Mary went to fetch Ben Weatherstaff and bring him into the garden to meet Colin.
The main thing to remember, she told him, was that Colin was getting well.
The garden was making him well.
No one needed to remind him about lumps or dying.
Meanwhile Colin was determined to be standing when Ben entered the garden.
"I'm going to walk to that tree," he said to Dickon.
"I can lean against it if I get tired, but I'll still be standing."
Dickon nodded. "I told you that you could stand as soon as you stopped being afraid."
"I'm not afraid anymore." Colin suddenly thought of something.
"Are you making some magic that's helping me stand?"
Dickon grinned. "You're making that magic yourself.
It's the same magic that makes these flowers work their way out of the dirt."
He touched a clump of crocuses with his foot.
Just then Ben and Mary came through the door in the wall.
"Look at me, Weatherstaff," ordered Colin, standing tall by the tree.
"Am I a hunchback? Do I have crooked legs?"
"No, sir."
"Everyone thinks I'm going to die, but I'm not."
Ben looked him up and down. "You have too much spirit to die.
I saw that when you put your feet on the ground in such a hurry.
Now sit down and give me your orders."
Dickon spread a blanket on the ground, and helped Colin to sit.
The others gathered around him.
"What work do you do in the gardens, Weatherstaff?" asked Colin.
"Anything I'm told to do," replied Ben.
"I still work here because your mother liked me."
"My mother?" Colin looked around. "This was her garden, wasn't it?"
"Yes, and she was very fond of it."
"It's my garden now, and I'm fond of it too.
I'm going to come here every day," announced Colin.
"But it's to be a secret.
Mary and Dickon have worked hard to make the garden come alive.
I'll send for you sometimes to help, but you must come when no one can see you."
Ben smiled. "I've come here before and no one saw me."
"What! When?" Colin asked.
"The last time was about two years ago."
"But how did you get in? No one knew where the key was buried," said Colin.
"I came over the wall. But my aching joints have held me back these last two years.
It'll be easier now that I can come through the door."
"So you're the one who did the pruning!" cried Dickon.
"Yes," said Ben. He turned to Colin and said softly, "Your mother was such a pretty, young thing.
She said to me once, 'Ben, if I'm ever ill, or if I go away, you must take care of my roses.'
When she did go away, the orders were that no one was ever to come near the garden."
Ben paused to collect his emotions.
Then he said in a strong voice, "But I came over the wall because she gave her orders first."
"I'm glad you did," said Colin. "You will know how to keep our secret."
Earlier in the afternoon, Mary had dropped her trowel on the ground where they were sitting.
Now Colin reached out and picked it up.
He drove the end of the trowel into the dirt.
"You can do it!" Mary said to herself.
Sure enough, Colin managed to turn a few trowels full of dirt.
"You said you'd have me walking and digging," Colin said to Dickon.
"I thought you were saying that just to please me.
But here it's only the first day, and I've already walked.
And now I'm digging!"
"How would you like to plant something?" asked Ben.
"I can get you a rose from the greenhouse."
"Go and get it quickly!" Colin began to dig excitedly, but he wasn't strong enough to dig a very big hole.
Ben hurried off to get the rose while Dickon made the hole deeper.
Mary ran out of the garden to fetch a watering can.
Soon they were all gathered around Colin. Ben took the rose out of the pot.
"I want to plant it before the sun sets," said Colin.
His hands shook as he put the rose in the ground.
He held it while Ben filled the hole with dirt.
"It's planted!" cried Colin. "And the sun is almost down.
Help me up, Dickon. I want to be standing when it sets.
That's part of the magic."
Dickon helped him to his feet. It had been a strange and lovely afternoon.
And as the sun slipped below the horizon, Colin stood smiling in the secret garden.