CHAPTER X 84
He moved quite close to the bush with the slow movement Mary had noticed before, and then he made a sound almost like the robin ' s own twitter. The robin listened a few seconds, intently, and then answered quite as if he were replying to a question.
" Aye, he ' s a friend o ' yours," chuckled Dickon.
" Do you think he is?" cried Mary eagerly. She did so want to know. " Do you think he really likes me?"
" He wouldn ' t come near thee if he didn ' t," answered Dickon. " Birds is rare choosers an ' a robin can flout a body worse than a man. See, he ' s making up to thee now. ' Cannot tha ' see a chap?' he ' s sayin '."
And it really seemed as if it must be true. He so sidled and twittered and tilted as he hopped on his bush.
" Do you understand everything birds say?" said Mary.
Dickon ' s grin spread until he seemed all wide, red, curving mouth, and he rubbed his rough head.
" I think I do, and they think I do," he said. " I ' ve lived on th ' moor with ' em so long. I ' ve watched ' em break shell an ' come out an ' fledge an ' learn to fly an ' begin to sing, till I think I ' m one of ' em. Sometimes I think p ' raps I ' m a bird, or a fox, or a rabbit, or a squirrel, or even a beetle, an ' I don ' t know it."
He laughed and came back to the log and began to talk about the flower seeds again. He told her what they looked like when they were flowers; he told her how to plant them, and watch them, and feed and water them.
" See here," he said suddenly, turning round to look at her. " I ' ll plant them for thee myself. Where is tha ' garden?"
Mary ' s thin hands clutched each other as they lay on her lap. She did not know what to say, so for a whole minute she said nothing. She had never