Teabing sat on the divan1, cradling the wooden box on his lap and admiring the lid's intricate inlaidRose. Tonight has become the strangest and most magical night of my life.
"Lift the lid," Sophie whispered, standing2 over him, beside Langdon.
Teabing smiled. Do not rush me. Having spent over a decade searching for this keystone, hewanted to savor3 every millisecond of this moment. He ran a palm across the wooden lid, feeling thetexture of the inlaid flower.
"The Rose," he whispered. The Rose is Magdalene is the Holy Grail. The Rose is the compass thatguides the way. Teabing felt foolish. For years he had traveled to cathedrals and churches all overFrance, paying for special access, examining hundreds of archways beneath rose windows,searching for an encrypted keystone. La clef de vo.te—a stone key beneath the sign of the Rose.
Teabing slowly unlatched the lid and raised it.
As his eyes finally gazed upon the contents, he knew in an instant it could only be the keystone. Hewas staring at a stone cylinder4, crafted of interconnecting lettered dials. The device seemedsurprisingly familiar to him.
"Designed from Da Vinci's diaries," Sophie said. "My grandfather made them as a hobby."Of course, Teabing realized. He had seen the sketches5 and blueprints6. The key to finding the HolyGrail lies inside this stone. Teabing lifted the heavy cryptex from the box, holding it gently.
Although he had no idea how to open the cylinder, he sensed his own destiny lay inside. Inmoments of failure, Teabing had questioned whether his life's quest would ever be rewarded. Nowthose doubts were gone forever. He could hear the ancient words... the foundation of the Graillegend:
Vous ne trouvez pas le Saint-Graal, c'est le Saint-Graal qui vous trouve.
You do not find the Grail, the Grail finds you.
And tonight, incredibly, the key to finding the Holy Grail had walked right through his front door.
While Sophie and Teabing sat with the cryptex and talked about the vinegar, the dials, and what thepassword might be, Langdon carried the rosewood box across the room to a well-lit table to get abetter7 look at it. Something Teabing had just said was now running through Langdon's mind.
The key to the Grail is hidden beneath the sign of the Rose.
Langdon held the wooden box up to the light and examined the inlaid symbol of the Rose.
Although his familiarity with art did not include woodworking or inlaid furniture, he had justrecalled the famous tiled ceiling of the Spanish monastery8 outside of Madrid, where, threecenturies after its construction, the ceiling tiles began to fall out, revealing sacred texts scrawled9 bymonks on the plaster beneath.
Langdon looked again at the Rose.
Beneath the Rose.
Sub Rosa.
Secret.
A bump in the hallway behind him made Langdon turn. He saw nothing but shadows. Teabing'smanservant most likely had passed through. Langdon turned back to the box. He ran his finger overthe smooth edge of the inlay, wondering if he could pry10 the Rose out, but the craftsmanship11 wasperfect. He doubted even a razor blade could fit in between the inlaid Rose and the carefully carveddepression into which it was seated.
Opening the box, he examined the inside of the lid. It was smooth. As he shifted its position,though, the light caught what appeared to be a small hole on the underside of the lid, positioned inthe exact center. Langdon closed the lid and examined the inlaid symbol from the top. No hole.
It doesn't pass through.
Setting the box on the table, he looked around the room and spied a stack of papers with a paperclip on it. Borrowing the clip, he returned to the box, opened it, and studied the hole again.
Carefully, he unbent the paper clip and inserted one end into the hole. He gave a gentle push. Ittook almost no effort. He heard something clatter12 quietly onto the table. Langdon closed the lid tolook. It was a small piece of wood, like a puzzle piece. The wooden Rose had popped out of the lidand fallen onto the desk.
Speechless, Langdon stared at the bare spot on the lid where the Rose had been. There, engraved13 inthe wood, written in an immaculate hand, were four lines of text in a language he had never seen.
The characters look vaguely14 Semitic, Langdon thought to himself, and yet I don't recognize thelanguage!
A sudden movement behind him caught his attention. Out of nowhere, a crushing blow to the headknocked Langdon to his knees.
As he fell, he thought for a moment he saw a pale ghost hovering15 over him, clutching a gun. Theneverything went black.
提彬坐在靠背长沙发上，把那个木盒揽在膝盖上。慢慢地欣赏着镶在盒盖上的那朵精美的玫瑰。今晚成了我一生中最奇特、最不可思议的夜晚。
索菲靠着兰登站在提彬的身后，轻声说道："打开盖子吧。"
提彬微笑了起来。别催我呀。他已经花了十几年时间来寻找楔石了，现在要好好地珍惜每一秒。他抚摸着木质的盒盖，感觉着玫瑰花纹的质地。
"玫瑰花。"他轻声念道。玫瑰就代表着抹大拉，就代表着圣杯。玫瑰就是指引方向的罗盘。提彬觉得自己真愚蠢。多年以来，他遍访了法国的天主教堂和基督教礼拜堂，为他那附带特殊要求的参观花费了大量的金钱。他仔细地查看了几千个玫瑰窗格下的拱门，为的就是寻找一块刻着密码的楔石。玫瑰花标记下的一把石头钥匙。
提彬拔开盒盖上的闩子，将盒盖掀开。
当他看到盒里的东西时，马上就肯定那是楔石。那是一个石头做成的圆筒，由几个刻满字母的环形转盘叠加而成。出乎意料，他竟觉得自己对这个装置非常熟悉。
索菲说道："这是根据达.芬奇日记上的记载制作的。祖父非常喜爱制作这种东西。"
当然了，提彬一下子明白了过来。他见过密码筒草图和后来的设计图。寻找圣杯的关键线索就在这个石筒里。提彬把沉甸甸的密码筒从盒子里轻轻地取出，慢慢地举起来。虽然他不知道怎样打开它，可他觉得自己的命运也藏在里面。当遭受挫折的时候，提彬曾怀疑他毕生的追求能否得到回报。现在，这些疑惑都烟消云散了。圣杯传说创立时的古老的词句在他耳边响起：你不用去找圣杯，圣杯会来找你。
令人难以置信的是，今晚，圣杯的秘密主动进了自己家门。
索菲和提彬坐在沙发上拿着密码筒讨论里面的醋、外面的转盘和破解它的密码，兰登则拿起那个紫檀木的盒子，穿过房间，走到一个光线很好的桌子旁，仔细地端详起来。提彬的话在他耳边回响：寻找圣杯的线索就藏在玫瑰的标记下面。
兰登端起木盒，凑近灯光，仔细地查看着盒盖上的玫瑰。虽然他对木工和镶嵌艺术不是很在行，但看着这朵玫瑰，他还是回想起了马德里城外一座西班牙寺庙里的瓦片天花板。那里的天花板世界闻名，因为在寺庙建成三百年之后，天花板上的瓦片开始脱落，露出了三百年前书写在石膏下面的经文。
兰登又看了看这朵玫瑰。
玫瑰下面。
五瓣玫瑰。
秘密。
他身后的走廊里突然传来"嘭"的一声，兰登转身一看，除了阴影什么也没有。"可能是提彬的男佣刚刚走了过去。"兰登想道。他转回身看着盒子。他用手指摸着那朵光滑的玫瑰，心想："能不能把玫瑰撬出来呢？"，可是盒子制作精良，兰登怀疑只有用剃须刀那样薄的刀片才能伸进玫瑰和盒盖之间的缝隙里。
他打开盒子，仔细地查看了盖子的里层。里面也很光滑。他把盒子转了一个方向，突然，他发现好像有束光从盒子正中央穿了进来。他合上盖子，从外侧检查那朵嵌进去的玫瑰。没有孔。
它不透光。
兰登把盒子放在桌上，扫视了一下周围，看见堆纸上有一把裁纸刀。他拿起裁纸刀，走回盒子旁边，打开盒盖，又仔细地研究起那个小孔来。他将刀头塞进小孔里，轻轻一推。根本没费什么劲，他就听到一个东西"嗒"一声轻轻落在桌上。他盖上盒盖，打量那个掉落下来的小玩意儿。那是一块小小的木头，有骰子那么大。原来镶嵌在盒盖上的木质玫瑰弹了出来，落到了桌上。
兰登惊异地望着原先镶嵌玫瑰的地方。那里刻着四行隽秀的文字，而这些文字兰登从未见过。
兰登琢磨着，这像是闪族语，可我不认识。
突然，兰登发觉身后有动静。不知什么东西猛地击中了他的头部，使他跪倒在地。
倒下的瞬间，他好像看到一个举枪的白面鬼在头顶上盘旋。接着，他失去了知觉。
收听单词发音 |
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divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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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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savor
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| vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味 | |
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cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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blueprints
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| n.蓝图，设计图( blueprint的名词复数 ) | |
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abetter
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| n.教唆者，怂恿者 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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9
scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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craftsmanship
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| n.手艺 | |
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clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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14
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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15
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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