Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 "We open it together," Amy said, her eyes gleaming. "Ready? One— two— three—" Inside, the box was lined with silk decorated with an elaborately embroidered whale. Two objects rested on the silk: a small roll of parchment and a little pouch. Amy unrolled the parchment carefully. The edges crackled; a few tiny pieces flaked off. The ink on the page was faded but still legible. Amy read aloud:

“我们一起打开它，”艾米说，她的眼睛闪闪发光。 “准备好了吗?一——二——三——”盒子里是用丝绸做衬里的，上面装饰着一条精心刺绣的鲸鱼。 丝绸上有两件东西：一小卷羊皮纸和一个小袋子。 艾米小心翼翼地展开羊皮纸。 边缘噼啪作响；一些小碎片脱落了。 这页上的墨水褪色了，但仍然清晰可辨。 艾米大声朗读：

"Can I see it?" Dan took the parchment gently from Amy's hands. He glanced at it quickly. "WOO–HOO!" he whooped. "Finally, an easy one!" With one hand, he made a beckoning motion with his fingers. "Go on, go on, ask me," he said. Amy and Nellie rolled their eyes at each other. "Okay," Nellie said, "whatcha got?" Dan's expression was pure smugness. "I want you to beg," he said. "Dan!" Amy said, half laughing but completely annoyed. "Just kidding," he said. He held out the page and pointed to it. "See that? The word 'danngle.' It's misspelled. And it has to be, because without the extra 'n,' it wouldn't be an anagram for ENGLAND. That's where we go next!" He mimed licking his finger and then touched his temple. "Sssss," he said. "Oh, yeah, I'm good. I'm so good." More eye–rolling from the girls. In an effort to distract Dan's attention away from his self–

“我能看看吗？”丹轻轻地从艾米手中接过羊皮纸。 他飞快地看了一眼。“呜——呜！” “终于，一个简单的问题！”他用一只手，用手指做了一个招手的动作。 “说吧，说吧，问我吧，”他说。 埃米和内莉互相翻了个白眼。 “好吧，”内莉说，“你有什么？”丹的表情完全是沾沾自喜。 “我要你去乞讨，”他说。 “丹!”艾米说，半笑半笑，但完全被惹恼了。 “开个玩笑，”他说。他拿出那一页，指着它。 “看到了吗?“danngle”这个词。这是拼写错误。 它必须是，因为如果没有额外的“n”，它就不是英格兰的变位词。 那就是我们接下来要去的地方！”他假装舔手指，然后摸了摸太阳穴。 “嘘，”他说。“哦，是的，我很好。 我太棒了。”女孩们又翻白眼了。 为了把丹的注意力从他的自我身上转移开

proclaimed greatness, Amy reached for the little pouch. It was beautifully made, lined and heavily padded and closed with a drawstring. She opened it carefully and took out a small glass vial. The vial was filled with a rusty brownish red substance, like a rough powder. Amy uncorked the vial and brought it up to her nose. She sniffed cautiously. "I don't know," she said, frowning a little. "You can still smell something, even after all this time, but I can't tell—" Nellie reached for the vial. She gave it a quick sniff. "It's mace," she said immediately. "That spice I bought. The outer covering of a nutmeg." The three of them beamed at one another. "A clue and the next location, both inside about thirty seconds!" Dan crowed. The man in gray was standing behind Nellie. They had been so engrossed in the box and its contents, none of them had noticed when he rejoined them. "Well done," he said quietly.

宣布伟大时，艾米伸手去拿小袋子。 它做得很漂亮，有衬里，有很厚的衬垫，用一根拉绳系着。 她小心地打开它，拿出一个小玻璃瓶。 小瓶里装满了一种生锈的棕红色物质，像一种粗糙的粉末。 艾米打开小瓶的瓶塞，把它拿到鼻子边。 她小心地嗅了嗅。“我不知道，”她微微皱着眉头说。 “即使过了这么久，你还是能闻到一些味道，但我看不出来——”内莉伸手去拿药瓶。 她迅速地闻了闻。 “这是梅斯梅斯，”她马上说。 “我买的香料。肉豆蔻的外层。” 他们三个眉开眼笑。 “一条线索和下一个地点，都在30秒之内！”丹拥挤。 那个穿灰色衣服的人站在奈莉身后。 他们全神贯注地看着盒子和里面的东西，没有人注意到他重新回到他们身边。 “干得好，”他平静地说。

He sat down and took off his sunglasses. Then, to Amy's astonishment, he wiped his eyes as if they were tearing up. He cleared his throat and picked up the box. "Made by a renegade Ekat," he said. "Most ingenious, wouldn't you say? The Ekaterinas claimed this area— the Caribbean— long ago and have been very active here. By the way, I thought you would like to know that your cat is safe in Kingston. We will collect him when we leave here." He put the box back on the table. "I must apologize," he said. "First, for my earlier unpleasantness. As you will learn shortly, it was all part of the grand scheme. And second, because I've never properly introduced myself. My name is Fiske Cahill. And I would like to thank you for bringing such joy to my sister." His sister? "Grace," he said as he sat down next to Nellie. "Grace was my sister." Amy's jaw dropped.

他坐下来，摘下墨镜。 然后，令艾米吃惊的是，他擦了擦眼睛，好像要流泪似的。 他清了清嗓子，拿起盒子。 “是叛徒伊卡特制造的，”他说。 “非常巧妙，你说呢？” 叶卡捷琳娜家族很久以前就宣称拥有这个地区——加勒比海——并且在这里非常活跃。 顺便说一下，我想你会想知道你的猫在金斯敦很安全。 我们离开这里的时候会去接他的。” 他把盒子放回桌子上。 “我必须道歉，”他说。 “首先，为我先前的不愉快道歉。 你很快就会知道，这都是大计划的一部分。 第二，因为我从来没好好介绍过自己。 我叫菲斯克·卡希尔。我要感谢你给我妹妹带来这么大的快乐。” 他的妹妹吗?“格蕾丝，”他一边说一边在奈莉身边坐下。 “格蕾丝是我的妹妹。”艾米的下巴掉了下来。

Grace had one sibling— Aunt Beatrice. Neither of them had ever once mentioned a brother. It couldn't be true! "How come we never heard of you?" Dan asked. The man winced and slumped a little in his chair. "There is no easy answer to that question," he said, almost to himself. He paused and took a breath. "As a small child, I was painfully shy. So much so that I simply couldn't function when I was with other people. My parents allowed me to stay out of school, at home with a tutor. Perhaps that was a mistake because in the end, it made it easier for me to— to disappear altogether when I decided as a young man that I wanted nothing to do with— with the family business." He gave them a searching look, and Amy knew what business he meant: the hunt for the 39 Clues. The man laced his fingers together and stared at his hands. "As children, Grace and I adored each other. She was the only one I kept in touch with over the years, and on my terms, not hers. I would call or write once in a while, brief visits every

格蕾丝有一个兄弟姐妹——比阿特丽斯姨妈。 他们俩谁也没提过有兄弟。 这不可能是真的！“我们怎么从来没听说过你呢？”丹问道。 那人畏缩了一下，在椅子上瘫了下来。 “这个问题没有简单的答案，”他几乎自言自语地说。 他停顿了一下，吸了一口气。 “小时候，我非常害羞。 以至于当我和其他人在一起的时候，我根本无法正常工作。 我父母允许我不上学，在家请家教。 也许这是一个错误，因为最终，当我年轻时决定与家族企业无关时，这使我更容易彻底消失。” 他仔细地看了他们一眼，艾美明白他指的是什么事：寻找39条线索。 那人把手指绑在一起，盯着自己的手。 “当我还是孩子的时候，格蕾丝和我互相崇拜。 多年来，她是我唯一保持联系的人，而且是以我的方式，而不是她的方式。 我偶尔会打电话或写信，每次都去拜访一下

other year or so. It was not until she became ill that I went to see her for an extended time." He shook his head, and his already soft voice lowered to a whisper. "Of the many poor choices I made in my life, the one I most regret is not spending more time with her." Amy felt her throat clutch a little. What would it be like if Dan disappeared from her life? Then she caught herself and frowned. If Fiske Cahill wasn't telling the truth, he was an awfully good actor. He probably wanted her to think exactly what she had been thinking. She had to stay on guard…. "I hope that is sufficient explanation as to why you have never heard of me," he was saying, "because there is no other. Grace, in her last days, asked me to become involved in the hunt for clues. I could not refuse her." "Not good enough," Dan said. "You still haven't given us any real proof that you're Grace's brother." Fiske Cahill sat in silence for a moment. Then he lifted his chin, blinked his eyes, and spoke in a

再过一年左右吧。直到她生病，我才去看她很长一段时间。” 他摇了摇头，本来就很柔和的声音降成了耳语。 “在我一生中做出的许多糟糕的选择中，我最后悔的是没有花更多的时间和她在一起。” 艾美感到喉咙有点哽咽。 如果丹从她的生活中消失了会是什么样子？ 然后她控制住自己，皱起了眉头。 如果菲斯克·卡希尔说的不是实话，那他确实是个好演员。 他大概是想让她明白她一直在想什么。 她不得不保持警惕.... “我希望这足以解释你为什么从来没有听说过我，”他说，“因为没有别人。 格蕾丝在她最后的日子里，让我参与寻找线索。 我不能拒绝她。”“不够好，”丹说。 “你还没有给我们任何真正的证据证明你是格蕾丝的哥哥。” 菲斯克·卡希尔沉默地坐了一会儿。 然后他抬起下巴，眨了眨眼睛，用一种