The Secret Garden Chapter 13: Cousins by D.L. Copyright  © 2011 D.L. All Rights Reserved. Inspired by the classic children’s tale by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Gwen brought the breakfast tray up to Richard’s room. After knocking on the door, she nervously entered. Rosie was sitting fully dressed in her trousers, silk shirt, and jacket, in front of the fireplace reading yesterday’s copy of The Times. The apparent boy smiled at the servant as she put the tray down on the desk.

“I’m bringing you breakfast today, Martha is away on leave. Your cousins, Horatio and Albert, arrived last night from university. They will be staying here for a few weeks, before returning to their courses,” Gwen explained. “They will be joining their father in a clay pigeon shoot. I have been asked to invite you, would you like to attend?”

Gwen watched the child think about it for a minute. After some consideration, Rosie shook her head indicating she didn’t want to take part. Instead, she picked up and waved her sketchbook at Gwen.

“You’ll be spending the day out drawing again? Would you like a picnic basket made up?” Gwen enquired, and the child nodded. “I will ask cook to make one up, you can collect it on your way out.”

Rosie wandered over to the desk and sat to eat her breakfast. Gwen curtseyed and crossed the room to depart. This part of the house made her nervous and she was convinced that it was haunted. Thinking that perhaps she was being stupid, she made her way to the door. As she started to leave the room, ghostly sounds could be heard echoing through the attic.

Looking round, Gwen saw that Richard seemed to be oblivious to the ethereal cacophony, and was daintily eating breakfast. Scared by the strange noises, Gwen hurried out of the room and down the stairs in fright.

The sounds of whistling and rattling chains were replaced with giggling as Hattie emerged from her hiding place.

“One of these days, you’re going to get caught,” Rosie stated to her friend as she sat down to share the breakfast provided.

“Terrifying the servants was the only fun I got. Old habits die hard. Besides, the less they want to come up here the better,” replied Hattie, taking a mouthful of sausage from the plate.

The two children finished breakfast, and after checking the coast was clear, descended the stairs to the ground floor. Hattie hid herself while Rosie proceeded to the kitchen to pick up their lunch. Both children were dressed in nearly-identical boy clothes. This way, if anybody spotted Hattie from a distance, they would assume that she was Richard. To add to the effect, Hattie was wearing a cap with her long hair hidden from view.

Richard entered the kitchen, knocking on the doorframe to gain the attention of the cook. The large round woman was chopping potatoes when she spotted the child standing in the doorway. Stopping what she was doing, she pointed at the basket sitting on the counter. Rosie nodded and proceeded to pick up the hamper, bowing to the cook in thanks before leaving the way she came.

Returning to where Hattie was waiting, the two proceeded to the side entrance, away from prying eyes, and emerged into the garden, carefully looking around. As the two of them sneaked round the side of the building, they heard a shout from behind them, “Stop, drop the loot and put your hands up.”

The two children came to a halt and turned to face an older youth pointing a shotgun in their direction. Rosie carefully placed the hamper down and let her satchel of art materials slide off her arm to the ground. Hattie dropped the blanket and reading books she had been carrying. They then slowly raised their hands above their heads and stood nervously for further instruction.

A second youth, slightly younger than the first, also appeared and said, “Looks like we have caught ourselves a couple of tea leaves.”

The older of the boys instructed them to march round the front of the house, the second picking up the dropped items. Following the instructions of the two young men, the two children walked round to the front of the building and in through the main entrance.

Standing in the hall at the foot of the staircase were Lord Headley, Mr Hobbs, Parker the butler, and several other guests. A number of them were carrying firearms and they were gathered ready to go to the shooting range for a day’s relaxation.

Startled by the children being marched in at gunpoint, Lord Headley responded in surprise, “What the hell is going on here?”

“We caught these two thieves sneaking out the side door,” the young man with the gun stated as he lowered it to point at the ground for safety, confident that his prey wasn’t about to run away, the other boy throwing the items the children were carrying to the ground at their feet.

Samuel Headley looked at the four people standing in front of him. The younger two were facing him, their arms still in the air with their backs to the elder boys. He easily recognised his nephew, who was smirking, trying not to laugh at his captors. The boy had visibly relaxed since coming into the room, obviously realising that any chance of being shot was now over. The other boy with Richard, whom he didn’t recognise, still seemed nervous about the situation.

“You can drop your hands now, lads,” Samuel said, “I do apologise for my idiot offspring.”

The smiles on the elder pair’s faces suddenly disappeared at their father’s statement. The two children dropped their hands to their sides and moved to the edge of the room so that they could face their captors and the elder men, forming a triangle between them.

“The idiot with the gun is my eldest son Horatio, and his companion is his brother Albert,” Lord Headley declared before turning to his sons and saying, “as for you two, you should try using the brain cells you are supposed to possess. The young man on the left is your cousin, Richard, and don’t say that you didn’t know he was staying here, I know for a fact you were told, no doubt you weren’t paying attention as usual.”

As the realisation dawned on Albert and Horatio, they slumped slightly in posture, recognising that they had made a complete mess of the situation as per normal.

“I don’t believe we have been formally introduced young man,” Lord Headley stated, holding his hand out to the boy partially hiding behind Richard. The child took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“My name is Hattie, Sir,” the young girl said as she removed her cap and let her long hair fall down round her shoulders, to the surprise of everyone present who had assumed she was a boy. She bowed slightly, and then looked down at the floor, nervously fidgeting with her feet. Richard stepped forward and put his arm round his friend, who immediately seemed to relax at the embrace. Richard locked eye contact with his uncle and a determined look came to his face as his eyes narrowed on the elder man.

“It’s a girl,” Albert said in surprise, “why are you dressed as a boy and what are you doing sneaking round the gardens?”

Hattie, finding confidence from her friend’s support turned and faced Albert and replied, “The garden staff are used to seeing Richard walking the grounds and have instructions to leave him alone. By making myself look like him, I can come and go as I please without being challenged. Besides, I actually like wearing trousers. They are more practical for hiking round the countryside than a long dress.”

“There is no need to sneak about. Richard, if you want to invite friends to the house then that isn’t a problem,” Lord Headley proclaimed as he picked up the discarded picnic basket and examined it. Handing it to the butler he added, “It appears the plate may have been broken, and this has been prepared for one, not two. Please take it to the kitchen and have it fixed.”

Turning to his sons, he told them, “You two can start by apologising to Richard and Hattie for scaring them, then you can go down to the kitchen and apologise for destroying the contents of the basket by throwing it around.”

The elder boys humbly offered their apologies to the children before scurrying off in the direction of the kitchens.

“I assume you will be spending the day in the gardens, I will have somebody send a hamper out to you. Do you know whereabouts you will likely be?” Lord Headley asked.

“We will be near the statue of the small boy with the bow and arrow in the walled garden with the white trees.” Hattie replied, describing the enclosure next to the secret garden.

“The statue is of Cupid, and the trees are silver birch,” Samuel responded, “a very nice place to sit, you will be sheltered from the wind and have plenty of space to relax and read.”

Picking up the books and blanket, the two children left the house and made their way to the garden.

“That was close,” Rosie stated once out of earshot. “I guessed those two must be my cousins, but I wasn’t sure what they might do. If I started talking, and they had been told I was mute, then that would’ve made things worse.”

“What are we going to do now that I’ve been discovered?” Hattie asked worriedly.

“Get bigger lunch hampers?” Rosie replied shrugging her shoulders. “They now know you visit during the day, but not how often. They don’t know you live here.”