Yes, she did like him.

She always wanted to try to make him talk to her.

Also she began to believe that he knew everything in the world about flowers.
There was a laurel-hedged walk which curved round the secret garden and ended at a gate which opened into a wood, in the park.

She thought she would slip round this walk and look into the wood and see if there were any rabbits hopping about.

She enjoyed the skipping very much and when she reached the little gate she opened it and went through because she heard a low, peculiar whistling sound and wanted to find out what it was.
It was a very strange thing indeed.