Her eyes were full of tears when she came to tell me this, and carry me off to the drawing-room to introduce me to her father, an introduction she insisted upon making in spite of my entreaties1 — for I was rather shy at this period of my life, and dreaded2 an encounter with a stranger.
Mr. Darrell received me most graciously. He was a tall fine-looking man, very like the photograph in Milly’s bedroom, and I detected the hard look about the mouth which I had noticed in both portraits. He seemed remarkably3 fond of his daughter; and I have never seen a prettier picture than she made as she stood beside him, clinging to his arm, and looking lovingly up at him with her dark hazel eyes.
He asked me where I was to spend my holidays; and on hearing that I was to stay at Albury Lodge4, asked whether I would like to come to Thornleigh with Milly for the midsummer vacation. My darling clapped her hands gaily5 as he made this offer, and cried:
‘O yes, Mary, you will come, won’t you? — You dear kind papa, that is just like you, always able to guess what one wishes. There is nothing in the world I should like better than to have Mary at Thornleigh.’
‘Then you have only to pack a box with all possible expedition, and to come away with us, Miss Crofton,’ said Mr. Darrell; ‘the train starts in an hour and a half. I can only give you an hour.’
I thanked him as well as I could — awkwardly enough, I daresay — for his kindness, and ran away to ask Miss Bagshot’s consent to the visit. This she gave readily, in spite of some objections suggested by Miss Susan, and I had nothing more to do than to pack my few dresses — my two coloured muslins, a white dress for festive6 occasions, a black-silk dress which was pre??minently my ‘best,’ and some print morning-dresses — wondering as I packed them how these things would pass current among the grandeurs of Thornleigh. All this was finished well within the hour, and I put my bonnet8 and shawl, and ran down — flushed with hurry and excitement, and very happy — to join my friends in the drawing-room.
Miss Bagshot was there, talking of her attachment9 to her sweet young friend, and her regret at losing her. Mr. Darrell cut these lamentations short when he found I was ready, and we drove off to the station in the fly that had brought him to Albury Lodge.
I looked at the little station to-day with a very different feeling from that dull despondency which had possessed10 me six months before, when I arrived there in the bleak11 January weather. The thought of five weeks’ respite12 from the monotonous13 routine of Albury Lodge was almost perfect happiness. I did not forget those I loved at home, or cease to regret the poverty that prevented my going home for the holidays; but since this was impossible, nothing could have been pleasanter than the idea of the visit I was going to pay.
Throughout the journey Mr. Darrell was all that was gracious and kind. He talked a good deal of his wife; dwelling14 much upon her accomplishments15 and amiability16, and assuring his daughter again and again that she could not fail to love her.
‘I was a little bit of a coward in the business, I confess, Milly,’ he said, in the midst of this talk, ‘and hadn’t courage to tell you anything till the deed was done; and then I thought it was as well to let Julian make the announcement.’
‘You ought to have trusted me better, papa,’ Milly said tenderly; and I knew what perfect self-abnegation there was in the happy smile with which she gave him her hand.
‘And you are not angry with me, my darling?’ he asked.
‘Angry with you, papa? as if I had any right to be angry with you! Only try to love me a little, as you used to do, and I shall be quite happy.’
‘I shall never love you less, my dear.’
The journey was not a long one; and the country through which we passed was very fair to look upon in the bright June afternoon. The landscape changed when we were within about thirty miles of our destination: the fertile farmlands and waving fields of green corn gave place to an open moor17, and I felt from far off the fresh breath of the ocean. This broad undulating moorland was new to me, and I thought there was a wild kind of beauty in its loneliness. As for Milly, she looked out at the moor with rapture18, and strained her eyes to catch the first glimpse of the hills about Thornleigh — those hills of which she had talked to me so often in her little room at school.
The station we had to stop at was ten miles from Mr. Darrell’s house, and a barouche-and-pair was waiting for us in the sunny road outside. We drove along a road that crossed the moor, until we came to a little village of scattered19 houses, with a fine old church — at one end of which an ancient sacristy seemed mouldering20 slowly to decay. We drove past the gates of two or three rather important houses, lying half-hidden in their gardens, and then turned sharply off into a road that went up a hill, nearly at the top of which we came to a pair of noble old carved iron gates, surmounted21 with a coat-of-arms, and supported on each side by massive stone pillars, about which the ivy22 twined lovingly.
An old man came out of a pretty rustic-looking lodge and opened theses gates, and we drove through an avenue of some extent, which led straight to the front of the house, the aspect of which delighted me. It was very old and massively built, and had quite a baronial look, I thought. There was a wide stone terrace with ponderous23 moss-grown stone balustrades round three sides of it, and at each angle a broad flight of steps leading down to a second terrace, with sloping green banks that melted into the turf of the lawn. The house stood on the summit of a hill, and from one side commanded a noble view of the sea.
A lady came out of the curious old stone porch as the carriage drove up, and stood at the top of the terrace steps waiting for us. I guessed immediately that this must be Mrs. Darrell.
Milly hung back a little shyly, as her father led her up the steps with her hand through his arm. She was very pale, and I could see that she was trembling. Mrs. Darrell came forward to her quickly, and kissed her.
‘My darling Emily,’ she cried, ‘I am so delighted to see you at last. — O William, you did not deceive me when you promised me a beautiful daughter.’
Milly blushed, and smiled at this compliment, but still clung to her father, with shy downcast eyes.
I had time to look at Mrs. Darrell while this introduction was being made. She was not by any means a beautiful woman, but she was what I suppose would have been called eminently24 interesting. She was tall and slim, very graceful-looking, with a beautiful throat and a well-shaped head. Her features, with the exception of her eyes, were in no way remarkable25; but those were sufficiently26 striking to give character to a face that might otherwise have been insipid27. They were large luminous28 gray eyes, with black lashes29, and rather strongly-marked brows of a much darker brown than her hair. That was of a nondescript shade, neither auburn nor chestnut30, and with little light or colour in its soft silky masses; but it seemed to harmonise very well with her pale complexion31. Lavater has warned us to distrust any one whose hair and eyebrows32 are of a different colour. I remembered this as I looked at Mrs. Darrell.
She was dressed in white; and I fancied the transparent33 muslin, with no other ornament34 than a lilac ribbon at the waist, was peculiarly becoming to her slender figure and delicate face. Her husband seemed to think so too, for he looked at her with a fond admiring glance as he offered her his arm to return to the house.
‘I mustn’t forget to introduce Miss Crofton to you, Augusta,’ he said; ‘a school friend of Milly’s, who has kindly36 accepted my invitation to spend the holidays with her.’
Mrs. Darrell gave me her hand; but I fancied that she did so rather coldly, and I had an uneasy sense that I was not very welcome to the new mistress of Thornleigh.
‘You will find your old rooms all ready for you, Milly,’ she said; ‘I suppose we had better put Miss Crofton in the blue room — next yours?’
‘If you please, Mrs. Darrell.’
‘What, Milly, won’t you call me mamma?’
Milly was silent for a few moments, with a pained expression in her face.
‘Pray, forgive me,’ she said in a low voice; ‘I cannot call any one by that name.’
Augusta Darrell kissed her again silently.
‘It shall be as you wish, dear,’ she said, after a pause.
A rosy-cheeked, pleasant-looking girl, who had been accustomed to wait on Milly in the old time, came forward to meet us, and ran before us to our rooms, expressing her delight at her young lady’s return all the way she went.
The rooms were very pretty, and were situated37 in that portion of the house which looked towards the sea. There was a sitting-room38, brightly furnished with some light kind of wood, and with chintz hangings all over rose-buds and butterflies. This had been Milly’s schoolroom, and there was a good many books in two pretty-looking bookcases on each side of the fireplace. Besides these, there were some curious old cabinets full of shells and china. It was altogether the prettiest, most homelike room one could imagine.
Opening out of this, there was a large airy bedroom, with three windows commanding that glorious view of moorland and sea; and beyond that, a dainty little dressing-room. The next door in the corridor opened into the room that had been allotted39 to me; a large comfortable-looking room, in which there was an old-fashioned mahogany four-post bed with blue-damask curtains.
I went to Milly’s dressing-room when my own simple toilet was finished, and stood by the open window talking to her while she arranged her hair. She dismissed her little maid directly I went into the room, and I felt she had something to say to me.
‘Well, Mary,’ she began at once, ‘what do you think of her?’
‘Of Mrs. Darrell?’
‘Of course.’
‘What opinion can I possibly form about her, after seeing her for three minutes, Milly? I think she is very elegant-looking. That is the only idea I have about her yet.’
‘Do you think she looks true, Mary? Do you think she has married papa because she loves him?’
‘My dear child, how can I tell that? She is a great many years younger than your papa, but I do not see that the difference between them need be any real hindrance40 to her loving him. He is a man whom any woman might care for, I should think; to say nothing of her natural gratitude41 towards the man who has rescued her from a position of dependence42.’
‘Gratitude is all nonsense,’ Miss Darrell answered impatiently. ‘I want to know that my father is loved as he deserves to be loved. I shall never tolerate that woman unless I can feel sure of that.’
‘I believe you are prejudiced against her already, Milly,’ I said reproachfully.
‘I daresay I am, Mary. I daresay I feel unjustly about her; but I don’t like her face.’
‘What is there in her face that you don’t like?’
‘O, I can’t tell you that — an undefinable something. I have a sort of conviction that she and I can never love each other.’
‘It is rather hard upon Mrs. Darrell to begin with such a feeling as that, Milly.’
‘I can’t help it. Of course I shall try to do my duty to her, for papa’s sake, and I shall do my best to conquer all these unchristian feelings. But we cannot command our hearts, you know, Mary, and I don’t think I shall ever love my stepmother.’
She took me down to the drawing-room after this. It was half-past six, and we were to dine at seven. The drawing-room was a long room, with five windows opening on to the terrace, an old-fashioned-looking room with panelled walls and a fine arched ceiling. The wainscot was painted white, with gilt44 mouldings, and the cornice and architraves of the doors were elaborately carved. The furniture was white-and-gold like the walls, and in that spurious classical style which prevailed during the first French Empire. The window-curtains and coverings of sofas and chairs were of dark-green velvet45.
A gentleman was standing46 in one of the open windows looking out at the garden. He turned as Milly and I went in, and I recognised Mr. Stormont. He came forward to shake hands with his cousin, and smiled his peculiar35 slow smile at her expression of surprise.
‘You didn’t know I was here, Milly?’
‘No, indeed; I had no idea of seeing you.’
‘I wonder your father did not tell you of my visit. I came over this morning for a fortnight’s holiday. I’ve been working a little harder than usual lately, and my uncle is good enough to say I have earned a rest.’
‘I wonder you don’t go abroad for a change.’
‘I don’t care about a change. I had much rather come to Thornleigh.’
He looked at her very earnestly as he said this. I had been sure of it that afternoon when we all three sat in the summer-house at Albury Lodge, but I could see that Milly herself had no idea of the truth.
‘Well, Milly, what do you think of your new mamma?’ he asked presently.
‘I had rather not tell you yet.’
‘Humph! that hardly sounds favourable47 to the lady. She seems to me a very charming person; but she is not my stepmother, and, of course, that makes a difference. Your father is intensely devoted48.’
Mr. Darrell came into the room a few minutes after this, and his wife followed him almost immediately. Milly placed herself next her father, and contrived49 to absorb his attention, not quite to the satisfaction of the elder lady, I fancied. Those bright gray eyes flashed upon my darling with a brief look of anger, which changed in the next moment to quiet watchfulness51.
Mrs. Darrell stood by one of the tables, idly turning over some books and papers, and finding me seated near her, began to talk to me presently in a very gracious manner, asking me how I liked Thornleigh, and a few other questions of a stereotyped52 kind; but even while she talked those watchful50 eyes were always turned towards the window where the father and daughter stood side by side. Mr. Stormont came over to her while she was talking to me, and joined in the conversation; in the midst of which a grave gray-haired old butler came to announce dinner.
Mr. Stormont offered his arm to the lady of the house, while Mr. Darrell gave one arm to me and the other to his daughter; and we went down a long passage, at the end of which was the dining-room, a noble old room, with dark oak panelling and a great many pictures by the old masters, which were, no doubt, as valuable as they were dingy53. We dined at an oval table, prettily54 decorated with flowers and with some very curious old silver.
There was a good deal of talk at dinner, in which I could take very little part. Mr. and Mrs. Darrell talked to Julian Stormont of their travels; and I must confess the lady talked well, with no affectation of enthusiasm, and with an evident knowledge and appreciation55 of the things she was speaking about. I envied her those wanderings in sunny foreign lands, even though they had been made in the company of an invalid56 dowager, and I wondered whether she would be happy in a settled existence at Thornleigh.
After dinner Milly took me out upon the terrace, and from thence we went to explore the gardens. We had not been out long before Julian Stormont came to join us. We had been talking pleasantly enough till he appeared, but his coming seemed to make us both silent, and he himself had a thoughtful air. I watched his pale face as he walked beside us in the twilight57, and was again struck by the careworn58 look about the brow and the resolute59 expression of the mouth.
He was very fond of Milly. Of that fact there could be no possible doubt; and I think he had already begun to suffer keenly from the knowledge that his love was unreturned. That he hoped against hope at this time — that he counted fully43 on his power to win her in the future, I know. He was too wise to precipitate60 matters by any untimely avowal61 of his feelings. He waited with a quiet resolute patience which was a part of his nature.
Of course we talked a little, but it was in a straggling, desultory62 kind of way; and I think it was a relief to all of us when we finished the round of the gardens and went in through one of the drawing-room windows. The room was lighted with lamps and candles placed about upon the tables, and Mrs. Darrell was sitting near her husband, employed upon some airy scrap63 of fancy-work, while he read his Times.
He asked for some music soon after we went in, and she rose to obey him with a very charming air of submission64. She played magnificently, with a power and style that were quite new to me, for I had heard no professional performers. She sang an Italian scena afterwards, in a rich mezzo-soprano, and with a kind of suppressed passion that impressed me deeply. I scarcely wondered, after hearing her play and sing, that Mr. Darrell had been fascinated by her. These gifts of hers were in themselves sufficient to subjugate65 a man who really cared for music.
Milly was charmed into forgetfulness of her prejudices. She went over to the piano and kissed her stepmother.
‘Papa told me how clever you were,’ she said; ‘but he did not tell me you were a genius.’
Mrs. Darrell received the compliment very modestly, and then tried to persuade Milly to sing or play; but the girl declined resolutely66. Nothing could induce her to touch the piano after that brilliant performance.
The next day and several days passed very quietly, and in a kind of monotonous comfort. The rector of the parish dined with us one day, and on another a neighbouring squire67 with his wife and three daughters. Milly and I spent a good deal of our time in the gardens and on the sea-shore, with Julian Stormont for our companion, while Mr. and Mrs. Darrell rode or drove together. My darling could see that she was not expected to join them in these rides and drives, and I think this confirmed her idea that her father was in a manner lost to her.
‘I must try to be satisfied with this new state of things, Mary,’ she said, with a sigh of resignation. ‘If my father is happy, I ought to be contented68. But O, my dear, if you could have seen us together a year ago, you would know how much I have lost.’
I had been at Thornleigh a little more than a week, when Mr. Darrell one morning proposed a drive to a place called Cumber69 Priory, which was one of the show-houses of the neighbourhood. It was a very old place, he said, and had been one of the earliest monastic settlements in that part of the country. Milly and her father and her cousin had been there a great many times, and the visit was proposed for the gratification of Mrs. Darrell and myself.
She assented70 graciously, as she always did to every proposition of her husband’s, and we started soon after breakfast in the barouche, with Julian Stormont on horseback. The drive was delightful71; for, after leaving the hilly district about Thornleigh, our road lay through a wood, where the trees were of many hundred years’ growth. I recognised groups of oak and beech72 that I had seen among the sketches73 in Milly’s portfolio74.
On the other side of the wood we came to some dilapidated-looking gates, with massive stone escutcheons on the great square pillars. There was a lodge, but it was evidently unoccupied, and Mr. Darrell’s footman got down from the box to open the gates. Within we made the circuit of a neglected lawn, divided from a park by a sunk fence, across which some cattle stared at us in a lazy manner as we drove past them. The house was a long low building with heavily mullioned windows, and was flanked by gothic towers. Most of the windows had closed shutters75, and the place had altogether a deserted76 look.
‘The Priory has not been occupied for several years,’ Mr. Darrell said, as if in answer to my thoughts as I looked up at the closed windows. ‘The family have been too poor to live in it in anything like their old state. There is only one member of the old family remaining now, and he leads a wandering kind of life abroad, I believe.’
‘What has made them so poor?’ asked Mrs. Darrell.
‘Extravagant habits, I suppose,’ answered her husband, with an expressive77 shrug78 of the shoulders. ‘The Egertons have always been a wild race.’
‘Egerton!’ Mrs. Darrell repeated; ‘I thought the name of these people was Cumber.’
‘No; Cumber is only the name of the place. It has been in the Egerton family for centuries.’
‘Indeed!’
I was seated exactly opposite her, and I was surprised by the strange startled look in her face as she repeated the name of Egerton. That look passed away in the next moment, and left her with her usual air of languid indifference79; a placid80 kind of listlessness which harmonised very well with her pale complexion and delicate features. She was not a woman from whom one expected much animation81.
The low iron-studded door of the Priory was opened by a decent-looking old woman of that species which seems created expressly for the showing of old houses. She divined our errand at once, and as soon as we were in the hall, began her catalogue of pictures and curiosities in the usual mechanical way, while we looked about us, always fixing our eyes on the wrong object, and more bewildered than enlightened by her description of the chief features of the place.
We went from room to room, the dame82 throwing open the shutters of the deep-set gothic windows, and letting in a flood of sunshine upon the faded tapestries83 and tarnished84 picture-frames. It was a noble old place, and the look of decay upon everything was more in accord with its grandeur7 than any modern splendour could have been.
We had been through all the rooms on the ground floor, most of which opened into one another, and were returning towards the hall, when Mr. Darrell missed his wife, and sent me back to look for her in one direction, while he went in another. I hurried through three or four empty rooms, until I came to a small one at the end of the house, and here I found her. I had not noticed this room much, for it was furnished in a more modern style than the rest of the house, and the old housekeeper85 had made very light of it, hurrying us back to look at some armour86 over the chimneypiece in the next room. It was her master’s study, she had said, and was not generally shown to strangers.
It was a small dark-looking room, lined with dingily-bound books upon heavy carved-oak shelves, and with no other furniture than a massive writing-table and three or four arm-chairs. Over the mantelpiece, which was modern and low, there was a portrait of a young man with a dark handsome face, and it was at this that Augusta Darrell was looking. I could see her face in profile as she stood upon the hearth87 with her clenched88 hand upon the mantelpiece, and I had never before seen such an expression in any human countenance89.
What was it? Despair, remorse90, regret? I know not; but it was a look of keenest anguish91, of unutterable sorrow. The face was deadly pale, the great gray eyes looking upwards92 at the portrait, the lips locked together rigidly93.
She did not hear my footstep; it was only when I spoke94 to her that she turned towards me with a stony95 face, and asked what I wanted.
I told her that Mr. Darrell had sent me.
‘I was coming this instant,’ she said, resuming her usual manner with an effort. ‘I had only loitered to look at that portrait. A fine face, is it not, Miss Crofton?’
‘A handsome one, at any rate,’ I answered doubtfully, for that dark haughty96 countenance struck me as rather repellent than attractive.
‘That’s as much as to say you don’t think it a good face. Well, perhaps you are right. It reminded me of some one I knew a long time ago, and was rather interesting to me on that account. And then I fell into a kind of a reverie, and forgot that my dear husband might miss me.’
He came into the room as she was saying this. She told him that she had stopped to look at the portrait, and asked whose it was.
‘It is a likeness97 of Angus Egerton, the present owner of the Priory,’ Mr. Darrell answered; ‘and a very good likeness, too — of as bad a man as ever lived, I believe,’ he added in a lower voice.
‘A bad man?’
‘Yes; he broke his mother’s heart.’
‘In what manner?’
‘He fell in love with a girl of low birth, whom he met in the course of a pedestrian tour in the West of England, and was going to marry her, I believe, when Mrs. Egerton got wind of the affair. She was a very proud woman — one of the most resolute masculine-minded women I ever knew. She went down into Devonshire where the girl lived immediately, and by some means or other prevented the marriage. How it was done I never heard; but it was not until a year afterwards that Angus Egerton discovered his mother’s part in the business. He came down to the Priory suddenly and unexpectedly at a late hour one night, and walked straight to his mother’s room. I have heard that old woman who has been showing us the house describe his ghastly face — she was Mrs. Egerton’s maid in those days — as he pushed her aside and went into the room where his mother was sitting. There was a dreadful scene between them, and at the end of it Angus Egerton walked out of the house, swearing never again to enter it while his mother lived. He has kept his word. Mrs. Egerton never crossed the threshold after that night, and refused to see anybody except her servants and her doctor. She lived this lonely kind of life for nearly three years, and then died of some slow wasting disease, for which the doctor could find no name.’
‘And where did Mr. Egerton go after leaving her that night?’
‘He slept at a little inn at Cumber, and went back to London next morning. He left England soon after that, and has lived abroad ever since.’
‘And you think him a very bad man?’
‘I consider his conduct to his mother a sufficient evidence of that.’
‘He may have believed himself deeply wronged.’
‘He must have known that she had acted in his interests when she prevented his committing the folly98 of a low marriage. She was his mother, and had been a most devoted and indulgent mother.’
‘And in the end contrived to break his heart — to say nothing of the girl who loved him, who was of course a piece of common clay, not worth consideration.’
‘I did not think you had so much romance, Augusta,’ said Mr. Darrell, laughing; ‘I suppose it is natural for a woman to take the part of unfortunate lovers, however foolish the affair may be. But I believe this Devonshire girl was quite unworthy of an honourable99 attachment on the part of any man. You see I knew and liked Mrs. Egerton, and I know how she loved her son. I cannot forgive him his conduct to her; nor have the reports of his life abroad been by any means favourable to his character. His career seems to have been a very wild and dissipated one.’
‘And he has never married?’
‘No, he has never married.’
‘He has been true, at least,’ Mrs. Darrell said in a low thoughtful tone.
We had lingered in the little study while her husband had told his story. We went back to the hall now, and found Milly and Mr. Stormont looking rather listlessly at the old portraits of the Egerton race. I was anxious to see a picture of the last Mrs. Egerton, after what I had heard about her, and, at my request, the housekeeper showed me one in the drawing-room.
She was very handsome, and wonderfully like her son. I could fancy those two haughty spirits in opposition100.
We spent another hour looking over the rest of the house — old tapestry101, old pictures, old china, old furniture, secret staircases, carved chimneypieces, muniment chests, and the usual objects of interest to be found in such a place. After that we walked a little in the neglected garden, where there were old holly102 hedges that had grown high and wild for want of clipping, and where a curious old sun-dial had fallen down upon the grass in a forlorn way. The paths were all green and moss-grown, and the roses were almost choked with bindweed. I saw Mrs. Darrell gather one of these roses and put it in her breast. It was the first time I have ever seen her pluck a flower, though there was a wealth of roses at Thornleigh.
So ended our visit to Cumber Priory; a place that was destined103 to be very memorable104 to some of us in the time to come.
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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possessed
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bleak
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respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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mouldering
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| v.腐朽( moulder的现在分词 )；腐烂，崩塌 | |
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surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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22
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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29
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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30
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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31
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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32
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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34
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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35
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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38
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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39
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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41
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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42
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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43
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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50
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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51
watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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52
stereotyped
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| adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的 | |
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53
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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careworn
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| adj.疲倦的，饱经忧患的 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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63
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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subjugate
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| v.征服；抑制 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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67
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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69
cumber
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| v.拖累，妨碍；n.妨害；拖累 | |
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70
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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72
beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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73
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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portfolio
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| n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位 | |
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75
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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78
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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79
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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80
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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81
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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82
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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83
tapestries
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| n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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84
tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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85
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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86
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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87
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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88
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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89
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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90
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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91
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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92
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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93
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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94
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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95
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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96
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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97
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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98
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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99
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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100
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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101
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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102
holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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103
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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104
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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