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“ How quiet it is , ” she said . “ It sounds as if there is nobody here except me and the snake . ” Soon she heard men’s voices . The door opened , and a big officer came in . He jumped back in surprise when he saw her . “ Barney ! ” he called . “ There’s a child here ! A child all alone ! ” “ I am Mary Lennox , ” the little girl said stiffly . “ I fell asleep when everyone had the cholera . Why does nobody come ? ” Barney was a young man , and he looked at her very sadly . “ Poor little girl , ” he said . “ There is nobody left to come . ” That was how Mary learnt that her father and mother were both dead . For a few weeks she lived with an English clergyman and his five noisy children . She was rude to them and would not play . One day she was pushing flowers into the earth again , and a boy called Basil began to dance round her and sing an old rhyme : “ Mistress Mary , quite contrary , how does your garden grow ? ” A contrary person always wants the opposite of everyone else . After that the children always called her “ Mistress Mary Quite Contrary ” . “ You’re going to be sent to England , ” Basil told her . “ You’ll live with your uncle , Mr Archibald Craven , in a big old house in the country . Nobody goes near him because he’s so cross . And he has a crooked back . ” “ I don’t believe you , ” said Mary , and she put her fingers in her ears . But later she thought about it a lot . II . Mrs Medlock Mary travelled to England by ship . In London a woman was waiting for her . This was Mrs Medlock , the housekeeper who looked after Mr Craven’s house . She had very red cheeks and sharp black eyes , and she wore a bonnet with purple flowers on it . Mary did not like her , but that was not surprising . Mary did not like anybody . The next day they took the train to Yorkshire , in the north of England . Mary sat in the corner with her hands in her lap . After a while Mrs Medlock began to talk . “ You’re going to a strange place , ” she said . “ The house is six hundred years old , and it’s on the edge of the moor . There are nearly a hundred rooms in it , but most of them are locked . There’s a big park round it , and gardens . ” Mary began to listen , although she did not want to . “ Your uncle has a crooked back , ” Mrs Medlock went on . “ It made him sour when he was young . Then he married a sweet , pretty girl , and he loved her very much . But she died , and now he doesn’t care about anybody . He goes away most of the time . He won’t see you , I’m sure , and nobody will have time to talk to you . You’ll have to play and look after yourself . There are gardens enough , but in the house you mustn’t go wandering and poking about . ” “ I don’t want to go poking about , ” said sour little Mary .
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