10This is a story about if Mary's Aunt Lilias Craven never had the accident that killed her, and she took in Mary sometime after she was born.
A Different Life for Mary Lennox
In Yorkshire, England, at a place called Misselthwaite Manor, a scream was heard inside the big house. A woman named Lilias Craven was giving birth to a baby. Her husband Archibald Craven was sitting in his lounge, waiting for his first child to come. Archibald and Lilias loved each other very much and were very happy to have a child.
Soon Lilias gave birth to a baby boy. Archibald had tears of happiness in his eyes when he first saw his son. When Lilias held the baby boy in her arms, she cried tears of happiness too. "Our beautiful baby" she whispered. "Yes he is beautiful" said Archibald. He and Lilias decided to name him Colin, Colin Craven.
A week later, Archibald and Lilias were sitting out in Lilias's favorite garden and Colin was asleep in his pram. Lilias always loved her favorite garden and would spend hours in it. "I can't wait for Colin to walk and start running around in this garden" smiled Lilias. "He will probably spend hours here just like you my dear" said Archibald.
Just then Lilias had a thought. "Archie, do you remember my sister?" she asked. Lilias had a twin sister who moved away to India after she got married to a wealthy officer. "Yes I do" replied Archibald. "Well the truth is I have written to her about my child and have asked in the letters about how she was, but I have not gotten any replies from her yet," said Lilias "I do hope that nothing's wrong". "Oh I don't think that there is anything wrong," said Archibald "I mean she is probably distracted by dinner parties. I mean whenever we do hear from her, she only talks about her parties and nothing else". "It is true," sighed Lilias "I mean my sister had always only thought about fashion and parties above everything else. Even when we were only children she kept on talking about pretty dresses and shoes and parties. I just hope that is she does have any children, she won't neglect them". "Why don't you write to her one more time, and see if she will reply this time" said Archibald. Lilias agreed with her husband's idea and sent a letter to her sister in India.
Three weeks passed and Lilias still didn't get any letters from her sister. "I wonder if I should just go to India and visit her to see if everything is okay" said Lilias one day. Just then a servant handed her a letter. "Ah this is from India," she said "must be from my sister at last". She opened the letter to read it. After reading the letter she was not happy. "Anything wrong my dear," asked Archibald "is your sister okay?" "She's alright," replied Lilias "but this letter is not from my sister, it's from one of her servants and she has given me some terrible information. My sister has given birth to a baby girl, but the servant has said in the letter that she and her husband didn't want any children. So my sister's child is being looked after by the servants and my sister wants nothing to do with her own daughter". Archibald was shocked by that. "That's outrageous!" he snapped "neglecting your own child is unforgivable". "Archie, I wish to go to India, get the child and bring her back here with me. I intend to raise her and love her like she is my child". "I will go and get the child," said Archibald "you stay here and look after Colin. I will get bring the child here myself". "Okay" said Lilias.
The next day, Archibald got ready to set out to India. Lilias wrote down something on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and gave it to her husband. "Give this letter to my sister when you see her," she said "I have written down about how ashamed I am of her". "I will," Archibald said "and I will give her a talk myself".
It took a week to get to India by ship, but at last Archibald arrived. He asked some people at the harbor where Mr. and Mrs Lennox lived and some officers gladly gave him a lift to where Mr. and Mrs Lennox lived. Mr. and Mrs Lennox lived in a big house, being wealthy and all. When Archibald arrived at the Lennox house, he told one of the servants who he was and asked to see Mrs Lennox. The servant went to get her mistress right away.
While he was waiting to see Mrs Lennox, a woman in Indian clothing came up to him. "Are you Lilias Craven's husband?" she asked. "Yes I am Archibald Craven" said Archibald. "I am glad that you have come here," said the woman "I am the one who wrote a letter to your wife Lilias". "Where is Mrs Lennox's child?" asked Archibald. "The child is asleep in her room," said the woman "her name is Mary. I wrote to your wife because as soon as Mary was born, the misses left her in my care. She doesn't want her and neither does my master". "That's why I am here," said Archibald "I have come to take the child and bring her to England with me. My wife wishes to raise her as she is her daughter". "I am relieved to hear that," said the woman "I feared that Mary would always be neglected by her own parents. This is why I decided to write to you for help. As I am only a servant, it was the only thing I could do for the little misses. I will get her for you now". "Please do," said Archibald "I wish to leave with Mary as soon as possible". The woman went to get Mary Lennox at once.
At that moment Mr. and Mrs Lennox entered the room. "It's nice to see you again Archibald," said Mrs Lennox "I haven't seen you for ages". "I'm glad to see that you are doing well yourself" said Archibald. His voice tone sounded cold because he wasn't exactly happy to see Mrs Lennox. "What brings you here Archibald?" asked Mr. Lennox. "I have come here on business," replied Archibald "and it regards your daughter Mary Lennox". Mr. and Mrs Lennox were surprised by that. "What do you want with that child?" asked Mrs Lennox. "I have come here to bring her to my home in England," replied Archibald "Lilias got a letter from one of your servants and it said that you two don't want any children and that you intend to have nothing to do with her". Mrs Lennox stood firm. "It is true, I didn't want to have a child," she admitted "children are a waste of time for me, and they cause too much trouble for adults". "That is why I have come here to take your child away from here," said Archibald crossly "Lilias and I intend to raise Mary and give her a life full of love and happiness. A life what you two will never give her while she grows up". "Very well," said Mrs Lennox "as long as that child is out of our sight for good it is fine". Archibald handed her Lilias's letter. "Your sister is ashamed of you of what you have become" he said. Mrs Lennox took the letter and then she and Mr. Lennox left the room.
Just then the woman came in with a baby in her arms. "This is Mary sir" she said. Mary was asleep. Archibald held her in his arms at once. "This poor child will live a happier life with me, my wife and my son Colin" he said. "I will pray for her to grow up happy and healthy everyday" said the woman. Archibald thanked the woman and left the Lennox house at once. Then he went on a ship back to England immediately.
Archibald soon arrived in England on the ship, with Mary in his arms. On the ship he had help of looking after Mary by a woman who was a mother of two children. Mary had cried on the ship, but she always calmed down when she was in her uncles arms. Archibald grew attached to Mary at once, as if she was his daughter. He kept on saying things to her like 'Everything was okay now' and 'You will never be alone' etc. Once he got back to Misselthwaite Manor, Lilias was there waiting for him. "Did you bring the child with you?" she asked him. "Yes I have brought our niece Mary with us" said Archibald and presented Mary to her. Lilias took Mary into our arms at once and kissed her on the forehead. "Welcome home Mary" she said.
Mary Lennox lived a very happy life with her aunt and uncle. Archibald and Lilias cared for her and loved as if she was their daughter, even though she was really their niece. Mary and Colin became inseparable while they were growing up; they were like brother and sister. They all spent days together in Lilias's garden and Mary ended up loving the garden as much as her aunt. Archibald and Lilias did tell Mary that she was their niece, but they told her that her parents died sometime after she was born. Lilias couldn't bear telling Mary the real truth about her sister never wanting her, so not to hurt Mary she didn't intend of ever telling Mary the real truth about her parents. When Mary's parents died from cholera, Lilias called that God's punishment to her foolish sister and her husband, and of course she never said anything to Mary about it.
Mary never felt sad about her parents being dead because she was happy with her aunt and uncle and she loved them and Colin very much. And she loved them forever.
After reading the book and watching the film of the secret garden, I always thought that Lilias Craven would have loved Mary if she never died from her accident. So I decided to write something about that.
