《魔法师的外甥》第2期:开错的门(4)

"This is no good," he said. "It's not an empty house at all. We'd better bunk before anyone comes."
"What do you think those are?" said Polly, pointing at the coloured rings.'
"Oh come on," said Digory. "The sooner-"
He never finished what he was going to say for at that moment something happened. The high-backed chair in front of the fire moved suddenly and there rose up out of it - like a pantomime demon coming up out of a trapdoor the alarming form of Uncle Andrew. They were not in the empty house at all; they were in Digory's house and in the forbidden study! Both children said "O-o-oh" and realized their terrible mistake. They felt they ought to have known all along that they hadn't gone nearly far enough.
Uncle Andrew was tall and very thin. He had a long clean-shaven face with a sharply-pointed nose and extremely bright eyes and a great tousled mop of grey hair.
Digory was quite speechless, for Uncle Andrew looked a thousand times more alarming than he had ever looked before. Polly was not so frightened yet; but she soon was. For the very first thing Uncle Andrew did was to walk across to the door of the room, shut it, and turn the key in the lock. Then he turned round, fixed the children with his bright eyes, and smiled, showing all his teeth.
"There!" he said. "Now my fool of a sister can't get at you!"
It was dreadfully unlike anything a grown-up would be expected to do. Polly's heart came into her mouth, and she and Digory started backing towards the little door they had come in by. Uncle Andrew was too quick for them. He got behind them and shut that door too and stood in front of it. Then he rubbed his hands and made his knuckles crack. He had very long, beautifully white, fingers.
"I am delighted to see you," he said. "Two children are just what I wanted."
"Please, Mr Ketterley," said Polly. "It's nearly my dinner time and I've got to go home. Will you let us out, please?"
"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."
"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."
"Must?" said Uncle Andrew.
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."
"If you let us go for our dinner now," said Polly, "we could come back after dinner."
"Ah, but how do I know that you would?" said Uncle Andrew with a cunning smile. Then he seemed to change his mind.
"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."
Polly began to think he might not really be mad after all.
"Wouldn't you like a ring, my dear?" said Uncle Andrew to Polly.
"Do you mean one of those yellow or green ones?" said Polly. "How lovely!"
"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."
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.
"Why! I declare," she said. "That humming noise gets louder here. It's almost as if the rings were making it."
"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.
"Polly! Don't be a fool!" he shouted. "Don't touch them."
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.

“好什么？”迪格雷走过来，眨巴着眼睛，”根本不是空房子，我们最好在有人进来以前逃走。”他看上去脏极了，波莉也是。
“你说那些是什么？”波莉指着彩色戒指问。
“过来，快……”迪格留正想说下去，一件意想不到的事发生了。火炉前的高背椅子突然移动了，像舞台的活动门里钻出一个哑剧中的小丑一样，安德鲁舅舅可怕的样子出现在他们面前。他们站的地方不是空房子，而是迪格雷家中那间禁止入内的书房！两个孩子意识到犯了严重的错误，都大张着口，”噢——噢——”地说不出话来。他们觉得早该感到自己走得不够远。
安德鲁舅舅又高又瘦，一头灰发零乱不堪，刮得干干净净的长脸上长着尖削的鼻子和一双贼亮的眼睛。
迪格雷大气也不敢出，囚为安德鲁舅舅看上去要比以往可怕一千倍。波莉起先还不太害怕，但很快就怕了，因为安德鲁舅舅一来便走到门口，关上门，并把门锁了起来。然后，他转过身，直勾勾地盯着孩子们，一笑，眼出满口牙齿。"
“这下可好，”他说，“我那傻瓜妹妹找不到你们了。”
这哪里像大人应该做的事！波莉的心提到了嗓子眼。她和迪格雷开始向他们进来的小门退去。但安德鲁舅舅抢先冲到他们背后，将那扇门也关上了，然后站在门前。他搓着手，弄得指关节啪啪地响。他有长长的漂亮的白手指。
“很高兴见到你们，”他说，“我正需要两个孩子呢。”
“凯特利先生，”波莉说，“我要回家了，请你放我们出去，好吗？”
“现在不行，这么好的机会不能错过。我需要两个孩子。你看，我的伟大的实验只做了一半。以前，我用过一只豚鼠，还可以，但豚鼠没法儿跟你说话．而你也不能告诉它怎么回来。”
“安德鲁舅舅，”迪格雷说，“现在是吃饭时间了，他们很快就会找我们的。你必须放我们出去。”
“必须？”安德每舅舅说。
迪格雷和波莉相互看了一眼。两人不敢开口，但眼睛却在说，“这太可怕了，不是吗？”我们只好哄哄他。”
“要是你放我们去吃饭，我们吃完就回来。”波莉说。
“可是，我怎么知道你们会不会回来？”安德各舅舅狡猾地一笑，好像要改变注意了。
“好吧，好吧，”他说，“如果真是非走不可，我想你们也该走了。我不指望像你们这么大的两个孩子会喜欢跟我这样一个老笨蛋说话。”他叹口气，继续道；“你们不明白，有时，我是多么孤独。可是，没关系，去吃饭吧。但在你们走之前，我一定要送你们一件礼物。我并不是每天都能在这间肮脏的旧书房里见到一个小姑娘的，尤其是，这么说吧，跟你一样吸引人的年轻姑娘。”
波莉开始想，他可能并不疯。
“你不喜欢戒指吗，亲爱的？’他问波莉。
“你是说那些黄的绿的戒指吗，太可爱了！”波莉很高兴。
“不是绿的，”安德鲁舅舅说，“我想我还不能把绿的给人。但我喜欢送你一枚包含若我一份爱心的黄戒指。过来试试吧。”
波莉一点儿也不怕了，她完全相信这位老先生并没有疯，那些亮晶晶的戒指有种奇异的魔力，引诱她朝托盘走去。
“啊，我知道了！”波莉说，”那种嗡嗡声在这儿变大了，好像就是这些戒指发出的。”
“多么有趣的幻想，亲爱的。”安德鲁舅舅笑起来，那笑声听来非常自然．但迪格雷从他的脸上看出一种急迫甚至贪婪的神色。
“波莉，别做傻事，”他大叫，“不要碰戒指！”
可是，一切都晚了，在他说话的同时，波莉的手已经伸出去，触到了其中一枚戒指。很快，没有闪光，没有声音，没有任何警告，波莉便消失了，屋子里只剩下迪格雷和他的安德鲁舅舅。