CHAPTER EIGHT THE HOUSE OF HARFANG（第3/3页）

“We must put them off their guard，though,”said Scrubb. “We must pretend we love being here and are longing for this Autumn Feast.”

“That’s tomorrow night,”said Puddleglum. “I heard one of them say so.”

“I see,”said Jill. “We must pretend to be awfully excited about it，and keep on asking questions. They think we’re absolute infants anyway，which will make it easier.”

“Gay,”said Puddleglum with a deep sigh. “That’s what we’ve got to be. Gay. As if we hadn’t a care in the world. Frolicsome. You two youngsters haven’t always got very high spirits，I’ve noticed. You must watch me，and do as I do. I’ll be gay. Like this”—and he assumed a ghastly grin. “And frolicsome”—here he cut a most mournful caper. “You’ll soon get into it，if you keep your eyes on me. They think I’m a funny fellow already，you see. I dare say you two thought I was a trifle tipsy last night，but I do assure you it was—well，most of it was—put on. I had an idea it would come in useful，somehow.”

The children，when they talked over their adventures afterwards，could never feel sure whether this last statement was quite strictly true；but they were sure that Puddleglum thought it was true when he made it.

“All right. Gay’s the word,”said Scrubb. “Now，if we could only get someone to open this door. While we’re fooling about and being gay，we’ve got to find out all we can about this castle.”

Luckily，at that very moment the door opened，and the giant Nurse bustled in，saying，“Now，my poppets. Like to come and see the King and all the court setting out on the hunting ？ Such a pretty sight ！”

They lost no time in rushing out past her and climbing down the first staircase they came to. The noise of hounds and horns and giant voices guided them，so that in a few minutes they reached the courtyard. The giants were all on foot，for there are no giant horses in that part of the world，and the giants’ hunting is done on foot；like beagling in England. The hounds also were of normal size. When Jill saw that there were no horses she was at first dreadfully disappointed，for she felt sure that the great fat Queen would never go after hounds on foot；and it would never do to have her about the house all day. But then she saw the Queen in a kind of litter supported on the shoulders of six young giants. The silly old creature was all got up in green and had a horn at her side. Twenty or thirty giants，including the King，were assembled， ready for the sport，all talking and laughing fit to deafen you： and down below，nearer Jill’s level，there were wagging tails， and barking，and loose，slobbery mouths and noses of dogs thrust into your hand. Puddleglum was just beginning to strike what he thought a gay and gamesome attitude（which might have spoiled everything if it had been noticed）when Jill put on her most attractively childish smile，rushed across to the Queen’s litter and shouted up to the Queen.

“Oh，please ！ You’re not going away，are you ？ You will come back ？”

“Yes，my dear,”said the Queen. “I’ll be back tonight.”

“Oh，good. How lovely ！”said Jill. “And we may come to the feast tomorrow night，mayn’t we ？ We’re so longing for tomorrow night ！ And we do love being here. And while you’re out，we may run over the whole castle and see everything，mayn’t we ？ Do say yes.”

The Queen did say yes，but the laughter of all the courtiers nearly drowned her voice.