Fache frowned inwardly at the delay. "The rest room. Of course. Let's take a break for a few minutes." He motioned back down the long hallway in the direction they had come from. "The rest rooms are back toward the
curator's office."Langdon hesitated, pointing in the other direction toward the far end of the Grand Gallery corridor. "I believe there's a much closer rest room at the end."
Fache realized Langdon was right. They were two thirds of the way down, and the Grand Gallery dead-ended at a pair of rest rooms. "Shall I accompany you?"
Langdon shook his head, already moving deeper into the gallery. "Not necessary. I think I'd like a few minutes alone."
Fache was not wild about the idea of Langdon wandering alone down the remaining length of corridor, but he took comfort in knowing the Grand Gallery was a dead end whose only exit was at the other end—the gate under which they had entered. Although French fire regulations required several emergency stairwells for a space this large, those stairwells had been sealed automatically when Saunière tripped the security system. Granted, that system had now been reset, unlocking the stairwells, but it didn't matter—the external doors, if opened, would set off fire alarms and were guarded outside by DCPJ agents. Langdon could not possibly leave without Fache knowing about it.
"I need to return to Mr. Saunière's office for a moment," Fache said. "Please come find me directly, Mr. Langdon. There is more we need to discuss."
Inwardly 思想上
Curator 馆长
Stairwell 楼梯井
法希皱起眉头，对这种拖延有些不悦。"洗手间。当然，咱们休息几分钟吧。"他指向身后他们刚才走过的走廊。"洗手间在后面，在馆长办公室方向。"
兰登犹豫了一下，指向大画廊另一端说："我想，那边的洗手间近得多。"
法希意识到兰登说得对。他们已经走过大画廊三分之二的距离，大画廊尽头有两个洗手间。"我陪你好吗？"
兰登摇头。他已经往画廊更深处走去了。"不必了。我想我得单独在那儿呆上几分钟。"
法希对兰登要独自沿着走廊走下去倒不恼火，他很放心，因为他知道大画廊那一端是死路一条，没有出口。大画廊惟一的出口在另一端--他们刚刚钻过来的那个门。虽然法国消防法要求像这么大的空间必须有好几个楼梯井，但当索尼埃启动安全防护系统后，那些楼梯井就自动封闭了。就算安全防护系统现在被解除，打开楼梯井，那也没关系--那些外边的门一旦打开，就会弄响警报，门就会被司法警察守卫起来，兰登不可能在法希不知情的情况下离开。
"我得回到索尼埃先生的办公室呆一会。"法希说。"请直接来找我，兰登先生。我们还有很多东西要讨论。"
