Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 As soon as the taxi joined a raging river of traffic on a main street and they were sure they hadn't been followed, Nellie gave the driver the name of their hotel. Then she crashed back against the seat and sighed. "You two owe me, big-time. I just left my soul mate waiting for me to get back from the ladies' room." "Don't worry," Dan said. "You'll always have cardapop." "Cardamom," Nellie corrected. "We'll make it up to you," Amy said. "Anyway, we found something." Amy held up the leather tube. She unwound the old, worn straps and popped off the top.

当出租车在一条主要街道上加入汹涌的车流时，他们确信他们没有被跟踪，内利告诉了司机他们住的旅馆的名字。 然后她倒在座位上，叹了口气。 “你们俩欠我一个大人情。 我只是让我的灵魂伴侣在等我从女洗手间回来。” “别担心，”丹说。“你会一直有卡达普。” “小豆蔻，”内莉纠正道。 “我们会补偿你的，”艾米说。 “不管怎样，我们找到了一些东西。” 艾米举起了皮管子。 她解开又旧又破的带子，啪的一声脱下上衣。

Turning over the tube, she shook it gently. They gasped as a small fragment of rolled parchment fell out of the tube into her palm. It was dry and crumbled at the edges. It was so fragile Amy was afraid to even breathe on it. "I think it's an old letter," she said. "Or at least part of one." She unwrapped it slowly. Dan groaned. "Not French again!" "Translation?" Amy asked Nellie. "'And for the greater glory of the descendants of Luke and my Emperor, the clue is now en route to the palace o… '"Nellie stopped, tilting her sunglasses down to read. "'…du la Paris'? Of the Paris? That isn't correct. Unless L is an initial?" "So who could L be?" Dan wondered. "Well, there were an awful lot of kings of France named Louis," Nellie said. "One of them lost his

她把管子翻过来，轻轻地摇了摇。 一小片卷好的羊皮纸从纸筒里掉到她的手掌里，他们倒吸了一口气。 它很干，边缘都碎了。 它太脆弱了，艾米甚至不敢对着它呼吸。 “我想这是一封旧信，”她说。 “或者至少是其中的一部分。” 她慢慢地打开包裹。丹呻吟着。 “又不是法国人！”“翻译?”艾米问内利。 “为了卢克和我的皇帝的后代更大的荣耀，现在线索已经在通往……宫殿的路上了。”内莉停了下来，把太阳镜斜下来读了起来。 “‘du la Paris’？”巴黎？ 这是不对的。除非L是首字母？”“那么我是谁呢？”丹奇怪。 “嗯，法国有很多国王都叫路易，”内莉说。 “其中一个丢了他的

head, but he had a palace called Versailles." "Anyway, some clue was shipped off to some palace by the Lucians," Amy said. "But I wonder who B.D. is." She sighed. "I was hoping it would be a message from Napoleon." "Does this mean the clue is back in France?" Dan wondered. Amy carefully put the paper in her waist pack. "If we just keep digging, this will make sense sooner or later." They had been so intent on the letter that they hadn't noticed when the taxi turned off a main street and into a quieter neighborhood. Palm trees lined the boulevard. Bougainvillea bloomed in explosions of pink and purple. "Wow," Nellie said, cranking down her window and sticking her head out to sniff the air. "I smell rich people." The taxi pulled into a long, curving drive. Amy and Nellie gasped, and Dan cried out, "Sweet!" as the hotel came into view. It was a big white sprawling mansion of a building. Long green lawns stretched up to its front porch. A couple dressed in white terrycloth

但他有一座叫凡尔赛宫的宫殿。” “总之，卢西亚人把一些线索运到了某个宫殿，”艾米说。 “但我想知道B.D.是谁。” 她叹了口气。“我还以为是拿破仑的口信呢。” “这是不是意味着线索回到了法国？”丹奇怪。 艾米小心翼翼地把纸放进她的腰包里。 “如果我们继续挖掘，迟早会有意义的。” 他们一心一意地想着那封信，以致于没有注意到出租车驶离了一条主要街道，进入了一个比较安静的街区。 棕榈树在林荫大道两旁排列。 九重葛绽放出粉红色和紫色的花朵。 “哇，”内莉说着，摇下窗户，伸出头来嗅了嗅空气。 “我闻到了有钱人的味道。”出租车驶入了一条长长的弯道。 艾米和内莉倒吸了一口冷气，丹喊道：“太好了！”这时旅馆映入眼帘。 那是一座巨大的白色大厦。 长长的绿色草坪一直延伸到前廊。 一对穿着白色毛巾布的夫妇

robes strolled across a side patio toward a turquoise pool. A pool boy rushed up to lead them to a cabana. Waiters glided through the chairs, balancing trays of iced drinks. Across the Nile loomed the great pyramids of Giza, appearing through the yellow air like a dream. Nellie whistled. "A lifestyle to which I am ready to become accustomed." "How can we afford this?" Amy asked. "We do have the money from the Kabras," Nellie said. "Which totally belongs to us now. We earned it." "We sure did," Amy said, remembering Ian's double-cross. Mr. McIntyre, Grace's lawyer, had told them Trust no one at the very beginning. She shouldn't have forgotten that for a moment. Instead, she'd looked into Ian's dark eyes and fallen for his lines. Dumb. Really dumb, Amy. She had no trouble with lessons at school. But when it came to real-life emotions, she'd score an F. "Still, we could run out of cash pronto at a place like this," Nellie said. "Maybe we should try someplace else."

长袍漫步穿过一侧的露台，走向一个绿松石色的游泳池。 一个泳池男孩冲上来，把他们带到一间小屋。 服务员们在椅子间来回走动，平衡着一盘盘冰镇饮料。 尼罗河对岸的吉萨金字塔若隐若现，在黄色的空气中宛如梦境。 内莉吹口哨。“一种我已经准备习惯的生活方式。” “我们怎么负担得起？”艾米问。 “我们确实有卡布拉家的钱，”内莉说。 “现在完全属于我们了。 这是我们应得的。”“当然了，”艾米说，想起了伊恩的欺骗。 格蕾丝的律师麦金太尔先生从一开始就告诉他们不要相信任何人。 她一刻也不应该忘记这一点。 相反，她看着伊恩的黑眼睛，被他的台词迷住了。 愚蠢的。真蠢，艾米。她在学校的功课没有问题。 但当涉及到现实生活中的情感时，她只能得F。 “不过，在这样的地方，我们可能很快就没钱了，”内莉说。 “也许我们应该去别的地方试试。”

The taxi had already pulled up. A snappily dressed bellman ran to open the door. Another raced to collect their bags. Before they could protest, they were ushered out of the taxi, and the driver was heading back down the drive. The bellman hung their shabby backpacks and battered bags on the rolling cart as though they were fine luggage. Nobody gave their T-shirts and crumpled jeans a second look. "Welcome to the Hotel Excelsior," the first bellman said. "Follow me, please." They trailed behind him as Nellie smoothed her hair, Amy tucked in her shirt, and Dan tried to grab his backpack from the cart. There were more wide smiles from the clerks at the front desk. One slim, handsome gentleman waved them over. "Please, welcome to the Hotel Excelsior. May I inquire the name of your party?" "Uh…," Nellie said. "Oh…" Dan said. "Oh?" "Oh," Dan said firmly.

出租车已经停了下来。 一个衣着光鲜的行李员跑去开门。 另一个跑去收拾行李。 他们还没来得及抗议，就被领出了出租车，司机沿着车道往回走。 行李员把他们破旧的背包和破旧的袋子挂在手推车上，好像它们是好行李似的。 没有人再多看他们的t恤和皱巴巴的牛仔裤一眼。 “欢迎光临Excelsior酒店，”第一个行李员说。 “请跟我来。”他们跟在他后面，内莉整理头发，艾米塞进衬衫，丹试图从手推车上抓起他的背包。 前台的工作人员露出了更多灿烂的笑容。 一位身材苗条、英俊的绅士挥手示意他们过去。 “欢迎光临Excelsior酒店。 我可以问一下你们的名字吗？”“呃……”内莉说。 “哦……”丹说。“哦?”“哦，”丹坚定地说。

"I'm sorry, the reservation is not showing up," the man said, consulting the computer. "I can recommend several other hotels…. Excuse me," he said as the phone rang. His posture grew even more erect as he listened for a moment. He looked at them, then turned a shoulder and spoke quietly into the receiver. "Ah, certainly, sir. I'll arrange that right away for you." He hung up and turned back to the computer screen. "Oh. Of course. The Oh reservation. We've reserved the Aswan Suite, as usual." "Suite?" Amy blurted. "At the usual family discount, of course," he added. He pushed the register toward Nellie. "If you would just sign." Amy peeked at the price. To her surprise, it wasn't much more than the price of the fleabag hotel in Paris. Nellie signed the register and the desk clerk handed over three card keys. He reached over to ding the bell. "The bellman will show you upstairs." "Family discount?" Amy hissed. "We are family," Dan pointed out.

“对不起，预订没有显示出来，”那人一边说，一边查了查电脑。 “我可以推荐其他几家酒店.... 对不起，”他说，这时电话铃响了。 他听了一会儿，身子更加挺直了。 他看了看他们，然后转过肩膀，轻轻地对着话筒说话。 “啊，当然可以，先生。我马上为您安排。” 他挂了电话，转身回到电脑屏幕前。 “哦。当然可以。哦预订。 我们像往常一样预订了阿斯旺套间。” “套房?”艾米脱口而出。“当然是一般的家庭折扣，”他补充说。 他把收银机推给奈莉。 “如果你能签字的话。”艾米偷看了一下价格。 令她惊讶的是，这并不比巴黎的廉价酒店贵多少。 内莉在登记簿上签了名，前台职员递给她三把钥匙。 他伸出手去按铃。 “行李员会带您上楼的。” “家庭折扣吗?”艾米发出嘘嘘的声音。 “我们是一家人，”丹指出。