CHAPTER IV 33 laughing and making noises."
She thought of the robin and of the way he seemed to sing his song at her, and as she remembered the tree-top he perched on she stopped rather suddenly on the path.
" I believe that tree was in the secret garden--I feel sure it was," she said. " There was a wall round the place and there was no door."
She walked back into the first kitchen-garden she had entered and found the old man digging there. She went and stood beside him and watched him a few moments in her cold little way. He took no notice of her and so at last she spoke to him.
" I have been into the other gardens," she said. " There was nothin ' to prevent thee," he answered crustily. " I went into the orchard." " There was no dog at th ' door to bite thee," he answered. " There was no door there into the other garden," said Mary.
" What garden?" he said in a rough voice, stopping his digging for a moment.
" The one on the other side of the wall," answered Mistress Mary. " There are trees there--I saw the tops of them. A bird with a red breast was sitting on one of them and he sang."
To her surprise the surly old weather-beaten face actually changed its expression. A slow smile spread over it and the gardener looked quite different. It made her think that it was curious how much nicer a person looked when he smiled. She had not thought of it before.