26 Conte's Grave

Chapter 26 Conté's Grave The children walked silently through the cemetery. "If your theory is right, Rockwell, Mr White will be heading to Conté's grave," said Peanut. So we need to find it quickly. Which way, Little-Bit?" Little-Bit had been put in charge of map-reading and was leading them along the wide paths that served as "streets'. "If we carry on down here, turn left at the end, go past Serge Gainsbourg and Samuel Beckett, and then turn right on to that proper road bit, Conté should be somewhere on our left," said Little-Bit confidently. "OK. But we need to watch out for Mr White," said a worried Rockwell. "We don't want him to notice that we're following him."

第二十六章 孔特之墓 孩子们静静地穿过墓地。 “如果你的推论没错，罗克韦尔，怀特先生肯定正往孔特的墓去呢，”花生说。 所以我们得快点找到它。 走哪条路呀，小不点？” 小不点负责看地图，领着大家沿着被称作“街道”的宽道走。 “咱们顺着这条路一直走，到尽头左转，经过塞尔日·甘斯布和塞缪尔·贝克特的墓，再右转走上那条主路，孔特的墓肯定就在咱们左手边，”小不点自信满满地说。 “好的。 但我们得小心怀特先生，”忧心忡忡的罗克韦尔开口道。 “我们可不能让他发现我们在跟踪他。”

"I don't think he's spotted us yet," said Peanut. Anyway, he's so focused on getting back to Chroma, he's probably not thinking about anything else." Five minutes later, they arrived at sector twenty-five, the area in which, according to the map, Conté's grave was to be found. The headstones and tombs were packed very tightly together, with every last bit of space being utilised. It was obviously a very popular place among dead Parisians. "Right, Rockwell, you start checking the names over there," said Peanut, pointing to the left, "and LB, you take the right-hand side. I'll concentrate on the middle." Another five minutes passed before Little-Bit gleefully shouted, "Found it!"

“我觉得他还没发现我们，”花生说。 再说啦，他满脑子都想着回到色彩镇，根本不会留意别的事。” 五分钟后，他们走到了二十五区，根据地图，孔特的墓就在这片区域。 墓碑和墓穴挤得密密麻麻，每一寸空间都用上了。 看得出来，这里很受巴黎逝者的“欢迎”。 “好了，罗克韦尔，你去那边查名字，”花生指着左边说，“小LB，你去右边。 我查中间这片。” 又过了五分钟，小不点开心地大喊：“找到了！”

It was a fairly unremarkable memorial compared to some of those surrounding it. It comprised of a large, vertical headstone that sat at the end of a shallow, roof-shaped ledger, which Peanut thought reminiscent of an upturned book. On the headstone, a wreath containing a neat "NJC" logo had been carved above the words "CI-GiT NICOLAS JACQUES CONTÉ" and the dates of his birth and death. Two inverted torches (that bore distinct likenesses to pencils) featured in relief to the left and to the right of the inscription. "What does CI-GIT mean?" said Rockwell. "Here lies," replied Little-Bit. "It says he was fifty when he died. Younger than Gran. That's very sad. Peanut and Rockwell, meanwhile, were examining the grave carefully. Any sign?" asked Rockwell. "No evidence of a portal yet," she said, walking around the headstone. "There's nothing like those pencil hinges we saw on the Venus de Milo's plinth. There must be something here somewhere though... A-HA!" "What?" said Little-Bit and Rockwell at the same time. "Look," said Peanut, pointing to the back of the headstone. "Can you see?" "Where?" asked Rockwell, squinting. A tiny door handle, drawn with a pencil. A very special pencil, I'll bet! I'd recognise that graphite anywhere."

和周围那些墓碑比起来，这块墓实在没什么特别的。 它有一块竖着的大墓碑，摆在浅浅的坡形墓台末端，花生觉得这造型像一本倒过来放的书。 墓碑上刻着一个花圈，花圈里是清晰的“NJC”字样，花圈下方刻着“CI-GiT NICOLAS JACQUES CONTÉ”，还有他的生卒年份。 碑文的左右两侧各浮雕着一支倒放的火把，模样长得特别像铅笔。 “CI-GIT是什么意思呀？”罗克韦尔问。 “就是‘长眠于此’，”小不点回答。 “上面说他去世的时候才五十岁。 比奶奶还年轻呢。 真让人难过。 这时候，花生和罗克韦尔正在仔细检查这座墓。 有发现吗？”罗克韦尔问。 “还没找到入口的痕迹，”她一边说一边绕着墓碑走， “这里没有我们之前在维纳斯雕像底座上看到的那种铅笔合页。 不过这儿肯定藏着什么…… 啊哈！” “怎么了？”小不点和罗克韦尔异口同声问道。 “看，”花生指着墓碑的背面说。 “看见了吗？” “在哪儿？”罗克韦尔眯起眼睛问。 一个小小的门把手，是用铅笔画上去的。 我敢打赌，这绝对是一支特别的铅笔！ 我一眼就能认出这种石墨的质感。”

Sure enough, there was a very small doorknob drawn near the right edge. The shade of grey was exactly the same colour as the granite, so it was practically invisible. "So Mr White was here!" said Little-Bit. "You were right, Rocky!" "Well? What are you waiting for?" said Rockwell. "Let's get this over with." Peanut turned the knob, and the three of them heard the faint clicking sound of a latch releasing. She pulled, and, as if by magic, a door the full width of the stone began to open. "Here we go again," said Peanut, swallowing hard. "Heaven knows where we'll end up this time."

果然没错，墓碑右边缘附近真的画着一个小小的门把手。 它的灰度和花岗岩的颜色一模一样，所以几乎看不见。 “所以怀特先生确实来过这里！”小不点说。 “你说得太对了，洛奇！” “还等什么？ 快动手呀，”罗克韦尔说。 “我们赶紧搞定它。” 花生转动把手，三个人都听到了门闩弹开的轻微咔嗒声。 她一拉，一块墓碑宽度的一扇门就像施了魔法一样缓缓打开了。 “又要出发了，”花生咽了口唾沫说。 “天知道我们这次会到什么地方去。”