“That she ’as， guv‘nor，” said one of the crowd. “And as lovely a black
eye as I’d wish to see. Beautiful bit of work that must ‘ave been. Gor！ Ain’t she strong then！”
“You ought to put a nice raw beefsteak on it， Mister， that‘s what it wants，” said a butcher’s boy.
“Now then，” said the most important of the policemen， “what‘s all this ’ere？”
“I tell you she.” began the fat man， when someone else called out： “Don‘t let the old cove in the cab get away. ’E put ‘er up to it.”
The old gentleman， who was certainly Uncle Andrew， had just succeeded in standing up and was rubbing his bruises. “Now then，” said the policeman， turning to him. “What’s all this？”
“Womfle.pomfy.shomf，” came Uncle Andrew‘s voice from inside the hat.
“None of that now，” said the policeman sternly. “You’ll find this is no laughing matter. Take that ‘at off， see？”
This was more easily said than done. But after Uncle Andrew had struggled in vain with the hat for some time， two other policemen seized it by the brim and forced it off.
“Thank you， thank you，” said Uncle Andrew in a faint voice. “Thank you. Dear me， I’m terribly shaken. If someone could give me a small glass of brandy.”
“Now you attend to me， if you please，” said the policeman， taking
out a very large note.book and a very small pencil. “Are you in charge of that there young woman？”
“Look out！” called several voices， and the policeman jumped a step backwards just in time. The horse had aimed a kick at him which would probably have killed him. Then the Witch wheeled the horse round so that she faced the crowd and its hind.legs were on the footpath. She had a long， bright knife in her hand and had been busily cutting the horse free from the wreck of the hansom.
All this time Digory had been trying to get into a position from which he could touch the Witch. This wasn‘t at all easy because， on the side nearest to him， there were too many people. And in order to get round to the other side he had to pass between the horse’s
hoofs and the railings of the “area” that surrounded the house； for the Ketterleys‘ house had a basement. If you know anything about horses， and especially if you had seen what a state that horse was in at the moment， you will realize that this was a ticklish thing to do. Digory knew lots about horses， but he set his teeth and got ready to make a dash for it as soon as he saw a favourable moment.
A red.faced man in a bowler hat had now shouldered his way to the front of the crowd.
“Hi！ P’leeceman，” he said， “that‘s my ’orse what she‘s sitting on， same as it’s my cab what she‘s made matchwood of.”
“One at a time， please， one at a time，” said the policeman.
“But there ain’t no time，” said the Cabby. “I know that ‘orse better’n you do. ‘Tain’t an ordinary ‘orse. ’Is father was a hofficer‘s charger in the cavalry， ’e was. And if the young woman goes on hexcitin‘ ’im， there‘ll be murder done. ’Ere， let me get at him.”
The policeman was only to glad to have a good reason for standing further away from the horse. The Cabby took a step nearer， looked up at Jadis， and said in a not unkindly voice：
“Now， Missie， let me get at ‘is ’ead， and just you get off. You‘re a Lidy， and you don’t want all these roughs going for you， do you？ You want to go ‘ome and ’ave a nice cup of tea and a lay.down quiet like； then you‘ll feel ever so much better.” At the same time he stretched out his hand towards the horse’s head with the words， “Steady， Strawberry， old boy. Steady now.”
Then for the first time the Witch spoke.
“Dog！” came her cold， clear voice， ringing loud above all the other noises. “Dog， unhand our royal charger. We are the Empress Jadis.”
中文阅读
“喂，奴才，我等车还要等多长时间？”女巫大声怒斥道。安德鲁舅舅畏缩着躲开了她。女巫一旦真的出现，他照镜子时所产生的愚蠢念头全都烟消云散了。莱蒂姨妈立即站起身来，走到客厅中间。
“我可以问一下吗，安德鲁，这个年轻女子是谁？”莱蒂姨妈用冰冷的语调问道。
“高贵的外国人..非..非常重要的人..人物。”他结结巴巴地回答。“胡说八道！”莱蒂姨妈说着，转身对女巫命令道，“马上从我的房子里出去，你这个不知羞耻的贱人，不然我要叫警察了。”她误以为女巫是马戏团里的什么人，再说她也不赞同女人赤裸着手臂。
“这个女人是干什么的？”杰迪斯问，“奴才，趁我还没有用咒语把你毁灭，赶快跪下。”
“请不要在这栋房子里说粗话，年轻女人。”莱蒂姨妈说。在安德鲁舅舅看来，女王的身子顿时挺立得更加高大了。她的眼睛里喷射出怒火，举起手臂，口中念念有词。前不久，她就是用这样的姿势和咒语把恰恩城的宫殿大门化为了灰烬。然而，这一次却什么都没有发生。莱蒂姨妈错以为这些恐怖的咒语是普通的英语，说道：
“我猜得不错。这个女人喝醉了。喝多了！她连话都说不清楚了。”
对于女巫来说，这必定是个可怕的时刻。她突然意识到，在她的世界里，她将人化成尘土的能力是真实存在的，但在这个世界里却失去了效力。她丝毫没有感到胆怯，也没有费心去思考这件令她失望的事，而是猛地向前扑去，抓住莱蒂姨妈的脖子和膝盖，将她高高地举过头顶，就跟举一个洋娃娃似的，然后随手把她向屋子的另一头抛去。莱蒂姨妈正在空中翻腾时，女仆（对她来说，这个上午实在太刺激了）将脑袋探进房门，说道：“请吧，先生，马车到了。”
“前面带路，奴才。”女巫对安德鲁舅舅说。他咕咕囔囔地说着“令人遗憾的暴力..必须提出抗议”之类的话，杰迪斯瞪了他一眼，他便不敢吱声了。她逼着他走出客厅，又走出房子。迪戈里快步跑下楼梯时，恰好看见前门在他们的身后关上。
“天哪！”他叫道，“让她在伦敦胡作非为。还带着安德鲁舅舅。我真想知道下面会闹出什么名堂。”
“哦，迪戈里少爷。”女仆嚷道（她觉得这一天实在美妙无比），“我想，凯特利小姐不知怎么伤着自己了。”于是，他们两人冲进客厅来一探究竟。
我猜想，如果莱蒂姨妈摔在了地板上，哪怕是落在地毯上，她全身的骨头都会折断。但非常幸运的是，她摔到了床垫上。莱蒂姨妈是一位健壮的老妇人。在那个时代，姨妈们通常都是这样。她闻了几下提神用的嗅盐，又坐在那儿休息了几分钟，就说，她仅有几处擦伤，并无大碍。紧接着她就承担起了处理眼下紧急情况的责任。