CHAPTER TEN THE MAGICIAN’S BOOK（第3/3页）

But here part of the magic of the Book came into play．You couldn’t turn back．The right-hand pages，the ones ahead，could be turned；the left-hand pages could not．

“Oh，what a shame ！”said Lucy．“I did so want to read it again．Well，at least I must remember it．Let’s see... it was about... about... oh dear，it’s all fading away again．

And even this last page is going blank．This is a very queer book．How can I have forgotten ？ It was about a cup and a sword and a tree and a green hill，I know that much．But I can’t remember and what shall I do ？”

And she never could remember；and ever since that day what Lucy means by a good story is a story which reminds her of the forgotten story in the Magician’s Book．

She turned on and found to her surprise a page with no pictures at all；but the first words were A Spell to make hidden things visible．She read it through to make sure of all the hard words and then said it out loud．And she knew at once that it was working because as she spoke the colours came into the capital letters at the top of the page and the pictures began appearing in the margins．It was like when you hold to the fire something written in Invisible Ink and the writing gradually shows up；only instead of the dingy colour of lemon juice(which is the easiest Invisible Ink)this was all gold and blue and scarlet．They were odd pictures and contained many figures that Lucy did not much like the look of．And then she thought，“I suppose I’ve made everything visible，and not only the Thumpers．There might be lots of other invisible things hanging about a place like this．I’m not sure that I want to see them all．”

At that moment she heard soft，heavy footfalls coming along the corridor behind her；and of course she remembered what she had been told about the Magician walking in his bare feet and making no more noise than a cat．It is always better to turn round than to have anything creeping up behind your back．Lucy did so．

Then her face lit up till，for a moment(but of course she didn’t know it)，she looked almost as beautiful as that other Lucy in the picture，and she ran forward with a little cry of delight and with her arms stretched out．For what stood in the doorway was Aslan himself，The Lion，the highest of all High Kings．And he was solid and real and warm and he let her kiss him and bury herself in his shining mane．And from the low，earthquake-like sound that came from inside him，Lucy even dared to think that he was purring．

“Oh，Aslan，”said she，“it was kind of you to come．”

“I have been here all the time，”said he，“but you have just made me visible．”

“Aslan！”said Lucy almost a little reproachfully．“Don’t make fun of me．As if anything 1 could do would make you visible ！”

“It did，”said Aslan．“Do you think I wouldn’t obey my own rules ？”

After a little pause he spoke again．

“Child，”he said，“I think you have been eavesdropping．”

“Eavesdropping ？”

“You listened to what your two schoolfellows were saying about you．”

“Oh that ？ I never thought that was eavesdropping，Aslan． Wasn’t it magic ？”

“Spying on people by magic is the same as spying on them in any other way．And you have misjudged your friend．She is weak，but she loves you．She was afraid of the older girl and said what she does not mean．”

“I don’t think I’d ever be able to forget what I heard her say．”

“No，you won’t．”

“Oh dear，”said Lucy．“Have I spoiled everything ？Do you mean we would have gone on being friends if it hadn’t been for this-and been really great friends-all our lives perhaps-and now we never shall．”

“Child，”said Aslan，“did I not explain to you once before that no one is ever told what would have happened ？”

“Yes，Aslan，you did，”said Lucy．“I’m sorry．But please—”

“Speak on，dear heart．”

“Shall I ever be able to，read that story again；the one I couldn’t remember ？Will you tell it to me，Aslan ？Oh do，do，do．”

“Indeed，yes，I will tell it to you for years and years．But now，come．We must meet the master of this house．”