1906：七十七下眨眼

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斯泰法尼酒店

維也納

1906年一月十五日

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親愛(ài)的塞雷娜(Serena)——

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你的《墨水史》已經(jīng)到手了。書(shū)的狀況相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)。書(shū)邊稍稍有點(diǎn)模糊，但這個(gè)小家伙給它整理得很好。盡管這些古怪的經(jīng)歷和我預(yù)期的不太一樣。讓我告訴你是怎么一回事。

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威尼斯的小徑很冷，當(dāng)然。他們還在講老霍科巴爾德（Hokobald，1722年文本‘Prophet and Loss 中的寫(xiě)信人，他借來(lái)的《墨水史》被一只原生先知搶走了’）的故事，說(shuō)什么這個(gè)地方現(xiàn)在被詛咒了，但要我說(shuō)多半是被這里升騰的潮濕氣給詛咒了。不知道那里怎么能住人?？傊瑳](méi)有什么可循之跡，所以我在心里對(duì)我自己說(shuō)，好吧，D.，我的姑娘，低下頭，眨七十七次眼睛，看看睿智騎士是不是在宴請(qǐng)客人，他會(huì)知道些東西的。

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你讀到這這里時(shí)會(huì)想，得了吧，D.，你比誰(shuí)都清楚，睿智騎士在漫宿里的地位有點(diǎn)高，不大可能和原生先知講話，對(duì)吧？ 但事情是這樣的，睿智騎士知道那個(gè)古怪的骨白者，骨白者知道那個(gè)古怪的干渴者，而干渴者知道原生先知。所以我會(huì)去問(wèn)問(wèn)。

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睿智騎士心情很好，所以我們都喝了杯他的酒——又喝了一杯，然后又喝了一杯，接著我們開(kāi)始閑聊。作為一個(gè)具名者他很不錯(cuò)。遺憾的是他沒(méi)有足夠的波特酒，甚至夢(mèng)境之波特酒，但就具名者而言已經(jīng)不錯(cuò)了。當(dāng)我醒來(lái)后，我出去呼吸了一下黎明的晨霧，做了點(diǎn)常規(guī)練習(xí)，當(dāng)我再回到里面時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)鏡子上寫(xiě)著一個(gè)地址——作為一位具名者，他真的很不錯(cuò)。

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那地址在維也納?，F(xiàn)在你知道我對(duì)維也納的感覺(jué)了，自從俱樂(lè)部的事以后，我在那里一直不太舒服，但我想，塞雷娜是個(gè)好人，我欠她一兩個(gè)人情，而坐火車(chē)去也沒(méi)那么遠(yuǎn)。所以我去了。

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兩天后，在維也納。找到地址了，到處打探一下，看看是怎么回事。惹人厭的小巢穴，到處都是不三不四的人，他們還給原生先知準(zhǔn)備了自己的小神龕。（睿智騎士給了我它的名字，我試著寫(xiě)下來(lái)，但用這些字母寫(xiě)不出來(lái)。就叫他普羅普西(Propsy)吧）普羅普西的小小邪教，塞麗娜，你明白我的性子，隨遇而安，什么都好，但給普羅普西這樣的家伙建神龕，我總覺(jué)得就像給一塊羊排建神龕一樣。你見(jiàn)過(guò)原生先知吧？他們就像被馬踩了一腳的海星一樣，就是更大些。

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不過(guò)，奇怪的是...普羅普西還不錯(cuò)。當(dāng)然，不會(huì)說(shuō)話，但這小家伙會(huì)寫(xiě)字，我不只是說(shuō)像我寫(xiě)這封信那樣表達(dá)自己，或者提出自己的觀點(diǎn)之類的，我的意思是說(shuō)它是個(gè)書(shū)法家，一個(gè)優(yōu)秀的書(shū)法家。它那些小觸角就像日本毛筆一樣好用，你肯定想知道它從哪兒弄來(lái)的墨水，對(duì)吧，塞麗娜，你該慶幸我沒(méi)告訴你。

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長(zhǎng)話短說(shuō)，普羅普西認(rèn)為《墨水史》是它寫(xiě)的，認(rèn)為書(shū)是被人偷走的，并對(duì)H.H.做了一系列最糟糕的評(píng)價(jià)（對(duì)不起，塞麗娜），所以我們就好好聊了聊，我也敲了敲它，但最后我們達(dá)成了一致，它可以把書(shū)還給了我，但要付錢(qián)。聽(tīng)起來(lái)很公平。我為此在賬單上又加了一項(xiàng)支出?？峙掠悬c(diǎn)貴——?jiǎng)e生氣。你當(dāng)然不會(huì)，我知道你是個(gè)好人。

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給你吧，賬單，書(shū)，我們就差蠟燭了，哈哈!我會(huì)在晝夜平分的時(shí)日再來(lái)的。我還需要你幫我處理陵墓的事。事實(shí)上，還有俱樂(lè)部，我在那兒有點(diǎn)事情要打理。

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再見(jiàn)

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D.

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PS！普羅普西希望正確署名。名錄冊(cè)里的名字。當(dāng)然，在這里寫(xiě)不了——用這些字母寫(xiě)不出來(lái)。希望你能解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題。否則可能會(huì)引起些麻煩，交給你了。祝你好運(yùn)。D.

ps1：很有趣的一篇，顯然是1722年文本‘Prophet and Loss’ 的后續(xù)，收信人Serena Blackwood女士委托寫(xiě)信者D.調(diào)查尋找丟失的《墨水史》，在睿智騎士的幫助下找到了當(dāng)年從霍科巴爾德那里搶走書(shū)的原生先知‘普羅普西’，并把書(shū)買(mǎi)了回來(lái)。

ps2: Serena Blackwood女士是噤聲書(shū)局的決議會(huì)成員。

ps3: D.同樣是噤聲書(shū)局成員，且認(rèn)識(shí)睿智騎士。

ps4: 骨白者，干渴者都是赤杯的具名者。

ps4：原生先知原來(lái)能活這么久嗎，1722年的那只和1906年的這只竟然是同一只。

原文

1906: Seventy-Seven Winks

HOTEL STEFANIE?

VIENNA?

January 15th-ish, 1906?

Dear Serena -

Got your book. Pretty good condition, too. Bit blurred round the edges, but the little fellow's taken good care of it. Not what I expected, though, rum business all round.Tell you how it was.?

Trail in Venice long cold, obviously. They still tell stories about old Hokobald, say the place is cursed now, but it's mostly cursed with rising damp. Don't know how anyone lives there. Anyway, no trace, so I thought, all right, D., my girl, get your head down, get seventy-seven winks, see if the Sage-Knight's entertaining, he'll know what's what.

You're reading this and thinking, come on, D., you know better than that, Sage-Knight's a bit high in the Mansus to be talking to Raw Prophets, what? But here's the thing, Sage-Knight knows the odd Ivory, Ivories know the odd Thirstly, Thirstlies know Raw Prophets. So I'll put the word out.

Sage-Knight's in a helpful sort of mood, so we both have a cup of that wine of his and then another cup and then another cup and we get to gossiping. He's all right for a Name. Shame he doesn't keep proper port, even dream-port, but he's all right for a Name. And I wake up and I pop out for a dawn smoke and a bit of the old practice and when I get back inside there's an address written on the mirror. Not bad for a Name at all.?

Address is in Vienna. Now you know how I feel about Vienna, never quite comfy there since all that with the Club, but I think, Serena's a good sort, owe her a favour or two, not so far on the train. Off I pop.?

Vienna, two days on. Find the address, have a snout about, you know, see what's what. Nasty little den, full of the wrong sort of the wrong sort, and they've got their own little shrine for the Raw Prophet. (Sage-Knight gave me its name, I tried to write its name, won't fit in this alphabet. Let's call him Propsy.) Little cult for Propsy. Now you know me, Serena, live and let live, all sorts, but a shrine to something like Propsy, I always thought it's like building a shrine to a lamb chop. You've seen Prophets, haven't you? They look like a horse stepped on a starfish. But bigger.?

But, dashed odd thing… Propsy's not a bad sort. Can't talk, of course, but the little feller can write. And I don't just mean write like I'm writing this letter, express itself, put its point of view, sort of thing. I mean it's a calligrapher. Dashed good calligrapher. Every one of those little tentacle things, good as a Japanese paint-brush. Where does it get the ink, you're wondering, aren't you, Serena? Be glad I'm not telling you.

Long story short, Propsy reckons it wrote the 'History of Inks', reckons it was stolen, reckons all sorts of the worst about H.H. (Sorry, Serena.) So we had a good old chat, and I did knock it about a little bit, but we agreed in the end, and it gave me the book back, but it wanted paying. Seemed fair enough. And I've added a line to my bill for that. Bit of a sum, I'm afraid, try not to kick. Sure you won't, know you're a good sort.?

So here you go, bill, book, all we're missing is a candle, ha ha! I'll be by again for the Equinox. Could use your help on a thing with the Mausoleum. And the Club, actually. Bit of a business, there.?

Pip pip?

D.

PS! Propsy wants proper attribution. Name in the catalogue. Course, can't write its name here. Won't fit in this alphabet. Hope you can sort that out. Might cause a bit of a stink if not. Leave it with you. Best of luck. D.