chater five the delrable wrd (第2/7页)
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At the moment，not in the room itself but from somewhere very close，there came，first a rumbling，then a creaking，and then a roar of falling masonry，and the floor shook．
“There is great peril here，”said the Queen．“The whole palace is breaking up．If we are not out of it in a few minutes we shall be buried under the ruin．”She spoke as calmly as if she had been merely mentioning the time of day．“Come，”she added，and held out a hand to each of the children．Polly，who was disliking the Queen and feeling rather sulky，would not have let her hand be taken if she could have helped it．But though the Queen spoke so calmly，her movements were as quick as thought．Before Polly knew what was happening her left hand had been caught in a hand so much larger and stronger than her own that she could do nothing about it．
“This is a terrible woman，”thought Polly．“She’s strong enough to break my arm with one twist．And now that she’s got my left hand I can’t get at my yellow ring．If I tried to stretch across and get my right hand into my left pocket I mightn’t be able to reach it，before she asked me what I was doing．Whatever happens we mustn’t let her know about the rings．I do hope Digory has the sense to keep his mouth shut．I wish I could get a word with him alone．”
The Queen led them out of the Hall of Images into a long corridor and then through a whole maze of halls and stairs and courtyards．Again and again they heard parts of the great palace collapsing，sometimes quite close to them．Once a huge arch came thundering down only a moment after they had passed through it．The Queen was walking quickly-the children had to trot to keep up with her—but she showed no sign of fear．Digory thought，“She’s wonderfully brave．And strong．She’s what I call a Queen ！ I do hope she’s going to tell us the story of this place．”
She did tell them certain things as they went along：“That is the door to the dungeons，”she would say，or“That passage leads to the principal torture chambers，”or“This was the old banqueting hall where my great—grandfather bade seven hundred nobles to a feast and killed them all before they had drunk their fill． They had had rebellious thoughts．”
They came at last into a hall larger and loftier than any they had yet seen．From its size and from the great doors at the far end， Digory thought that now at last they must be coming to the main entrance．In this he was quite right．The doors were dead black， either ebony or some black metal which is not found in our world． They were fastened with great bars，most of them too high to reach and all too heavy to lift．He wondered how they would get out．
The Queen let go of his hand and raised her arm．She drew herself up to her full height and stood rigid．Then she said something which they couldn’t understand（but it sounded horrid） and made an action as if she were throwing something towards the doors．And those high and heavy doors trembled for a second as if they were made of silk and then crumbled away till there was nothing left of them but a heap of dust on the threshold．
“Whew ！”whistled Digory．
“Has your master magician，your uncle，power like mine ？”asked the Queen，firmly seizing Digorg’s hand again．“But I shall know later．In the meantime，remember what you have seen．This is what happens to things，and to people，who stand in my way．”
