chater ten the agician’ bk (第1/6页)

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THE invisible people feasted their guests royally．It was very funny to see the plates and dishes coming to the table and not to see anyone carrying them．It would have been funny even if they had moved along level with the floor，as you would expect things to do in invisible hands．But they didn’t．They progressed up the long dining-hall in a series of bounds or jumps．At the highest point of each jump a dish would be about fifteen feet up in the air；then it would come down and stop quite suddenly about three feet from the floor．When the dish contained anything like soup or stew the result was rather disastrous．

“I’m beginning to feel very inquisitive about these people，”whispered Eustace to Edmund．“Do you think they’re human at all ？ More like huge grasshoppers or giant frogs，I should say．”

“It does look like it，”said Edmund．“But don’t put the idea of the grasshoppers into Lucy’s head．She’s not too keen on insects；especially big ones．”

The meal would have been pleasanter if it had not been so exceedingly messy，and also if the conversation had not consisted entirely of agreements．The invisible people agreed about everything．Indeed most of their remarks were the sort it would not be easy to disagree with：“What I always say is，when a chap’s hungry，he likes some victuals，”or“Getting dark now；always does at night，”or even“Ah，you’ve come over the water. Powerful wet stuff，ain’t it ？”And Lucy could not help looking at the dark yawning entrance to the foot of the staircase-she could see it from where she sat-and wondering what she would find when she went up those stairs next morning．But it was a good meal otherwise， with mushroom soup and boiled chickens and hot boiled ham and gooseberries，redcurrants，curds，cream，milk，and mead．The others liked the mead but Eustace was sorry afterwards that he had drunk any．

When Lucy woke up next morning it was like waking up on the day of an examination or a day when you are going to the dentist．It was a lovely morning with bees buzzing in and out of her open window and the lawn outside looking very like somewhere in England．She got up and dressed and tried to talk and eat ordinarily at breakfast．Then，after being instructed by the Chief Voice about what she was to do upstairs，she bid goodbye to the others，said nothing，walked to the bottom of the stairs，and began going up them without once looking back．

It was quite light，that was one good thing．There was，indeed，a window straight ahead of her at the top of the first flight． As long as she was on that flight she could hear the tick-tock-tick-tock of a grandfather clock in the hall below．Then she came to the landing and had to turn to her left up the next flight；after that she couldn’t hear the clock any more．

Now she had come to the top of the stairs．Lucy looked and saw a long，wide passage with a large window at the far end． Apparently the passage ran the whole length of the house．It was carved and panelled and carpeted and very many doors opened off it on each side．She stood still and couldn’t hear the squeak of a mouse，or the buzzing of a fly，or the swaying of a curtain，or anything-except the beating of her own heart．

“The last doorway on the left，”she said to herself．It did seem a bit hard that it should be the last．To reach it she would have to walk past room after room．And in any room there might be the magician-asleep，or awake，or invisible，or even dead．But it wouldn’t do to think about that．She set out on her journey．The carpet was so thick that her feet made no noise．

“There’s nothing whatever to be afraid of yet，”Lucy told herself．And certainly it was a quiet，sunlit passage；perhaps a bit too quiet．It would have been nicer if there had not been strange signs painted in scarlet on the doors twisty，complicated things which obviously had a meaning and it mightn’t be a very nice meaning either．It would have been nicer still if there weren’t those masks hanging on the wall．Not that they were exactly ugly-or not so very ugly-but the empty eye-holes did look queer，and if you let yourself you would soon start imagining that the masks were doing things as soon as your back was turned to them．

After about the sixth door she got her first real fright．For one second she felt almost certain that a wicked little bearded face had popped out of the wall and made a grimace at her．She forced herself to stop and look at it．And it was not a face at all．It was a little mirror just the size and shape of her own face，with hair on the top of it and a beard hanging down from it，so that when you looked in the mirror your own face fitted into the hair and beard and it looked as if they belonged to you．“I just caught my own reflection with the tail of my eye as I went past，”said Lucy to herself．“That was all it was．It’s quite harmless．”But she didn’t like the look of her own face with that hair and beard，and went on． I don’t know what the Bearded Glass was for because I am not a magician．