Chapter 11
Coming home
A few days later Archibald Craven returned to Misselthwaite Manor. He didn’t even go in the house. He went straight to his wife’s garden. It was in here the voice had called him. When he reached the ivy-covered wall, he hesitated. What if this was just a dream after all? What if he found what he always found? Emptiness?
He began to turn back. Just then he heard sounds coming from inside the garden. Sounds of running and laughter. It couldn’t be! The sounds – fast, heavy footsteps and panting – came closer. Next, the ivy curtain swung back and a boy burst at full speed straight into his arms.
There was a moment’s silence as they looked at each other. ‘Father?’ the boy asked.
Archibald Craven just stared. This couldn’t be Colin? This tall, handsome boy? But it was. The eyes gave it away. He had Lilias’ beautiful eyes.
A faint smell of roses floated past and Mr. Craven swallowed hard.
‘Come in,’ Colin said, ‘come into the garden.’
At last Mr. Craven spoke. ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘of course, Colin. I’ll come into the garden.’ It was where he should have been all along.
◆ ◆ ◆
Mary and DIckon could only stand and stare as Colin and his father walked round the garden together, arm in arm. ‘You did that,’ Dickon said.
‘Me?’ Mary asked.
‘You. You made the garden come alive and you made them come alive too.’
Mary looked round at the garden. The place was a feast of autumn yellow and purple, and flaming scarlet. Late roses climbed and hung and clustered. The afternoon sun shone down on the leaves and made everything appear like a temple of gold. ‘Not me,’ said Mary. ‘It was the magic of this place. The magic of the secret garden.’
Frances Hodgson Burnett
(born 1849, died 1924)
Frances was born in Manchester, England. Her father died when she was only five and the family became very poor. They moved to America to live with a relative. When her mother died, Frances, aged 18, was left to look after her four brothers and sisters. She did this by writing. They were still poor. There is a story that when she needed stamps to send her first story to a magazine, she picked and sold wild grapes to get the money to buy them.
She wrote short stories, novels and plays for adults before writing children’s books. She became very successful. She married and had two sons. When her first son died young, Frances was very upset. She joined a group of people who believed that you could heal yourself by thinking yourself well. You can read about this belief in “The Secret Garden” when she writes that Colin tries to get better by thinking positively.
She divorced Dr. Burnett and moved to a country house in England. Some people believe she was inspired to write “The Secret Garden” here. Others believe that she wrote the book in a lovely rose garden she made at her large house just outside New York, when she returned to America for the last years of her life.
Best known works
Books
A Little Princess
Little Lord Fauntleroy
