AFTER COMPLINE
In which, almost by chance, William discovers the secret of entering the finis Africae.
Like a pair of assassins, we lurked1 near the entrance, behind a column, whence we could observe the chapel2 with the skulls3.
“Abo has gone to close the Aedificium,” William said. “When he has barred the doors from the inside, he can only come out through the ossarium.”
“And then?”
“And then we will see what he does.”
We did not discover what he did. An hour went by and he still had not reappeared. He’s gone into the finis Africae, I said. Perhaps, William answered. Eager to formulate4 more hypotheses, I added: Perhaps he came out again through the refectory and has gone to look for Jorge. And William answered: That is also possible. Perhaps Jorge is already dead, I imagined further. Perhaps he is to the Aedificium and is killing5 the abbot. Perhaps they are both in some other place and some other person is lying in wait for them. What did “the Italians” want? And why was Benno so frightened? Was it perhaps only a mask he had assumed, to mislead us? Why had he lingered in the scriptorium during vespers, if he didn’t know how to close the scriptorium or how to get out? Did he want to essay the passages of the labyrinth6?
“All is possible,” William said. “But only one thing is happening, or has happened, or is about to happen. And at last divine Providence7 is endowing us with a radiant certitude.”
“What is that?” I asked, full of hope.
“That Brother William of Baskerville, who now has the impression of having understood everything, does not know how to enter the finis Africae. To the stables, Adso, to the stables.”
“And what if the abbot finds us?”
“We will pretend to be a pair of ghosts.”
To me this did not seem a practical solution, but I kept silent. William was growing uneasy. We came out of the north door and crossed the cemetery8, while the wind was whistling loudly and I begged the Lord not to make us encounter two ghosts, for the abbey, on that night, did not lack for souls in torment9. We reached the stables and heard the horses, more nervous than ever because of the fury of the elements. The main door of the building had, at the level of a man’s chest, a broad metal grating, through which the interior could be seen. In the darkness we discerned the forms of the horses. I recognized Brunellus, the first on the left. To his right, the third animal in line raised his head, sensing our presence, and whinnied. I smiled. “Tertius equi,” I said.
“What?” William asked.
“Nothing. I was remembering poor Salvatore. He wanted to perform God knows what magic with that horse, and with his Latin he called him “tertius equi: Which would be the u.”
“The u?” asked William, who had heard my prattle10 without paying much attention to it.
“Yes, because ‘tertius equi’ does not mean the third horse, but the third of the horse, and the third letter of the word ‘equus’ is u. But this is all nonsense. ...”
William looked at me, and in the darkness I seemed to see his face transformed. “God bless you, Adso!” he said to me. “Why, of course, suppositio materialis, the discourse11 is presumed de dicto and not de re. ... What a fool I am!” He gave himself such a great blow on the forehead that I heard a clap, and I believe he hurt himself. “My boy, this is the second time today that wisdom has spoken through your mouth, first in dream and now waking! Run, run to your cell and fetch the lamp, or, rather, both the lamps we hid. Let no one see you, and join me in church at once! Ask no questions! Go!”
I asked no questions and went. The lamps were under my bed, already filled with oil, and I had taken care to trim them in advance. I had the flint in my habit. With the two precious instruments clutched to my chest, I ran into the church.
William was under the tripod and was rereading the parchment with Venantius’s notes.
“Adso,” he said to me, “ ‘primum et septimum de quatuor’ does not mean the first and seventh of four, but of the four, the word ‘four’!” For a moment I still did not understand, but then I was enlightened: “Super thronos viginti quatuor! The writing! The verse! The words are carved over the mirror!”
“Come,” William said, “perhaps we are still in time to save a life!”
“Whose?” I asked, as he was manipulating the skulls and opening the passage to the ossarium.
“The life of someone who does not deserve it,” he said. We were already in the underground passage, our lamps alight, moving toward the door that led to the kitchen.
I said before that at this point you pushed a wooden door and found yourself in the kitchen, behind the fireplace, at the foot of the circular staircase that led to the scriptorium. And just as we were pushing that door, we heard to our left some muffled12 sounds within the wall. They came from the wall beside the door, where the row of niches14 with skulls and bones ended. Instead of a last niche13, there was a stretch of blank wall of large squared blocks of stone, with an old plaque15 in the center that had some worn monograms16 carved on it. The sounds came, it seemed, from behind the plaque, or else from above the plaque, partly beyond the wall, and partly almost over our heads.
If something of the sort had happened the first night, I would immediately have thought of dead monks17. But by now I tended to expect worse from living monks. “Who can that be?” I asked.
William opened the door and emerged behind the fireplace. The blows were heard also along the wall that flanked the stairs, as if someone were prisoner inside the wall, or else in that thickness (truly vast) that presumably existed between the inner wall of the kitch?en and the outer wall of the south tower.
“Someone is shut up inside there,” William said. “I have wondered all along whether there were not an?other access to the finis Africae, in this Aedificium so full of passages. Obviously there is. From the ossarium, before you come up into the kitchen, a stretch of wall opens, and you climb up a staircase parallel to this, concealed18 in the wall, which leads right to the blind room.”
“But who is in there?”
“The second person. One is in the finis Africae, another has tried to reach him, but the one above must have blocked the mechanism19 that controls the entrances. So the visitor is trapped. And he is making a great stir because, I imagine, there cannot be much air in that narrow space.”
“Who is it? We must save him!”
“We shall soon know who it is. And as for saving him, that can only be done by releasing the mechanism from above: we don’t know the secret at this end. Let’s hurry upstairs.”
So we went up to the scriptorium, and from there to the labyrinth, and we quickly reached the south tower. Twice I had to curb20 my haste, because the wind that came through the slits21 that night created currents that, penetrating22 those passages, blew moaning through the rooms, rustling23 the scattered24 pages on the desks, so that I had to shield the flame with my hand.
Soon we were in the mirror room, this time prepared for the game of distortion awaiting us. We raised the lamps to illuminate25 the verse that surmounted26 the frame. Super thronos viginti quatuor ... At this point the secret was quite clear: the word “quatuor” has seven letters, and we had to press on the q and the r. I thought, in my excitement, to do it myself: I rapidly set the lamp down on the table in the center of the room. But I did this nervously27, and the flame began to lick the binding28 of a book also set there.
“Watch out, idiot!” William cried, and with a puff29 blew out the flame. “You want to set fire to the library?”
I apologized and started to light the lamp again. “It doesn’t matter,” William said, “mine is enough. Take it and give me light, because the legend is too high and you couldn’t reach it. We must hurry.”
“And what if there is somebody armed in there?” I asked, as William, almost groping, sought the fatal letters, standing30 on tiptoe, tall as he was, to touch the apocalyptic31 verse.
“Give me light, by the Devil, and never fear: God is with us!” he answered me, somewhat incoherently. His fingers were touching32 the q of “quatuor,” and, standing a few paces back, I saw better than he what he was doing. I have already said that the letters of the verses seemed carved or incised in the wall: apparently33 those of the word “quatuor” were metal outlines, behind which a wondrous34 mechanism had been placed and walled up. When it was pushed forward, the q made a kind of sharp click, and the same thing happened when William pressed on the r. The whole frame of the mirror seemed to shudder35, and the glass surface snapped back. The mirror was a door, hinged on its left side. William slipped his hand into the opening now created between the right edge and the wall, and pulled toward himself. Creaking, the door opened out, in our direction. William slipped through the opening and I scuttled36 behind him, the lamp high over my head.
Two hours after compline, at the end of the sixth day, in the heart of the night that was giving birth to the seventh day, we entered the finis Africae.
收听单词发音 |
1
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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formulate
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| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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prattle
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| n.闲谈；v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话；发出连续而无意义的声音 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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12
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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niches
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| 壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位） | |
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plaque
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| n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板 | |
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monograms
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| n.字母组合( monogram的名词复数 ) | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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slits
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| n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子 | |
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22
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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23
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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24
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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25
illuminate
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| vt.照亮，照明；用灯光装饰；说明，阐释 | |
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26
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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29
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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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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apocalyptic
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| adj.预示灾祸的，启示的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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33
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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35
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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36
scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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