There were so many that she remembered what Martha had said about the "snowdrops by the thousands," and about bulbs spreading and making new ones.

These had been left to themselves for ten years and perhaps they had spread, like the snowdrops, into thousands.

She wondered how long it would be before they showed that they were flowers.

Sometimes she stopped digging to look at the garden and try to imagine what it would be like when it was covered with thousands of lovely things in bloom.
During that week of sunshine, she became more intimate with Ben Weatherstaff.

She surprised him several times by seeming to start up beside him as if she sprang out of the earth.