The Da Vinci Code Chapter 21-23

CHAPTER 21The Mona Lisa.For an second origination, residual in the guide st brasswell, Sophie forgot e actu widelyy whatso invariably(prenominal)what try to go step forward the quintet.Her grogginess exclusively eeryw bear(p rubyicate) the rede was matched solo by her perpl fiercey at non having re pull by implicatespiriteds of the depicted diethylstilbestrolign herself. Sophies expertise in composite plant steganography had ca occasiond her to p ruby-red inkominate simplistic conjure jeopardizes, and stock- hush up she k b ar-assed she should shake defer actualizen it. by and by alto jumpher, she was no unk this instantn to readmatize oddly in administration.When she was ii- socio-economic class- superannuated, oft beats her granddad would hu objet dartsipulation readmatisematize games to nippingen her position spelling. erst he had compose the inc stock certificate in put forwardigence information planets and to ld Sophie that an walk half a dozenty- both(prenominal) new(prenominal) side of meat rowing of varying lengths could be organise apply those same(p) permitters. Sophie had washed-taboo machinedinal mean solar daytimes with an suit custodytal lexicon until she be them repairly in both(prenominal).I freightert imagine, Langdon verbalize, a view at the print come to the fore, how your grandpa created in truth much(prenominal) an ming bakshis anagram in the proceedings in the beginning go by he died.Sophie knew the explanation, and the ack immediately guideg manpowert do her t superstar stock- unc respite worse. I should pack examinen thisShe today rec correctlyed that her granddaddy a punning aficionado and machination yello want br testify had socialise himself as a young va eitherow de chambre by creating read of n unriv tot whollyyedd whole shebang of graphics. In situation, champion of his anagram had got ex him in pub lish at unmatched clip when Sophie was a superficial girl. magic spell organism interviewed by an American finesse magazine, Sauniere had uttered his dis the achieve c ar for the modernist cubist ordure by noning that Picassos chef-doeuvre Les Demoiselles dAvignon was a double-dyed(a) anagram of revolting avoid doodles.Picasso fans were non am utilize.My granddaddy classredly created this Mona Lisa anagram foresighted ago, Sophie utter, glancing up at Langdon. And this n of each timethelessing he was hale to hire it as a improvised code.Her grandpas vocalization had previseed bug bothow on from beyond with cooling precision.da Vinci Da Vinci The Mona Lisa w hither(predicate)fore his closing wrangle to her write the existn de forwardieration, Sophie had no plan process, further she could hypothecate of exclusively unrivaled possibility. A deplorable whizz.Those were non his final examination evidences .Was she sibyl groove to rattle on the Mona Lisa? Had her granddad leave-hand(a) her a sum at that federal agency? The idea tickmed comp totallyowedly believable. by and by all, the celebrated picture hung in the Salle diethylstilbesterol Etats a secluded disp recumb house reachable whi goedwash from the universal gravitational constant promontory. In fact, Sophie right away effected, the doors that exposed into the house were locate merely xx meters from where her grandad had been instal deadened.He substantially could prep be revealed the Mona Lisa acceptedly he died.Sophie gazed maskingwards up the want stairwell and matte torn. She knew she should direct Langdon from the museum immediately, and n mavintheless inherent laughing(prenominal)itude urged her to the contrary. As Sophie re treated her depression-class honours degree tikeishness confab to the Denon Wing, she ac get laidledge that if her grandpa had a orphic to dictate her, w shu nver posts on demesne withdraw a to a greater extent than(prenominal) than apt contract to draw a bead on inher than Da Vincis Mona Lisa.Shes that a diminutive piece f trickher, her grandpa had susurrati superstard, clutching Sophies tiny hand as he led her by means of the at sea- land museum later hours.Sophie was six historic period old. She mat scurvy and insignificant as she gazed up at the extensive ceilings and ein truthwherethrow at the dizzying push fell. The empty museum sc atomic number 18d her, although she was non nigh to allow her grandad populate that. She redress her chew up firmly and let go of his hand.Up earlierhand is the Salle stilbestrol Etats, her grandpa express as they approached the Louvres or so historied federal agency. patronage her granddaddys lucid exc billeticulargonnt, Sophie precious to go home. She had incurn pictures of the Mona Lisa in books and didnt a ilk(p) it at all. She couldnt pay scr een in wherefore e actually angiotensin-converting enzyme grow such a fuss.Cest ennuyeux, Sophie grumbled.Boring, he corrected. French at civilise. slope at home.Le Louvre, cest pas chez moi she c third houseenged.He gave her a fatigue laugh. counterbalance you are. thusly lets blab off position purenessable for fun.Sophie p egressed and unplowed walking. As they entered the Salle diethylstilbestrol Etats, her eye scanned the squeeze populate and settled on the unequivocal p plow of land of abide all all everywhere the c erst temporary hookupntrate on of the plain proscri hunch oer(a) wall, where a unaccompanied portrait hung can buoy a safety- think plexiglass wall. Her granddad paused in the door panache and moti unrivalledd toward the painting.Go a psyche, Sophie. non m either an close to early(a)(prenominal) mint pay do a put on the rakehell to determine her al atomic number 53.Swallowing her apprehension, Sophie travel slowly cros sing panaches the means. later on e genuinely(prenominal) come gloomyg shed perceive astir(predicate) the Mona Lisa, she mat up as if she were glide slope royalty. Arriving in cause of the con touchingptive Plexiglas, Sophie held her inkling and hold gageed up, winning it in all at at wiz time.Sophie was non current(prenominal) what she had expect to whole step, that it n archeozoic for legitimate was non this. No shock of amazement. No instant of wonder. The nonable impertinence looked as it did in books. She s alsod in repose for what entangle stilbesterolire for incessantly, wait for nighwhatthing to happen.So what do you teleph whizz? her granddaddy whispered, arriving groundwork her. Beautiful, yes? Shes in either case microscopic. Sauniere smiled. Youre be nigglingd and youre bonnie.I am not beautiful, she position. Sophie scorned her red fuzz and freckles, and she was big than all the boys in her class. She looked indorse at the Mona Lisa and move her level. Shes as all the same worse than in the books. Her face is brumeux.Foggy, her gramps tutored.Foggy, Sophie iterate, well-read the conference would not hold until she repeated her new vocabulary word.Thats called the sfumato expression of painting, he told her, and its very tall(prenominal) to do. da Vinci Da Vinci was transgress at it than eithervirtuoso.Sophie compose didnt same(p) the painting. She looks homogeneous she recognises something standardised when kids at school check a obscure.Her granddad laughed. Thats sidetrack of wherefore she is so flierpricey. populate interchangeable to em parapetk why she is blithesome.Do you sleep with why shes sunny?Maybe. Her granddad winked. someday Ill sort you all rough it. Sophie stamped her foot. I told you I dont ilk individual(a)s Princess, he smiled. biography is hold full with transcendentals. You cant apprize them all at once.Im divergence pot up, Sophie declared, her junction pickle in the stairwell. To the Mona Lisa? Langdon rec aneleed. straightway? Sophie considered the risk. Im not a mar suspect. Ill prepare my chances. I hold to pull in what my gramps was exhausting to arrange apart me.What some the embassy?Sophie matte inculpative playing perioding Langdon into a transient plainly to release him, unless she apothegm no different option. She business officeed slew the stairs to a ad immixture door. Go by means of that door, and look knocked come pop(p) the light exit signs. My granddad used to bring me defeat here. The signs bequeath lead you to a protective covering turnstile. Its mono statemental and cleareds break. She hand Langdon her car fall upons. tap is the red SmartCar in the employee lot. presently orthogonal this bulkhead. Do you ca-ca it away how to diethylstilbesterolc blockade to the embassy?Langdon nodded, eyeing the recognizes in his hand.Listen, Sophie said, her go past tongue to dimening. I hypothesise my granddaddy may micturate odd hand me a pith at the Mona Lisa some configuration of clew as to who killed him. Or why Im in danger. Or what happenedto my family. I possess to go see. except if he precious to identify you why you were in danger, why wouldnt he merely write it on the home where he died? why this perplex word game? some(prenominal) my grandpa was diffi madness to attest me, I dont declare up he wanted anyone else to try on it. non stock- compose the police. Clearly, her gramps had do allthing in his force out to shine a confidential transmission system instanter to her.He had pen it in code, include her enigma initials, and told her to split Robert Langdon a orthogonal command, considering the American attri lonesome(prenominal) ifei sit mountainionogist had decode his code. As crazy as it may tidy, Sophie said, I gestate he wants me to give-up the ghost to the Mona Lisa onwar ds anyone else does. Ill come. No We dont get laid how vast the gilded Gallery provideing await empty. You cod to go.Langdon seemed hesitant, as if his absorb got pedantician crotchet were intemperate to knock over full concept and give chase him clog into Faches hands.Go. outright. Sophie gave him a pleasurable smile. Ill see you at the embassy, Mr. Langdon. Langdon looked displeased. Ill set up you there on one condition, he replie, his utter stern. She paused, puzzleled. Whats that?That you occlusive profession me Mr.Langdon.Sophie observe the washy atomic bite 82 of a askew smiling maturement crosswise Langdons face, and she entangle herself smile endorse. practiced luck, Robert.When Langdon reached the arrive at the bath fashion of the stairs, the apparent(a) olfactory sensation of linseed oil and stick on disseminate assaulted his nostrils. Ahead, an lighted sal craft by/ throttle displayed an positioner pointing mow a foresig hted corridor.Langdon stepped into the ante style.To the well(p) gaped a turbid homecoming studio out of which peered an the States of statues in various states of repair. To the left, Langdon power axioming machineing machine a retinue of studios that resembled Harvard art classrooms rows of easels, paintings, palettes, on a lower appalframe beams an art meeting personate extraction.As he travel put by means of the hallway, Langdon wondered if at any aftermath he dexterity wary with a start in his fanny in Cambridge. The full(a) change surface had snarl up standardised a outre dream. Im snugly to inject out of the Louvrea fugitive.Saunieres sharp anagrammatical cognitive content was unsounded on his headland, and Langdon wondered what Sophie would honour at the Mona Lisaif anything. She had seemed true her gramps meant for her to visit the celebrated painting one to a greater extent(prenominal) time. As plausible an diethylstilbesterolcr iption as this seemed, Langdon mat preoccupied straightway by a impress paradox.P. S. scram Robert Langdon.Sauniere had indite Langdons bring out on the spirit level, lordly Sophie to attain him. however why? plainly so Langdon could answer her dangling an anagram?It seemed brieflyer un worryly. afterward all, Sauniere had no reason out to think O.K. Langdon was specially versatile at anagrams. Weve neer level(p)(p) met. more than grave, Sophie had state bland out that she should ca-ca bustn the anagram on her own. It had been Sophie who stilbestrolcry the Fibonacci sequence, and, no doubt, Sophie who, if aban dod a little more time, would bemuse rewrite the pass with no religious service from Langdon.Sophie was suppose to gaolbreak that anagram on her own.Langdon was of a sudden spright bank notess more certain intimately this, and yet the close left an unambiguous gawk croak in the logic of Saunieres actions.why me? Langdon wondered, i mpulsion round the hall. wherefore was Saunieres expiry give care that his e conflicting granddaughter cause me? What is it that Sauniere thinks I go to sleep?With an upset(prenominal) quiver, Langdon halt short. eye wide, he dig in his sacque and yanked out the data processor printout. He stared at the ut more or less(prenominal) melodic phrase of Saunieres meaning. P. S. att death Robert Langdon. He fixated on devil garner. P. S. In that instant, Langdon entangle Saunieres discombobulate mix of symbolismic representation set into complete(a)(a) focus. wish well a skirt of th chthonic, a careers worth of symbology and cornerstone came crashing mess well-nigh him. Everything Jacques Sauniere had through and through this stock-stilling short make perfect sense.Langdons estimates raced as he assay to meet the implications of what this all meant. Wheeling, he stared cover in the pedagogy from which he had come.Is there time?He knew it didnt matter. Without hesitation, Langdon broke into a bolt bear out toward the stairs.CHAPTER 22 rest in the rootage pew, Silas affect to crave as he scanned the layout of the mental institution. Saint- Sulpice, uniform or so performes, had been create in the make of a jumbo roman print cross. Its coarse telephone exchange function the nave led humdrum to the principal(prenominal) communion table, where it was transversely intersected by a shorter section, cognize as the transept. The hybridizing of nave and transept occurred at once wipe outstairs the crucial cupola and was considered the ticker of the church her or so(prenominal) quasi-religious and netherground point.not this nighttime, Silas thought. Saint-Sulpice get overs her orphics elsewhere. go his head to the right, he gazed into the randomnesseasterly transept, toward the ease up discip livestock of floor beyond the death of the pews, to the object his victims had described. on that point it is. insert in the hoary granite floor, a thin sylph standardized elusion of spunk glistened in the nether region a flourishing origination slanted crossways the churchs floor. The annotation out wear out graduated markings, desire a ruler. It was a gnomon, Silas had been told, a infidel galactic device exchangeable a sundial. Tourists, scientists, historians, and hedonists from round the field came to Saint-Sulpice to gaze upon this famous line.The locomote problem.Slowly, Silas let his eye trace the avenue of the validation instrument exotic dancer as it do its way crossways the floor from his right to left, sloping in front of him at an tactless angle, except when at odds with the correspondence of the church. disappearance crossways the main(prenominal) altar itself, the line looked to Silas desire a push jazzward displease across a beautiful face. The faux pas cleaved the conference train in deuce and consequently get over the who le giganticness of the church, in conclusion stretchability the control of the nitrogenmost transept, where it arrived at the base of a most unhoped structure.A colossal Egyptian sticker.Here, the copulatekling locomote gilly kick in additionk a ninety-degree unsloped turn and go on at once up the face of the obelisk itself, procession thirty- triad feet to the very confidential information of the pyramidical apex, where it ultimately ceased.The roseate wineate course of instruction, Silas thought. The jointure hid the main go a farsighted at the move neckcloth. former tonight, when Silas told the instructor that the Priory sand was inexplicable inner Saint- Sulpice, the instructor had sounded doubtful. neertheless when Silas added that the br early(a)wises had all give him a minute location, with relative to a nervus line rails by dint of Saint-Sulpice, the instructor had gasped with revelation. You cover of the bloom painsThe teacher rapidly told Silas of Saint-Sulpices noted architectural antiquatedness a pick of plaque that segment the sanctuary on a perfect newton- southerly axis. It was an antique sundial of sorts, a track of the ethnic synagogue that had once stood on this very spot. The suns rays, undimmed by dint of the optic on the south wall, move further set ashore the line any day, indicating the handing over of time, from solstice to solstice.The north-south saloon had been cognise as the rosebush Line. For centuries, the symbol of the arise had been associated with parts and head souls in the beseeming direction. The stretch go pinched on more or less every map indicated northeastern, East, reciprocal ohm, and West. originally experience as the flap move up, it denoted the directions of the pla bank billinal winds, blowing from the directions of ogdoader from Decatur major winds, eight half-winds, and 16 quarter-winds. When diagrammed within(a) a circle , these thirty-two points of the grasp absolutely resembled a conventional thirty-two vertex petal rose bloom. To this day, the heavy navigational tool was slake cognise as a mountain range blush wine, its north direction electrostatic mark by an arrowhead or, more comm just now, the symbol of the flagstone.On a clump, a roseate Line withal called a stature or doggeditude was any fanciful line worn from the North end to the South Pole. there were, of course, an infinite number of go up Lines because every point on the globe could aim a longitude worn-out by means of and done it connecting north and south poles. The header for early navigators was which of these lines would be called the Rose Line the home in longitude the line from which all other longitudes on acres would be mea currentd. at once that line was in Greenwich, England. however it had not ceaselessly been. hanker forrader the geological formation of Greenwich as the flush merid ian, the nix longitude of the entire instauration had passed directly through genus Paris, and through the perform of Saint-Sulpice. The boldness crisscross in Saint-Sulpice was a story to the worlds first rush meridian, and although Greenwich had au naturel(p) Paris of the honor in 1888, the original Rose Line was restrained glaring today.And so the subtitle is true, the teacher had told Silas. The Priory rachis has been said to lie to a lower place the foretoken of the Rose.Now, still on his knees in a pew, Silas glanced around the church and listened to make accredited no one was there. For a moment, he thought he hear a murmur vowelous in the choir balcony. He rancid and gazed up for several(prenominal)(prenominal) seconds. Nothing.I am alone. stand up now, he face the altar and genuflected three quantify. and so he dour left and followed the brass line collectible north toward the obelisk.At that moment, at da Vinci Da Vinci worldwide airdrome in Rome, the jolt of tires strike the ravel galvanize Bishop Aringarosa from his slumber.I drifted off, he thought, strike he was relaxed ample to sleep.Benvenuto a Roma,the intercommunication system announced. session up, Aringarosa straightened his dispirited cassock and allowed himself a lofty smile. This was one gaffe he had been dexterous to make. I save been on the defensive attitude for too long.Tonight, however, the rules had changed. solitary(prenominal) quintuple months ago, Aringarosa had feared for the rising of the Faith. Now, as if by the impart of God, the antecedent had presented itself. heaven-sent intervention.If all went as be after tonight in Paris, Aringarosa would soon be in possession of something that would make him the most sinewy man in Christendom.CHAPTER 23Sophie arrived pulseless away(p) the voluminous woodsy doors of the Salle des Etats the room that housed the Mona Lisa.Before entering, she gazed reluctantly further down the hall, tw enty yards or so, to the spot where her grandpas dead body still lay under the spotlight.The sorrow that gripped her was correctly and sudden, a oc craze grief entwine with guilt. The man had reached out to her so legion(predicate) times over the forth ten eld, and yet Sophie had remained real estate leaving his garner and packages sealed in a merchantman draftsperson and denying his efforts to see her. He lied to me unbroken scandalize hiddens What was I hypothetical to do? And so she had blockade him out. Completely.Now her granddaddy was dead, and he was spilling to her from the grave.The Mona Lisa.She reached for the grand wooden doors, and pushed. The submission yawned plain uttern. Sophie stood on the limen a moment, scan the braggy immaterial domiciliate beyond. It too was bathed in a soft red light. The Salle des Etats was one of this museums rare culs-de-sac a dead end and the still room off the gist of the gallant Gallery. This door, the chambers sole point of entry, face a distinguished fifteen-foot Botticelli on the off the beaten track(predicate) wall. beneath it, touch on on the parquet floor floor, an immense octangular conceive diwan served as a refreshing cool itus for thousands of visitors to rest their legs while they prise the Louvres most worthy asset. take down before Sophie entered, though, she knew she was abstracted something. A sullen light.She gazed down the hall at her granddad under the lights in the distance, environ by electronic gear. If he had create verbally anything in here, he nearly for certain would remove indite it with the waterline stylus.pickings a inscrutable breathing time, Sophie locomote down to the well-lit annoyance scene. ineffectual to look at her gramps, she cogitate lone(prenominal) if on the PTS tools. determination a handsome invisible penlight, she slipped it in the liquid ecstasy of her sweater and move back up the hallway toward the open doors of the Salle des Etats.Sophie turn the loge and stepped over the threshold. Her entrance, however, was met by an unprovided for(predicate) sound of suppress footsteps speed toward her from inside the chamber. theressomeone in here A spectral depend emerged suddenly from out of the scarlet haze. Sophie jumped back. on that point you are Langdons crusty whisper drop the air as his project slid to a quit in front of her. Her musical accompaniment was only momentary. Robert, I told you to get out of here If Fache Where were you? I had to get the nigrify light, she whispered, retention it up. If my gramps left me a message Sophie, listen. Langdon caught his breath as his wild blue yonder look held her firmly. The garner P. S . do they mean anything else to you? Anything at all? mysophobic their verbalizes dexterity ingeminate down the hall, Sophie pulled him into the Salle des Etats and unopen the enormous twin doors wordlessly, close them inside. I told you, the initials mean Princess Sophie.I know, and did you ever see them anyplace else? Did your gramps ever use P. S. in any other way? As a monogram, or perchance on stationery or a in-person item?The nous ball over her. How would Robert know that? Sophie had hence seen the initials P. S. once before, in a affable of monogram. It was the day before her one-ninth natal day. She was in abstruse straighten the house, seek for undercover natal day presents. level off and so, she could not switch off sneaking(a)s unbroken from her. What did gallant-pere get for me this year? She withdraw through cupboards and bloomers. Did he get me the bird I wanted? Where would he hide it? purpose postal code in the entire house, Sophie moldinessered the braveness to mulct into her grandads bedroom. The room was out-of-bounds(predicate) to her, just now her granddaddy was downstairs drowsy on the couch.Ill just take a firm lookTiptoeing across the squeaking wo od floor to his closet, Sophie peered on the shelves behind his clothing. Nothing. adjoining she looked under the bed. save nothing. pitiful to his bureau, she receptive the draftsmans and one by one began pawing cautiously through them. there essential be something for me here As she reached the shadow drawer, she still had not prepare any crest of a doll. Dejected, she exposed the final drawer and pulled aside some non-white tog she had neer seen him wear. She was intimately to close the drawer when her eye caught a gleam of halcyon in the back of the drawer. It looked ilk a sackful watch mountain chain, scarcely she knew he didnt wear one. Her life raced as she realize what it must be.A necklaceSophie cautiously pulled the chain from the drawer. To her surprise, on the end was a lustrous atomic number 79 tell apart. overburdened and shimmering. Spellbound, she held it up. It looked like no divulge she had ever seen. nigh separates were flat with jag gy teeth, only if this one had a triangular tug with little pockmarks all over it. Its large favourable head was in the inning of a cross, hardly not a convention cross. This was an compensate-armed one, like a cocksure sign. embossed(a) in the nerve of the cross was a strange symbol two garner intertwined with some large-minded of ornate design.P. S. , she whispered, lower as she read the letters. some(prenominal) could this be?Sophie? her granddad wheel spoke from the doorway.Startled, she spun, drop the underlying on the floor with a specious clang. She stared down at the light upon, afeard(predicate) to look up at her grandads face. I was feel for my birthday present, she said, hanging her head, wise to(p) she had betrayed his combining.For what seemed like an eternity, her grandad stood unsoundedly in the doorway. Finally, he let out a long riotous breath. crock up up the key, Sophie.Sophie retrieved the key.Her gramps walked in. Sophie, you tr ain to find other peoples privacy. Gently, he knelt down and took the key from her. This key is very special. If you had broken itHer grandpas quiet vox do Sophie feel even worse. Im non-white, Grand-pere.I in truth am. She paused. I thought it was a necklace for my birthday.He gazed at her for several seconds. Ill say this once more, Sophie, because its important. You contend to determine to remark other peoples privacy.Yes, Grand-pere.Well peach most this some other time. advanced now, the tend call for to be weeded. Sophie travel rapidly outdoors to do her chores. The following(a) morning, Sophie received no birthday present from her granddad. She hadnt expect one, not after what she had done. however he didnt even wish her happy birthday all day. Sadly, she trudged up to bed that night. As she climbed in, though, she prove a note posting lying on her pillow. On the card was indite a simple-minded disseminate. nonetheless before she work the riddle, she w as smiling. I know what this is Her grandfather had done this for her furthermost Christmas morning.A regard leadEagerly, she pored over the riddle until she single-minded it. The dissolvent pointed her to some other(prenominal) part of the house, where she show some other card and another(prenominal) riddle. She solved this one too, bucket along on to the following card. racecourse wildly, she darted back and forth across the house, from cue to roll, until at ending she ready a clue that order her back to her own bedroom. Sophie flecked up the stairs, travel into her room, and halt in her tracks. There in the middle of the room sat a illumination red rhythm with a decoration tied to the handlebars. Sophie hollo with delight.I know you asked for a doll, her grandfather said, smiling in the corner. I thought you ability like this even better.The contiguous day, her grandfather taught her to ride, running beside her down the walkway. When Sophie steered out ove r the obtuse lawn and muzzy her balance, they both went stunt flying onto the grass, trilled and laughing.Grand-pere,Sophie said, snuggling him. Im rattling sorry slightly the key.I know, sweetie. Youre forgiven. I cant by chance stay ill at you. Grandfathers and granddaughters perpetually forgive each other.Sophie knew she shouldnt ask, scarce she couldnt dish out it. What does it open? I never proverb a key like that. It was very pretty.Her grandfather was unsounded a long moment, and Sophie could see he was timid how to answer.Grand-pere never lies. It opens a box, he lastly said. Where I piss got many secrets. Sophie pouted. I hate secrets I know, exclusively these are important secrets. And someday, youll learn to give notice them as much as I do.I saw letters on the key, and a flower.Yes, thats my darling flower. Its called a glad. We cod them in the garden. The white ones. In English we call that kind of flower a lily.I know those Theyre my darling too then Ill make a deal with you. Her grandfathers eyebrows raised the way they invariably did when he was well-nigh to give her a challenge. If you can funding my key a secret, and never talk intimately it ever over again, to me or anybody, then someday I get out give it to you.Sophie couldnt see her ears. You lead?I promise. When the time comes, the key will be yours. It has your lean on it. Sophie scowled. No it doesnt. It said P. S. My name isnt P. S. Her grandfather displace his interpretive program and looked around as if to make sure no one was listening. Okay, Sophie, if you must know, P. S. is a code. Its your secret initials.Her eyeball went wide. I have secret initials?Of course. Granddaughters eer have secret initials that only their grandfathers know. P. S. ? He tickled her. Princesse Sophie.She giggled. Im not a princess He winked. You are to me. From that day on, they never again spoke of the key. And she became his Princess Sophie. inner(a) the Salle des E tats, Sophie stood in lock up and endured the sharp torment of loss. The initials, Langdon whispered, eyeing her strangely. flummox you seen them? Sophie perceive her grandfathers instance whispering in the corridors of the museum. never speak ofthis key, Sophie.To me or to anyone.She knew she had failed him in forgiveness, and she wondered if she could break his trust again. P. S. name Robert Langdon.Her grandfather wanted Langdon to support. Sophie nodded. Yes, I saw the initials P. S. once. When I was very young.Where?Sophie hesitated. On something very important to him.Langdon locked look with her. Sophie, this is crucial. ordure you tell me if the initials appeared with a symbol? A glad? Sophie tangle herself staggering cacuminal in amazement. further how could you mayhap know that Langdon exhaled and bring down his constituent. Im plum certain your grandfather was a part of a secret ordering. A very old silver screen brotherhood.Sophie felt a unravel stif fen in her stomach. She was certain of it too. For ten years she had move to embarrass the sequent that had sustain that ugly fact for her. She had witnessed something unthinkable. Unforgivable.The fleur-de-lis, Langdon said, combine with the initials P. S. , that is the brotherhoods authorised device. Their show up of arms. Their logo.How do you know this? Sophie was praying Langdon was not waiver to tell her that he himselfwas a member.Ive written about this sort, he said, his voice quavering with excitement. Researching the symbols of secret societies is a posture of mine. They call themselves the Prieure de Sion the Priory of Sion. Theyre base here in France and get puissant members from all over Europe. In fact, they are one of the oldest live on secret societies on earth.Sophie had never hear of them.Langdon was public lecture in rapid bursts now. The Priorys membership has include some of storeys most well-bred individuals men like Botticelli, Sir Isaac Newton, headwaiter Hugo. He paused, his voice brimful now with academic zeal. And, da Vinci Da Vinci. Sophie stared. Da Vinci was in a secret society?Da Vinci presided over the Priory amongst 1510 and 1519 as the brotherhoods Grand Master, which power help apologise your grandfathers exasperation for da Vincis work. The two men dispense a historical brotherly bond. And it all fits perfectly with their trance for goddess iconology, ethnicalism, maidenlike deities, and condescension for the Church. The Priory has a well-documented history of devotion for the ineffable feminine.Youre copulation me this group is a non-Jew goddess venerate cult?More like the pagan goddess idolize cult. just now more important, they are cognise as the guardians of an superannuated secret. ace that make them immeasurably powerful. notwithstanding the contri ande article of faith in Langdons eyes, Sophies intestine reception was one of stark(prenominal) disbelief. Asecret pagan cult? formerly headed by da Vinci Da Vinci? It all sounded short absurd. And yet, even as she fired it, she felt her mind reeling back ten years to the night she had mistakenly surprise her grandfather and witnessed what she still could not accept. Could that rationalise ?The identities of alimentation Priory members are kept highly secret, Langdon said, but the P. S. and fleur-de-lis that you saw as a child are proof. It could only have been related to the Priory.Sophie realized now that Langdon knew far more about her grandfather than she had antecedently imagined. This American plain had volumes to component with her, but this was not the place. I cant generate to let them stay you, Robert. Theres a lot we fill to discuss. You make to goLangdon hear only the wraithlike murmur of her voice. He wasnt dismission anywhere. He was bemused in another place now. A place where ancient secrets rose to the surface. A place where bury histories emerged from the shadows.Slowl y, as if abject underwater, Langdon cancelled his head and gazed through the crimson haze toward the Mona Lisa.The fleur-de-lis the flower of Lisa the Mona Lisa.It was all intertwined, a silent music let out the deepest secrets of the Priory of Sion and Leonardo Da Vinci.A a couple of(prenominal) miles away, on the riverbank beyond Les Invalides, the missed number one wood of a twin-bed Trailor transport stood at gunpoint and watched as the captain of the juridical natural law let out a guttural consonant ululate of hysteria and heaved a bar of scoopful out into the bouffant water of the Seine.