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takes if there is a chance to help him.
"The note says to go through the Chapter House to the south exit," Sophie said. "Maybe from the
exit we would have a view of the garden? That way we could assess the situation before we walked
out there and exposed ourselves to any danger?"
The idea was a good one. Langdon vaguely recalled the Chapter House as a huge octagonal hall
where the original British Parliament convened in the days before the modern Parliament building
existed. It had been years since he had been there, but he remembered it being out through the
cloister somewhere. Taking several steps back from the tomb, Langdon peered around the choir
screen to his right, across the nave to the side opposite that which they had descended.
A gaping vaulted passageway stood nearby, with a large sign.
THIS WAY TO:
CLOISTERS
DEANERY
COLLEGE HALL
MUSEUM
PYX CHAMBER
ST. FAITH'S CHAPEL
CHAPTER HOUSE
Langdon and Sophie were jogging as they passed beneath the sign, moving too quickly to notice
the small announcement apologizing that certain areas were closed for renovations.
They emerged immediately into a high-walled, open-roof courtyard through which morning rain
was falling. Above them, the wind howled across the opening with a low drone, like someone
blowing over the mouth of a bottle. Entering the narrow, low-hanging walkways that bordered the
courtyard perimeter, Langdon felt the familiar uneasiness he always felt in enclosed spaces. These
walkways were called cloisters, and Langdon noted with uneasiness that these particular cloisters
lived up to their Latin ties to the word claustrophobic.
Focusing his mind straight ahead toward the end of the tunnel, Langdon followed the signs for the
Chapter House. The rain was spitting now, and the walkway was cold and damp with gusts of rain
that blew through the lone pillared wall that was the cloister's only source of light. Another couple
scurried past them the other way, hurrying to get out of the worsening weather. The cloisters
looked deserted now, admittedly the abbey's least enticing section in the wind and rain.
Forty yards down the east cloister, an archway materialized on their left, giving way to another
hallway. Although this was the entrance they were looking for, the opening was cordoned off by a
swag and an official-looking sign.
CLOSED FOR RENOVATION
PYX CHAMBER
ST. FAITH'S CHAPEL
CHAPTER HOUSE
The long, deserted corridor beyond the swag was littered with scaffolding and drop cloths.
Immediately beyond the swag, Langdon could see the entrances to the Pyx Chamber and St. Faith's
Chapel on the right and left. The entrance to the Chapter House, however, was much farther away,
at the far end of the long hallway. Even from here, Langdon could see that its heavy wooden door
was wide open, and the spacious octagonal interior was bathed in a grayish natural light from the
room's enormous windows that looked out on College Garden. Go through Chapter House, out
south exit, to public garden.
"We just left the east cloister," Langdon said, "so the south exit to the garden must be through there
and to the right."
Sophie was already stepping over the swag and moving forward.
As they hurried down the dark corridor, the sounds of the wind and rain from the open cloister
faded behind them. The Chapter House was a kind of satellite structure—a freestanding annex at
the end of the long hallway to ensure the privacy of the Parliament proceedings housed there.
"It looks huge," Sophie whispered as they approached.
Langdon had forgotten just how large this room was. Even from outside the entrance, he could
gaze across the vast expanse of floor to the breathtaking windows on the far side of the octagon,
which rose five stories to a vaulted ceiling. They would certainly have a clear view of the garden
from in here.
Crossing the threshold, both Langdon and Sophie found themselves having to squint. After the
gloomy cloisters, the Chapter House felt like a solarium. They were a good ten feet into the room,
searching the south wall, when they realized the door they had been promised was not there.
They were standing in an enormous dead end.
The creaking of a heavy door behind them made them turn, just as the door closed with a
resounding thud and the latch fell into place.
The lone man who had been standing behind the door looked calm as he aimed a small revolver at
them. He was portly and was propped on a pair of aluminum crutches.
For a moment Langdon thought he must be dreaming.
It was Leigh Teabing.
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