17 The Fedora

Chapter 17 The Fedora Peanut and Rockwell looked at each other. "Tell them," said Rockwell. "Tell us what?" asked Mr M. "Peanut, do you know something?" "Maybe," said Peanut, sitting back down. "I, er... I think I might know who Mr White is. And I think you've just confirmed it. "Go on," said Mrs M gently. "I think—we think—he's Milton Stone. My mum's boss." Rockwell nodded enthusiastically. Mrs M looked anxious. "OK. Why do you think that?" Peanut shuffled in her seat. "Well, first of all, he's pretty much the same height as Mr White. Secondly, Mr Stone is

第17章 费多拉帽 皮纳特和罗克韦尔对视着。 "告诉他们吧。"罗克韦尔说。 "告诉我们什么？"M先生问道，"皮纳特，你知道些什么吗？" "大概吧。"皮纳特说着坐回了位子。 "我，呃……" 我觉得我大概知道怀特先生是谁了。 而且我觉得你刚刚已经确认这件事了。 "继续说呀。"M夫人温柔地说道。 "我觉得——我们都觉得——他就是米尔顿·斯通。" 是我妈妈的老板。 罗克韦尔兴奋地点了点头。 M夫人看起来满脸焦虑。 "好的。" "你为什么会这么觉得呢？" 皮纳特在座位上挪了挪身子。 "唔，首先，他的身高和怀特先生几乎一模一样。 其次，斯通先生

horrible and Mr White is also horrible. Thirdly, he has a very similar turn of phrase. For example, they both said something to me about paper not growing on trees. "They are wrong of course," said Little-Bit, "because, technically, paper does grow on trees. Sure, you have to turn the raw wood into pulp first and mix in a few chemicals, maybe a caustic soda and some sodium sulphide, a dash of hypochlorite for bleaching, and obviously some epichlorohydrin to strengthen All right, Brainiac," interrupted Rockwell. "We get it. You know a lot of stuff. But try and keep a lid on it for a second if you can. Go on, Peanut, tell them about the thing. You know, the clincher. The irrefutable proof." "OK." Peanut took a deep breath. "He's also got a white fedora. It looks exactly the same as Mr White's. "Hmmm," said Mr M, frowning. "If you're right, Peanut, this is a really worrying development. Your family could be in danger. White, er... Stone knows you've been to Chroma. He knows you had Pencil Number One. Which must mean he knows..." He looked over at his wife. that Peanut's dad might be Conté's heir," they said together.

为人很讨厌，而怀特先生也很讨厌。 第三点，他说话的措辞和怀特先生也非常像。 比如，他俩都跟我说过纸不长在树上这句话。 "当然他们说错啦，"小丽特说，"因为严格来说，纸确实是从树上来的呀。 没错，你得先把原木做成纸浆，再混进一些化学品，比如烧碱、硫化钠，加一点次氯酸钠漂白，还要加表氯醇来增加强度……好了好了，天才，"罗克韦尔打断了他。 "我们知道了。 你懂的东西可多了。 不过能不能先收敛一下，别说这个了。 继续说，皮纳特，跟他们说那件事。 你知道的，最关键的证据。 无可反驳的证据。" "好的。" 皮纳特深吸了一口气。 "他还有一顶白色的费多拉帽。 看起来和怀特先生的那顶一模一样。 "唔……"M先生皱着眉头说道。 "如果你没猜错，皮纳特，这件事可太让人不安了。 你的家人可能会有危险。 怀特，呃…… 斯通知道你去过柯罗慕。 他知道你拿到了一号铅笔。 那也就意味着他肯定知道……" 他看向自己的妻子。 皮纳特的爸爸可能就是孔泰的继承人，"夫妻俩异口同声地说道。