“ThehinkItrustyou。”
“Dam'goodofyou,”saidJill。
&hisisareallyterrificsecret。Pole,Isay,areyougoodatbelievingthihingsthateveryoneherewouldlaughat?”
“I'vehece,”saidJill,“butIthinkIwouldbe。”
“CouldyoubelievemeifIsaidI'dbeenrightoutoftheworld—outsidethisworld—lasthols?”
“Iwouldn'tknowwhatyoumeant。”
“Well,don'tlet'sbotheraboutthatthen。SupposingItoldyouI'dbeeninaplacewhereanimalstalkahereare—er—esanddragohesortsofthingsyouhaveinfairy-tales。”Scrubbfeltterriblyawkwardashesaidthisaheface。
“Howdidyougetthere?”saidJill。Shealsofeltcuriouslyshy。
“Theonlywayyou—byMagic,”saidEustacealmostinawhisper。“Ioi—whiskedaway。They'dbeentherebefore。”
NowthattheyweretalkinginwhispersJillsomehowfeltiteasiertobelieve。Thensuddenlyahorriblesuspieoverherandshesaid(sofiercelythatforthemomentshelookedlikeatigress):
“IfIfindyou'vebeenpullingmylegI'lloyouagain;never,never,never。”
“I'mnot,”saidEustace。“IswearI'mnot。Iswearbyeverything。”
(WhenIwasatsewouldhavesaid,“IswearbytheBible。”ButBibleswerenedatExperimentHouse。)
“Allright,”saidJill,“I'llbelieveyou。”
“Andtellnobody?”
“Whatdoyoutakemefor?”
Theywereveryexcitedastheysaidthis。ButwhentheyhadsaiditandJilllookedroundaumnskyahedripofftheleavesandthoughtofallthehopelessHouse(itwasathirteeherewerestilleleveoe)shesaid:
“Butafterall,what'sthegood?We'renotthere:we'rehere。Andwejollywell'tgetthere。Orwe?”
“That'swhatI'vebeenw,”saidEustawecamebaThatPlaeohatthetwoPevehat'smytwos)evergain。Itwastheirthirdtime,yousee。Isupposethey'vehadtheirshare。ButheneversaidI't。Surelyhewouldhavesaidso,uhatIwastogetbadI'thelpw,we—couldwe—?”
“Doyoumeaomakeithappen?”
&aodded。
“Youmeadrawatheground—andwriteiersinit—andsta—aedspells?”
“Well,”saidEustaceafterhehadthoughthardforabit。“IbelievethatwasthesortofthingIwasthinkingof,thoughI。Butnowthatitestothepoint,I'veaallthosedthiherrot。Idon'tthinkhe'dlikethem。Itwouldlookasifwethoughtweakehimdothings。Butreally,welyaskhim。”
“Whoisthispersoalkingabout?”
“TheycallhimAslaninThatPlace,”saidEustace。
“Whatae!”
“Nothalfsoself,”saidEustanly。“Butlet'sgeton。It'tdoanyharm,justaski'sstandsidebyside,likethis。Andwe'llholdoutourarmsinfrontofuswiththepalmsdowheydidinRamandu'sisland—”
“>
“I'lltellyouaboutthataime。Alikeustofacetheeast。Let'ssee,whereistheeast?”
“Idon'tknow,”saidJill。
“It'saraaboutgirlsthattheyhepointsofthepass,”saidEustace。