lunch is a bit late today,’ Martha apologized. She looked hot and bothered.
‘What’s wrong?’ Mary asked.
‘It’s Master Colin. He’s working his way up to a right tantrum.’
Mary frowned and listened.
Sure enough, the sound of shouting and wailing could be heard along the corridor.
‘Why? What’s upset him?’
Martha looked embarrassed. ‘It’s because you didn’t come when he asked for you, Miss Mary.’
‘What? How silly!’ Mary felt a wave of anger sweep over her.
Mary strode into Colin’s room. His face was crimson from screeching. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ she demanded.
Colin glared at her. ‘You didn’t come to see me!’
‘How could I? I’ve been in the garden.’
‘You come when I say! I am the master of this house. I am more important than some stupid garden and some stupid boy!’
Mary’s face turned to thunder. ‘I’ll come to see you when I please,’ she declared, ‘and if you ever speak to me like this again I shan’t come at all!’
She spent the rest of the day in the garden, working twice as hard as she had in the morning. She was still furious.
Dickon tried to calm her down and make her see thing from Colin’s point of view. ‘It’s not much of a life for him in there. Specially, as he has no mam and his dad’s always away.’
Mary did not care one bit. ‘So? I have no one either, but I don’t cry like a baby all day!’
She decided she wouldn’t see Colin until she felt like it. Which might be never.
[释义]哀号
[备注]
美 [ˈweɪlɪŋ]
英 [ˈweɪlɪŋ]
v. 哭泣（wail的ing形式）；哭号
Wailing
恸哭
哭号
哀鸣
举哀图
Wailing Cisticola
啸声扇尾莺
呼啸扇尾莺
WAILING BEAST
哀号巨兽
