The Secret Garden Chapter 6 Summary

"There Was Some One Crying—There Was!"

  • It's pouring down rain, and Mary has nothing to do.
  • Martha suggests reading—oh, but Mrs. Medlock won't want Mary in the library.
  • Mary doesn't really understand about things like authority and not doing what you're not supposed to, so she goes wandering in the giant Misselthwaite Manor on her own in spite of being forbidden.
  • She finds portraits of people in many different types of clothing.
  • There are rooms filled with strange collections of things, which she plays with for a bit.
  • Mary finds a tiny family of six baby mice, but she doesn't want to frighten them.
  • And at last, she hears that crying voice from the night before.
  • It's quite nearby. (The plot thickens…)
  • Mrs. Medlock finds Mary, yanks her away from the passage, and threatens to hit her if she doesn't stay put in her nursery.
  • Mrs. Medlock thinks it's high time that Mary had a governess (which is an old-fashioned kind of private tutor for young children) to keep an eye on her.