The Magicians Ebook

[Solana Axton]

Thisis a story about something that happened longago when your grandfather was a child. It is avery important story because it shows how all thecomings and goings between our own world and theland of Narnia first began.

In those days Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living inBaker Street and the Bastables were looking for treasurein the Lewisham Road. In those days, if you were a boyyou had to wear a stiff Eton collar every day, andschools were usually nastier than now. But meals werenicer; and as for sweets, I won't tell you how cheap andgood they were, because it would only make yourmouth water in vain. And in those days there lived inLondon a girl called Polly Plummer.

She lived in one of a long row of houses which wereall joined together. One morning she was out in theback garden when a boy scrambled up from the gardennext door and put his face over the wall. Polly was verysurprised because up till now there had never been anychildren in that house, but only Mr. Ketterley and MissKetterley, a brother and sister, old bachelor and oldmaid, living together. So she looked up, full of curiosity.The face of the strange boy was very grubby. It couldhardly have been grubbier if he had first rubbed hishands in the earth, and then had a good cry, and thendried his face with his hands. As a matter of fact, thiswas very nearly what he had been doing.

"All right, I have then," said Digory in a muchlouder voice, like a boy who was so miserable that hedidn't care who knew he had been crying. "And sowould you," he went on, "if you'd lived all your life inthe country and had a pony, and a river at the bottomof the garden, and then been brought to live in a beastlyHole like this."

"You may think it interesting," said Digory. "But youwouldn't like it if you had to sleep there. How wouldyou like to lie awake listening for Uncle Andrew's stepto come creeping along the passage to your room? Andhe has such awful eyes."

Their adventures began chiefly because it was one ofthe wettest and coldest summers there had been foryears. That drove them to do indoor things: you mightsay, indoor exploration. It is wonderful how muchexploring you can do with a stump of candle in a bighouse, or in a row of houses. Polly had discovered longago that if you opened a certain little door in thebox-room attic of her house you would find the cistern anda dark place behind it which you could get into by alittle careful climbing. The dark place was like a longtunnel with brick wall on one side and sloping roof onthe other. In the roof there were little chinks of lightbetween the slates. There was no floor in this tunnel:you had to step from rafter to rafter, and between themthere was only plaster. If you stepped on this you wouldfind yourself falling through the ceiling of the roombelow. Polly had used the bit of the tunnel just besidethe cistern as a smugglers' cave. She had brought upbits of old packing cases and the seats of broken kitchenchairs, and things of that sort, and spread them acrossfrom rafter to rafter so as to make a bit of floor. Hereshe kept a cash-box containing various treasures, anda story she was writing, and usually a few apples. Shehad often drunk a quiet bottle of ginger-beer in there:the old bottles made it look more like a smugglers' cave.

"I suppose we ought to have a look at it then," saidDigory. He was a good deal more excited than you'dhave thought from the way he spoke. For of course hewas thinking, just as you would have been, of all thereasons why the house might have been empty so long.So was Polly. Neither of them said the word "haunted." Andboth felt that once the thing had been suggested,it would be feeble not to do it.

They decided they would have to go out into the box-roomand walk across it taking steps as long as the stepsfrom one rafter to the next. That would give them anidea of how many rafters went to a room. Then theywould allow about four more for the passage betweenthe two attics in Polly's house, and then the samenumber for the maid's bedroom as for the box-room.That would give them the length of the house. Whenthey had done that distance twice they would be at theend of Digory's house; any door they came to after thatwould let them into an attic of the empty house.

"I expect someone lives there in secret, only comingin and out at night, with a dark lantern. We shallprobably discover a gang of desperate criminals and get areward. It's all rot to say a house would be empty allthose years unless there was some mystery."

"Pooh! Grown-ups are always thinking ofuninteresting explanations," said Digory. Now that they weretalking by daylight in the attic instead of by candlelightin the Smugglers' Cave it seemed much less likely thatthe empty house would be haunted.

When they had measured the attic they had to get apencil and do a sum. They both got different answers toit at first, and even when they agreed I am not sure theygot it right. They were in a hurry to start on theexploration.

It was very dark and dusty and draughty and theystepped from rafter to rafter without a word exceptwhen they whispered to one another, "We're oppositeyour attic now" or "this must be halfway through ourhouse." And neither of them stumbled and the candlesdidn't go out, and at last they came where they couldsee a little door in the brick wall on their right. Therewas no bolt or handle on this side of it, of course, forthe door had been made for getting in, not for gettingout; but there was a catch (as there often is on theinside of a cupboard door) which they felt sure thewould be able to turn.

"I'm game if you are," said Polly, just as she had saidbefore. Both felt that it was becoming very serious, butneither would draw back. Digory pushed round thecatch with some difficulty. The door swung open andthe sudden daylight made them blink. Then, with agreat shock, they saw that they were looking, not into adeserted attic, but into a furnished room. But it seemedempty enough. It was dead silent. Polly's curiosity gotthe better of her. She blew out her candle and steppedout into the strange room, making no more noise thana mouse.

Digory was quite speechless, for Uncle Andrewlooked a thousand times more alarming than he hadever looked before. Polly was not so frightened yet; butshe soon was. For the very first thing Uncle Andrew didwas to walk across to the door of the room, shut it, andturn the key in the lock. Then he turned round, fixedthe children with his bright eyes, and smiled, showingall his teeth.

It was dreadfully unlike anything a grown-up wouldbe expected to do. Polly's heart came into her mouth,and she and Digory started backing towards the littledoor they had come in by. Uncle Andrew was too quickfor them. He got behind them and shut that door tooand stood in front of it. Then he rubbed his hands andmade his knuckles crack. He had very long, beautifullywhite, fingers.

"Not just yet," said Uncle Andrew. "This is too goodan opportunity to miss. I wanted two children. You see,I'm in the middle of a great experiment. I've tried it ona guinea-pig and it seemed to work. But then a guinea-pigcan't tell you anything. And you can't explain to ithow to come back."

"Well, well," he said, "if you really must go, Isuppose you must. I can't expect two youngsters like youto find it much fun talking to an old duffer like me." Hesighed and went on. "You've no idea how lonely Isometimes am. But no matter. Go to your dinner. But Imust give you a present before you go. It's not everyday that I see a little girl in my dingy old study,especially, if I may say so, such a very attractive younglady as yourself."

It was too late. Exactly as he spoke, Polly's hand wentout to touch one of the rings. And immediately, withouta flash or a noise or a warning of any sort, therewas no Polly. Digory and his Uncle were alone in the room.

It was so sudden, and so horribly unlike anythingthat had ever happened to Digory even in a nightmare,that he let out a scream. Instantly UncleAndrew's hand was over his mouth. "None of that!" hehissed in Digory's ear. "If you start making a noise yourMother'll hear it. And you know what a fright might doto her."

Digory looked and saw a faded photograph: it showedthe face of an old woman in a bonnet. And he couldnow remember that he had once seen a photo of thesame face in an old drawer, at home, in the country. Hehad asked his Mother who it was and Mother had notseemed to want to talk about the subject much. It wasnot at all a nice face, Digory thought, though of coursewith those early photographs one could never really tell.

"Well," said Uncle Andrew with a chuckle, "itdepends what you call wrong. People are so narrowminded. She certainly got very queer in later life. Didvery unwise things. That was why they shut her up."

"All in good time, my boy," said Uncle Andrew."They let old Mrs. Lefay out before she died and I wasone of the very few people whom she would allow tosee her in her last illness. She had got to dislikeordinary, ignorant people, you understand. I do myself. Butshe and I were interested in the same sort of things. Itwas only a few days before her death that she told me togo to an old bureau in her house and open a secretdrawer and bring her a little box that I would findthere. The moment I picked up that box I could tell bythe pricking in my fingers that I held some great secretin my hands. She gave it to me and made me promisethat as soon as she was dead I would burn it unopened,with certain ceremonies. That promise I did not keep."

As he said this he sighed and looked so grave andnoble and mysterious that for a second Digory reallythought he was saying something rather fine. But thenhe remembered the ugly look he had seen on his Uncle'sface the moment before Polly had vanished: and all atonce he saw through Uncle Andrew's grand words. "Allit means," he said to himself, "is that he thinks he cando anything he likes to get anything he wants."

"Of course," said Uncle Andrew, "I didn't dare toopen the box for a long time, for I knew it mightcontain something highly dangerous. For my godmotherwas a very remarkable woman. The truth is, she wasone of the last mortals in this country who had fairyblood in her. (She said there had been two others in hertime. One was a duchess and the other was acharwoman.) In fact, Digory, you are now talking to the lastman (possibly) who really had a fairy godmother.There! That'll be something for you to remember whenyou are an old man yourself."

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