chater ten travel withut the un (第4/6页)
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At last they came to what appeared to be a great castle，though few of the windows in it were lighted. Here they were taken in and made to cross a courtyard，and to climb many staircases. This brought them in the end to a great murkily lit hall. But in one corner of it—oh joy ！—there was an archway filled with a quite different sort of light；the honest，yellowish，warm light of such a lamp as humans use. What showed by this light inside the archway was the foot of a staircase which wound upward between walls of stone. The light seemed to come from the top. Two Earthmen stood one on each side of the arch like sentries，or footmen.
The Warden went up to these two，and said，as if it were a password：
“Many sink down to the Underworld.”
“And few return to the sunlit lands,”they answered，as if it were the countersign. Then all three put their heads together and talked. At last one of the two gnomes-in-waiting said，“I tell you the Queen’s grace is gone from hence on her great affair. We had best keep these top dwellers in strait prison till her homecoming. Few return to the sunlit lands.”
At that moment the conversation was interrupted by what seemed to Jill the most delightful noise in the world. It came from above，from the top of the staircase；and it was a clear，ringing， perfectly human voice，the voice of a young man.
“What coil are you keeping down there，Mullugutherum ？” it shouted. “Overworlders，ha ！ Bring them up to me，and that presently.”
“Please it your Highness to remember,”began Mullugutherum，but the voice cut him short.
“It pleases my Highness principally to be obeyed，old mutterer. Bring them up,”it called.
Mullugutherum shook his head，motioned to the travellers to follow and began going up the staircase. At every step the light increased. There were rich tapestries hanging on the walls. The lamplight shone golden through thin curtains at the staircase-head. The Earthmen parted the curtains and stood aside. The three passed in. They were in a beautiful room，richly tapestried，with a bright fire on a clean hearth，and red wine and cut glass sparkling on the table. A young man with fair hair rose to greet them. He was handsome and looked both bold and kind，though there was something about his face that didn’t seem quite right. He was dressed in black and altogether looked a little bit like Hamlet.
