Chapter XXV

The Curtain

And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed
and every morning revealed new miracles.
In the robin's nest there were Eggs and the robin's
mate sat upon them keeping them warm with her
feathery little breast and careful wings. At first
she was very nervous and the robin himself was
indignantly watchful. Even Dickon did not go
near the close-grown corner in those days, but
waited until by the quiet working of some mysterious
spell he seemed to have conveyed to the
soul of the little pair that in the garden there
was nothing which was not quite like themselves --
nothing which did not understand the wonderfulness
of what was happening to them -- the
immense, tender, terrible, heart-breaking beauty
and solemnity of Eggs. If there had been one
person in that garden who had not known through
all his or her innermost being that if an Egg were
taken away or hurt the whole world would whirl
round and crash through space and come to an end
-- if there had been even one who did not feel it

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v?