CHAPTER THREE EDMUND AND THE WARDROBE（第2/3页）

Now the steps she had heard were those of Edmund；and he came into the room just in time to see Lucy vanishing into the wardrobe．He at once decided to get into it himself-not because he thought it a particularly good place to hide but because he wanted to go on teasing her about her imaginary country．He opened the door．There were the coats hanging up as usual，and a smell of mothballs，and darkness and silence，and no sign of Lucy．“She thinks I’m Susan come to catch her，”said Edmund to himself， “and so she’s keeping very quiet in at the back．”He jumped in and shut the door，forgetting what a very foolish thing this is to do． Then he began feeling about for Lucy in the dark．He had expected to find her in a few seconds and was very surprised when he did not. He decided to open the door again and let in some light．But he could not find the door either．He didn’t like this at all and began groping wildly in every direction；he even shouted out，“Lucy ！ Lu ！ Where are you ？ I know you’re here．”

There was no answer and Edmund noticed that his own voice had a curious sound-not the sound you expect in a cupboard，but a kind of open-air sound．He also noticed that he was unexpectedly cold；and then he saw a light．

“Thank goodness，”said Edmund，“the door must have swung open of its own accord．”He forgot all about Lucy and went towards the light，which he thought was the open door of the wardrobe． But instead of finding himself stepping out into the spare room he found himself stepping out from the shadow of some thick dark fir trees into an open place in the middle of a wood．

There was crisp，dry snow under his feet and more snow lying on the branches of the trees．Overhead there was pale blue sky，the sort of sky one sees on a fine winter day in the morning． Straight ahead of him he saw between the tree-trunks the sun，just rising，very red and clear．Everything was perfectly still，as if he were the only living creature in that country．There was not even a robin or a squirrel among the trees，and the wood stretched as far as he could see in every direction．He shivered．

He now remembered that he had been looking for Lucy； and also how unpleasant he had been to her about her“imaginary country”which now turned out not to have been imaginary at all. He thought that she must be somewhere quite close and so he shouted，“Lucy ！ Lucy ！ I’m here too-Edmund．”

There was no answer．

“She’s angry about all the things I’ve been saying lately，” thought Edmund．And though he did not like to admit that he had been wrong，he also did not much like being alone in this strange， cold，quiet place；so he shouted again．

“I say，Lu ！ I’m sorry I didn’t believe you．I see now you were right all along．Do come out．Make it Pax．”

Still there was no answer．

“Just like a girl，”said Edmund to himself，“sulking somewhere， and won’t accept an apology．”He looked round him again and decided he did not much like this place，and had almost made up his mind to go home，when he heard，very far off in the wood，a sound of bells．He listened and the sound came nearer and nearer and at last there swept into sight a sledge drawn by two reindeer.

The reindeer were about the size of Shetland ponies and their hair was so white that even the snow hardly looked white compared with them；their branching horns were gilded and shone like something on fire when the sunrise caught them．Their harness was of scarlet leather and covered with bells．On the sledge，driving the reindeer，sat a fat dwarf who would have been about three feet high if he had been standing．He was dressed in polar bear’s fur and on his head he wore a red hood with a long gold tassel hanging down from its point；his huge beard covered his knees and served him instead of a rug．But behind him，on a much higher seat in the middle of the sledge sat a very different person-a great lady， taller than any woman that Edmund had ever seen．She also was covered in white fur up to her throat and held a long straight golden wand in her right hand and wore a golden crown on her head．Her face was white-not merely pale，but white like snow or paper or icing-sugar，except for her very red mouth．It was a beautiful face in other respects，but proud and cold and stern．