纳尼亚传奇4魔法师的外甥 《魔法师的外甥》第5期:开错的门(1)

《魔法师的外甥》第5期:开错的门(1)  

Chapter 2 Digory and his Uncle
IT was so sudden
and so horribly unlike anything that had ever happened to Digory even in a nigare
that he let out a scream. Instantly Uncle Andrew's hand was over his mouth. "None of that!" he hissed in Digory's ear. "If you start making a noise your Mother'll hear it. And you know what a fright might do to her."
As Digory said afterwards
the horrible meanness of getting at a chap in that way
almost made him sick. But of course he didn't scream again.
"That's better
" said Uncle Andrew. "Perhaps you couldn't help it. It is a shock when you first see someone vanish. Why
it gave even me a turn when the guinea-pig did it the other night."
"Was that when you yelled?" asked Digory.
"Oh
you heard that
did you? I hope you haven't been spying on me?"
"No
I haven't
" said Digory indignantly. "But what's happened to Polly?"
"Congratulate me
my dear boy
" said Uncle Andrew
rubbing his hands. "My experiment has succeeded. The little girl's gone - vanished - right out of the world."
"What have you done to her?"
"Sent her to - well - to another place."
"What do you mean?" asked Digory.
Uncle Andrew sat down and said
"Well
I'll tell you all about it. Have you ever heard of old Mrs Lefay?"
"Wasn't she a great-aunt or something?" said Digory.
"Not exactly
" said Uncle Andrew. "She was my godmother. That's her
there
on the wall."
Digory looked and saw a faded photograph: it showed the face of an old woman in a bon. And he could now remember that he had once seen a photo of the same face in an old drawer
at home
in the country. He had asked his Mother who it was and Mother had not seemed to want to talk about the subject much. It was not at all a nice face
Digory thought
though of course with those early photographs one could never really tell.
"Was there - wasn't there - something wrong about her
Uncle Andrew?" he asked.
"Well
" said Uncle Andrew with a chuckle
"it depends what you call wrong. People are so narrow-minded. She certainly got very queer in later life. Did very unwise things. That was why they shut her up."
"In an asylum
do you mean?"
"Oh no
no
no
" said Uncle Andrew in a shocked voice. "Nothing of that sort. Only in prison."
"I say!" said Digory. "What had she done?"
"Ah
poor woman
" said Uncle Andrew. "She had been very unwise. There were a good many different things. We needn't go into all that. She was always very kind to me."
"But look here
what has all this got to do with Polly? I do wish you'd -"