The Secret Garden: Chapters 1–4

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. tyrannical
    marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior
    She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants, and as they always obeyed her and gave her her own way in everything, because the Mem Sahib would be angry if she was disturbed by her crying, by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived.
  2. imploringly
    in a pleading manner
    They looked fuller of lace than ever this morning, but her eyes were not laughing at all. They were large and scared and lifted imploringly to the fair boy officer's face.
  3. bewilderment
    confusion resulting from failure to understand
    During the confusion and bewilderment of the second day Mary hid herself in the nursery and was forgotten by everyone.
  4. impudent
    improperly forward or bold
    Basil was a little boy with impudent blue eyes and a turned-up nose, and Mary hated him.
  5. contrary
    very opposed in nature or character or purpose
    He sang it until the other children heard and laughed, too; and the crosser Mary got, the more they sang "Mistress Mary, quite contrary"; and after that as long as she stayed with them they called her "Mistress Mary Quite Contrary" when they spoke of her to each other, and often when they spoke to her.
  6. scorn
    open disrespect for a person or thing
    "She doesn't know where home is!" said Basil, with seven-year-old scorn.
    "Scornful" and "impudent" are semi-synonymous adjectives ("scorn" has more hateful rudeness than "impudence"). While these words are referring to Basil here, they could also describe Mary. Used to being treated like a queen, Mary does not recognize or appreciate her own attitudes in others. This contrasts with her later relationship to Ben, with whom she also shares the same temper, but because he's older, has gardening knowledge, and doesn't mind sharing, Mary seeks him out.
  7. desolate
    having few or no inhabitants
    He lives in a great, big, desolate old house in the country and no one goes near him.
  8. stony
    showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings
    But she thought over it a great deal afterward; and when Mrs. Crawford told her that night that she was going to sail away to England in a few days and go to her uncle, Mr. Archibald Craven, who lived at Misselthwaite Manor, she looked so stony and stubbornly uninterested that they did not know what to think about her.
  9. sallow
    unhealthy looking
    If she were not so sallow and had a nicer expression, her features are rather good.
  10. straggle
    go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way
    Her black dress made her look yellower than ever, and her limp light hair straggled from under her black crêpe hat.
  11. pettish
    easily irritated or annoyed
    "A more marred-looking young one I never saw in my life," Mrs. Medlock thought. (Marred is a Yorkshire word and means spoiled and pettish.)
  12. unresponsive
    aloof or indifferent
    "Humph," muttered Mrs. Medlock, staring at her queer, unresponsive little face.
    "Unresponsive" also means "not reacting to some influence or stimulus"—Mrs. Medlock was trying to talk to Mary, but the only response she got was "No" (twice). Even when Mary starts to become interested in Mrs. Medlock's descriptions of Misselthwaite Manor, her disagreeable nature makes her continue to pretend to be unresponsive.
  13. discomfit
    cause to lose one's composure
    Mary said nothing at all, and Mrs. Medlock looked rather discomfited by her apparent indifference, but, after taking a breath, she went on.
  14. moor
    open land with peaty soil covered with heather and moss
    The house is six hundred years old and it's on the edge of the moor, and there's near a hundred rooms in it, though most of them's shut up and locked.
  15. trifle
    a small amount
    She had never thought of the hunchback's being married and she was a trifle surprised.
  16. bleak
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    Mary felt as if the drive would never come to an end and that the wide, bleak moor was a wide expanse of black ocean through which she was passing on a strip of dry land.
  17. obsequious
    attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner
    The native servants she had been used to in India were not in the least like this. They were obsequious and servile and did not presume to talk to their masters as if they were their equals.
  18. haughty
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    "You are a strange servant," she said from her pillows, rather haughtily.
  19. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    "Are you going to be my servant?" Mary asked, still in her imperious little Indian way.
    "Haughty" and "imperious" are synonymous adjectives, but they have different roots: "haughty" comes from the Latin "altus" meaning "high" while "imperious" comes from the Latin "imperare" which means "to command" and is also the root of "empire"—this gives the example sentence more meaning, because Mary's "imperious little Indian way" is due to the British Empire's control of India from 1858–1947 (the novel was published in 1911).
  20. stoutly
    in a resolute manner
    "I'm Mrs. Medlock's servant," she said stoutly. "An' she's Mr. Craven's—but I'm to do the housemaid's work up here an' wait on you a bit. But you won't need much waitin' on."
  21. indignantly
    in a manner showing anger at something unjust or wrong
    "No," answered Mary, quite indignantly."I never did in my life. My Ayah dressed me, of course."
  22. disdainfully
    without respect
    "It is different in India," said Mistress Mary disdainfully.
  23. unrestrained
    marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion
    She sobbed so unrestrainedly that good-natured Yorkshire Martha was a little frightened and quite sorry for her.
  24. subservient
    compliant and obedient to authority
    If Martha had been a well-trained fine young lady's maid she would have been more subservient and respectful and would have known that it was her business to brush hair, and button boots, and pick things up and lay them away.
  25. rustic
    an unsophisticated country person
    She was, however, only an untrained Yorkshire rustic who had been brought up in a moorland cottage with a swarm of little brothers and sisters who had never dreamed of doing anything but waiting on themselves and on the younger ones who were either babies in arms or just learning to totter about and tumble over things.
  26. homely
    plain and unpretentious
    At first she was not at all interested, but gradually, as the girl rattled on in her good-tempered, homely way, Mary began to notice what she was saying.
  27. sentiment
    tender, romantic, or nostalgic feeling or emotion
    So she began to feel a slight interest in Dickon, and as she had never before been interested in any one but herself, it was the dawning of a healthy sentiment.
  28. substantial
    providing abundant nourishment
    A table in the center was set with a good substantial breakfast.
  29. indifference
    the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things
    But she had always had a very small appetite, and she looked with something more than indifference at the first plate Martha set before her.
  30. treacle
    a syrup made of sugar cane
    Put a bit o' treacle on it or a bit o' sugar.
  31. victual
    any substance that can be used as food
    "I can't abide to see good victuals go to waste. If our children was at this table they'd clean it bare in five minutes."
  32. surly
    unfriendly and inclined toward anger or irritation
    He had a surly old face, and did not seem at all pleased to see her—but then she was displeased with his garden and wore her "quite contrary" expression, and certainly did not seem at all pleased to see him.
  33. crusty
    blunt and ill-tempered
    "I have been into the other gardens," she said.
    "There was nothin' to prevent thee," he answered crustily.
  34. alight
    come down
    She heard a soft little rushing flight through the air—and it was the bird with the red breast flying to them, and he actually alighted on the big clod of earth quite near to the gardener's foot.
  35. cheeky
    offensively bold
    "Where has tha' been, tha' cheeky little beggar?" he said. "I've not seen thee before to-day. Has tha' begun tha' courtin' this early in th' season? Tha'rt too forrad."
  36. delicate
    easily hurt
    He had a tiny plump body and a delicate beak, and slender delicate legs.
  37. fledgling
    young bird that has just become capable of flying
    I've knowed him ever since he was a fledgling. He come out of th' nest in th' other garden an' when first he flew over th' wall he was too weak to fly back for a few days an' we got friendly.
  38. brood
    the young of an animal cared for at one time
    "Where did the rest of the brood fly to?" she asked.
  39. warrant
    stand behind the quality, accuracy, or condition of
    "We was wove out of th' same cloth. We're neither of us good lookin' an' we're both of us as sour as we look. We've got the same nasty tempers, both of us, I'll warrant."
  40. meddlesome
    intrusive in an offensive manner
    Don't you be a meddlesome wench an' poke your nose where it's no cause to go.
Created on Wed Sep 18 14:58:51 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Jul 17 17:01:07 EDT 2023)

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