“This is a terrible woman，” thought Polly. “She’s strong enough to break my arm with one twist. And now that she‘s got my left hand I can’t get at my yellow ring. If I tried to stretch across and get my right hand into my left pocket I mightn‘t be able to reach it before she asked me what I was doing. Whatever happens we mustn’t let her know about the rings. I do hope Digory has the sense to keep his mouth shut. I wish I could get a word with him alone.”
The Queen led them out of the Hall of Images into a long corridor and then through a whole maze of halls and stairs and courtyards. Again and again they heard parts of the great palace collapsing， sometimes quite close to them. Once a huge arch came thundering down only a moment after they had passed through it. The Queen waswalking quickly.the children had to trot to keep up with her.but she showed no sign of fear. Digory thought， “She‘s wonderfully brave. And strong. She’s what I call a Queen！ I do hope she‘s going to tell us the story of this place.”
She did tell them certain things as they went along：