'Do you?'

'No.'

'Then,' said Robert, 'we might as well look for a needle in a
bottle of hay. Yes--it IS bottle, and not bundle, Father said
so.'

'Not at all,' said the Psammead briskly-, 'you think you know
everything, but you are quite mistaken. The first thing is to
get the thing to talk.'

'Can it?' Jane questioned. Jane's question did not mean that she
thought it couldn't, for in spite of the parlour furniture the
feeling of magic was growing deeper and thicker, and seemed to
fill the room like a dream of a scented fog.

'Of course it can. I suppose you can read.'

'Oh yes!' Everyone was rather hurt at the question.

'Well, then--all you've got to do is to read the name that's
written on the part of the charm that you've got. And as soon as
you say the name out loud the thing will have power to do--well,
several things.'

There was a silence. The red charm was passed from hand to hand.

'There's no name on it,' said Cyril at last.