Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 29
Overview
Silas breaks open the hidden compartment beneath the Rose Line in Saint-Sulpice and finds a stone tablet marked with a biblical reference instead of the keystone he expected. Sister Sandrine, realizing Opus Dei is hunting the keystone, activates an emergency protocol by retrieving secret phone numbers. The clue’s verse, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further,” turns Silas’s triumph into confusion and raises the stakes around the Priory’s defenses.
Summary
Inside Saint-Sulpice, Silas carries a heavy iron votive candle holder from the altar to the obelisk, intending to use it as a battering ram against the marble panel in the floor. To avoid waking the nun with the sound of iron striking marble, Silas removes his cloak despite the pain from the fresh wounds on his back and wraps it around the pole.
Silas strikes the marble repeatedly until the covering cracks and collapses into a hollow compartment. Reaching beneath the Rose Line, Silas finds a thick stone tablet and lifts it out, expecting a map, directions, or code to the keystone.
The tablet contains only the inscription “Job 38:11.” Silas interprets the reference as a cunningly simple clue hidden in a Bible verse and feels excited because an open Bible rests on the main altar nearby.
From the balcony, Sister Sandrine watches in terror. She sees Silas’s bloodied back and cilice, realizes an Opus Dei monk is searching for the keystone, and races to her quarters to follow old instructions by opening a sealed envelope containing four Paris phone numbers.
At the altar, Silas searches the Bible for the Book of Job, chapter thirty-eight, verse eleven. Instead of clear directions, the verse reads, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further,” leaving Silas confused and suggesting the tablet may be a warning or dead end rather than the answer he expected.
Who Appears
- SilasOpus Dei monk who breaks into the Rose Line compartment and finds a biblical clue.
- Sister SandrineSaint-Sulpice nun who witnesses Silas and activates a secret emergency contact protocol.