Secret Garden: Scene 3 (jump rope lesson)

MARTHA

Tha'll not be goin' outside today, Mary. This rain is like to drown us all. Dickon doesn't mind the wet, he goes out th' same as if the' sun was shining. He says he sees things on rainy days as doesn't show when it's fair weather. The moor's a different place in a storm. Dost tha' hear that?

THE WIND KICKS UP HOWLING.

They call it wutherin.'

It's terrible.

MARTHA

It's just the wind across the moor.

It sounds like someone crying.

MARTHA

No! That's th' wind. It sounds like that. Like someone lost on th' moor an' wailing.

It really sounds like someone—

MARTHA

Can tha' knit?

What?

MARTHA

Hast tha learned how to knit, or sew? We could do that instead of listening to that awful wutherin' that is just the wind and nothing else.

I don't knit.

MARTHA

Then I'll teach thee! I'll fetch needles and yarn and—

Wait! Couldn't we talk instead?

MARTHA

About what?

Why did Mr. Craven hate the garden?

MARTHA

Mrs. Medlock don't like us talking about that.

But you know, don't you?

MARTHA

Tha' can't stop thinking about it, can thee? It was the same way with me, when I first heard about it. It was his wife's garden, you see. He'd have walked the world over to get her a blade o' grass that she wanted. The garden was their special place. There was an old tree with a branch bent like a seat, and she'd sit there among the roses. But one day, the branch broke, and she fell. She was hurt so bad that next day she died. That's why he hates it. No one's ever gone in since.

Ooh! I give meself chills just thinking about it.

Do you think it's dead now?

MARTHA

I think some things are tougher than they look. It's hard to see now, with everythin' bein' so dark and gloomy, but come spring, I think it will surprise thee.

Oh! Speakin' o' spring. An old peddler man came to our doorstep selling odds and ends, and my mother thought to buy thee this. No child should be without a skippin' rope, an' she bought one and here it is.

SHE HANDS HER A SKIPPING ROPE. MARY IS MYSTIFIED

What is it for?

MARTHA

For? It's for skippin'! Does tha mean that they've not got skippin'-ropes in India? They've got elephants and tigers and camels, but no skippin'-ropes. Huh.

I'll show thee how it's done.

SHE SKIPS ROPE EXPERTLY THEN HANDS IT TO MARY.

MARY FUMBLES AT FIRST, BUT EVENTUALLY MAKES A SUCCESSFUL SKIP.

I skipped!

MARTHA

Tha did!

Nobody has ever gotten me a present before. I believe I am supposed to thank you. Thank you, Martha. And thank your mother for me.

MARY HOLDS OUT HER HAND FOR A SOLEMN HANDSHAKE. MARTHA GIVE HER A BEAR HUG.