They opened the flower shop the next day. As Howl had pointed2 out, it could not have been simpler. Every early morning, all they had to do was to open the door with the knob purple-down and go out into the swimming green haze3 to gather flowers. It soon became a routine. Sophie took her stick and her scissors and stumped4 about, chatting to her stick, using it to test the squashy ground or hook down sprays of high-up choice roses. Michael took an invention of his own which he was very proud of. It was a large tin tub with water in it, which floated in the air and followed Michael wherever he went among the bushes. The dog-man went too. He had a wonderful time rushing about the wet green lanes, chasing butterflies or trying to catch the tiny, bright birds that fed on the flowers. While he dashed about. Sophie cut armloads of blue hibiscus, and Michael loaded the bath with orchids5, roses, starry7 white flowers, shiny vermilion ones, or anything that caught his fancy. They all enjoyed this time.
Then, before the heat in the bushes grew too intense, they took the day’s flowers back to the shop and arranged them in a motley collection of jugs8 and buckets which Howl had dug out of the yard. Two of the buckets were actually the seven-league boots. Noting, Sophie thought as she arranged shocks of gladiolus in them, could show how completely Howl had lost interest in Lettie. He did not care now if Sophie used them or not.
Howl was nearly always missing while they gathered flowers. And the doorknob was always turned black-down. He was usually back for a late breakfast, looking dreamy, still in his black clothes. He would never tell Sophie which suit the black one really was. “I’m in mourning for Mrs. Pentstemmon,” was all he would say. And if Sophie or Michael asked why Howl was always away at that time, Howl would look injured and say, “If you want to talk to a schoolteacher, you have to catch her before school starts.” Then he would disappear into the bathroom for the next two hours.
Meanwhile Sophie and Michael put on their fine clothes and opened the shop. Howl insisted on the fine clothes. He said it would attract custom. Sophie insisted they all wore aprons9. And after the first few days, when the people of Market Chipping simply stared through the window and did not come into the shop, the shop became very popular. Word had gone round that Jenkins had flowers like no flowers ever seen before. People Sophie had known all her life came and bought flowers by the bundle. None of them recognized her, and that made her feel very odd. They all thought she was Howl’s old mother. But Sophie had had enough of being Howl’s old mother. “I’m his aunt,” she told Mrs. Cesari. She became know as Aunt Jenkins.
By the time Howl arrived in the shop, in a black apron10 to match his suit, he usually found it quite busy. He made it busier still. This was when Sophie began to be sure that the black suit was really the charmed gray-and-scarlet one. Any lady Howl served was sure to go away with at least twice the number of flowers she asked for. Most of the time Howl charmed them into buying ten times as much. Before long, Sophie noticed ladies peering in and deciding not to come into the shop when they saw Howl there. She did not blame them. If you just want a rose for a buttonhole, you do not want to be forced to buy three dozen orchids. She did not discourage Howl when Howl took to spending long hours in the workshed across the yard.
“I’m setting up defenses against the Witch, before you ask,” he said. “By the time I’ve finished, there will be no way she can get into any part of this place.”
There was sometimes a problem with leftover11 flowers. Sophie could not bear to see them wilting12 overnight. She found she could keep them fairly fresh if she talked to them. After that, she talked to flowers a lot. She got Michael to make her a plant-nutrition spell, and she experimented in buckets in the sink, and in tubs in the alcove13 where she used to trim hats. She found she could keep some plants fresh for days. So of course she experimented some more. She got the soot14 out of the yard and planted things in it, muttering busily. She grew a navy-blue rose like that, which pleased her greatly. Its buds were coal black, and its flowers opened bluer and bluer until they became almost the same blue as Calcifer. Sophie was so delighted with it that she took roosts from all the bags hanging on the beams and experimented with those. She told herself she had never been happier in her life.
This was not true. Something was wrong, and Sophie could not understand what. Sometimes she thought it was the way no one in Market Chipping recognized her. She did not dare go and see Martha, for fear Martha would not know her either. She did not dare tip the flowers out of the seven-league boots and go and see Lettie for the same reason. She just could not bear either of her sisters to see her as an old woman.
Michael went off with bunches of spare flowers to see Martha all the time. Sometimes Sophie thought that was what was the matter with her. Michael was so cheerful, and she was left on her own in the shop more and more often. But that did not seem to be quite it. Sophie enjoyed selling flowers on her own.
Sometimes the trouble seemed to be Calcifer. Calcifer was bored. He had nothing to do except to keep the castle gently drifting along the lanes of grass and round the various pools and lakes, and to make sure that they arrived in a new spot, with new flowers, every morning. His blue face was always leaning eagerly out of the grate when Sophie and Michael came in with their flowers. “I want to see what it’s like out there,” he said. Sophie brought him tasty smelling leaves to burn, which made the castle room smell as strongly as the bathroom, but Calcifer said what he really wanted was company. They went in to the shop all day and left him alone.
So Sophie made Michael serve in the shop for at least an hour every morning while she went and talked to Calcifer. She invented guessing games to keep Calcifer occupied when she was busy. But Calcifer was still discontented. “When are you going to break my contract with Howl?” he asked more and more often.
And Sophie put Calcifer off. “I’m working on it,” she said. “It won’t be long now.” This was not quite true. Sophie had stopped thinking of it unless she had to. When she put together what Mrs. Pentstemmon had said with all the things Howl and Calcifer had said, she found she had some strong and rather terrible ideas about the contract. She was sure that breaking it would be the end of both Howl and Calcifer. Howl might deserve it, but Calcifer did not. And since Howl seemed to be working quite hard in order to slither out of the rest of the Witch’s curse, Sophie wanted to do nothing unless she could help.
Sometimes Sophie thought it was simply that the dog-man was getting her down. He was such a doleful creature. The only time he seemed to enjoy himself was when he chased down the green lanes between the bushes every morning. For the rest of the day he trudged15 gloomily about after Sophie, sighing deeply. As Sophie could do nothing about him either, she was rather glad when the dog-man took to lying in patches of shade out in the yard, panting.
Meanwhile the roots Sophie had planted had become quite interesting. The onion had become a small palm tree and was sprouting16 little onion-scented nuts. Another root grew into a sort of pink sunflower. Only one was slow to grow. When it at last put out two round green leaves, Sophie could hardly wait to see what it would grow into. The next day it looked as if it might be an orchid6. It had pointed leaves spotted18 with mauve and a long green stalk growing out of the middle with a large bud on it. The day after that, Sophie left the fresh flowers in the tin bath and hurried eagerly to the alcove to see how it was getting on.
The bud had opened into a pink flower like an orchid that had been through a mangle19. It was flat, and joined to the stalk just below a round tip. There were four petals20 sprouting from a plump pink middle, two pointing downward and two more halfway21 up that stuck out sideways. While Sophie stared at it, a strong scent17 of spring flowers warned her that Howl had come in and was standing22 behind her.
“What is that thing?” he said. “If you were expecting an ultra-violet violet or an infra-red geranium, you got it wrong, Mrs. Mad Scientist.”
“It looks like a squashed-baby flower,” Michael said, coming to look.
It did too. Howl shot Michael an alarmed look and picked up the flower in its pot. He slid it out of the pot into his hand, where he carefully separated the white, thready roots and the soot and the remains24 of the manure25 spell, until he uncovered the brown, forked root Sophie had grown it from. “I might have guessed,” he said. “It’s mandrake root. Sophie strikes again. You do have a touch, don’t you, Sophie?” He put the plant carefully back, passed it to Sophie, and went away, looking rather pale.
So that was almost all the curse come true, Sophie thought as she went to arrange the fresh flowers in the shopwindow. The mandrake root had had a baby. That only left one more thing: the wind to advance an honest mind. If that meant Howl’s mind had to be honest, Sophie thought, there was a chance that the curse might never come true. She told herself it served Howl right anyway, for going courting Miss Angorian every morning in a charmed suit, but she still felt alarmed and guilty. She arranged a sheaf of white lilies in a seven-league boot. She crawled into the window to get them just so, and she heard a regular clump26, clump, clump from outside in the street. It was not the sound of a horse. It was the sound of a stick hitting the stones.
Sophie’s heart was behaving oddly even before she dared look out of the window. There, sure enough, came the scarecrow, hopping27 slowly and purposefully down the center of the street. The rags trailing from its outstretched arms were fewer and grayer, and the turnip28 of its face was withered29 into a look of determination, as if it had hopped30 ever since Howl hurled31 it away, until at last it had hopped its way back.
Sophie was not the only one to be scared. The few people about that early were running away from the scarecrow as hard as they could run. But the scarecrow took no notice and hopped on.
Sophie hid her face from it. “We’re not here!” she told it in a fierce whisper. “You don’t know we’re here! You can’t find us. Hop1 away fast!”
The clump, clump of the hopping stick slowed as the scarecrow neared the shop. Sophie wanted to scream for Howl, but all she seemed to be able to do was to go on repeating, “We’re not here. Go away quickly!”
And the hop-hopping speeded up, just as she told it to, and the scarecrow hopped its way past the shop and on through Market Chipping. Sophie thought she was going to come over queer. But she seemed just to have been holding her breath. She took a deep breath and felt shaky with relief. If the scarecrow came back, she could send it away again.
Howl had gone out when Sophie went into the castle room. “He seemed awfully32 upset,” Michael said. Sophie looked at the door. The knob was black-down. Not that upset! she thought.
Michael went out too, to Cesari’s, that morning, as Sophie was alone in the shop. It was very hot. The flowers wilted33 in spite of the spells, and very few people seemed to want to buy any. What with this, and the mandrake root, and the scarecrow, all Sophie’s feelings seemed to come to a head. She was downright miserable34.
“It may be the curse hovering35 to catch up with Howl,” she sighed to the flowers, “but I think it’s being the eldest36, really. Look at me! I set out to seek my fortune and I end up exactly where I started, and old as the hills still!”
Here the dog-man put his glossy37 red snout round the door to the yard and whined38. Sophie sighed. Never an hour passed without the creature checking up on her. “Yes, I’m still here,” she said. “Where did you expect me to be?”
The dog came into the shop. He sat up and stretched hid paws out stiffly in front of him. Sophie realized he was trying to turn into a man. Poor creature. She tried to be nice to him because he was, after all, worse off than she was.
“Try harder,” she said. “Put your back into it. You can be a man if you want.”
The dog stretched and straightened his back, and strained and strained. And just as Sophie was sure he was going to have to give up or topple over backward, he managed to rise to his hind23 legs and heave himself up into a distraught, ginger-haired man.
“I envy-Howl,” he panted. “Does that-so easily. I was-dog in the hedge-you helped. Told Lettie-I knew you-I’d keep watch. I was-here before in-” He began to double up again into a dog and howled with annoyance39. “With Witch in shop!” he wailed40, and fell forward onto his hands, growing a great deal of gray and white hair as he did so.
Sophie stared at the large, shaggy dog that stood there. “You were with the Witch!” she said. She remembered now. The anxious ginger-haired man who had stared at her in horror. “Then you know who I am and you know I’m under a spell. Does Lettie know too?”
The huge, shaggy head nodded.
“And she called you Gaston,” Sophie remembered. “Oh, my friend, she has made it hard for you! Fancy having all that hair in this weather! You’d better go somewhere cool.”
The dog nodded again and shambled miserably41 into the yard.
“But why did Lettie send you?” Sophie wondered. She felt thoroughly42 put out and disturbed by this discovery. She went up the stairs and through the broom cupboard to talk to Calcifer.
Calcifer was not much help. “It doesn’t make any difference how many people know you’re under a spell,” he said. “It hasn’t helped the dog much, has it?”
“No, but-” Sophie began, but, just then, the castle door clicked and opened. Sophie and Calcifer looked. They saw the door-knob was still set to black-down, and they expected Howl to come through it. It was hard to say which of them was more astonished when the person who slid rather cautiously round the door turned out to be Miss Angorian.
Miss Angorian was equally astonished. “Oh, I beg your pardon!” she said. “I thought Mr. Jenkins might be here.”
“He’s out,” Sophie said stiffly, and she wondered where Howl had gone, if not to see Miss Angorian.
Miss Angorian let go of the door, which she had been clutching in her surprise. She left it swinging open on nothing and came pleadingly toward Sophie. Sophie found she had got up herself and come across the room. It seemed as if she was trying to block Miss Angorian off. “Please,” said Miss Angorian, “don’t tell Mr. Jenkins I was here. To tell you the truth, I only encouraged him in hope of getting news of my fiancé-Ben Sullivan, you know. I’m positive Ben disappeared to the same place Mr. Jenkins keeps disappearing to. Only Ben didn’t come back.”
“There’s no Mr. Sullivan here,” Sophie said. And she thought, That’s Wizard Suliman’s name! I don’t believe a word of it!
“Oh, I know that,” Miss Angorian said. “But this feels like the right place. Do you mind if I just look round a little to give myself some idea of the sort of life Ben’s leading now?” She hooked her sheet of black hair behind one ear and tried to walk further into the room. Sophie stood in the way. This forced Miss Angorian to tiptoe pleadingly away sideways toward the workbench. “How very quaint43!” she said, looking at the bottles and jars. “What a quaint little town!” she said, looking out of the window.
“It’s called Market Chipping,” Sophie said, and she moved round and herded44 Miss Angorian back towards the door.
“And what’s up those stairs?” Miss Angorian asked, pointing to the open door to the stairs.
“Howl’s private room,” Sophie said firmly, walking Miss Angorian away backward.
“And what’s through that other open door?” Miss Angorian asked.
“A flower shop,” said Sophie. Nosy45 Parker! she thought.
By this time Miss Angorian either had to back into the chair or out through the door again. She stared at Calcifer in a vague, frowning way, as if she was not sure what she was seeing, and Calcifer simply stared back without saying a word. This made Sophie feel better about being so very unfriendly. Only people who understood Calcifer were really welcome in Howl’s house.
But now Miss Angorian made a dive round the chair and noticed Howl’s guitar leaning in its corner. She snatched it up with a gasp46 and turned round holding it to her chest possessively. “Ben had a guitar like this! It could be Ben’s!”
“I heard Howl bought it last winter,” Sophie said. And she walked forwards again, trying to scoop47 Miss Angorian out of her corner and through the door.
“Something’s happened to Ben!” Miss Angorian said throbbingly. “He would never have parted from his guitar! Where is he? I know he can’t be dead. I’d know in my heart if he were!”
Sophie wondered whether to tell Miss Angorian that the Witch had caught Wizard Suliman. She looked across to see where the human skull50 was. She had half a mind to wave it in Miss Angorian’s face and say it was Wizard Suliman’s. But the skull was in the sink, hidden behind a bucket of spare ferns and lilies, and she knew that if she went over there, Miss Angorian would ooze51 out into the room again. Besides, it would be unkind.
“May I take this guitar?” Miss Angorian said huskily, clutching it to her. “To remind me of Ben.”
The throb49 in Miss Angorian’s voice annoyed Sophie. “No,” she said. “There’s no need to be so intense about it. You’ve no proof it was his.” She hobbled close to Miss Angorian and seized the guitar by its neck. Miss Angorian stared at her over it with wide, anguished52 eyes. Sophie dragged. Miss Angorian hung on. The guitar gave out horrible, out-of-tune jangles. Sophie jerked it out of Miss Angorian’s arms. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “You’ve no right to walk into people’s castles and take their guitars. I’ve told you Mr. Sullivan’s not here. Now go back to Wales. Go on.” And she used the guitar to push Miss Angorian backward through the open door.
Miss Angorian backed into the nothingness until half of her vanished. “You’re hard,” she said reproachfully.
“Yes, I am!” said Sophie and slammed the door on her. She turned the knob to orange-down to prevent Miss Angorian coming back and dumped the guitar back in its corner with a firm twang. “And don’t you dare tell Howl she was here!” she said unreasonably53 to Calcifer. “I bet she came to see Howl. The rest was just a pack of lies. Wizard Suliman was settled here, years ago. He probably came to get away from her beastly throbbing48 voice!”
Calcifer chuckled54. “I’ve never seen anyone got rid of so fast!” he said.
This made Sophie feel both unkind and guilty. After all, she herself had walked into the castle in much the same way, and had been twice as nosy as Miss Angorian. “Gah!” she said. She stumped into the bathroom and stared at her withered old face in the mirrors. She picked up one of the packets labeled SKIN and then tossed it down again. Even young and fresh, she did not think her face compared particularly well with Miss Angorian’s. “Gah!” she said. “Doh!” She hobbled rapidly back and seized ferns and lilies from the sink. She hobbled with them, dripping, to the shop, where she rammed55 them into a bucket of nutrition spell. “Be daffodils!” she told them in a mad, croaking56 voice. “Be daffodils in June, you beastly things!”
The dog-man put his shaggy face round the yard door. When he saw the mood Sophie was in, he backed out again hurriedly. When Michael came merrily in with a large pie a minute later, Sophie gave him such a glare that Michael instantly remembered a spell Howl had asked him to make up and fled away through the broom cupboard.
“Gah!” Sophie snarled57 after him. She bent58 over her bucket again. “Be daffodils! Be daffodils!” she croaked59. It did not make her feel any better that she knew it was a silly way to behave.
第18章城堡变成花店
花店第二天就开张，而就像豪尔所指出的，事情真是再简单不过了。每天清晨，他们只需要将门把转到紫色向下，然后开门到那流动的绿色雾霭里去采集花朵，很快地，这变成每日的固定工作。苏菲带着拐杖和剪刀四处走动，跟拐杖说话，用它来测试柔软的土地，或者勾下想摘取的、长在高处枝丫的玫瑰。麦可带着他非常引以为豪的发明——一个漂浮在空中，跟着麦可在树丛中四处走动、装了水的大锡桶。狗人也跟着，兴高采烈地在湿湿的绿草径上奔跑，追逐蝴蝶，或试图抓住那靠着吸取花蜜为生、色彩明艳的小小鸟。它四处跑的时候，苏菲就去剪长柄的鸢尾花、百合、叶状的桔色花朵或整枝的木槿。麦可则在他的锡桶中装满兰花、玫瑰、满天星、亮丽的朱红色花朵，或任何他正好看上眼的花。这是他们的快乐时段。
然后在树丛间的热气上升到叫人难以忍受之前，他们将当天的花带回店里，将它们安插在各色各样的瓶子或桶子里，那都是豪尔由院子里挖出来的，其中两个桶子其实是七里格靴。苏菲边将成把的剑兰放到靴里边想到，在没有比这更能证明豪尔是如何彻底地对乐蒂失去兴趣。他现在根本不在乎苏菲用不用它们。
每天他们采花的时候，豪尔差不多总会失踪，而门柄总是黑色朝下。通常他会回来吃个比别人晚的早餐，脸上带着做梦的表情，身上则仍旧穿着那套黑衣。他从不肯告诉苏菲，那套黑衣究竟是哪一套衣服变成的，他只肯说：“我还在为潘思德曼太太守丧。”如果麦可或苏菲问他为何总在那个时间外出，他就会露出受伤的表情说：“想跟老师说话的话，一定得在学校开始上课前才有办法啊。”说完就会消失到浴室里去，一进去就是两个钟头。
这时，苏菲跟麦可就穿上他们的好衣服，开店做生意。穿漂亮衣服是豪尔坚持的，他说那会有助于招徕顾客，苏菲则坚持大家都要穿围裙。起先几天，马克奇平的镇民只是隔窗观望，没有进来购买，但是观望过去之后，店里生意变得很好，人们口碑相传，说建肯花店里有他们从未见过的花卉。苏菲从小熟知的人进来大量买花，但是没有人认出她，这真是奇怪的感觉。他们都以为他是豪尔的妈妈，但是苏菲已经受够了乔装成豪尔的妈妈，她告诉希塞利太太：“我是他阿姨。”于是人们就以“建肯阿姨”来称呼她。
等豪尔穿着黑衣和搭配的黑围裙来到店里时，店里通常已经很忙了，而他的到来总会令店里忙上加忙。苏菲开始觉得那套黑衣八成是那件有迷咒的灰红色衣服改装的，因为每个豪尔接待过的女士，至少都会买下原来想买的两倍数量的花，大多数的时间，买的甚至是十倍。因此，要不了多久，苏菲发现女士们会先在店外窥探，看到豪尔在店里的话，她们就不进来了。她一点也不怪她们。如果你只想买一朵可以插在钮扣孔的玫瑰，当然不想被硬性说服去买三打兰花。因此豪尔到院子另一头的小工厂待上很久时，她一点也没阻拦他。
“好叫你知道，我是在设置防御女巫的系统。”豪尔说：“等我完成后，她就完全进不来了。”
有时有卖不完的花需要处理。苏菲不忍心任它们在夜里凋萎，她发现若跟它们说说话，花就可以保持新鲜，从此，她就常常跟花儿们说话。她要麦可帮她弄了一个植物营养咒，他就在水槽的桶子，以及她从前装饰帽子用的那个工作间的浴缸里做实验，她发现她可以让一些植物保鲜数日之久，所以她又做了更多的实验。她由院子里取来煤灰，将东西种在里头，口中不住地喃喃自语。用这样的方法，居然给她种出了一朵蓝色玫瑰，令她高兴莫名。起先，那花苞是似炭的黑色，随着花瓣的开展，颜色越来越蓝，越来越蓝，终至成为接近卡西法的蓝色。苏菲高兴极了！她将垂挂在梁上袋子里的根全拿出来实验。她告诉自己，这辈子不曾这样快乐。
但这其实不是真的，有什么事不太对劲，偏偏她又说不出个所以然来，有时她想，或许是因为马克奇平没有人认出她来。她不敢去看玛莎，怕玛莎也认不出她。基于同样的理由，她也不敢将花丛七里格靴拿出来，穿着靴子去拜访乐蒂，她无法忍受以老妇的模样出现在两个妹妹面前。
麦可一天到晚带着店里多余的花去看玛莎，有时苏菲觉得，那可能就是造成她不快乐的原因，麦可是那么快乐，而她被独自留在店里的时间却越来越多，但原因似乎又并非如此，因为她蛮喜欢独自一个人卖花的。
有时似乎又跟卡西法有关。卡西法觉得日子太无聊了！它唯一的工作是，让城堡轻轻地在草径间漂浮，绕着水池跟湖泊行走，并确定每个早晨到不同的地点采不同的花。当苏菲和麦可带着花进门时，它的蓝脸总是热切地伸出炉架。“我想知道外面的世界。”它说。苏菲给它带回味道又香又甜的叶子做燃料，令城堡的房间像豪尔的浴室那样，充满香味，但卡西法说它最需要的其实是同伴。他们整天在店里，留下它一人，孤孤单单的。因此，苏菲规定麦可每天早上至少的在店里帮忙一个钟头，她就利用这个时间跟卡西法说话。她还发明一种猜谜游戏，当她忙着时，可以让卡西法有事做，但是卡西法还是不快乐。“你什么时候才要帮我解除我和豪尔的契约？”它问的次数越来越频繁。
苏菲总是推拖着，说：“已经在想办法了。”“不会太久了。”但事实并非如此。除非不得已，苏菲是不会去想它的。当她把潘思德曼太太所说的，以及豪尔和卡西法告诉她的事综合起来后，她对那个契约有一个很强烈的可怕想法。她很确定一旦契约被打破，豪尔跟卡西法都会死亡。豪尔或许是咎由自取，但卡西法可不成，而且，既然豪尔很努力要避开女巫剩下的咒语，除非她真的帮得上忙，否则还是别轻举妄动。
有时，苏菲又觉得是狗人的缘故，它的遭遇真是挺悲惨的。它每天唯一快乐的时光，大概就是早上在绿径上追逐的时候了，其余时间他都意志消沉地跟在苏菲身后，深深叹气。因为苏菲也帮不上他的忙，因此，当日子越来越接近仲夏，天气越来越热，狗人必须躲在后院阴凉处喘气时，她着实松了一口气。
这段期间内，苏菲种的那些跟变得相当有趣。洋葱长成一棵小棕榈树，树上长着有洋葱味的小小豆子，另一条根长成粉红色的向日葵。只有一棵长得特别慢。当它终于长出两片圆形的叶子时，苏菲真是等不及要看它会长成什么样子。次日，它看起来像是会长成兰花的样子，尖叶子上有着淡紫色斑点，中间一根长长的茎，上面长着一个硕大的花苞。又次日，苏菲把鲜花留在锡桶里，迫不及待赶到小房间里要看花的生长情形。
花苞已开成一朵粉红色、像兰花的花朵，形状怪异，仿如被轧布机碾过一般扁平，与茎连接处只有一个圆点，中间鼓起，呈粉红色，由此伸出四片花瓣，两片向下生长，另两片则向上长了一半，即斜向旁边。苏菲正看着，突然传来一阵浓烈的春天花香。豪尔进来，就站在他身后。
“这是什么东西？”他问道。“疯狂科学家，如果你期待的是一棵紫外线紫罗兰或红外线天竺葵，你铁定是弄错了。”
“看来像是被压扁的花的小小孩。”麦可也进来看。
确实如此！豪尔震惊地看了麦可一眼，将花连盆拿起，把花由盆中倒出，拿在手上，仔细地将白色线状的根、煤灰以及剩余的肥料咒分开，直到他找到那截褐色分叉的块根。
“我早该知道的！”他说：“这是曼陀罗花的根，苏菲又击中要害了。你真是谁碰上谁倒霉。”他把花种回去，拿给苏菲，然后走开，脸色看来十分苍白。
这一来，咒语的条件几乎都齐全了。苏菲到店里，将鲜花在窗边摆开，一边想着：就只剩下一样了——吹着诚实心灵向前的风。如果这意味着豪尔的心必须要诚实，这个咒语到有可能永远不会兑现。她告诉自己，若真发生了，豪尔也是活该，谁叫他要每天穿着有迷咒的衣服去追求安歌丽雅小姐。但她还是觉得惊慌，并且有罪恶感。她将一束白色百合放到七里格靴里，然后爬到窗台去把它们放好，就在这时，她听到外面街上传来一阵规则的喀哒喀哒声，那不是马蹄的声音，是一根棍子击打在石头上的声音。
苏菲还没鼓起勇气探头出去，心脏就已经开始乱跳了。是的，没错，是稻草人，缓慢但是坚定地，从街道中间对着她跳过来。外伸的双臂上挂着的破布更少，更旧了。萝卜脸风干到有一股坚定不移的表情，仿佛在豪尔将他吹跑之后，他就不断地跳着，直到跳回来为止。
苏菲不是唯一被吓到的人，一大早就在街上的少数行人都尽快跑开。但是稻草人毫不在意，只一心一意地跳着。
苏菲把脸藏起来，不敢让它看到。“我们不再这儿，”她悄声，严厉地说：“你不知道我们在这儿，你找不到我们，快快跳走！”
稻草人越来越接近花店，棍子跳动的喀哒喀哒声渐渐慢下来。苏菲想尖叫，要豪尔过来。但她所能做的似乎只是一再重复：“我们不在这里！快快走开！”
那跳动声渐渐加快。正如她所交代的，稻草人跳过花店，穿过马克奇平，跳走了。苏菲以为她要昏倒了，结果似乎只是因为太紧张，忘了呼吸而已，她深深地吸了一口气，心情放松后开始颤抖。假如稻草人又回来，她可以再度把它送走。
苏菲到城堡房间时，豪尔已经外出。“他的心情似乎非常不好。”麦可说。苏菲看看门把，是黑色朝下。还没不好到那个程度，她想。
那天早上，麦可也出去了，去希塞利。苏菲独自一人在店里，天气非常热，虽然有咒语，花还是枯萎了。几乎没有人想要买花，店里情形如此，加上曼陀罗花的事件，以及稻草人的重现，苏菲的情绪绷到最高点，她觉得心情恶劣到无以复加。
“虽然或许是因为咒语盘旋着要追上豪尔，”她对着花叹气：“但是我想，这其实跟我是家里的老大有关系，我离家想创一番事业，结果又回到原点不说，人还老的跟什么似的。”
狗人将它光滑的红鼻子放在通往后院的门旁，小声叫着，苏菲叹了口气。这只狗每一小时就会过来看看她，“是的，我还在，”她说：“不然你以为我会去哪里？”
狗进来屋里，坐起来，将前脚僵直地伸在前面，苏菲意识到它是着要变回人形。可怜的家伙！她尝试着对它好，因为毕竟它的处境比她还凄惨。
“再用力些！”她说：“背脊用力。意愿够强的话就可以办到。”
狗伸直了背，用力地挣了又挣，就在苏菲认定它若不放弃就会向后栽跟头时，它以后脚人立起来，挺成一个满面愁容、有赤黄色头发的男人。
“我羡慕……豪尔，”他喘着气说：“变得那么容易。我是……树丛里那只狗……你救了我。告诉了乐蒂……我认得你，我会保护你。我在这……以前……”他身体又开始前倾变成狗，生气地嚎叫着：“跟女巫去店里！”他叫着，手碰到前面的地上，同时长出许多灰色及白色的毛。
苏菲瞪着这只站在她面前，大大的长毛狗。“你跟女巫在一起？”现在她想起来了，那个以惊恐眼光瞪着她的，满脸焦虑的赤黄色头发男子。“那么，你知道我是谁，你也知道我被下了咒？乐蒂也知道吗？”这只大大的长毛狗点点头。
“她叫你格斯顿，”苏菲想起来了，“噢，我的朋友，她真是让你的日子很不好过呢！这种天气里还盖着那一身长毛，你最好到阴凉的地方去。”
狗再度点头，悲伤地拖着脚步走到后院。
“但是乐蒂为何要送你过来呢？”苏菲奇怪着。她觉得非常困惑不解，于是上了楼，穿过储物柜，去找卡西法商量。
但是卡西法也帮不上什么忙。“有多少人知道你被下咒又有什么差别？”它说：“那只狗也一样啊！还不是一点帮助也没有。”
“但是——”苏菲刚张口，就听到城堡的门轻响了一声，被打开。苏菲跟卡西法望过去，看到门把仍然是黑色朝下。他们等着豪尔走进来，结果很难说是谁比较吃惊，这个小心翼翼溜进来的人，居然是安歌丽雅小姐。
安歌丽雅小姐显然也吓了一大跳。“噢，对不起！”她说：“我还以为建肯先生可能会在这里。”
“他出去了，”苏菲僵硬地说。心想，如果豪而不是去找安歌丽雅小姐的话，会是去了哪里？
安歌丽雅小姐把门柄放开。方才因为惊吓，一直都握着。她就任它开着，外头是一片虚无，然后一脸请求地走向苏菲。苏菲发现自己不知何时已经起身，走过房间，仿佛要将安歌丽雅小姐挡出去似的。“拜托，”安歌丽雅小姐说：“请不要告诉建肯先生我来过。让我跟你实话实说吧，我所以鼓励他来接近我，是因为我希望能得到关于我未婚夫——宾.苏利曼的消息。我确信宾是在建肯先生常消失不见的地方消失的，唯一的差别是，宾没有回来。”
“这里没有苏利曼先生。”苏菲说。同时心里想着，那是苏利曼巫师的名字！她说的话我一个字也不相信！
“我知道，”安歌丽雅小姐说：“可是我感觉应该就是这个地方。你不介意我稍微四处看一看吧？我想知道宾现在过得是什么样的生活。”她把黑发拢到一边的耳后，事着深入房间，但是苏菲挡在中间。这逼的安歌丽雅小姐只好踮着脚尖、面带恳求地绕到旁边的工作台，“多有趣呀！”她看着那些瓶瓶罐罐赞叹，然后，看着窗外说：“多有趣的小城呀！”
“那是马克奇平镇。”苏菲说着，移动位置，逼安歌丽雅小姐后退，往大门移动。
“楼上是什么？”她指着通往楼梯的门问。
“豪尔的私人房间。”苏菲语气坚定地说，边逼着安歌丽雅小姐往后退。
“另一扇开开的门通往哪里？”安歌丽雅小姐又问。
“一间花店。”苏菲嘴里答着，心里骂道：有够爱问的！
这时安歌丽雅小姐若不是得坐到椅子上，就是得走出大门了。她微微蹙眉地盯着卡西法看，好像不太确定自己看到的是什么来着，卡西法直瞪回去，一言不发。这让苏菲对自己的不友善觉得好过些，只有了解卡西法的人才会在豪尔的家里受到欢迎。
但是安歌丽雅小姐闪过椅子，看到豪尔的吉他靠在角落，她娇喘一声，一把抓住，转过身来，将吉他紧紧抱在胸前。“这是打哪儿来的？”她声音低低的，充满感情的说：“宾有一把像这样的吉他，这很可能就是宾的。”
“我听豪尔说，这是他去年冬天买的。”苏菲说着，又往前逼近几步，试图将安歌丽雅小姐赶离那个角落，赶出门去。
“宾一定出事了！”安歌丽雅小姐颤抖着声音说：“不然他绝不会跟他的吉他分开的，他在哪里？我知道他不可能死了。如果他死了，我心里一定会有感觉！”
苏菲不知道该不该告诉她，苏利曼巫师被女巫抓住了。她眼睛往骷髅的所在瞄去，但骷髅放在洗手槽里，藏在一桶多出来的羊齿蕨和百合后面。她知道自己若走过去的话，安歌丽雅小姐一定又会抓住机会进到房里。此外，这样也太残忍。
“我可以把吉他带走吗？”安歌丽雅小姐紧握着吉他，沙哑地问道：“让我可以记得宾。”
她声音中的颤抖令苏菲不悦。“不成，”她说：“你无需这样情绪化，你根本无法证明这是他的。”她拐着脚走近安歌丽雅小姐，抓住吉他的颈状部。安歌丽雅小姐痛苦的睁大眼睛看着她。苏菲用力拉，但是安歌丽雅小姐不肯放手，吉他发出难听、走调的叮咚声。苏菲将吉他用力扯离安歌丽雅小姐的手，“别傻了。”她说，“你无权走进别人的城堡，并擅自拿走他人的吉他。我已经告诉过你，苏利曼先生不在这里。你回威尔斯去吧！去啊。”然后，她用那把吉他将安歌丽雅小姐往后推，推过那扇仍然开着的门。
安歌丽雅小姐退到那片虚无之中，直到她有半个人都消失了。“你心肠好硬！”她指责道。
“没错！”苏菲说完，用力将门关上。然后把门把转到桔色向下，以免安歌丽雅小姐又跑回来。她将吉他铛地丢回原来的角落，“你敢告诉豪尔她来过的话，就给我试试看！”她不讲理地跟卡西法说：“我敢打赌她是来找豪尔的，其余的说词全是谎言！苏利曼巫师住在这里是几年前的事了，也许就为了要躲开她那恐怖的颤抖声音。”
卡西法咯咯地笑：“从没看过那么快就被赶出去的。”
这令苏菲觉得自己很不友善，并且有罪恶感。毕竟，她自己也是用类似的方式进来城堡的，而且她的好管闲事比起安歌丽雅小姐，只怕是两倍有余。“啐！”她说。
她重重踩着脚步进入浴室，盯着镜中自己那张老脸。她拿起一包上面写着“皮肤”的小包，又将它扔下。即便她能恢复青春的模样，她也不认为自己的脸足以跟安歌丽雅小姐相比。“啐！哼！”她很快地拐到洗手槽那里，将羊齿蕨和百合拿起来，就这样湿漉漉地，一路滴着水来到店里。她将它们一把丢到一桶营养咒里。“变成喇叭水仙！”她用疯狂、生气、嘶哑的声音叫道：“笨蛋！六月里全给我变成喇叭水仙！”
狗人将它长满长毛的脸放在后院门上，当它看到苏菲情绪恶劣时，赶紧开溜。一分钟后，麦可高高兴兴拿着一块派饼进门，苏菲横了他一眼，眼光非常恐怖，麦可马上想起豪尔交待他要补做一个咒语，迅速穿过储物柜逃生去也！
“啐！”苏菲对着他的背影张牙舞爪，再度弯身对着桶子嘶声叫道：“变喇叭水仙！变喇叭水仙！”她知道自己这样发脾气很愚蠢，但是心情一点也没有因之好转。
收听单词发音 |
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hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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stumped
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| 僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的过去式和过去分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说 | |
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orchids
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| n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 ) | |
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orchid
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| n.兰花，淡紫色 | |
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starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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jugs
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| （有柄及小口的）水壶( jug的名词复数 ) | |
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aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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leftover
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| n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的 | |
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wilting
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| 萎蔫 | |
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alcove
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| n.凹室 | |
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soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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mangle
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| vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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manure
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| n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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turnip
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| n.萝卜，芜菁 | |
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withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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wilted
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| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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nosy
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| adj.鼻子大的，好管闲事的，爱追问的；n.大鼻者 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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scoop
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| n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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ooze
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| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
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anguished
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| adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式) | |
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unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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croaking
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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