《獅子女巫與魔衣櫥》第5章:回到了櫥門這一邊
BECAUSE the game of hide-and-seek was still going on, it took Edmund and Lucy some time to find the others. But when at last they were all together (which happened in the long room, where the suit of armour was) Lucy burst out:
"Peter! Susan! It's all true. Edmund has seen it too. There is a country you can get to through the wardrobe. Edmund and I both got in. We met one another in there, in the wood. Go on, Edmund; tell them all about it."
"What's all this about, Ed?" said Peter.
And now we come to one of the nastiest things in this story. Up to that moment Edmund had been feeling sick, and sulky, and annoyed with Lucy for being right, but he hadn't made up his mind what to do. When Peter suddenly asked him the question he decided all at once to do the meanest and most spiteful thing he could think of. He decided to let Lucy down.
"Tell us, Ed," said Susan.
And Edmund gave a very superior look as if he were far older than Lucy (there was really only a year's difference) and then a little snigger and said, "Oh, yes, Lucy and I have been playing - pretending that all her story about a country in the wardrobe is true. just for fun, of course. There's nothing there really."
Poor Lucy gave Edmund one look and rushed out of the room.
Edmund, who was becoming a nastier person every minute, thought that he had scored a great success, and went on at once to say, "There she goes again. What's the matter with her? That's the worst of young kids, they always -"
"Look here," said Peter, turning on him savagely, "shut up! You've been perfectly beastly to Lu ever since she started this nonsense about the wardrobe, and now you go playing games with her about it and setting her off again. I believe you did it simply out of spite."
"But it's all nonsense," said Edmund, very taken aback.
"Of course it's all nonsense," said Peter, "that's just the point. Lu was perfectly all right when we left home, but since we've been down here she seems to be either going queer in the head or else turning into a most frightful liar. But whichever it is, what good do you think you'll do by jeering and nagging at her one day and encouraging her the next?"
"I thought - I thought," said Edmund; but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"You didn't think anything at all," said Peter; "it's just spite. You've always liked being beastly to anyone smaller than yourself; we've seen that at school before now."
"Do stop it," said Susan; "it won't make things any better having a row between you two. Let's go and find Lucy."
It was not surprising that when they found Lucy, a good deal later, everyone could see that she had been crying. Nothing they could say to her made any difference. She stuck to her story and said:
"I don't care what you think, and I don't care what you say. You can tell the Professor or you can write to Mother or you can do anything you like. I know I've met a Faun in there and - I wish I'd stayed there and you are all beasts, beasts."
It was an unpleasant evening. Lucy was miserable and Edmund was beginning to feel that his plan wasn't working as well as he had expected. The two older ones were really beginning to think that Lucy was out of her mind. They stood in the passage talking about it in whispers long after she had gone to bed.
The result was the next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to the Professor. "He'll write to Father if he thinks there is really something wrong with Lu," said Peter; "it's getting beyond us." So they went and knocked at the study door, and the Professor said "Come in," and got up and found chairs for them and said he was quite at their disposal. Then he sat listening to them with the tips of his fingers pressed together and never interrupting, till they had finished the whole story. After that he said nothing for quite a long time. Then he cleared his throat and said the last thing either of them expected:
"How do you know," he asked, "that your sister's story is not true?"
"Oh, but -" began Susan, and then stopped. Anyone could see from the old man's face that he was perfectly serious. Then Susan pulled herself together and said, "But Edmund said they had only been pretending."
"That is a point," said the Professor, "which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance - if you will excuse me for asking the question - does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?"
"That's just the funny thing about it, sir," said Peter. "Up till now, I'd have said Lucy every time."
"And what do you think, my dear?" said the Professor, turning to Susan.
"Well," said Susan, "in general, I'd say the same as Peter, but this couldn't be true - all this about the wood and the Faun."
"That is more than I know," said the Professor, "and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing; a very serious thing indeed."
"We were afraid it mightn't even be lying," said Susan; "we thought there might be something wrong with Lucy."
"Madness, you mean?" said the Professor quite coolly. "Oh, you can make your minds easy about that. One has only to look at her and talk to her to see that she is not mad."
"But then," said Susan, and stopped. She had never dreamed that a grown-up would talk like the Professor and didn't know what to think.
"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth."
Susan looked at him very hard and was quite sure from the expression on his face that he was no making fun of them.
"But how could it be true, sir?" said Peter.
"Why do you say that?" asked the Professor.
"Well, for one thing," said Peter, "if it was true why doesn't everyone find this country every time they go to the wardrobe? I mean, there was nothing there when we looked; even Lucy didn't pretend the was."
"What has that to do with it?" said the Professor.
"Well, sir, if things are real, they're there all the time."
"Are they?" said the Professor; and Peter did'nt know quite what to say.
"But there was no time," said Susan. "Lucy had no time to have gone anywhere, even if there was such a place. She came running after us the very moment we were out of the room. It was less than minute, and she pretended to have been away for hours."
"That is the very thing that makes her story so likely to be true," said the Professor. "If there really a door in this house that leads to some other world (and I should warn you that this is a very strange house, and even I know very little about it) - if, I say, she had got into another world, I should not be at a surprised to find that the other world had a separate time of its own; so that however long you stay there it would never take up any of our time. On the other hand, I don't think many girls of her age would invent that idea for themselves. If she had been pretending, she would have hidden for a reasonable time before coming out and telling her story."
"But do you really mean, sir," said Peter, "that there could be other worlds - all over the place, just round the corner - like that?"
"Nothing is more probable," said the Professor, taking off his spectacles and beginning to polish them, while he muttered to himself, "I wonder what they do teach them at these schools."
"But what are we to do?" said Susan. She felt that the conversation was beginning to get off the point.
"My dear young lady," said the Professor, suddenly looking up with a very sharp expression at both of them, "there is one plan which no one has yet suggested and which is well worth trying."
"What's that?" said Susan.
"We might all try minding our own business," said he. And that was the end of that conversation.
After this things were a good deal better for Lucy. Peter saw to it that Edmund stopped jeering at her, and neither she nor anyone else felt inclined to talk about the wardrobe at all. It had become a rather alarming subject. And so for a time it looked as if all the adventures were coming to an end; but that was not to be.
This house of the Professor's - which even he knew so little about - was so old and famous that people from all over England used to come and ask permission to see over it. It was the sort of house that is mentioned in guide books and even in histories; and well it might be, for all manner of stories were told about it, some of them even stranger than the one I am telling you now. And when parties of sightseers arrived and asked to see the house, the Professor always gave them permission, and Mrs Macready, the housekeeper, showed them round, telling them about the pictures and the armour, and the rare books in the library. Mrs Macready was not fond of children, and did not like to be interrupted when she was telling visitors all the things she knew. She had said to Susan and Peter almost on the first morning (along with a good many other instructions), "And please remember you're to keep out of the way whenever I'm taking a party over the house."
"Just as if any of us would want to waste half the morning trailing round with a crowd of strange grown-ups!" said Edmund, and the other three thought the same. That was how the adventures began for the second time.
A few mornings later Peter and Edmund were looking at the suit of armour and wondering if they could take it to bits when the two girls rushed into the room and said, "Look out! Here comes the Macready and a whole gang with her."
"Sharp's the word," said Peter, and all four made off through the door at the far end of the room. But when they had got out into the Green Room and beyond it, into the Library, they suddenly heard voices ahead of them, and realized that Mrs Macready must be bringing her party of sightseers up the back stairs - instead of up the front stairs as they had expected. And after that - whether it was that they lost their heads, or that Mrs Macready was trying to catch them, or that some magic in the house had come to life and was chasing them into Narnia they seemed to find themselves being followed everywhere, until at last Susan said, "Oh bother those trippers! Here - let's get into the Wardrobe Room till they've passed. No one will follow us in there." But the moment they were inside they heard the voices in the passage - and then someone fumbling at the door - and then they saw the handle turning.
"Quick!" said Peter, "there's nowhere else," and flung open the wardrobe. All four of them bundled inside it and sat there, panting, in the dark. Peter held the door closed but did not shut it; for, of course, he remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never never shut yourself up in a wardrobe.
“彼得！蘇珊！一點也不錯，愛德蒙也看見了，那裏有一個國家，可以從衣櫥裏邊進去。愛德蒙和我進去過了，把所有的情況都告訴他們。”
“艾德，這到底是怎麼一回事？”彼得問。
現在我們寫到這個故事中最令人不愉快的部分。在這以前，愛德蒙一直感到很不舒服，一直在生露茜的氣，但對露茜究竟採取什麼行動，他一時還沒有拿定主意。現在彼得突如其來地問起他這個問題，他就把心一橫，決定幹出他所能想到的最不光彩的事情，來整一下露茜。
“告訴我們吧，艾德。”蘇珊說。
艾德顯出老成持重的樣子，好像他比露茜要大得多(實際上兩人只相差一歲)。他噗嗤一笑說：“噢，對啦，露茜和我一直在做遊戲，她故意說上次講的衣櫥裏有個國家的故事是真的。當然嘍，我們只是開開玩笑，其實，那兒什麼東西也沒有。”
可憐的露茜看了愛德蒙一眼，便一口氣奔到了屋外。
愛德蒙現在變得越來越不像話了，他自以爲已經取得了極大的成功，立刻接下去說道：“她又去啦，她是中了魔法還是怎麼的？小孩子就是愛胡鬧，他們老是……”
“聽我說，”彼得轉過身來，兩眼盯住了他，十分氣憤地說：“住口！自從她上次瞎扯了一些衣櫥的事以來，你對她總是兇聲凶氣的，現在你跟她一起躲進了衣櫥裏做遊戲，又把她氣走了。我看，你這樣做完全不懷好意。”
“但她講的通通都是胡說八道。”愛德蒙說，彼得的話使他大吃一驚。
“當然都是胡言亂語，”彼得說，“問題的嚴重性就在這裏。在家的時候，璐是好好的，但到了鄉下以後，她看上去要麼神經不很正常，要麼就是謊話連篇。但無論是哪種情況，你想想看，你今天嘲笑她，對她喋喋不休說個不停，明天你又去慫恿她，這對她有什麼幫助？”
“我原來想，我原來……”愛德蒙說，可是他又想不出說什麼好。
“你想什麼來着，”彼得說，“你儘想壞主意。你對比你小的孩子總喜歡這一套，我們以前在學校裏就經常看到你這樣。”
“別說了，”蘇珊說，“你們互相埋怨又有什麼用處?我們還是去找找露茜吧。”
他們找了好長一段時間，才找到了露茜。果然不出大家所料，她正哭的傷心。無論他們怎麼說，露茜都堅持她說的情況是真的。
“不管你們怎麼想，也不管你們怎麼說，我都無所謂。你們可以去告訴教授，也可以寫信告訴媽媽，隨便你們怎麼做都可以。我只知道我在那裏碰見了一個農牧之神。我要是留在那裏多好啊！你們淨欺侮人。”
這是一個十分不愉快的夜晚。露茜感到很委屈，愛德蒙也開始感到，他的計劃並沒有像他預料的那樣奏效。那兩個年齡大些的孩子卻真以爲露茜的精神不大正常。在她入睡以後很久，他們還站在走廊裏小聲議論着。
第二天早上，他們決定把全部情況都告訴教授。“假如他也認爲露茜真的有什麼毛病，他將寫信去告訴爸爸，”彼得說，“我們可管不了這樣的事。”於是，他們就去敲老教授書房的門。教授說了聲“請進”，便站起身來，找了椅子讓他們坐下，還說有事儘管來找他，他樂意爲他們效勞。然後他坐下來，將手指合攏，靜靜地聽他們把整個故事講完。聽完以後，他好長時間沒有吭聲，最後他清了清嗓子，出乎意外地問道：
“你們怎能斷定露茜講的故事就不是真的呢？”
“哦，，但是……”蘇珊剛想開口又停住了。從老人的臉色可以看出，他是十分嚴肅的。過了一會兒，蘇珊鼓起了勇氣說：“但是愛德蒙親口告訴我們，他們只是假裝說說玩的。”
“有一個關鍵問題倒值得你們仔細考慮，”教授說，“根據你們的經驗——請原諒我提出這個問題——你們認爲誰更誠實一些，是你們的弟弟，還是你們的妹妹？”
“這真是一個十分有趣的問題，先生，”彼得說，“直到現在爲止，我應該說，露茜要比愛德蒙誠實。”
“你認爲怎樣呢，我親愛的孩子？”教授轉過頭來又問蘇珊。
“嗯，”蘇珊說，“我嘛，基本上和彼得的看法相同。但關於森林和農牧之神的故事總不可能是真的。”
“這個問題我就不清楚了，”教授說，“但是，隨口指責一個你們都認爲是誠實的人說謊，這倒是一個非常嚴重的問題。”
“我們擔心的倒不是露茜說謊，”蘇珊說，“我們認爲很可能露茜精神有了毛病。”
“你的意思是說她發了瘋？”教授非常冷靜地說，“嗯，這個你們很容易判斷。你們只要觀察觀察她的臉色，再和她交談交談，就可以斷定出來了。”
“但是……”蘇珊剛開口又不說了。她做夢也沒想到像教授這樣的大人會說出這種話來，她真被搞糊塗了。
“邏輯！”教授多半自言自語地說，“現在這些學校爲什麼不教你們一點邏輯呢？這件事只有三種可能：或是你們的妹妹說了謊，或者是她精神不正常，要不，她講的就是真話。你們都說她向來不說謊，她的精神又沒有什麼問題。那麼在發現更充分的證據之前，我們就只能假定她講的是真實的。”
蘇珊兩眼緊盯着他，從他臉上的表情，她可以肯定他不是在和他們開玩笑。
“但是，這怎麼可能呢，先生？”彼得問。
“爲什麼就一定不可能呢？”教授反問了一句。
“因爲，”彼得說，“假如是真的，爲什麼不是每個人每次到櫥裏都能發現那個國家呢？有一次，我們到櫥裏看的時候，根本沒有發現什麼別的情況，還是露茜親自領着我們去看的呢，她自己也沒有說她看到了旁的東西。”
“這有什麼關係呢？”教授說。
“有關係，先生。如果是真的，那些東西就應該始終都在那裏。”
“始終？”教授問道，彼得不知如何回答才完全正確。
“但是露茜躲在櫥裏只有一眨眼工夫，”蘇珊說，“即使櫥裏有這麼一個地方，她也不曾有時間去呀。我們剛從空屋裏出來，她就跟在我們後面溜出來了，前後還不到一分鐘，她卻硬是說離開了好幾個鐘頭。”
“正因爲如此，她說的故事才更像真的，”教授說，“如果這間屋裏真的有一個門通向某一個別的世界(我得提醒你們，這是一棟非常神祕的房屋，即使是我，對它也瞭解很少)——就算她真的到了另一個世界，那我們也不應該感到奇怪，那個世界一定有它自己的時間概念，所以不管你在那兒逗留多久，也不會佔去我們這個世界的任何一點時間。另外我還認爲，像她這樣年齡的女孩子，是不可能自己編造出這樣的故事來的。假如她想說謊，她就會在裏面多藏一段時間，然後再出來講她的故事。”
“先生，你是說，“彼得問道，“在這棟房屋裏，譬如說，就在附近，到處都有可能有別的世界嗎？”
“這是非常可能的，”教授說，他一邊摘下眼鏡擦擦乾淨，一邊又自言自語，“我真不懂，這些孩子在學校裏，到底學了些什麼東西？”
“這叫我們怎麼辦？”蘇珊說，她感到這場談話已經開始離題了。
“孩子們，”教授突然擡起頭來，用一種非常嚴肅的神情看着他倆說，“有一個計劃值得一試，但誰也沒有提起過。”
“什麼計劃？”蘇珊問。
“這個我們就別去管它了。”他說。那次談話就這樣結束了。彼得做了許多工作，使愛德蒙不再嘲笑露茜，她和別人都不想再談衣櫥的事，這已成了使人不快的話題。所以，在相當長的一段時間裏，一切奇遇似乎都已成了過去，但事實卻並不如此。
教授的這棟房屋——即使他自己，也瞭解得很少——是這樣古老，又是這樣聞名，全國各地的人都常常要求來此參觀，這所房屋在旅遊指南一類的書上，甚至在歷史書上，都有所記載，在各式各樣的故事中都談到過，其中有些故事比我現在對你講的這個故事還要離奇。每當觀光的人要求進屋看看的時候，教授總是滿口答應，女管家瑪卡蕾蒂太太就帶領着他們到各處轉轉，給他們介紹畫兒啦，盔甲啦，以及圖書館裏稀有的書籍啦。瑪卡蕾蒂太太不很喜歡孩子，當她給客人們滔滔不絕地講述她所知道的各種掌故時，她是不喜歡別人從旁邊插嘴打擾的。幾乎在孩子們來的第一天早上，她就向蘇珊和彼得交代說(同時還交待了許多別的規矩)：“請你們記着，我領人蔘觀的時候，你們要躲遠一點兒。”
“就好像我們當中會有人故意要跟一羣陌生的大人浪費半天似的。”愛德蒙說。其餘三人也有同樣的想法。誰知，第二次奇遇就是由此引起的。
幾天以後，彼得和愛德蒙正望着那副盔甲出神，想試試能否把它拆卸下來，兩個女孩忽然奔進屋裏說：“不好啦，瑪卡蕾蒂帶着一羣人來了！”
“真糟糕！”彼得說，四個人很快就從另外一頭的門溜掉了。他們溜出來以後先進了那間休息室，後來又跑到了圖書館，這時他們突然聽到前面有說話的聲音，他們都以爲瑪卡蕾蒂太太帶着觀光的人羣到後樓去了，而沒有像他們預料的那樣到前樓來。以後，不知是他們自己昏了頭，還是瑪卡蕾蒂太太要來抓他們，還是這所住宅的魔力再次顯現，要把他們趕往那尼亞，他們似乎感到每到一處都有人跟蹤着。最後，蘇珊說：“啊，這些遊客真夠討厭！喂，讓我們躲到放衣櫥的那間空屋裏去吧，等他們走了以後再說，誰也不會跟我們到那兒去的。”但他們剛進空屋，就聽見走廊裏有人在講話，接着又是摸門的聲音，一看，門把手已在移動了。
“趕快！”彼得說，“沒有別的地方可躲了！”他猛地一下推開了櫥門。四個人蜷縮在黑咕隆咚的衣櫥裏邊，不停地喘氣。彼得帶上了櫥門，但並沒有把它關緊，因爲，像每一個有理智的人一樣，他懂得，一個人怎麼可以把自己關在衣櫥裏面呢？
