"But what are we to do?" said Susan. She felt that the conversation was beginning to get off the point.

"Thats just the funny thing about it, sir," said Peter. "Up till now, Id have said Lucy every time.」

"But do you really mean, sir," said Peter, "that there could be other worlds - all over the place, just round the corner - like that?」

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. Whats the matter with her? Thats the worst of young kids, they always -」

This house of the Professors - 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.

"Whats that?" said Susan.

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 hadnt 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.

"Look here," said Peter, turning on him savagely, "shut up! Youve 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.」

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.」

"Oh, but -" began Susan, and then stopped. Anyone could see from the old mans face that he was perfectly serious. Then Susan pulled herself together and said, "But Edmund said they had only been pretending.」

&qu九九藏書ot;And what do you think, my dear?" said the Professor, turning to Susan.

"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 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.」

"We might all try minding our own business," said he. And that was the end of that conversation.

And Edmund gave a very superior look as if he were far older than Lucy (there was really only a years 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. Theres nothing there really.」

"Well," said Susan, "in general, Id say the same as Peter, but this couldnt be true - all this about the wood and the Faun.」

"But then," said Susan, and stopped. She had never dreamed that a grown-up would talk like the Professor and didnt know what to think.

"I thought - I thought," said Edmund; but he couldnt think of anything to say.

Susan looked at him very hard and was quite sure from the expression on his face that he was no making fun of them.

"Do stop it," said Susan; "it wont make things any better having a row between you two.

Lets go and find Lucy.」

It was an unpleasant evening. Lucy was miserable and Edmund was beginning to feel that his plan wasnt 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.

It was read.99csw.comnot 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:

"We were afraid it mightnt even be lying," said Susan; "we thought there might be something wrong with Lucy.」

"Whats all this about, Ed?" said Peter.

"I dont care what you think, and I dont care what you say. You can tell the Professor or you can write to Mother or you can do anything you like. I know Ive met a Faun in there and - I wish Id stayed there and you are all beasts, beasts.」

"Why do you say that?" asked the Professor.

"You didnt think anything at all," said Peter; "its just spite. Youve always liked being beastly to anyone smaller than yourself; weve seen that at school before now.」

The result was the next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to the Professor. "Hell write to Father if he thinks there is really something wrong with Lu," said Peter; "its 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 sisters story is not true?」

"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 its all nonsense," said Edmund, very taken aback.

"Well, for one thing," said Peter, "https://read.99csw.comif it was true why doesnt everyone find this country every time they go to the wardrobe? I mean, there was nothing there when we looked; even Lucy didnt pretend the was.」

"Quick!" said Peter, "theres 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.

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.

Poor Lucy gave Edmund one look and rushed out of the room.

"Well, sir, if things are real, theyre there all the time.」

"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 dont 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.」

"Are they?" said the Professor; and Peter didnt know quite what to say.

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 amｈtｔｐｓ://ｒeａd.9９cｓw.ｃom 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 youre to keep out of the way whenever Im taking a party over the house.」

"Of course its all nonsense," said Peter, "thats just the point. Lu was perfectly all right when we left home, but since weve 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 youll do by jeering and nagging at her one day and encouraging her the next?」

Wardrobe Room till theyve 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.

There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesnt 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.」

"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 is more than I know," said the Professor, "and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found tr九_九_藏_書uthful is a very serious thing; a very serious thing indeed.」

"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why dont they teach logic at these schools?

"What has that to do with it?" said the Professor.

"Sharps 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 - lets get into the

"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.」

"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.

"Tell us, Ed," said Susan.

BACK ON THIS SIDE OF THE DOOR 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! Its 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.」

"But how could it be true, sir?" said Peter.