And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and everymorning revealed new miracles. In the robin's nest therewere Eggs and the robin's mate sat upon them keeping themwarm with her feathery little breast and careful wings.

　　At first she was very nervous and the robin himselfwas indignantly watchful. Even Dickon did not gonear the close-grown corner in those days, but waiteduntil by the quiet working of some mysterious spell heseemed to have conveyed to the soul of the little pairthat in the garden there was nothing which was not quitelike themselves--nothing which did not understand thewonderfulness of what was happening to them--the immense,tender, terrible, heart-breaking beauty and solemnityof Eggs. If there had been one person in that gardenwho had not known through all his or her innermost beingthat if an Egg were taken away or hurt the whole worldwould whirl round and crash through space and come toan end--if there had been even one who did not feel itand act accordingly there could have been no happinesseven in that golden springtime air. But they all knewit and felt it and the robin and his mate knew they knew it.

　　At first the robin watched Mary and Colin with sharp anxiety.

　　For some mysterious reason he knew he need not watch Dickon.

　　The first moment he set his dew-bright black eye on Dickonhe knew he was not a stranger but a sort of robin withoutbeak or feathers. He could speak robin (which is a quitedistinct language not to be mistaken for any other). To speakrobin to a robin is like speaking French to a Frenchman.

　　Dickon always spoke it to the robin himself, so the queergibberish he used when he spoke to humans did not matterin the least. The robin thought he spoke this gibberishto them because they were not intelligent enough tounderstand feathered speech. His movements also were robin.

　　They never startled one by being sudden enough to seemdangerous or threatening. Any robin could understand Dickon,so his presence was not even disturbing.

　　But at the outset it seemed necessary to be on guardagainst the other two. In the first place the boycreature did not come into the garden on his legs.

　　He was pushed in on a thing with wheels and the skinsof wild animals were thrown over him. That in itselfwas doubtful. Then when he began to stand up and moveabout he did it in a queer unaccustomed way and theothers seemed to have to help him. The robin usedto secrete himself in a bush and watch this anxiously,his head tilted first on one side and then on the other.

　　He thought that the slow movements might mean that he waspreparing to pounce, as cats do. When cats are preparingto pounce they creep over the ground very slowly.

　　The robin talked this over with his mate a great dealfor a few days but after that he decided not to speakof the subject because her terror was so great that hewas afraid it might be injurious to the Eggs.

　　When the boy began to walk by himself and even to move morequickly it was an immense relief. But for a long time--or itseemed a long time to the robin--he was a source of some anxiety.

　　He did not act as the other humans did. He seemed veryfond of walking but he had a way of sitting or lying downfor a while and then getting up in a disconcerting manner tobegin again.

　　One day the robin remembered that when he himself hadbeen made to learn to fly by his parents he had donemuch the same sort of thing. He had taken short flightsof a few yards and then had been obliged to rest.

　　So it occurred to him that this boy was learning to fly--orrather to walk. He mentioned this to his mate and when hetold her that the Eggs would probably conduct themselvesin the same way after they were fledged she was quitecomforted and even became eagerly interested and derivedgreat pleasure from watching the boy over the edge of hernest--though she always thought that the Eggs would bemuch cleverer and learn more quickly. But then she saidindulgently that humans were always more clumsy and slowthan Eggs and most of them never seemed really to learnto fly at all. You never met them in the air or on tree-tops.

　　After a while the boy began to move about as the others did,but all three of the children at times did unusual things.

　　They would stand under the trees and move their arms and legsand heads about in a way which was neither walking norrunning nor sitting down. They went through these movementsat intervals every day and the robin was never able toexplain to his mate what they were doing or tying to do.

　　He could only say that he was sure that the Eggs wouldnever flap about in such a manner; but as the boy who couldspeak robin so fluently was doing the thing with them,birds could be quite sure that the actions were notof a dangerous nature. Of course neither the robinnor his mate had ever heard of the champion wrestler,Bob Haworth, and his exercises for making the musclesstand out like lumps. Robins are not like human beings;their muscles are always exercised from the firstand so they develop themselves in a natural manner.

　　If you have to fly about to find every meal you eat,your muscles do not become atrophied (atrophied means wastedaway through want of use).

　　When the boy was walking and running about and diggingand weeding like the others, the nest in the corner wasbrooded over by a great peace and content. Fears forthe Eggs became things of the past. Knowing that yourEggs were as safe as if they were locked in a bank vaultand the fact that you could watch so many curious thingsgoing on made setting a most entertaining occupation.

　　On wet days the Eggs' mother sometimes felt even a littledull because the children did not come into the garden.

　　But even on wet days it could not be said that Mary andColin were dull. One morning when the rain streamed downunceasingly and Colin was beginning to feel a little restive,as he was obliged to remain on his sofa because it wasnot safe to get up and walk about, Mary had an inspiration.

　　"Now that I am a real boy," Colin had said, "my legs and armsand all my body are so full of Magic that I can't keepthem still. They want to be doing things all the time.

　　Do you know that when I waken in the morning, Mary,when it's quite early and the birds are just shoutingoutside and everything seems just shouting for joy--eventhe trees and things we can't really hear--............