《魔法師的外甥》第18期:鍾與錘(5)
"Don't be so silly," said Polly. "As if anyone would! What does it matter what would have happened?"
"I expect anyone who's come as far as this is bound to go on wondering till it sends him dotty. That's the Magic of it, you see. I can feel it beginning to work on me already."
"Well I don't," said Polly crossly. "And I don't believe you do either. You're just putting it on."
"That's all you know," said Digory. "It's because you're a girl. Girls never want to know anything but gossip and rot about people getting engaged."
"You looked exactly like your Uncle when you said that," said Polly.
"Why can't you keep to the point?" said Digory. "What we're talking about is -"
"How exactly like a man!" said Polly in a very grownup voice; but she added hastily, in her real voice, "And don't say I'm just like a woman, or you'll be a beastly copy-cat."
"I should never dream of calling a kid like you a woman," said Digory loftily.
"Oh, I'm a kid, am I?" said Polly who was now in a real rage. "Well you needn't be bothered by having a kid with you any longer then. I'm off. I've had enough of this place. And I've had enough of you too - you beastly, stuck-up, obstinate pig!"
"None of that!" said Digory in a voice even nastier than he meant it to be; for he saw Polly's hand moving to her pocket to get hold of her yellow ring. I can't excuse what he did next except by saying that he was very sorry for it afterwards (and so were a good many other people). Before Polly's hand reached her pocket, he grabbed her wrist, leaning across with his back against her chest. Then, keeping her other arm out of the way with his other elbow, he leaned forward, picked up the hammer, and struck the golden bell a light, smart tap. Then he let her go and they fell apart staring at each other and breathing hard. Polly was just beginning to cry, not with fear, and not even because he had hurt her wrist quite badly, but with furious anger. Within two seconds, however, they had something to think about that drove their own quarrels quite out of their minds.
As soon as the bell was struck it gave out a note, a sweet note such as you might have expected, and not very loud. But instead of dying away again, it went on; and as it went on it grew louder. Before a minute had passed it was twice as loud as it had been to begin with. It was soon so loud that if the children had tried to speak (but they weren't thinking of speaking now - they were just standing with their mouths open) they would not have heard one another. Very soon it was so loud that they could not have heard one another even by shouting. And still it grew: all on one note, a continuous sweet sound, though the sweetness had something horrible about it, till all the air in that great room was throbbing with it and they could feel the stone floor trembling under their feet. Then at last it began to be mixed with another sound, a vague, disastrous noise which sounded first like the roar of a distant train, and then like the crash of a falling tree. They heard something like great weights falling. Finally, with a sudden, rush and thunder, and a shake that nearly flung them off their feet, about a quarter of the roof at one end of the room fell in, great blocks of masonry fell all round them, and the walls rocked. The noise of the bell stopped. The clouds of dust cleared away. Everything became quiet again.
It was never found out whether the fall of the roof was due to Magic or whether that unbearably loud sound from the bell just happened to strike the note which was more than those crumbling walls could stand.
"There! I hope you're satisfied now," panted Polly.
"Well, it's all over, anyway," said Digory.
And both thought it was; but they had never been more mistaken in their lives.
“我認爲，到這裏來的任何一個人都必然會不停地想，直到變得半癡半傻。你看，這就是魔法，我感到它已經對我起作用了。”
“我感覺不出。”波莉憤憤地說，“我不相信你真有感覺，不過是裝腔作勢罷了。”
“你就知道這些，”迪格雷說，“因爲你是個女孩。女孩什麼都不想知道，老是嘮嘮叨叨，說某某人和某某人訂婚了，等等。”
“你說這話的時候就跟你舅舅一模一樣。”波莉說。“爲什麼你就不能談正題？”迪格雷說，“我們現在談的是。”
“多像一個男子漢啊！”波莉用大人的口氣說道；接着，又用自己的語調匆匆補了一句，“不要說我就像個女人，那樣你就是一隻討厭的學舌鵝鵡。”
“我做夢也沒想過把你這樣的孩子叫做女人。”迪格雷傲慢地說。
“噢，我是個孩子，是嗎？”波莉這下真火了，“好，你再也不需要帶上個孩了來打擾你。我走了。我看夠了這個地方，也看夠了你”
你這個討厭的、頑固的、自以爲是的蠢豬！”
迪格雷看見波莉的手伸向口袋，要去抓那枚黃戒指，便用一種連自己都意想不到的難聽聲音喊道“住手！”我不能爲迪格雷下面的行爲開脫，最多隻能說，他後來感到抱嗽（許多人都會這樣）。在波莉的手摸到口袋以前，他扼住了她的手腕，俯過身去，用背抵住她的胸膛，然後用另一隻手的肘部擋開她另一條手臂。他斜着身，拾起小錘，輕快地在鐘上敲了一下。然後，他放開她，兩人都跌倒在地，喘着氣，狠狠地盯着對方。波莉開始哭了，不是因爲害怕，也不是因爲他重重地扭傷了她的手腕，而是因爲極大的憤怒。但很快，他們就把爭吵拋到了九霄雲外，有別的事情需要動腦筋了。
鍾剛剛敲晌的時候，就發出一種音調，不太響亮，但你可以想像，聲音很甜美。這種音調非但沒有減弱，反而繼續鳴響，而且越來越響，在不到一分鐘的時間裏，音調就比剛開始時響亮一倍。聲音迅速增長到如果孩子們想說話（但他們當時並未想到說話一一他們只是張口結舌地站着）,
互相之間也無法聽見的程度。頃刻間，聲音響得即使他們大聲喊叫也聽不見了。連綿不斷的甜美的聲音一直在不停地增大，雖然甜美之中透出一絲恐怖的氣氛。漸漸地，整個房間的空氣也隨着那種聲音頗動起來，直到兩人覺得腳下的石頭地板在顫抖。最後，另一種模糊的、災難性的聲音摻合了進來，起初像遠方火車的吼叫，接着，又像樹木倒下的聲音。他們聽見似乎有什麼重東西在往下倒。突然，一陣晃動幾乎將他們拋了出去。隨着轟隆隆的衝擊聲，房間一頭大約四分之的屋頂塌了下來，大塊大塊的磚石落在他們周圍，牆壁開始搖晃。鐘聲停止後，灰塵消散，一切又歸於寧靜。不知道是魔法使屋頂塌了下來，還是響亮的鐘聲恰好使牆壁無法忍受而崩塌。
“這下好了！我想你現在滿意了。”波莉喘着氣說。
“這麼說，一切都結束了。”迪格雷說。
兩人都這樣想；然而，他們犯了一生中最大的錯誤。
