CHAPTER ONE THE PICTURE IN THE BEDROOM（第4/4頁）

“Ugh，take it away，”wailed Eustace．“I hate mice．And I never could bear performing animals．They’re silly and vulgar and—and sentimental．”

“Am I to understand，”said Reepicheep to Lucy after a long stare at Eustace，“that this singularly discourteous person is under your Majesty’s protection ？ Because，if not—”

At this moment Lucy and Edmund both sneezed．

“What a fool I am to keep you all standing here in your wet things，”said Caspian．“Come on below and get changed．I’ll give you my cabin of course，Lucy，but I’m afraid we have no women’s clothes on board．You’ll have to make do with some of mine．Lead the way，Reepicheep，like a good fellow．”

“To the convenience of a lady，”said Reepicheep，“even a question of honour must give way—at least for the moment—”and here he looked very hard at Eustace．But Caspian hustled them on and in a few minutes Lucy found herself passing through the door into the stern cabin．She fell in love with it at once—the three square windows that looked out on the blue，swirling water astern，the low cushioned benches round three sides of the table， the swinging silver lamp overhead(Dwarfs’ work，she knew at once by its exquisite delicacy)and the flat gold image of Aslan the Lion on the forward wall above the door．All this she took in in a flash，for Caspian immediately opened a door on the starboard side，and said，“This’ll be your room，Lucy．I’ll just get some dry things for myself—”he was rummaging in one of the lockers while he spoke—“and then leave you to change．If you’ll fling　your wet things outside the door I’ll get them taken to the galley to be dried．”

Lucy found herself as much at home as if she had been in Caspian’s cabin for weeks，and the motion of the ship did not worry her，for in the old days when she had been a queen in Narnia she had done a good deal of voyaging．The cabin was very tiny but bright with painted panels(all birds and beasts and crimson dragons and vines)and spotlessly clean．Caspian’s clothes were too big for her，but she could manage．His shoes，sandals and sea-boots were hopelessly big but she did not mind going barefoot on board ship．When she had finished dressing she looked out of her window at the water rushing past and took a long deep breath．She felt quite sure they were in for a lovely time．