Because the goose of hide-and-seek was still going on it took Edmund
and Lucy some time to find the others. But when at last they were all
together (which happened in the long room, where the suit of armour was)
Lucy burst out, “Peter! Susan! It’s all true. Edmund has seen it too.
There is a country you can get to through the wardrobe. Edmund and I
both got in. We met one another in there, in the wood. Go on, Edmund;
tell them all about it.” “What’s all this about, Ed?” said Peter. And
now we come to one of the nastiest things in this story. Up to that
moment Edmund had been feeling sick, and sulky, andogoin. I believe you
did it simply out of spite.” all nonsense,” said Edmund, very taken
aback. “Of course it’s all nonsense,” said Pe, “that’s just the point.
Lu was perfectly all right when we left home, but since we’ve been down
here she seems to be either going queer in the head or else turning into
a most frightful liar. But whichever it is, what good do you think
you’ll do by jeering and nagging at her one day and encouraging her the
next?”
“I thought—I thought,” said Edmund; but he couldn’t think of anything to say. “You didn’t think anything at all,” said Peter, “it’s just spin. You’ve always liked being beastly to anyone smaller than yourself; we’ve seen that at school before now.” “Do stop it,” said Susan; “it won’t make things any better having a TOW between you two. Let’s go and lind Lucy.” It was not surprising that when they found Lucy, a good deal later, everyone could see that she had been crying. Nothing they could say to her made any difference. She stuck to her story and said: “I don’t care what you think, and I don’t mre what you say. You can tell the Professor or you can write to Mother or you can do anything I wish I’d stayed there and you acetall” be% beasts.” It was an unpleasant evening. Lucy was miserable and Edmund was beginning to feel that his plan wasn’t working as well as he had expected. The two older ones were really begin-ning to think that Lucy was out of her mind. They stood in the passage talking about it in whispers long after she had gone to bed. The result was that next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to the Professor. “He’ll write to Father if he thinks there is really something wrong with Lu,” said Peter; “it’s getting beyond us.” So they went and knocked at the study door, and the Professor said “Come in,” and got up and found chairs for them and said he was quite at their disposal. Then he sat listening to them with the tips of his fingers pressed together and never interrupting, till they had finished the whole story. After that he said nothing for quite a long time. Then he cleared his throat and said the last thing either of them expected. “How do you know?” he asked, “that your sister’s story is not true?” “Oh, but—” began Susan, and then stopped.
Tux Non.* Am. Trak wen… Argon° could see from the old man’s face that he was perfectly serious. Then Susan pulled herself together and said, “But Edmund said they had only been pretending.” “That is a point,” said the Professor, “which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance—if you will excuse me for asking the question—does your experi-ence lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?” “That’s just the funny thing about it, Sir,” said Peter. “Up till now, I’d have said Lucy every time.” “And what do you think, my dear?” said the Professor, turning to Susan. “Well,” said Susan, “in general, I’d say the same as Peter, but this couldn’t be true–all this about the wood and the Faun.” “That is more than I know,” said the Profes-sor, “and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing; a very serious thing indeed.” “We were afraid it mightn’t even be lying,” said Susan. “We thought there might be some-thing wrong with Lucy.’ “Madness, you mean?” said the Professor quite coolly. “Oh, you can make your minds’’Back on This Side of the Door 45 easy about that. One has only to look at her and talk to her to see that she is not mad.” “But then,” said Susan and stopped. She had never dreamed that a grown-up would talk like the Professor and didn’t know what to think. “Logic!” said the Profess half to himself. “Why don’t they teach log, at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is tell-ing the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the .uth.” Susan looked at him very hard and was quite sure from the expression on his face that he was not making fun of them.
“But how could it be true, Sir?” said Peter. “Why do you say that?” asked the Professor. “Well, for one thing,” said Peter, “if it was real why doesn’t everyone find this country every time they go to the wardrobe? I mean, there was nothing there when we looked; even Lucy didn’t pretend there was.” “What has that to do with it?” said the Pro-fessor. “Well, Sir, if things are real, they’re there all the time.”
“I thought—I thought,” said Edmund; but he couldn’t think of anything to say. “You didn’t think anything at all,” said Peter, “it’s just spin. You’ve always liked being beastly to anyone smaller than yourself; we’ve seen that at school before now.” “Do stop it,” said Susan; “it won’t make things any better having a TOW between you two. Let’s go and lind Lucy.” It was not surprising that when they found Lucy, a good deal later, everyone could see that she had been crying. Nothing they could say to her made any difference. She stuck to her story and said: “I don’t care what you think, and I don’t mre what you say. You can tell the Professor or you can write to Mother or you can do anything I wish I’d stayed there and you acetall” be% beasts.” It was an unpleasant evening. Lucy was miserable and Edmund was beginning to feel that his plan wasn’t working as well as he had expected. The two older ones were really begin-ning to think that Lucy was out of her mind. They stood in the passage talking about it in whispers long after she had gone to bed. The result was that next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to the Professor. “He’ll write to Father if he thinks there is really something wrong with Lu,” said Peter; “it’s getting beyond us.” So they went and knocked at the study door, and the Professor said “Come in,” and got up and found chairs for them and said he was quite at their disposal. Then he sat listening to them with the tips of his fingers pressed together and never interrupting, till they had finished the whole story. After that he said nothing for quite a long time. Then he cleared his throat and said the last thing either of them expected. “How do you know?” he asked, “that your sister’s story is not true?” “Oh, but—” began Susan, and then stopped.
Tux Non.* Am. Trak wen… Argon° could see from the old man’s face that he was perfectly serious. Then Susan pulled herself together and said, “But Edmund said they had only been pretending.” “That is a point,” said the Professor, “which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance—if you will excuse me for asking the question—does your experi-ence lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?” “That’s just the funny thing about it, Sir,” said Peter. “Up till now, I’d have said Lucy every time.” “And what do you think, my dear?” said the Professor, turning to Susan. “Well,” said Susan, “in general, I’d say the same as Peter, but this couldn’t be true–all this about the wood and the Faun.” “That is more than I know,” said the Profes-sor, “and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing; a very serious thing indeed.” “We were afraid it mightn’t even be lying,” said Susan. “We thought there might be some-thing wrong with Lucy.’ “Madness, you mean?” said the Professor quite coolly. “Oh, you can make your minds’’Back on This Side of the Door 45 easy about that. One has only to look at her and talk to her to see that she is not mad.” “But then,” said Susan and stopped. She had never dreamed that a grown-up would talk like the Professor and didn’t know what to think. “Logic!” said the Profess half to himself. “Why don’t they teach log, at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is tell-ing the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the .uth.” Susan looked at him very hard and was quite sure from the expression on his face that he was not making fun of them.
“But how could it be true, Sir?” said Peter. “Why do you say that?” asked the Professor. “Well, for one thing,” said Peter, “if it was real why doesn’t everyone find this country every time they go to the wardrobe? I mean, there was nothing there when we looked; even Lucy didn’t pretend there was.” “What has that to do with it?” said the Pro-fessor. “Well, Sir, if things are real, they’re there all the time.”
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