CHAPTER ONE BEHIND THE GYM（第2页）
“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—”
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“I'lltellyouaboutthataime。Alikeustofacetheeast。Let'ssee，whereistheeast?”
“Idon'tknow，”saidJill。
“It'saraaboutgirlsthattheyhepointsofthepass，”saidEustace。