o me, how can Medlock
send you away if she finds it out?"

"Please don't let her, sir," pleaded Martha.

"I'll send her away if she dares to say a word about such a thing,"
said Master Craven grandly. "She wouldn't like that, I can tell you."

"Thank you, sir," bobbing a curtsy, "I want to do my duty, sir."

"What I want is your duty" said Colin more grandly still. "I'll take
care of you. Now go away."

When the door closed behind Martha, Colin found Mistress Mary gazing at
him as if he had set her wondering.

"Why do you look at me like that?" he asked her. "What are you
thinking about?"

"I am thinking about two things."

"What are they? Sit down and tell me."

"This is the first one," said Mary, seating herself on the big stool.
"Once in India I saw a boy who was a Rajah. He had rubies and emeralds
and diamonds stuck all over him. He spoke to his people just as you
spoke to Martha. Everybody had to do everything he told them--in a
minute. I think they would have been killed if they hadn't."

"I shall make you tell me about Rajahs presently," he said, "but first
tell me what the second thing was."

"I was thinking," said Mary, "how different you are from Dickon."

"Who is Dickon?" he said. "What a queer name!"

She might as well tell him, she thought she could talk about Dickon
without mentioning the secret garden. She had liked to hear Martha
talk about him. Besides, she longed to talk about him. It would seem
to bring him nearer.

"He is Martha's brother. He is twelve years old," she explained. "He
is not like any one else in the world. He can charm foxes and
squirrels and birds just as the natives in India charm snakes. He
plays a very soft tune on a pipe and they come and listen."

There were some big books on a table at his side and he dragged one
suddenly toward him. "There is a picture of a snake-charmer in this,"
he exclaimed. "Come and look at it."

The book was a beautiful one with superb colored illustrations and he
turned to one of them.

"Can he do that?" he asked eagerly.

"He played on his pipe and they listened," Mary explained. "But he
doesn't call it Magic. He says it's because he lives on the moor so
much and he knows their ways. He says he feels sometimes as if he was
a bird or a rabbit himself, he likes them so. I think he asked the
robin questions. It seemed as if they talked to each other in soft
chirps."

Colin lay back on his cushion and his eyes