The Secret Garden Chapter 15 Summary

"Nest Building"

  • As the rain goes on for a week and she doesn't really have any other options, Mary spends hours a day bonding with Colin.
  • Colin hates having people look at him, because whenever they do, he knows what they're thinking: that he's going to die.
  • Still, he thinks that he could stand to meet Dickon.
  • The next morning, Mary gets up at dawn to find that it is spring.
  • The weather is warm, and the moor is covered with green shoots, so she throws on her clothes and runs down to the Secret Garden, only to find that Dickon has already beaten her there.
  • Dickon introduces her to a tame fox cub named Captain and a rook (a kind of crow) named Soot, who sits on Dickon's shoulder.
  • The Secret Garden has clumps of blooming spring crocuses, and everything seems filled with joy and life.
  • Even the robin is busy building a nest.
  • Mary tells Dickon all about Colin. It turns out that Dickon already knows that Colin exists, but he's never seen him.
  • Dickon thinks that Colin's problem is that he spends all of his time cooped up worrying.
  • If Colin were outside watching the Secret Garden grow, he'd be too distracted by the surprises of nature to fret so much about himself. (Hello, moral of the story—so nice to see you.)