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.

The truth was that she was afraid that he would pick up his tools and go away if he saw her coming, so she always walked toward him as silently as possible.