The Secret Garden: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Mary decides to call her garden the secret garden. She loves it, especially since she's read about secret gardens in some of her books. She now enjoys the wind and being outside, and she can skip to 100 with her jump rope. Day after day, Mary works in the garden, clearing grass from around the bulbs. She also takes to sneaking up on Ben Weatherstaff. Ben doesn't object to Mary as much anymore, though he does grumble that she's like the robin in that she approaches silently and without warning. One morning, when Mary has been at Misselthwaite about a month, Ben remarks that Mary is getting fatter and less yellow.

Ben Weatherstaff and Mary greet the robin, who preens and sings for Ben. Ben teases the robin for acting so flirtatious, but the robin hops closer and closer until finally, it lands on the handle of Ben's spade. Ben looks shocked and then extremely touched. After the robin flies off, Ben looks at his spade as though it's full of Magic. He starts to smile, and Mary feels less afraid of talking to him. She asks him what he'd plant in a flower garden, and he answers that he'd plant roses like a young woman he used to garden for did. That woman would kiss the roses like they were children. Gruffly, he says that she's in heaven now, and her roses were left alone.

Excitedly, Mary asks if roses die when they're left alone. Ben Weatherstaff says that some died and tells Mary what to look for to gauge whether roses are dead or alive. Suddenly, he asks her why she's so interested. She stammers that she wants to have a garden of her own as she has nothing else to do and nobody to play with. Ben agrees with her and seems to feel sorry for her. Mary stays with him for another ten minutes asking questions about roses and if he visits the roses the young woman left. He says he does, but his rheumatics make it difficult for him. He suddenly gets angry, tells her to stop asking questions, and sends her away.

Mary skips away and thinks that she likes Ben Weatherstaff. She skips around the outside of one of the gardens, and when she gets to a gate that opens into a park, she goes through to investigate a strange whistling sound. She comes upon a boy, sitting under a tree and playing a pipe, surrounded by squirrels, a pheasant, and two rabbits. When he sees Mary, he quietly tells her to hold still. He slowly stands and when he's upright, the animals calmly disperse. He introduces himself as Dickon and says that one has to move slowly and gently around wild animals. Mary shyly asks if he brought the gardening tools and the seeds, and he suggests they sit down and look at them.

Mary wishes she could talk like Dickon, as he sounds like he likes her. She notices that he smells fresh too and in a moment, she forgets to feel shy. They look at the seed packets until Dickon hears the robin singing. He happily says that the robin is saying he's friends with Mary and will tell him all about her. He slowly rises and whistles at the robin, who returns the whistle. Dickon explains to Mary with a smile that he understands animals and they all understand him.

Dickon offers to plant the seeds for Mary. Mary is silent for a moment, turns red and then pale, and feels miserable. She slowly asks Dickon if he can keep a secret. Though he's puzzled, he says that he keeps secrets all the time. With a great deal of emotion, Mary says that she's stolen a garden that nobody wants and bursts into tears. Dickon asks her where the garden is and she leads him there at once. He feels as though he's being led to a bird's nest and needs to move quietly. Mary leads him through the door.