《魔法師的外甥》第9期:開錯的門(5)
"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.
“你實在該學學怎樣控制你的脾氣，我的孩子，”安德魯舅軟平靜地說，”否則，你長大了，就會跟你的蕾蒂姨媽樣一。好，現在聽我的。’
他站起身，截上一副手套，向裝戒指的托盤走去。“它們只有在觸到你的皮膚時才起作用，”他說，“像這樣，戴上手套去拿，平安無事。如果你裝一個在口袋裏，會很安全的。可是，你一定要小心，不能無意中把手伸進口袋碰到它。一旦你接觸到一枚黃戒指，你就從這個世界消失了。當你到了那個世界，我想——當然這還沒經過試驗證明，但我想——一旦你觸到一枚綠戒指，你就離開了那個世界——我想——
又會回到這裏來。看好，我把這兩枚綠的放進你右邊的口袋。記清楚綠戒指在哪個口袋。G 代表綠色，R 代表右邊。你知道，G 和R
恰好是綠色一詞的頭兩個寧母。一個給你，另一個給那小女孩。現在，你給自己拿一枚黃戒指吧。如果我是你，就會把它套在手指上，這樣不容易掉。”
迪格雷正要去拿，又突然停住了。
“唉呀，”他說，“媽媽怎麼辦呢？要是她問我到哪兒去了呢？”
“早點兒走，早點兒回來。”安德魯舅舅得意地說。
“但你並不敢肯定我是否能問來。”
安德魯舅舅聳聳肩，走過去打開門，說：
”那好，請便吧，下去吃飯。要是你樂意，就讓那小女孩在那個世界裏被野獸吃掉，或淹死，或餓死，或永遠留在那兒吧。對我來說都是一樣的。也許，存喝茶以前，你最好去看看普盧默夫人，告訴她再也見不到她的女兒了；就因爲你害怕戴上一枚戒指。”
“老天在上，”迪格雷說，“我真希望有足夠的力氣來捶扁你的腦袋！”
然後，他扣上外衣，深深地吸了一口氣，拿起了戒指。他想，正如他後來常常想的，他從沒有這麼休面正派地做過其他任何事了。
