CHAPTER 2

Digory And His Uncle
迪戈里和他的舅舅

It was so sudden, and so horribly unlike anything that had ever happened to Digory even in a nightmare, 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 bonnet. 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—”

“All in good time, my boy,” said Uncle Andrew. “They let old Mrs Lefay out before she died and I was one of the very few people whom she would allow to see her in her last illness. She had got to dislike ordinary, ignorant people, you understand. I do myself. But she and I were interested in the same sort of things. It was only a few days before her death that she told me to go to an old bureau in her house and open a secret drawer and bring her a little box that I would find there. The moment I picked up that box I could tell by the pricking in my fingers that I held some great secret in my hands. She gave it to me and made me promise that as soon as she was dead I would burn it, unopened, with certain ceremonies. That promise I did not keep.”

“Well, then, it was jolly rotten of you,” said Digory.

“Rotten?” said Uncle Andrew with a puzzled look. “Oh, I see. You mean that little boys ought to keep their promises. Very true: most right and proper, I’m sure, and I’m very glad you have been taught to do it. But of course you must understand that rules of that sort, however excellent they may be for little boys—and servants—and women—and even people in general, can’t possibly be expected to apply to profound students and great thinkers and sages. No, Digory. Men like me, who possess hidden wisdom, are freed from common rules just as we are cut off from common pleasures. Ours, my boy, is a high and lonely destiny.”

As he said this he sighed and looked so grave and noble and mysterious that for a second Digory really thought he was saying something rather fine. But then he remembered the ugly look he had seen on his Uncle’s face the moment before Polly had vanished: and all at once he saw through Uncle Andrew’s grand words. “All it means,” he said to himself, “is that he thinks he can do anything he likes to get anything he wants.”

“Of course,” said Uncle Andrew, “I didn’t dare to open the box for a long time, for I knew it might contain something highly dangerous. For my godmother was a very remarkable woman. The truth is, she was one of the last mortals in this country who had fairy blood in her. (She said there had been two others in her time. One was a duchess and the other a charwoman.) In fact, Digory, you are now talking to the last man (possibly) who really had a fairy godmother. There! That’ll be something for you to remember when you are an old man yourself.”

“I bet she was a bad fairy,” thought Digory; and added out loud, “But what about Polly?”

“How you do harp on that!” said Uncle Andrew. “As if that was what mattered! My first task was of course to study the box itself. It was very ancient. And I knew enough even then to know that it wasn’t Greek, or Old Egyptian, or Babylonian, or Hittite, or Chinese. It was older than any of those nations. Ah—that was a great day when I at last found out the truth. The box was Atlantean; it came from the lost island of Atlantis. That meant it was centuries older than any of the stone-age things they dig up in Europe. And it wasn’t a rough, crude thing like them either. For in the very dawn of time Atlantis was already a great city with palaces and temples and learned men.”

He paused for a moment as if he expected Digory to say something. But Digory was disliking his Uncle more every minute, so he said nothing.

“Meanwhile,” continued Uncle Andrew, “I was learning a good deal in other ways (it wouldn’t be proper to explain them to a child) about Magic in general. That meant that I came to have a fair idea what sort of things might be in the box. By various tests I narrowed down the possibilities. I had to get to know some—well, some devilish queer people, and go through some very disagreeable experiences. That was what turned my head grey. One doesn’t become a magician for nothing. My health broke down in the end. But I got better. And at last I actually knew.”

Although there was not really the least chance of anyone overhearing them, he leaned forward and almost whispered as he said:

“The Atlantean box contained something that had been brought from another world when our world was only just beginning.”

“What?” asked Digory, who was now interested in spite of himself.

“Only dust,” said Uncle Andrew. “Fine, dry dust. Nothing much to look at. Not much to show for a lifetime of toil, you might say. Ah, but when I looked at that dust (I took jolly good care not to touch it) and thought that every grain had once been in another world — I don’t mean another planet, you know; they’re part of our world and you could get to them if you went far enough — but a really Other World—another Nature—another universe—somewhere you would never reach even if you travelled through the space of this universe for ever and ever—a world that could be reached only by Magic—well!” Here Uncle Andrew rubbed his hands till his knuckles cracked like fireworks.

“I knew,” he went on, “that if only you could get it into the right form, that dust would draw you back to the place it had come from. But the difficulty was to get it into the right form. My earlier experiments were all failures. I tried them on guinea-pigs. Some of them only died. Some exploded like little bombs——”

“It was a jolly cruel thing to do,” said Digory, who had once had a guinea-pig of his own.

“How you do keep getting off the point!” said Uncle Andrew. “That’s what the creatures were for. I’d bought them myself. Let me see—where was I? Ah yes. At last I succeeded in making the rings: the yellow rings. But now a new difficulty arose. I was pretty sure, now, that a yellow ring would send any creature that touched it into the Other Place. But what would be the good of that if I couldn’t get them back to tell me what they had found there?”

“And what about them?” said Digory. “A nice mess they’d be in if they couldn’t get back!”

“You will keep on looking at everything from the wrong point of view,” said Uncle Andrew with a look of impatience. “Can’t you understand that the thing is a great experiment? The whole point of sending anyone into the Other Place is that I want to find out what it’s like.”

“Well, why didn’t you go yourself then?”

Digory had hardly ever seen anyone look so surprised and offended as his Uncle did at this simple question. “Me? Me?” he exclaimed. “The boy must be mad! A man at my time of life, and in my state of health, to risk the shock and the dangers of being flung suddenly into a different universe? I never heard anything so preposterous in my life! Do you realize what you’re saying? Think what Another World means—you might meet anything—anything.”

“And I suppose you’ve sent Polly into it then,” said Digory. His cheeks were flaming with anger now. “And all I can say,” he added, “even if you are my Uncle—is that you’ve behaved like a coward, sending a girl to a place you’re afraid to go to yourself.”

“Silence, sir!” said Uncle Andrew, bringing his hand down on the table. “I will not be talked to like that by a little, dirty, schoolboy. You don’t understand. I am the great scholar, the magician, the adept, who is doing the experiment. Of course I need subjects to do it on. Bless my soul, you’ll be telling me next that I ought to have asked the guinea-pigs’ permission before I used them! No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice. But the idea of my going myself is ridiculous. It’s like asking a general to fight as a common soldier. Supposing I got killed, what would become of my life’s work?”

“Oh, do stop jawing,” said Digory. “Are you going to bring Polly back?”

“I was going to tell you, when you so rudely interrupted me,” said Uncle Andrew, “that I did at last find out a way of doing the return journey. The green rings draw you back.”

“But Polly hasn’t got a green ring.”

“No,” said Uncle Andrew with a cruel smile.

“Then she can’t get back,” shouted Digory. “And it’s exactly the same as if you’d murdered her.

“She can get back,” said Uncle Andrew, “if someone else will go after her, wearing a yellow ring himself and taking two green rings, one to bring himself back and one to bring her back.”

And now of course Digory saw the trap in which he was caught: and he stared at Uncle Andrew, saying nothing, with his mouth wide open. His cheeks had gone very pale.

“I hope,” said Uncle Andrew presently in a very high and mighty voice, just as if he were a perfect Uncle who had given one a handsome tip and some good advice, “I hope, Digory, you are not given to showing the white feather. I should be very sorry to think that anyone of our family had not enough honour and chivalry to go to the aid of—er—a lady in distress.”

“Oh shut up!” said Digory. “If you had any honour and all that, you’d be going yourself. But I know you won’t. All right. I see I’ve got to go. But you are a beast. I suppose you planned the whole thing, so that she’d go without knowing it and then I’d have to go after her.”

“Of course,” said Uncle Andrew, with his hateful smile.

“Very well. I’ll go. But there’s one thing I jolly well mean to say first. I didn’t believe in Magic till today. I see now it’s real. Well, if it is, I suppose all the old fairy tales are more or less true. And you’re simply a wicked, cruel magician like the ones in the stories. Well, I’ve never read a story in which people of that sort weren’t paid out in the end, and I bet you will be. And serve you right.”

Of all the things Digory had said this was the first that really went home. Uncle Andrew started and there came over his face a look of such horror that, beast though he was, you could almost feel sorry for him. But a second later he smoothed it all away and said with a rather forced laugh,” Well, well, I suppose that is a natural thing for a child to think — brought up among women, as you have been. Old wives’ tales, eh? I don’t think you need worry about my danger, Digory. Wouldn’t it be better to worry about the danger of your little friend? She’s been gone some time. If there are any dangers Over There — well, it would be a pity to arrive a moment too late.”

“A lot you care,” said Digory fiercely. “But I’m sick of this jaw. What have I got to do?”

“You really must learn to control that temper of yours, my boy,” said Uncle Andrew coolly. “Otherwise you’ll grow up like your Aunt Letty. Now. Attend to me.”

He got up, put on a pair of gloves, and walked over to the tray that contained the rings.

“They only work,” he said, “if they’re actually touching your skin. Wearing gloves, I can pick them up — like this — and nothing happens. If you carried one in your pocket nothing would happen: but of course you’d have to be careful not to put your hand in your pocket and touch it by accident. The moment you touch a yellow ring, you vanish out of this world. When you are in the Other Place I expect — of course this hasn’t been tested yet, but I expect — that the moment you touch a green ring you vanish out of that world and — I expect — reappear in this. Now. I take these two greens and drop them into your right - hand pocket. Remember very carefully which pocket the greens are in. G for green and R for right. G.R. you see: which are the first two letters of green. One for you and one for the little girl. And now you pick up a yellow one for yourself. I should put it on — on your finger — if I were you. There’ll be less chance of dropping it.”

Digory had almost picked up the yellow ring when he suddenly checked himself.

“Look here,” he said. “What about Mother? Supposing she asks where I am?”

“The sooner you go, the sooner you’ll be back,” said Uncle Andrew cheerfully.

“But you don’t really know whether I can get back.”

Uncle Andrew shrugged his shoulders, walked across to the door, unlocked it, threw it open, and said:

“Oh, very well then. Just as you please. Go down and have your dinner. Leave the little girl to be eaten by wild animals or drowned or starved in Otherworld or lost there for good, if that’s what you prefer. It’s all one to me. Perhaps before tea time you’d better drop in on Mrs Plummer and explain that she’ll never see her daughter again; because you were afraid to put on a ring.”

“By gum,” said Digory, “don’t I just wish I was big enough to punch your head!”

Then he buttoned up his coat, took a deep breath, and picked up the ring. And he thought then, as he always thought afterwards too, that he could not decently have done anything else.

中文阅读

事情发生得太突然，迪戈里从前所经历过的，甚至连他的噩梦都无法与之相比，他吓得尖叫起来。安德鲁舅舅立即用手捂住他的嘴巴。“不准叫！”他在迪戈里的耳边发出嘘声，“如果你大呼小叫，会让你妈妈听到的。你知道这会给她造成多大的惊吓。”

正像迪戈里后来所说的，用那样的方法来使一个小孩子就范，这种可怕的卑鄙行径几乎令他感到恶心。当然，他没有再次发出尖叫。

“这才对头。”安德鲁舅舅说，“也许你是情不自禁才大叫的。当你第一次看到有人消失时，确实会感到震惊。嗨，那天晚上，当豚鼠消失时，就连我也吓了一大跳。”

“是那个让你惊叫的吗？”迪戈里问道。

“哦，那次你听到了，是吗？我希望，你没有在暗中监视我吧？”

“不，我没有，”迪戈里愤怒地说，“但波利是怎么回事儿？”

“祝贺我吧，亲爱的孩子。”安德鲁舅舅一边搓着手，一边说，“我的试验成功了。那个小女孩离开了——消失了——完全离开了这个世界。”

“你对她做了些什么？”

“把她送到了——嗯——到了另一个地方。”

“你到底是什么意思？”迪戈里问道。

安德鲁舅舅坐了下来，说：“好吧，我把一切都告诉你。你听说过勒费老夫人吗？”

“她是我的姨婆之类的亲戚吧？”迪戈里反问道。

“不完全准确。”安德鲁舅舅回答，“她是我的教母。那个就是她，在那儿，挂在那边墙上。”

迪戈里顺着那个方向望去，看到一张褪色的照片，照片上是一个戴着无边呢帽的老妇人的头像。此刻他想起来了，在乡下家里的一个旧抽屉中，自己曾经见过一张同样面孔的照片。他还问过妈妈那是谁，但妈妈似乎不愿过多地谈论这个话题。这张脸一点儿也不好看，迪戈里心想，当然，从早年的那些老照片上，人们也的确很难分辨出美丑。

“是不是——难道不是—— 她有什么毛病，安德鲁舅舅？”他问道。

“好吧，”安德鲁舅舅咯咯地笑着说，“那要看你把什么称为毛病。人们是如此的心胸狭隘。在晚年她确实变得非常古怪，做了些愚蠢的事儿。那就是他们把她关起来的原因。”

“你是说，把她关在了一座疯人院里？”

“噢不，不，不。”安德鲁舅舅用惊讶的声音说道，“不是那种地方。只是关在了监狱里。”

“啊呀！”迪戈里问道，“她犯了什么罪？”

“啊，可怜的女人。”安德鲁舅舅说，“她真的很愚蠢。她做了大量另类的事情。我们不必一一详细述说了。她一直都待我不薄。”

“可是听我说，这些跟波利有什么关系？我希望你能——”

“别着急，孩子。”安德鲁舅舅说，“在勒费老夫人临终前，他们把她放了出来。在她弥留之际，她只允许少数几个人前去看望，而我就是其中之一。你要明白，她不喜欢那些平庸无知的人。我自己也是这样。她和我志趣相投。就在她去世的前几天，她让我来到她家，打开旧书桌上的一个秘密抽屉，把藏在里边的一个小盒子拿给她。就在我拿起小盒子的一瞬间，透过十指的触觉，我意识到，自己手中握着的是一个重大的秘密。她把盒子交给我，让我保证，她一旦咽气，我就要藉着某些仪式，把没有打开过的小盒子烧掉。那个承诺我并没有履行。”

“那么，你还真够卑鄙的。”迪戈里说。

“卑鄙？”安德鲁舅舅带着困惑的表情说道，“噢，我明白了。你的意思是说，小男孩就应该履行他们的诺言。不错，这是最正确和最恰当的，我相信。我很高兴他们教导你要这样做。但是你必须明白，那样的规矩，对于小男孩——还有仆人——还有女人——甚至平民百姓，无论怎么好，却可能并不适用于见解深刻的学者、伟大的思想家以及圣人。不，迪戈里。像我这样的人，掌握着隐秘智慧的人，是不受常规约束的，正如我们也舍弃了普通人的寻常乐趣。孩子，我们的命运，是崇高而孤独的。”

说到这里，他叹了一口气，看起来他是如此的严肃、高尚而又神秘，有一刹那，迪戈里真的被他那些冠冕堂皇的话语给打动了。但随即他想起了波利消失的那一刻，他在舅舅脸上看到的丑恶表情。于是，他马上识破了安德鲁舅舅的夸夸其谈。“所有这些话的意思就是，”他提醒自己，“为了得到他想要的东西，他认为自己可以为所欲为。”

“当然，”安德鲁舅舅接着说，“有很长一段时间，我都没敢打开盒子，我知道里面可能装着某种极其危险的东西。因为我的教母是一个很不寻常的女人。真实的情况是，她是这个国家最后几个具有魔怪血统的凡人之一。（她说过，与她同时代还有两个人。一个是女公爵，一个是女佣。）事实上，迪戈里，你现在正在同最后一个（大有可能）拥有灵异教母的人讲话。你瞧！那将是你年老时值得回忆的一件事。”

“我敢说，她是个坏巫婆。”迪戈里心想，紧接着他又大声问道：“那波利怎么办呢？”

“你总是唠叨这个！”安德鲁舅舅说，“好像那是至关重要的事儿！我的首要任务当然是研究盒子本身。这个盒子非常古老。即使在当时，我也能够推断出，它不属于希腊，也不属于古埃及，或是巴比伦、赫梯，或是中国。它比那些国家都要古老。啊——我最后终于发现了真相，那一天真是个伟大的日子。这个盒子属于亚特兰蒂斯文明，来自失落的岛屿亚特兰蒂斯。那意味着，它比人们在欧洲挖到的石器时代的文物还要早上几个世纪。它也不像那些石器那么粗糙简陋。在人类历史刚刚开始的时候，亚特兰蒂斯就已经是一个拥有宫殿、寺庙和学者的伟大城市了。”

他停顿了一下，仿佛期待迪戈里说点儿什么。而迪戈里对舅舅的憎恶则每分每秒都在增加，所以他默不作声。

“同时，”安德鲁舅舅继续说道，“通过其他的方法（跟一个孩子解释这些方法不太合适），我学到了很多有关魔法的知识。那就是说，对于盒子里可能装着什么东西，我逐渐有了相当准确的猜测。藉着各种测试，我把可能的范围一步步缩小。我不得不去认识一些——嗯，一些极端古怪的人物，还有过一些非常痛苦的体验。这些使我的头发过早地变白。一个人不可能不付代价就成为魔法师。到末了我的身体也累垮了。到了后来我才渐渐康复。但我终于搞明白了。”

尽管其他人听到他们对话的可能性微乎其微，他还是弯下身子，用近乎耳语般的声音说道：

“亚特兰蒂斯的盒子里装的是来自另一个世界的东西，当时我们这个世界还在创始之初。”

“那是什么？”迪戈里问，他不由自主地产生了兴趣。

“只是尘土。”安德鲁舅舅说，“细微而干燥的尘土。看起来很不起眼。你或许会说，辛苦工作了一辈子，实在太不值了。啊，但是当我观察这些尘土（我必须格外小心，以免碰触到它们），想到每一粒尘土都曾经属于另一个世界——要知道，我指的可不是另一颗行星，其他行星是我们这个世界的一部分，你长途旅行就能够到达——那是实实在在的另一个世界——另一个大自然——另一个宇宙——你在这个宇宙空间永远也到不了的某个地方——一个只有通过魔法才能到达的世界——哇！”讲到这里，安德鲁舅舅开始摩拳擦掌，直到他的指关节像鞭炮一样噼啪作响。

“我知道，”他接着说道，“只要能把它们做成正确的形状，这些尘土就会把你带回到它们原来的地方。但难就难在如何做成正确的形状。我早期的实验全都失败了。我先用它们在豚鼠身上进行尝试。一些豚鼠直接死了，还有一些像是小型炸弹一样爆炸了——”

“这实在太残忍了。”迪戈里说，他自己曾经养过一只豚鼠。

“你怎么总是偏离要点！”安德鲁舅舅说，“这就是那些生物存在的意义。是我亲自把它们买来的。让我想想——我说到哪儿了？啊对了。我最终成功地做出了戒指，就是那些黄色的戒指。可是又遇到一个新的难题。当时我已经有了相当的把握，一只黄色戒指能将任何接触到它的生物送到另一个世界。可是如果这些豚鼠不能回来告诉我，它们在那里发现了什么，这又有什么用处呢？”

“那它们怎么办？”迪戈里又问，“如果回不来的话，它们可就麻烦了！”

“你总是从错误的角度看待一切事物。”安德鲁舅舅脸上现出不耐烦的表情，指责道，“你难道不明白这是一个伟大的实验？我将生物送往另一个世界的目的，就是想知道那里究竟是什么样子。”

“好吧，那你自己为什么不去呢？”

对于这个简单的问题，迪戈里看到他舅舅变得无比地惊讶和恼怒。“我？你是说我吗？”他大声嚷道，“这个孩子一定是疯了！让我这个一大把年纪的人，我这样健康状况的人，去承担被突然抛到另一个世界的震惊和危险？我这辈子从未听到过如此荒谬可笑的言论！你知道你在说些什么吗？想想另一个世界意味着什么——你有可能遇到任何情况——任何情况。”

“我猜，于是你就把波利送去了。”迪戈里说，他的脸颊由于愤怒而涨得通红。“我所能够说的，”他补充道，“就算你是我的舅舅——就是你的表现活像一个胆小鬼，把一个女孩子送到你自己都不敢去的地方。”

“安静，先生！”安德鲁舅舅说着，将他的手放在桌子上，“一个脏兮兮的小学生不准这样对我讲话。你不明白。我是伟大的学者、魔法师、专家，正在从事这项实验的人。我当然需要试验品来做实验。天哪，再往下你就要告诉我，我应该先征得豚鼠的同意再使用它们！没有牺牲就无法得到伟大的智慧。要我亲自前去的想法是荒谬的。这就如同要求一位将军像普通士兵那样去战斗。假如我因此丧了命，我毕生的工作怎么办呢？”

“噢，不要再喋喋不休了。”迪戈里说，“你打算把波利找回来吗？”

“我正准备告诉你，你却粗鲁地打断了我的话。”安德鲁舅舅说，“我最终发现了返程的方法，绿色戒指能够将你拉回来。”

“可是波利并没有绿色的戒指。”

“是啊。”安德鲁舅舅带着残忍的微笑说道。

“那么她就回不来了。”迪戈里大叫道，“这就相当于你谋杀了她。”

“她能够回来。”安德鲁舅舅说，“如果另一个人紧随其后，戴上一只黄戒指，再带走两只绿戒指，一只自己用，另一只可以带她回来。”

这会儿，迪戈里明白自己中了圈套。他对安德鲁舅舅怒目而视，嘴巴张得大大的，一句话说不出来。他的面颊变得异常苍白。

“我希望，”过了片刻，安德鲁舅舅用高亢有力的声音说，仿佛他是一个完美的舅舅，惯于给人宽厚的提示与良好的建议，“我希望，迪戈里，你遇事不要胆怯。如果我们家族中有人缺少荣誉感和骑士精神，不去救助一个——嗯—— 危难中的女士，我会深感遗憾的。”

“噢，住口！”迪戈里说，“如果你有丝毫的荣誉感之类的东西，你就应该亲自前去。我知道你决不会这样做。好吧。我明白只能是我去。但你是个畜生。我想，这全都是你策划好的，她稀里糊涂地去了，而我不得不过去找她。”

“当然。”安德鲁舅舅面带可憎的笑容说道。

“很好，我这就去。但有一件事，我必须先说上几句。在这之前，我根本不相信魔法的存在。现在我晓得，它是真实存在的。好吧，既然这样，我想，所有古老的童话或多或少都是真的。而你就像故事里那些邪恶凶残的魔法师。嗯，在我所读到的那些故事中，恶人最后都会遭到报应，我打赌你也会的。而且你罪有应得。”

在迪戈里说过的所有话中，这句话第一次击中了要害。安德鲁舅舅大吃一惊，脸上浮现出了惧怕的表情。即使他是个畜生，你也会为他感到难过。但是转眼之间，这种表情就消失了，他勉强装出笑脸，说道：“好吧，好吧，我觉得，一个孩子这么想很正常——因为你是在女人堆中养大的。那些个无稽之谈，嗯？我认为你没有必要担心我的安危，迪戈里。你是不是更应该担心你的小朋友的安危呢？她已经离开一段时间了。如果在那边有什么危险的话——由于你晚到了一刻，那就太令人遗憾了。”

“你还挺关心她呢。”迪戈里激烈地说，“我已经厌倦了你的喋喋不休。我该怎么做呢？”

“你真应该学会控制自己的脾气，孩子。”安德鲁舅舅冷静地说，“否则长大了，你会跟你的莱蒂姨妈一个样儿。行了，专心听我讲。”

他站起身来，戴上一双手套，走到装有戒指的托盘跟前。

“戒指只有接触到你的皮肤才起作用。”他说，“戴上手套，我就能拿起它们——就像这样——什么事情都不会发生。如果你把戒指放在衣袋里，同样什么也不会发生。当然，你必须小心，不要把手伸进口袋里，以免无意中碰到它。在你触碰到黄色戒指的一瞬间，你就从这个世界上消失了。当你到了另一个世界，我预期——当然这还没有经过验证，但是我预期——你一旦触碰到绿色戒指，你就会立即从那个世界里消失，并且——我预期——重新回到这个世界。注意，我拿了两个绿色戒指，把它们放进你右边的衣袋里。要认真记住绿戒指装在哪个口袋里。G代表绿色，R代表右边。你看，G. R. 是“绿色（green）”这个词开头的两个字母。一只戒指给你用，另一只是给那个小女孩的。现在你自己来拿一只黄戒指。如果我是你的话，我会把它戴上——戴在手指上。这样遗失的可能性就会减少。”

迪戈里刚要拿起黄色戒指，突然停住了手。

“听着，”他说，“我妈妈怎么办？如果她问起我在哪儿呢？”

“你走得越早，回来得也就越早。”安德鲁舅舅乐滋滋地说。

“可你并不能确定我到底能不能回来。”

安德鲁舅舅耸了耸肩膀，走到门口，打开锁，把门推开，说道：

“哦，那好吧。随你的便。下楼去吃饭吧。就让那个小女孩被野兽吃掉，或者淹死，或者在另一个世界里挨饿，或者永远地迷失在那里，如果这就是你的选择的话。对我来说这并没有区别。也许在喝下午茶之前，你最好去拜访一下普卢默夫人，跟她解释，就因为你不敢戴上一个戒指，她将再也见不到她的女儿了。”

“上天作证，”迪戈里说，“我多么希望自己能够变得强大，好猛击你的脑袋瓜！”

随后他扣好外套，深深地吸了一口气，拿起了戒指。当时他的想法，跟他以后的想法一样，就是认为除此之外，自己再也没有更好的选择了。 bctca/j/CRYoUFM1q+uluqeq2bPKAP036qtWFzCzBBoWRuttaG9Vi5FedDdrQ18R