The Secret Garden: Chapters 5–10

by Frances Hodgson Burnett
When her parents die from an infectious outbreak in colonial India, ten-year-old Mary Lennox is sent to live with her uncle in England, where she discovers a garden that seems to make magical things happen. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–10, Chapters 11–16, Chapters 17–21, Chapters 22–27
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. preen
    clean with one's bill
    Then she ran down the path through the other door and then into the orchard, and when she stood and looked up there was the tree on the other side of the wall, and there was the robin just finishing his song and beginning to preen his feathers with his beak.
  2. languid
    lacking spirit or liveliness
    In India she had always felt hot and too languid to care much about anything.
  3. novelty
    originality by virtue of being refreshingly new
    Martha liked to talk, and the strange child who had lived in India, and been waited upon by "blacks," was novelty enough to attract her.
  4. persist
    refuse to stop
    "Why did he hate it?" Mary persisted.
  5. buffet
    strike against forcefully
    Mary did not know what "wutherin'" meant until she listened, and then she understood. It must mean that hollow shuddering sort of roar which rushed round and round the house as if the giant no one could see were buffeting it and beating at the walls and windows to try to break in.
  6. distinguish
    mark as different
    But as she was listening to the wind she began to listen to something else. She did not know what it was, because at first she could scarcely distinguish it from the wind itself.
  7. torrent
    a heavy rain
    The next day the rain poured down in torrents again, and when Mary looked out of her window the moor was almost hidden by gray mist and cloud.
  8. resent
    feel bitter or indignant about
    The time had come when Mary had forgotten to resent Martha's familiar talk. She had even begun to find it interesting and to be sorry when she stopped or went away.
  9. brocade
    thick expensive material with a raised pattern
    She wore a green brocade dress and held a green parrot on her finger.
  10. palanquin
    a closed litter carried on the shoulders of four bearers
    In one room, which looked like a lady's sitting-room, the hangings were all embroidered velvet, and in a cabinet were about a hundred little elephants made of ivory. They were of different sizes, and some had their mahouts or palanquins on their backs.
  11. wistfully
    in a pensively sad manner
    "Could I ever get there?" asked Mary wistfully, looking through her window at the far-off blue.
  12. recollection
    something recalled to the mind
    Martha grinned a little as if at some homely recollection.
  13. pert
    characterized by a lightly saucy or impudent quality
    He was very pert and lively, and hopped about so close to her feet, and put his head on one side and looked at her so slyly that she asked Ben Weatherstaff a question.
  14. perennial
    lasting three seasons or more
    It was bare of flowers because the perennial plants had been cut down for their winter rest, but there were tall shrubs and low ones which grew together at the back of the bed, and as the robin hopped about under them she saw him hop over a small pile of freshly turned up earth.
  15. baffle
    hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire
    The ivy was the baffling thing. Howsoever carefully she looked she could see nothing but thickly growing, glossy, dark green leaves.
    "Baffle" also means "be a mystery or bewildering to"—both definitions fit the situation because Mary is wondering what's underneath all the ivy, and she is disappointed to see nothing but leaves. The wild ivy, in addition to being a sign of the secret garden's neglect, is meant to prevent people from finding the locked door.
  16. mystified
    totally perplexed and mixed up
    It was a strong, slender rope with a striped red and blue handle at each end, but Mary Lennox had never seen a skipping-rope before. She gazed at it with a mystified expression.
  17. oblige
    force somebody to do something
    It was a good long skip and she began slowly, but before she had gone half-way down the path she was so hot and breathless that she was obliged to stop.
  18. trill
    a note that alternates with another note a semitone above it
    The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy on to the top of the wall and he opened his beak and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off.
  19. tendril
    slender structure by which some plants attach to an object
    There were other trees in the garden, and one of the things which made the place look strangest and loveliest was that climbing roses had run all over them and swung down long tendrils which made light swaying curtains, and here and there they had caught at each other or at a far-reaching branch and had crept from one tree to another and made lovely bridges of themselves.
  20. urn
    a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet
    There seemed to have been grass paths here and there, and in one or two corners there were alcoves of evergreen with stone seats or tall moss-covered flower urns in them.
  21. alcove
    a small recess opening off a large room or garden
    As she came near the second of these alcoves she stopped skipping.
  22. astonished
    filled with the emotional impact of overwhelming surprise
    The bulbs in the secret garden must have been much astonished. Such nice clear places were made round them that they had all the breathing space they wanted, and really, if Mistress Mary had known it, they began to cheer up under the dark earth and work tremendously.
    The adjective "astonished," the noun phrase "breathing space," and the verb phrase "cheer up" personify the bulbs, which strengthens the connection between Nature and the human natures of the gardeners. The more Mary works in the garden, the better her nature becomes. Even Ben, who's surly because he's lonely, is joyfully proud of his gardening and the robin. And the sweetest character in the novel is Dickon, who has the closest relationships to all forms of nature.
  23. flighty
    guided by whim and fancy
    "That's like him," snapped Ben Weatherstaff. "Makin' up to th' women folk just for vanity an' flightiness. There's nothin' he wouldn't do for th' sake o' showin' off an' flirtin' his tail-feathers. He's as full o' pride as an egg's full o' meat."
    Ben is punning on the word "flightiness"—while here he is focused on the robin's proud flirting, he also complains about how the bird flies around so much that he doesn't know when he might see him.
  24. engaging
    attracting or delighting
    He hopped closer and closer and looked at Ben Weatherstaff more and more engagingly. He flew on to the nearest currant bush and tilted his head and sang a little song right at him.
  25. venture
    put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
    "Did they quite die? Do roses quite die when they are left to themselves?" she ventured.
  26. prune
    cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of
    "Once or twice a year I'd go an' work at 'em a bit—prune 'em an' dig about th' roots. They run wild, but they was in rich soil, so some of 'em lived."
  27. rheumatic
    of or pertaining to arthritis
    My rheumatics has made me too stiff in th' joints.
  28. tremulous
    quivering as from weakness or fear
    And on the trunk of the tree he leaned against, a brown squirrel was clinging and watching him, and from behind a bush nearby a cock pheasant was delicately stretching his neck to peep out, and quite near him were two rabbits sitting up and sniffing with tremulous noses—and actually it appeared as if they were all drawing near to watch him and listen to the strange low little call his pipe seemed to make.
  29. trowel
    a small hand tool with a handle and metal blade
    I've got th' garden tools. There's a little spade an' rake an' a fork an' hoe. Eh! they are good 'uns. There's a trowel, too.
  30. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    The robin listened a few seconds, intently, and then answered quite as if he were replying to a question.
  31. flout
    treat with contemptuous disregard
    Birds is rare choosers an' a robin can flout a body worse than a man.
  32. sidle
    move sideways
    He so sidled and twittered and tilted as he hopped on his bush.
  33. naught
    a quantity of no importance
    If I couldn't keep secrets from th' other lads, secrets about foxes' cubs, an' birds' nests, an' wild things' holes, there'd be naught safe on th' moor.
  34. obstinate
    resistant to guidance or discipline
    She knew she felt contrary again, and obstinate, and she did not care at all.
  35. defiantly
    in a rebellious manner
    There was a door and Mary pushed it slowly open and they passed in together, and then Mary stood and waved her hand round defiantly.
Created on Wed Sep 18 15:15:44 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Jul 17 17:31:23 EDT 2023)

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