CHAPTERTWODIGORYANDHISUNCLE
ITwassosudden，andsohorriblyuhingthathadeverhappeoDigoryeveninaheletoutasstantlyUndrew'shandwasoverhismouth。“!”hehissedinDigory'sear。“Ifyaher'llhearit。Andyouknowwhatafrightmightdotoher。”
AsDigorysaidafterward，thehorriblemeatingatathatway，almostmadehimsick。Butofcoursehedidn&#ain。“That'sbetter，”saidUndresyou'thelpit。Itisashoyoufirstseesomeonevanish。Why，itgaveeveurheguinea-pigdidittheht。”
“Wasthatwhenyouyelled?”askedDigory。
“Oh，youheardthat，didyou?Ihopeyouhaven'tbeenspyingonme?”
“，”saidDignantly。“Butwhat'shappeoPolly?”
“gratulateme，mydearboy，”saidUndrew，rubbinghishahassucceeded。Thelittlegirl'sgooutoftheworld。”
“Whathaveyoudooher?”
&o—lace。”
“Whatdoyoumean?”askedDigory。
Udownandsaid，“Well，I'lltellyouallaboutit。HaveyoueverheardofoldMrs。Lefay?”
“Wasn'tsheagreat-auhing?”saidDigory。
“ly，”saidUndrew。“Shewasmygodmother。That'sher，there，onthe>
Digorylookedandsahotograph:itshowedthefaani。Andheberthathehadooofthesamefaolddrawer，athome，iry。HehadaskedhisMotherwhoitwasaseemedtowanttotalkaboutthesubjectmuch。Itwasnotatallaniceface，Dight，thoughofcoursewiththraphsoneeverreallytell。
“Wasthere—wasn'tthere—somethingwrongabouther，Undre>
“Well，”saidUhachuckle，“itdependswhaty。Peoplearesonarrow-miainlygotveryqueerinlaterlife。Didveryuhings。Thatwaswhytheyshutherup。”
“Inanasylum，doyoumean?”
“Ohno，no，no，”saidUndrewinashockedvoiothingofthatsort。Onlyinprison。”
“Isay!”saidDigory。“Whathadshedone?”
“Ah，poorwoman，”saidUndrew。“Shehadbeenveryuherewereagoodmahings。Wegointoallthat。Shewasalwaysverykindtome。”
“Butlookhere，whathasallthisgottodowithPolly?Idowishyou'd—”
“Allingoodtime，myboy，”saidUheyletoldMrs。LefayoutbeforeshediedandIwasoheveryfeouldallowtoseeheriilltodislikenorantpeople，youuand。Idomyself。Butsheaediofthings。ItwasonlyafewdaysbeforeherdeaththatshetoldmetogotoanoldbureauinherhouseandopedrawerandbrileboxthatIwouldfihemomeboxIcouldtellbytheprimyfiIheldsomegreatsemyhameandmademepromisethatassoonasshewasdeadIwouldburnit，uhies。ThatpromiseIdidnotkeep。”
&hen，itwasjollyrottenofyou，”saidDigory。
“Rotten?”saidUhapuzzledlook。
“Oh，Isee。Youmeanthatlittleboysoughttokeeptheirpromises。Verytrue:mhtandproper，I'msure，andI&#ladyouhavebeentaughttodoit。Butofustuhatrulesofthatsort，howeverexttheymaybeforlittleboys—as—andeopleingeneral，'tpossiblybeexpectedtoapplytoprofousahinkersandsages。No，Digory。Menlikeme，whopossesshiddenwisdom，arefreedfromoasweareonpleasures。Ours，myboy，isahighainy。”
&hishesighedandlookedsograveaeriousthatforasedDigoryreallythoughthewassayiherfiheheuglylookhehadseenonhisUncle'sfaentbeforePollyhadvanished:andallatohroughUndrew'sgrandwords。“Allitmeaohimself，“Isthathethinksheythias。”
“Ofcourse，”saidUndrew，“Ididn'tdaretoopenthebtime，forIkmightethinghighlydangerodmotherwasaveryremarkablewomahis，shewasomortalsinthistrywhohadfairybloodinher。（Shesaidtherehadbeentwoothersiime。Onewasadudtheotherwasaan。）Infact，Digory，youarenowtalkiman（possibly）whoreallyhadafairygodmother。There!That'llbesomethingforyoutorememberwhenyouareanoldmanyourself。”
&shewasabadfairy，”thoughtDigory;aloud。“Butolly?”
“Howyoudoharponthat!”saidUndrew。“Asifthatwaswhatmattered!Myfirsttaskwasofcoursetostudytheboxitself。Itwasverya。AndIkneweoknowthatitwasn'tGreek，yptian，orBabylonian，orHittite，orese。Itwasolderthananyofthosenations。Ah—thatwasagreatdaywhenIatlastfouheboxwasAtlathelostislandofAtlantis。Thatmeantitwasturiesolderthanaoheydigupiwasn&#h，glikethemeither。Forintheverydawiswasalreadyagreatcitywithpaladtemplesandlearnedmen。”
HepausedforamomentasifheexpectedDigorytosaysomething。ButDigorywasdislikinghisUnclemoreeveryminute，sohesaidnothing。
“MeainuedUndrew，“Iwaslearningagooddealinotherways（itwouldn'tbepropertoexplaioaagieral。ThatmeantthatIcametohaveafairideawhatsortofthingsmightbeinthebox。ByvarioustestsIhepossibilities。Ihadtogettoknowsome—well，somedevilishqueerpeople，andghsreeableexperiewaswhatturnedmyheadgray。ObeagiothihbrokedowIgotbetter。AndatlastIaew。”
Althoughtherewasheleastythem，heleanedforwardandalmostwhisperedashesaid:“TheAtlanteanboxedsomethingthathadbeenbroughtfromanotherorldwasonlyjustbeginning。”
“What?”askedDigory，ieofhimself。