Chapter 22 Chapter 22 When the Sun Goes Down

When his head was out of sight, Colin turned to Mary. "Go to him," he said; and Mary flew across the meadow to the ivy-covered gate. Dickon watched him keenly.His face was blotched with bright red, and he looked stunning, but showed no signs of falling. "I can stand," he said, head still held high, and he said it quite solemnly. "I told you once you stopped being afraid, you could," Dickon replied. "You stopped being afraid." "Yes, I stopped," said Colin. Then suddenly he remembered what Mary had said. "Are you doing magic?" he asked abruptly.

Dickon's crooked mouth parted in a delighted grin. "It's you who do the magic," he said, "the same magic that makes these things grow out of the ground." He touched a crocus bush in the grass with his thick boot.Colin looked down at them. "Ah yes," he said slowly, "there is no greater magic than that—it cannot be." He propped himself up and sat up straighter. "I'm going to go to that tree," he said, pointing to a tree a few feet away. "I'm going to stand when Old Ji comes in. I can lean against the tree and rest if I want to. When I want to sit Sit down, but not before I want to. Get a blanket off the chair."

He walked to the tree, perfectly steady, though Dickon held his arm.When he was standing against the trunk, it wasn't too obvious that he was leaning on it for support, but he remained upright and looked tall. Ji Yuanben came in through the door on the wall and saw him standing there, at this moment he heard Mary muttering something inaudibly. "What are you talking about?" he asked impatiently, because he didn't want to distract attention from that tall, lanky, proud face. But he didn't tell him.Here's what she said: "You can do it! You can do it! I told you you could do it! You can do it! You can do it! You can do it!" she was saying to Colin, because she wanted to make magic to make him stand on his own feet, like that.If he succumbed in front of Ji Yuanben, she couldn't bear it.She was suddenly refreshed: although he was thin, he still looked beautiful.He fixed his eyes on Ji Yuanben, with a ridiculous emperor style.

"Look at me!" he ordered. "See up and down! Am I a hunchback? Do I have bow legs?" Ji Yuanben's excitement was not all over yet, but he recovered a little, and answered almost as usual. "Not you," he said, "nothing. What have you been doing to yourself—hide and be thought you're a cripple or an idiot?" "You idiot!" Colin yelled angrily, "Who thinks that?" "There are a lot of idiots," Ji Yuanben said. "There are a lot of idiots in this world, and those who bray are nothing but lies. Why do you lock yourself up?"

"Everybody thought I was going to die," he said after a short pause, "I won't!" He spoke so determinedly that Ji Yuanben looked him up and down, up and down, up and down. "Damn you!" he said with dry glee. "Nothing! You're so angry. I knew you were all right when I saw you put your legs on the grass in a hurry. Sit on the blanket. Slow down and give me orders again." There was a strange mixture of surly tenderness and sly understanding in his manner.On the way Mary and him came down the long aisle just now, she was spitting out words as soon as possible.The point to remember, she told him, was that Colin was getting better—better.The garden is in effect.No one can remind him that he has a bag and is dying.

His Highness condescended to sit on a blanket under the tree. "What do you do in the garden, Old Quarter?" he asked. "Anything you ask me to do," old Yuan Ben replied, "I stayed by favor—because she liked me in the past." "Her?" said Colin. "Your mother." Ji Yuanben replied. "My mother?" said Colin, looking around quietly. "This used to be her garden, didn't it?" "Oh yes, that's it!" Ji Yuanben also looked around, "She dotes on it very much." "It's my garden now. I pet it. I'll come every day," Colin declared, "but it's a secret. My order, and no one should know we're here. Dickon and my cousin have been laboring to make It came alive. I'll send for you sometimes to help—but make sure you come unseen."

Ji Yuanben twisted his face into a shriveled old smile. "I've been here before when no one was looking," he said. "What!" Colin exclaimed. "when?" "The last time I was here," he scratched his chin and looked around, "was about two years ago." "But there's been no one here for ten years!" cried Colin. "No door!" "I'm nothing," old Yuan Ben said dryly. "I didn't come in through the door. I came in over the wall. Rheumatism has held me back for the past two years." "Come and do some pruning!" cried Dickon. "I've never been able to figure out how."

"She loves it so much—she is!" said Ji Yuanben slowly, "and she's such a young and beautiful woman. She said to me once, 'Yuanben,' and she laughed, 'If I'm sick or away, and you must take good care of my rose.' When she is really away, come down and order no one to come near. But I'll come," he said with a sullen tone. Stubborn, "I came in over the wall—until the rheumatism stopped me—I did a little every year. She told me to go first." "I wouldn't be as smart as I am now without your work," said Dickon. "I did wonder."

"I'm glad you did, Season," said Colin. "You'll know how to keep it a secret." "Oh yes, I'll know, sir," Yuan Ben replied, "and it's easier for a rheumatic man to come in through the door." Mary dropped the trowel on the grass under the tree.Colin reached out and picked it up.A strange look came to his face, and he started digging.His thin hands were weak enough, but now as they looked at him—with Mary's breathless interest—he pushed the tip of the trowel into the soil, flipping a little. "You can do it! You can do it!" Mary said to herself, "I tell you, you can do it!"

Dickon's round eyes were full of eager curiosity, but he said nothing.Ji Yuanben watched with interest. Colin persevered.After he had turned a few trowels over the soil, he spoke to Dickon rapturously, in his best Yorkshire. "Nah said to make me walk around here like everyone else - and said to make me dig. I hate you just to make me happy. It's only the first day and I've been through it —here I am digging again.” When Ji Yuanben heard him, his mouth dropped again, but finally he laughed. "Ah!" said he, "you sound like you've got enough brains. You must be a Yorkshire lad. You're digging too. How would you like to plant something? I can bring you a pot of roses."

"Go get it!" said Colin, digging excitedly. "Quick! Quick!" It was done quickly indeed.Ji Yuanben walked all the way, forgetting rheumatism.Dickon dug a hole with his shovel, deeper and bigger than a novice with thin white hands could dig.Mary slipped out and ran to get a water jug.When Dickon had deepened the hole, Colin turned and turned the soft earth.He looked up at the sky, flushed and glowing from the strange new exercise, light as it was. "I want to finish it, before the sun goes down—before it goes down," he said. Mary thought maybe the sun stayed on for a few minutes on purpose.Ji Yuanben brought potted roses from the greenhouse.He limped across the grass as fast as he could.He also gradually became excited.Kneeling by the pit, he separated the pot from the loam inside. "Here, boy," he said, handing the plant to Colin, "you put it in the soil yourself, as the King does whenever he goes to a new place." His thin and pale hands trembled slightly. When Colin put the rose into the fertile soil, he held the old man to firm the soil with his hands.His blush deepened.Mary leaned forward on her hands and feet.Soot flew down and strode forward to see what it was doing.Nuts and Husks babbled about it in a cherry tree. "It's planted!" said Colin at last. "The sun is just sliding over the edge. Help me up, Dickon. I want to stand and watch the sun go. It's part of the magic." Deacon helped him, magic - or whatever it was - gave him strength, and when the sun did slide to the brink and ended the wonderful afternoon for them, he was literally on his feet - — Laughing. [①1 foot = 0.305 meters]