CHAPTER SEVEN WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FRONT DOOR

“Now；slave，how long am I to wait for my chariot ？”thundered the Witch．Uncle Andrew cowered away from her．Now that she was really present，all the silly thoughts he had had while looking at himself in the glass were oozing out of him．But Aunt Letty at once got up from her knees and came over to the centre of the room．

“And who is this young person，Andrew，may I ask ？”said Aunt Letty in icy tones．

“Distinguished foreigner-v-very important p-person，”he stammered．

“Rubbish ！”said Aunt Letty，and then，turning to the Witch，“Get out of my house this moment，you shameless hussy，or I’ll send for the police．”She thought the Witch must be someone out of a circus and she did not approve of bare arms．

“What woman is this ？”said Jadis．“Down on your knees， minion，before I blast you．”

“No strong language in this house if you please，young woman，”said Aunt Letty．

Instantly，as it seemed to Uncle Andrew，the Queen towered up to an even greater height．Fire flashed from her eyes：she flung out her arm with the same gesture and the same horrible-sounding words that had lately turned the palace—gates of Charn to dust． But nothing happened except that Aunt Letty，thinking that those horrible words were meant to be ordinary English，said：

“I thought as much．The woman is drunk．Drunk ！ She can’t even speak clearly．”

It must have been a terrible moment for the Witch when she suddenly realized that her power of turning people into dust，which had been quite real in her own world，was not going to work in ours．But she did not lose her nerve even for a second．Without wasting a thought on her disappointment，she lunged forward， caught Aunt Letty round the neck and the knees，raised her high above her head as if she had been no heavier than a doll，and threw her across the room．While Aunt Letty was still hurtling through the air，the housemaid（who was having a beautifully exciting morning）put her head in at the door and said，“If you please， sir，the’ansom’s come．”

“Lead on，Slave，”said the Witch to Uncle Andrew．He began muttering something about“regrettable violence—must really protest”，but at a single glance from Jadis he became speechless． She drove him out of the room and out of the house；and Digory came running down the stairs just in time to see the front door close behind them．

“Jiminy ！”he said．“She’s loose in London．And with Uncle Andrew．I wonder what on earth is going to happen now．”

“Oh，Master Digory，”said the housemaid（who was really having a wonderful day），“I think Miss Ketterley’s hurt herself somehow．”So they both rushed into the drawing-room to find out what had happened．

If Aunt Letty had fallen on bare boards or even on the carpet， I suppose all her bones would have been broken：but by great good luck she had fallen on the mattress．Aunt Letty was a very tough old lady：aunts often were in those days．After she had had some sal volatile and sat still for a few minutes，she said there was nothing the matter with her except a few bruises．Very soon she was taking charge of the situation．

“Sarah，”she said to the housemaid（who had never had such a day before），“go around to the police station at once and tell them there is a dangerous lunatic at large．I will take Mrs. Kirke’s lunch up myself．”Mrs. Kirke. was，of course，Digory’s mother．

When Mother’s lunch had been seen to，Digory and Aunt Letty had their own．After that he did some hard thinking．

The problem was how to get the Witch back to her own world，or at any rate out of ours，as soon as possible．Whatever happened，she must not be allowed to go rampaging about the house．Mother must not see her And，if possible，she must not be allowed to go rampaging about London either．Digory had not been in the drawing—room when she tried to“blast”Aunt Letty， but he had seen her“blast”the gates at Charn：so he knew her terrible powers and did not know that she had lost any of them by coming into our world．And he knew she meant to conquer our world．At the present moment，as far as he could see，she might be blasting Buckingham Palace or the Houses of Parliament：and it was almost certain that quite a number of policemen had by now been reduced to little heaps of dust．And there didn’t seem to be anything he could do about that．“But the rings seem to work like magnets，”thought Digory．“If I can only touch her and then slip on my yellow，we shall both go into the Wood between the Worlds．I wonder will she go all faint again there ？ Was that something the place does to her，or was it only the shock of being pulled out of her own world ？ But I suppose I’ll have to risk that．And how am I to find the beast ？ I don’t suppose Aunt Letty would let me go out， not unless I said where I was going．And I haven’t got more than t wopence．I’d need any amount of money for buses and trams if I went looking all over London．Anyway，I haven’t the faintest idea where to look．I wonder if Uncle Andrew is still with her．”