8220;How are we to know we 8217;re in the next house but one? 8221; They decided they would have to go out into the boxroom and walk across it taking steps as long as the steps from one rafter to the next. That would give them an idea of how many rafters went to a room. Then they would allow about four more for the passage between the two attics in Polly 8217;s house, and then the same number for the maid 8217;s bedroom as for the box-room. That would give them the length of the house. When they had done that distance twice they would be at the end of Digory 8217;s house; any door they came to after that would let them into an attic of the empty house.
“可我们怎么知道刚好到了隔壁一幢的房子里呢？”
8220;But I don 8217;t expect it 8217;s really empty at all, 8221; said Digory.
他们决定．先出去到储藏室，以两根椽子之间的距离为一步，这样走一遍，就知道要跨过多少根椽子才能走完一个房间。他们给波莉家两个阁楼间的通道留出稍多于四根椽子的距离，给女佣的卧室算上与储藏室一样多的椽子。加起来，便是那幢房子的总长度。走完两倍这段距离，就是迪格雷家房子的尽头。再往前，他们所走到的任何一扇门都会通向空房子的阁楼。
8220;What do you expect? 8221;
“但我不认为那房子真是空的。”迪格雷说。
8220;I expect someone lives there in secret, only coming in and out at night, with a dark lantern. We shall probably discover a gang of desperate criminals and get a reward. It 8217;s all rot to say a house would be empty all those years unless there was some mystery. 8221;
“那你是怎么想的？ 8221;
8220;Daddy thought it must be the drains, 8221; said Polly.
“我想，有人隐居在那儿，天黑以后才提着一盏昏暗的提灯进出。我们还可能发现一帮绝望的罪犯，并由此得到奖赏。要说一幢空了多年的房子毫无秘密，那就太蠢了。”
8220;Pooh! Grown-ups are always thinking of uninteresting explanations, 8221; said Digory. Now that they were talking by daylight in the attic instead of by candlelight in the Smugglers 8217; Cave it seemed much less likely that the empty house would be haunted.
“爸爸认为，里面一定是下水道。”波莉说。
When they had measured the attic they had to get a pencil and do a sum. They both got different answers to it at first, and even when they agreed I am not sure they got it right. They were in a hurry to start on the exploration.
“咳！大人的想法总是没趣儿！”迪格雷说。因为他们是在白天的阁楼里，而不是在”走私者的山洞”里点若蜡烛谈话．空房子闹鬼的可能性便显得很小了。
8220;We mustn 8217;t make a sound, 8221; said Polly as they climbed in again behind the cistern. Because it was such an important occasion they took a candle each (Polly had a good store of them in her cave).
他们测出阁楼的长度后，便拿出铅笔来计算总长。起先，两人答案不一致，但即使得出同一结果，我也怀疑他们是否算对了。因为两人都急着上路，去开始他们伟大的探险事业。 8221;
It was very dark and dusty and draughty and they stepped from rafter to rafter without a word except when they whispered to one another, 8220;We 8217;re opposite your attic now 8221; or 8220;this must be halfway through our house 8221;. And neither of them stumbled and the candles didn 8217;t go out, and at last they came where they could see a little door in the brick wall on their right. There was no bolt or handle on this side of it, of course, for the door had been made for getting in, not for getting out; but there was a catch (as there often is on the inside of a cupboard door) which they felt sure they would be able to turn.
“我们决不能弄出声音。”当他们从水池后面再次往隧道里钻时，波莉说。每人手里举了一根蜡烛（波莉在她的“山洞”里藏了很多）。
8220;Shall I? 8221; said Digory.
黑暗而通风的隧道里积着厚厚的灰尘。他们踩着椽子悄然而行，偶尔互相耳语一句“到你家阁楼对面了”，或者“走到我家房子的中间了”。两人都没有跌倒过，蜡烛也没有熄灭过，最后，他们停住了，看见右面的砖墙上有扇小门。门的这一面既无门闩也无把手，
8220;I 8217;m game if you are, 8221; said Polly, just as she had said before. Both felt that it was becoming very serious, but neither would draw back. Digory pushed round the catch with some difficultly. The door swung open and the sudden daylight made them blink. Then, with a great shock, they saw that they were looking, not into a deserted attic, but into a furnished room. But it seemed empty enough. It was dead silent. Polly 8217;s curiosity got the better of her. She blew out her candle and stepped out into the strange room, making no more noise than a mouse.
显然，那门是做来让人进屋，而不是让人走出去的。但门上有个挂钩（像衣柜门上常见的那种），他们觉得完全能够打开。
It was shaped, of course, like an attic, but furnished as a sitting-room. Every bit of the walls was lined with shelves and every bit of the shelves was full of books. A fire was burning in the grate (you remember that it was a very cold wet summer that year) and in front of the fire-place with its back towards them was a high-backed armchair. Between the chair and Polly, and filling most of the middle of the room, was a big table piled with all sorts of things printed books, and books of the sort you write in, and ink bottles and pens and sealing-wax and a microscope. But what she noticed first was a bright red wooden tray with a number of rings on it. They were in pairs 8211; a yellow one and a green one together, then a little space, and then another yellow one and another green one. They were no bigger than ordinary rings, and no one could help noticing them because they were so bright. They were the most beautiful shiny little things you can imagine. If Polly had been a very little younger she would have wanted to put one in her mouth.
“我去开吗？”迪格雷问。
The room was so quiet that you noticed the ticking of the clock at once. And yet, as she now found, it was not absolutely quiet either. There was a faint 8211; a very, very faint 8211; humming sound. If Hoovers had been invented in those days Polly would have thought it was the sound of a Hoover being worked a long way off 8211; several rooms away and several floors below. But it was a nicer sound than that, a more musical tone: only so faint that you could hardly hear it.
“只要你愿意，我就愿意。”波莉又搬出她的口头禅。两人都知道，他们正处在紧要关头，但谁也没有后退。迪格雷费了一番劲才把挂钩打开。门一开，突然射来的自然光使他们忍不住眨了眨眼。接着，他们非常惊奇地发现，面前不是一间废弃的阁楼，而是一个陈设完整的房间。但似乎又是空荡荡的，一派死寂。波莉在好奇心的驱使下吹灭了蜡烛，像耗子一样悄悄地走进了那间奇怪的屋子。
8220;It 8217;s alright; there 8217;s no one here, 8221; said Polly over her shoulder to Digory. She was speaking above a whisper now. And Digory came out, blinking and looking extremely dirty 8211; as indeed Polly was too.
屋子的形状很像阁楼，但又装饰得像起居室。沿墙摆满了架子，架上放满了书籍。壁炉里燃着火，（你还记得那年夏天又冷又湿吧？）火炉前面，一把高背扶手椅背对他们两人放着。在波莉和椅子之间，占据大部分空间的是一张堆着各种物什的大桌子——书、笔记薄、墨水瓶、钢笔、封蜡和一台显微镜。然而，她首先注意到的是一只红得发亮的木托盘，里面有几只戒指。这些戒指成对放着，一枚黄的和一枚绿的挨在一起隔了一点距离，又是一枚黄的和一枚绿的挨在一起。它们只不过像普通戒指那么大，但由于太亮了，谁也不会看不见。这些小戒指闪着你能想像的最共丽的光彩。如果波莉再小一点儿，她说不定会草一枚放进嘴里。