"Племянник чародея" with W_cat

[77] “Not just yet,” said Uncle Andrew. “This is too good an opportunity to miss. I wanted two children. You see, I’m in the middle of a great experiment. I’ve tried it on a guinea-pig and it seemed to work. But then a guinea-pig can’t tell you anything. And you can’t explain to it how to come back.”

[78] “Look here, Uncle Andrew,” said Digory, “it really is dinner time and they’ll be looking for us in a moment. You must let us out.”

[79] “Must?” said Uncle Andrew.

[80] Digory and Polly glanced at one another. They dared not say anything, but the glances meant “Isn’t this dreadful?” and “We must humour him.”

[81] “If you let us go for our dinner now,” said Polly, “we could come back after dinner.”

[82] “Ah, but how do I know that you would?” said Uncle Andrew with a cunning smile. Then he seemed to change his mind.

[83] “Well, well,” he said, “if you really must go, I suppose you must. I can’t expect two youngsters like you to find it much fun talking to an old buffer like me.” He sighed and went on. “You’ve no idea how lonely I sometimes am. But no matter. Go to your dinner. But I must give you a present before you go. It’s not every day that I see a little girl in my dingy old study; especially, if I may say so, such a very attractive young lady as yourself.”

[84] Polly began to think he might not really be mad after all.

[85] “Wouldn’t you like a ring, my dear?” said Uncle Andrew to Polly.

[86] “Do you mean one of those yellow or green ones?” said Polly. “How lovely!”

[87] “Not a green one,” said Uncle Andrew. “I’m afraid I can’t give the green ones away. But I’d be delighted to give you any of the yellow ones: with my love. Come and try one on.”

[88] Polly had now quite got over her fright and felt sure that the old gentleman was not mad; and there was certainly something strangely attractive about those bright rings. She moved over to the tray.

[89] “Why! I declare,” she said. “That humming noise gets louder here. It’s almost as if the rings were making it.”

[90] “What a funny fancy, my dear,” said Uncle Andrew with a laugh. It sounded a very natural laugh, but Digory had seen an eager, almost a greedy, look on his face.

[91] “Polly! Don’t be a fool!” he shouted. “Don’t touch them.”

[92] It was too late. Exactly as he spoke, Polly’s hand went out to touch one of the rings. And immediately, without a flash or a noise or a warning of any sort, there was no Polly. Digory and his Uncle were alone in the room.

[ 93 ] CHAPTER TWO. DIGORY AND HIS UNCLE

[94] 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.”

[95] 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.

[96] “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.”

[97] “Was that when you yelled?” asked Digory.

[98] “Oh, you heard that, did you? I hope you haven’t been spying on me?”

[99] “No, I haven’t,” said Digory indignantly. “But what’s happened to Polly?”

[100] “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.”

[101] “What have you done to her?”

[102] “Sent her to—well—to another place.”

[103] “What do you mean?” asked Digory.

[104] Uncle Andrew sat down and said, “Well, I’ll tell you all about it. Have you ever heard of old Mrs Lefay?”

[105] “Wasn’t she a great-aunt or something?” said Digory.

[106] “Not exactly,” said Uncle Andrew. “She was my godmother. That’s her, there, on the wall.”

[107] 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.

[108] “Was there—wasn’t there—something wrong about her, Uncle Andrew?” he asked.

[109] “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.”

[110] “In an asylum, do you mean?”

[111] “Oh no, no, no,” said Uncle Andrew in a shocked voice. “Nothing of that sort. Only in prison.”

[112] “I say!” said Digory. “What had she done?”