Part Two Chapter 2

She found an early opportunity to carry on her investigations¹. For, at dinner that night, she found herself, Tietjens having gone to the telephone with a lance-corporal, opposite what she took to be a small tradesman, with fresh-coloured cheeks, and a great, grey, forward-sprouting moustache, in a uniform so creased² that the creases³ resembled the veins⁴ of a leaf . . . A very trustworthy small tradesman: the grocer from round the corner whom, sometimes, you allow to supply you with paraffin . . . He was saying to her:

‘If, ma’am, you multiply two-thousand nine hundred and something by ten you arrive at twenty-nine thousand odd . . .

And she had exclaimed:

‘You really mean that my husband, Captain Tietjens, spent yesterday afternoon in examining twenty-nine thousand toe-nails . . . And two thousand nine hundred toothbrushes . . .

‘I told him,’ her interlocutor answered with deep seriousness, ‘that these being Colonial troops it was not so necessary to examine their toothbrushes . . . Imperial troops will use the brush they clean their buttons with for their teeth so as to have a clean toothbrush to show the medical officer . . .

‘It sounds,’ she said with a little shudder⁵, ‘as if you were all schoolboys playing a game . . . And you say my husband really occupies his mind with such things . . . ’

Second-Lieutenant⁶ Cowley, dreadfully conscious that the shoulder-strap of his Sam Browne belt, purchased that afternoon at the Ordnance⁷, and therefore brand-new, did not match the abdominal⁸ part of the belt that he had had for nearly ten years — a splendid bit of leather, that! — answered nevertheless stoutly⁹:

‘Madam! If the brains of an army aren’t, the life of an army is . . . in its feet . . . And nowadays, the medical officers say, in its teeth . . . Your husband, ma’am, is an admirable officer . . . He says that no draft he turns out shall . . .

She said:

‘He spent three hours in . . . You say, foot and kit¹⁰ inspection¹¹ . . . ’

Second-Lieutenant Cowley said:

‘Of course he had other officers to help him with the kit . . . but he looked at every foot himself . . . ’

She said:

‘That took him from two till five . . . Then he had tea, I suppose . . . And went to . . . What is it? . . . The papers of the draft . . . ’

Second-Lieutenant Cowley said, muffled¹² through his moustache:

‘If the captain is a little remiss¹³ in writing letters . . . I have heard . . . You might, madam . . . I’m a married man myself . . . with a daughter . . . And the army is not very good at writing letters . . . You might say, in that respect, that thank God we have got a navy, ma’am . . . ’

She let him stagger on for a sentence or two, imagining that, in his confusion, she might come upon traces of Miss Wannop in Rouen. Then she said handsomely:

‘Of course you have explained everything, Mr. Cowley, and I am very much obliged . . . Of course my husband would not have time to write very full letters . . . He is not like the giddy young subalterns who run after . . .

He exclaimed in a great roar of laughter:

‘The captain run after skirts . . . Why, I can number on my hands the times he’s been out of my sight since he’s had the battalion¹⁴!’

A deep wave of depression went over Sylvia.

‘Why,’ Lieutenant Cowley laughed on, ‘if we had a laugh against him it was that he mothered the lot of us as if he was a hen sitting on addled¹⁵ eggs . . . For it’s only a ragtime¹⁶ army, as the saying is, when you’ve said the best for it that you can . . . And look at the other commanding officers we’ve had before we had him . . . There was Major Brooks¹⁷ . . . Never up before noon, if then, and out of camp by two-thirty. Get your returns ready for signing before then or never get ’em signed . . . And Colonel Potter . . . Bless my soul . . . ‘e wouldn’t sign any blessed papers at all . . . He lived down here in this hotel, and we never saw him up at the camp at all . . . But the captain . . . We always say that . . . if ‘e was a Chelsea adjutant getting off a draft of the Second Coldstreams . . . ’

With her indolent and gracious beauty — Sylvia knew that she was displaying indolent and gracious beauty — Sylvia leaned over the tablecloth¹⁸ listening for items in the terrible indictment¹⁹ that, presently, she was going to bring against Tietjens . . . For the morality of these matters is this: . . . If you have an incomparably beautiful woman on your hands you must occupy yourself solely²⁰ with her . . . Nature exacts that of you . . . until you are unfaithful to her with a snubnosed girl with freckles²¹: that, of course, being a reaction, is still in a way occupying yourself with your woman! . . . But to betray her with a battalion . . . That is against decency²², against Nature . . . And for him, Christopher Tietjens, to come down to the level of the men you met here! . . .

Tietjens, mooning down the room between tables, had more than his usually aloof²³ air since he had just come out of a telephone box. He slipped, a weary mass, into the polished chair between her and the lieutenant. He said:

‘I’ve got the washing arranged for . . . ’ and Sylvia gave to herself a little hiss²⁵ between the teeth, of vindictive²⁶ pleasure! This was indeed betrayal to a battalion. He added: ‘I shall have to be up in camp before four-thirty to-morrow morning . . .

Sylvia could not resist saying:

‘Isn’t there a poem . . . Ah me, the dawn, the dawn, it comes too soon! . . . said of course by lovers in bed? . . . Who was the poet?’

Cowley went visibly red to the roots of his hair and evidently beyond. Tietjens finished his speech to Cowley, who had remonstrated²⁷ against his going up to the camp so early by saying that he had not been able to get hold of an officer to march the draft. He then said in his leisurely²⁸ way:

‘There were a great many poems with that refrain in the Middle Ages . . . You are probably thinking of an albade by Arnaut Daniel, which someone translated lately . . . An albade was a song to be sung at dawn when, presumably, no one but lovers would be likely to sing . . . ’

‘Will there,’ Sylvia asked, ‘be anyone but you singing up in your camp to-morrow at four?’

She could not help it . . . She knew that Tietjens had adopted his slow pomposity²⁹ in order to give the grotesque³⁰ object at the table with them time to recover from his confusion. She hated him for it. What right had he to make himself appear a pompous³¹ ass²⁴ in order to shield the confusion of anybody?

The second-lieutenant came out of his confusion to exclaim, actually slapping his thigh³²:

‘There you are, madam . . . Trust the captain to know everything! . . . I don’t believe there’s a question under the sun you could ask him that he couldn’t answer . . . They say up at the camp . . . ’ He went on with long stories of all the questions Tietjens had answered up at the camp . . .

Emotion was going all over Sylvia . . . at the proximity³³ of Tietjens. She said to herself: ‘Is this to go on for ever?’ Her hands were ice-cold. She touched the back of her left hand with the fingers of her right. It was ice-cold. She looked at her hands. They were bloodless . . . She said to herself: ‘It’s pure sexual passion . . . it’s pure sexual passion . . . God! Can’t I get over this?’ She said: ‘Father! . . . You used to be fond of Christopher . . . Get our Lady to get me over this . . . It’s the ruin of him and the ruin of me. But, oh damn, don’t! . . . For it’s all I have to live for . . . ’ She said: ‘When he came mooning back from the telephone I thought it was all right . . . I thought what a heavy wooden-horse he looked . . . For two minutes . . . Then it’s all over me again . . . I want to swallow my saliva³⁴ and I can’t. My throat won’t work . . .

She leaned one of her white bare arms on the tablecloth towards the walrus-moustache that was still snuffling gloriously:

‘They used to call him Old Sol at school.’ she said. ‘But there’s one question of Solomon’s he could not answer . . . The one about the way of a man with . . . Oh, a maid! . . . Ask him what happened before the dawn ninety-six — no, ninety-eight days ago . . . ’

She said to herself: ‘I can’t help it . . . Oh, I can’t help it . . . ’

The ex-sergeant³⁵-major was exclaiming happily:

‘Oh, no one ever said the captain was one of these thought-readers . . . It’s real solid knowledge of men and things he has . . . Wonderful how he knows the men considering he was not born in the service . . . But there, your born gentleman mixes with men all his days and knows them. Down to the ground and inside their puttees . . . ’

Tietjens was looking straight in front of him, his face perfectly³⁷ expressionless.

‘But I bet I got him . . . ’ she said to herself and then to the sergeant-major:

‘I suppose now an army officer — one of your born gentlemen — when a back-from-leave train goes out from any of the great stations — Paddington, say — to the front . . . He knows how all the men are feeling . . . But not what the married women think . . . or the . . . the girl . . . ’

She said to herself: ‘Damn it, how clumsy I am getting! . . . I used to be able to take his hide off with a word. Now I take sentences at a time . . . ’

She went on with her uninterrupted sentence to Cowley: ‘Of course he may never be going to see his only son again, so it makes him sensitive . . . The officer at Paddington, I mean . . . ’

She said to herself: ‘By God, if that beast does not give in to me to-night he never shall see Michael again . . . Ah, but I got him . . . Tietjens had his eyes closed, round each of his high-coloured nostrils³⁹ a crescent of whiteness was beginning. And increasing . . . She felt a sudden alarm and held the edge of the table with her extended arm to steady herself . . . Men went white at the nose like that when they were going to faint . . . She did not want him to faint . . . But he had noticed the word Paddington . . . Ninety-eight days before . . . She had counted every day since . . . She had got that much information . . . She had said Paddington outside the house at dawn and he had taken it as a farewell. He had . . . He had imagined himself free to do what he liked with the girl . . . Well, he wasn’t . . . That was why he was white about the gills . . .

Cowley exclaimed loudly:

‘Paddington! . . . It isn’t from there that back-from-leave trains go. Not for the front: the B.E.F . . . Not from Paddington . . . The Glamorganshires go from there to the depot⁴⁰ . . . And the Liverpools . . . They’ve got a depot at Birkenhead . . . Or is that the Cheshires? . . . ’ He asked of Tietjens: ‘Is it the Liverpools or the Cheshires that have a depot at Birkenhead, sir? . . . You remember we recruited a draft from there when we were at Penhally . . . At any rate, you go to Birkenhead from Paddington . . . I was never there myself . . . They say it’s a nice place . . . ’

Sylvia said — she did not want to say it:

‘It’s quite a nice place . . . but I should not think of staying there for ever . . . ’

Tietjens said:

‘The Cheshires have a training camp — not a depot — near Birkenhead. And of course there are R.G.A.’s there . . . ’ She had been looking away from him . . . Cowley exclaimed:

‘You were nearly off, sir,’ hilariously⁴¹. ‘You had your peepers shut . . . ’ Lifting a champagne⁴² glass, he inclined himself towards her. ‘You must excuse the captain, ma’am,’ he said. ‘He had no sleep last night . . . Largely owing to my fault . . . Which is what makes it so kind of him . . . I tell you, ma’am, there are few things I would not do for the captain . . . ’ He drank his champagne and began an explanation: ‘You may not know, ma’am, this is a great day for me . . . And you and the captain are making it the greatest day of my life . . . ’ Why, at four this morning there hadn’t been a wretcheder man in Ruin town . . . And now . . . He must tell her that he suffered from an unfortunate — a miserable⁴³ — complaint . . . One that makes one have to be careful of celebrations . . . And to-day was a day that he had to celebrate . . . But he dare not have done it where Sergeant-Major Ledoux is along with a lot of their old mates . . . ‘I dare not . . . I dussn’t!’ he finished . . . ‘So I might have been sitting, now, at this very moment, up in the cold camp . . . But for you and the captain . . . Up in the cold camp . . . You’ll excuse me, ma’am . . . ’

Sylvia felt that her lids were suddenly wavering:

‘I might have been myself,’ she said, ‘in a cold camp, too . . . if I hadn’t thrown myself on the captain’s mercy! . . . At Birkenhead, you know . . . I happened to be there till three weeks ago . . . It’s strange that you mentioned it . . . There are things like signs . . . but you’re not a Catholic! They could hardly be coincidences . . . ’

She was trembling . . . She looked, fumblingly⁴⁴ opening it, into the little mirror of her powder-box — of chased, very thin gold with a small blue stone, like a forget-me-not in the centre of the concentric engravings . . . Drake — the possible father of Michael — had given it to her . . . The first thing he had ever given her. She had brought it down to-night out of defiance⁴⁶. She imagined that Tietjens disliked it . . . She said breathlessly to herself: perhaps the damn thing is an ill omen³⁸ . . . Drake had been the first man who had ever . . . A hot-breathed brute⁴⁷! . . . In the little glass her features were chalk-white . . . She looked like . . . she looked like . . . She had a dress of golden tissue . . . The breath was short between her white set teeth . . . Her face was as white as her teeth . . . And . . . Yes! Nearly! Her lips . . . What was her face like? . . . In the chapel⁴⁸ of the convent of Birkenhead there was a tomb all of alabaster⁴⁹ . . . She said to herself:

‘He was near fainting . . . I’m near fainting . . . What’s this beastly thing that’s between us? . . . If I let myself faint . . . But it would not make that beast’s face any less wooden! . . . ’

She leaned across the table and patted the ex-sergeantmajor’s black-haired hand:

‘I’m sure,’ she said, ‘you’re a very good man . . . ’ She did not try to keep the tears out of her eyes, remembering his words: ‘Up in the cold camp.’ . . . ‘I’m glad the captain, as you call him, did not leave you in the cold camp . . . You’re devoted⁵⁰ to him, aren’t you? . . . There are others he does leave . . . up in . . . the cold camp . . . For punishment, you know . . . ’

The ex-sergeant-major, the tears in his eyes too, said: ‘Well, there is men you ‘as to give the C.B. to . . . C.B. means confined to barracks . . . ’

‘Oh, there are!’ she exclaimed. ‘There are! . . . And women, too . . . Surely there are women, too? . . . ’

The sergeant-major said:

Wacks, per’aps . . . I don’t know . . . They say women’s discipline is like ours . . . Founded on hours!’

She said:

‘Do you know what they used to say of the captain? . . . ’ She said to herself: ‘I pray to God the stiff, fatuous⁵¹ beast likes sitting here listening to this stuff . . . Blessed Virgin⁵², mother of God, make him take me . . . Before midnight. Before eleven . . . As soon as we get rid of this . . . No, he’s a decent little man . . . Blessed Virgin!’ . . . ‘Do you know what they used to say of the captain? . . . I heard the warmest banker in England say it of him . . . ’

The sergeant-major, his eyes enormously opened, said: ‘Did you know the warmest banker in England? . . . ’ But there, we always knew the captain was well connected . . . ’ She went on:

‘They said of him . . . He was always helping⁵³ people.’ . . . ‘Holy Mary, mother of God! . . . He’s my husband . . . It’s not a sin . . . Before midnight . . . Oh, give me a sign . . . Or before . . . the termination of hostilities⁵⁴ . . . If you give me a sign I could wait.’ . . . ‘He helped virtuous⁵⁵ Scotch⁵⁶ students, and broken-down gentry⁵⁷ . . . And women taken in adultery . . . All of them . . . Like . . . You know Who . . . That is his model . . . ’ She said to herself: ‘Curse him! . . . I hope he likes it . . . You’d think the only thing he thinks about is the beastly duck he’s wolfing down.’ . . . And then aloud: ‘They used to say: “He saved others; himself he could not save . . . "’

The ex-sergeant-major looked at her gravely:

‘Ma’am,’ he said, we couldn’t say exactly that of the captain . . . For I fancy it was said of our Redeemer . . . But we ‘ave said that if ever there was a poor bloke the captain could ‘elp, ‘elp ’im ‘e would . . . Yet the unit was always getting ‘ellish strafe from headquarters . . . ’

Suddenly Sylvia began to laugh . . . As she began to laugh she had remembered . . . The alabaster image in the nun’s chapel at Birkenhead the vision of which had just presented itself to her, had been the recumbent tomb of an honourable⁵⁹ Mrs Tremayne-Warlock . . . She was said to have sinned in her youth . . . And her husband had never forgiven her . . . That was what the nuns⁶⁰ said . . . She said aloud:

‘A sign . . . ’ Then to herself: ‘Blessed Mary! . . . You’ve given it me in the neck . . . Yet you could not name a father for your child, and I can name two . . . I’m going mad . . . Both I and he are going to go mad . . . ’

She thought of dashing an enormous patch of red upon either cheek. Then she thought it would be rather melodramatic . . .

She made in the smoking-room, whilst she was waiting for both Tietjens and Cowley to come back from the telephone, another pact⁶¹ . . . This time with Father Consett in heaven! She was fairly sure that Father Consett — and quite possibly other of the heavenly powers — wanted Christopher not to be worried, so that he could get on with the war — or because he was a good sort of dullish man such as the heavenly authorities are apt to like . . . Something like that . . .

She was by that time fairly calm again. You cannot keep up fits of emotion by the hour: at any rate, with her, the fits of emotion were periodical and unexpected, though her colder passion remained always the same . . . Thus, when Christopher had come into Lady Sachse’s that afternoon, she had been perfectly calm. He had mooned through a number of officers, both French and English, in a great octagonal, bluish salon⁶² where Lady Sachse gave her teas, and had come to her side with just a nod — the merest inflexion of the head! . . . Perowne had melted away somewhere behind the disagreeable duchess. The general, very splendid and white-headed and scarlet⁶⁵-tipped and gilt⁶⁶, had also borne down upon her at that . . . At the sight of Perowne with her he had been sniffing⁶⁷ and snorting whilst he talked to the young nobleman — a dark fellow in blue with a new belt who seemed just a shade too theatrical⁶⁸, he being chauffeur⁶⁹ to a marshal of France and first cousin and nearest relative, except for parents and grandparents, of the prospective⁷⁰ bride . . .

The general had told her that he was running the show pretty strong on purpose because he thought it might do something to cement the Entente⁷¹ Cordiale. But it did not seem to be doing it. The French — officers, soldiers and women — kept pretty well all on the one side of the room — the English on the other. The French were as a rule more gloomy than men and women are expected to be. A marquis of sorts — she understood that these were all Bonapartist nobility — having been introduced to her had distinguished⁷³ himself no more than by saying that, for his part, he thought the duchess was right, and by saying that to Perowne who, knowing no French, had choked exactly as if his tongue had suddenly got too big for his mouth . . .

She had not heard what the duchess — a very disagreeable duchess who sat on a sofa and appeared savagely⁷⁴ careworn⁷⁵ — had been saying, so that she had inclined herself, in the courtly manner that at school she had been taught to reserve for the French legitimist nobility, but that she thought she might expend⁷⁶ upon a rather state function even for the Bonapartists, and had replied that without the least doubt the duchess had the right of the matter . . . The marquis had given her from dark eyes one long glance, and she had returned it with a long cold glance that certainly told him she was meat for his masters. It extinguished him . . .

Tietjens had staged his meeting with herself remarkably⁷⁷ well. It was the sort of lymphatic thing he could do, so that, for the fifth of a minute, she wondered if he had any feelings or emotions at all. But she knew that he had . . . The general, at any rate, bearing down upon them with satisfaction, had remarked:

‘Ah, I see you’ve seen each other before to-day . . . I thought perhaps you wouldn’t have found time before, Tietjens . . . Your draft must be a great nuisance . . . ’

Tietjens said without expression:

‘Yes, we have seen each other before . . . I made time to call at Sylvia’s hotel, sir.’

It was at Tietjens’ terrifying expressionlessness, at that completely being up to a situation, that the first wave of emotion had come over her . . . For, till that very moment, she had been merely sardonically⁷⁸ making the constatation that there was not a single presentable man in the room . . . There was not even one that you could call a gentleman . . . for you cannot size up the French . . . ever! . . . But, suddenly, she was despairing! . . . How, she said to herself, could she ever move, put emotion into, this lump! It was like trying to move an immense mattress⁷⁹ filled with feathers. You pulled at one end, but the whole mass sagged⁸⁰ down and remained immobile until you seemed to have no strength at all . . . Until virtue⁸¹ went out from you . . .

It was as if he had the evil eye; or some special protector. He was so appallingly⁸² competent, so appallingly always in the centre of his own picture.

The general said, rather joyfully⁸⁴:

‘Then you can spare a minute, Tietjens, to talk to the duchess! About coal! . . . For goodness’ sake, man, save the situation! I’m worn out . . . ’

Sylvia bit the inside of her lower lip — she never bit her lip itself! — to keep herself from exclaiming aloud. It was just exactly what should not happen to Tietjens at that juncture⁸⁵ . . . She heard the general explaining to her, in his courtly manner, that the duchess was holding up the whole ceremony because of the price of coal. The general loved her desperately⁸⁶. Her, Sylvia! In quite a proper manner for an elderly general . . . But he would go to no small extremes in her interests! So would his sister!

She looked hard at the room to get her senses into order again. She said:

‘It’s like a Hogarth picture . . . ’

The undissolvable air of the eighteenth century that the French contrive⁸⁷ to retain in all their effects kept the scene singularly together. On a sofa sat the duchess, relatives leaning over her. She was a duchess with one of those impossible names: Beauchain-Radigutz or something like it. The bluish room was octagonal and vaulted⁸⁸, up to a rosette in the centre of the ceiling. English officers and V.A.D.’s of some evident presence opened out to the left, French military and very black-clothed women of all ages, but all apparently⁸⁹ widows, opened out to the right, as if the duchess shone down a sea at sunset. Beside her on the sofa you did not see Lady Sachse: leaning over her you did not see the prospective bride. This stoutish⁹⁰, unpresentable, coldly venomous woman, in black clothes so shabby that they might have been grey tweed, extinguished other personalities⁹¹ as the sun conceals⁹² planets. A fattish, brilliantined personality, in mufti, with a scarlet rosette, stood sideways to the duchess’s right, his hands extended forward as if in an invitation to a dance; an extremely squat⁹³ lady, also apparently a widow, extended, on the left of the duchess, both her black-gloved hands, as if she too were giving an invitation to the dance . . .

The general, with Sylvia beside him, stood glorious in the centre of the clearing that led to the open doorway⁹⁴ of a much smaller room. Through the doorway you could see a table with a white damask cloth; a silver-gilt inkpot, fretted⁹⁵, like a porcupine⁹⁶ with pens, a fat, flat leather case for the transportation of documents and two notaries⁹⁷: one in black, fat, and bald-headed; one in blue uniform, with a shining monocle, and a brown moustache that he continued to twirl . . .

Looking round that scene Sylvia’s humour calmed her and she heard the general say:

‘She’s supposed to walk on my arm to that table and sign the settlement . . . We’re supposed to be the first to sign it together . . . But she won’t. Because of the price of coal. It appears that she has hothouses in miles. And she thinks the English have put up the price of coal as if . . . damn it you’d think we did it just to keep her hothouse stoves out.’

The duchess had delivered, apparently, a vindictive, cold, calm, and uninterruptible oration⁹⁸ on the wickedness of her country’s allies as people who should have allowed France to be devastated⁹⁹ and the flower of her youth slain¹⁰⁰ in order that they might put up the price of a comestible that was absolutely needed in her life. There was no arguing with her. There was no British soul there who both knew anything about economics and spoke¹⁰¹ French. And there she sat, apparently immovable. She did not refuse to sign the marriage contract. She just made no motion to go to it and, apparently, the resulting marriage would be illegal if that document were brought to her!

The general said:

Now, what the deuce will Christopher find to say to her? He’ll find something because he could talk the hind⁶⁴ legs off anything. But what the deuce will it be? . . . ’

It almost broke Sylvia’s heart to see how exactly Christopher did the right thing. He walked up that path to the sun and made in front of the duchess a little awkward nick with his head and shoulders that was rather more like a curtsy than a bow. It appeared that he knew the duchess quite well . . . as he knew everybody in the world quite well. He smiled at her and then became just suitably grave. Then he began to speak an admirable, very old-fashioned French with an atrocious English accent. Sylvia had no idea that he knew a word of the language — that she herself knew very well indeed. She said to herself that upon her word it was like hearing Chateaubriand talk — if Chateaubriand had been brought up in an English hunting country . . . Of course Christopher would cultivate an English accent: to show that he was an English country gentleman. And he would speak correctly — to show that an English Tory can do anything in the world if he wants to . . .

The British faces in the room looked blank: the French faces turned electrically upon him. Sylvia said:

‘Who would have thought . . .?’ The duchess jumped to her feet and took Christopher’s arm. She sailed with him imperiously past the general and past Sylvia. She was saying that that was just what she would have expected of a milor Anglais . . . Avec un spleen tel que vous l’avez!

Christopher, in short, had told the duchess that as his family owned almost the largest stretch of hot-house coal-burning land in England and her family the largest stretch of hothouses in the sister-country of France, what could they do better than make an alliance? He would instruct his brother’s manager to see that the duchess was supplied for the duration of hostilities and as long after as she pleased with all the coal needed for her glass at the pithead prices of the Middlesbrough-Cleveland district as the prices were on the 3rd of August, nineteen fourteen . . . He repeated: ‘The pit-head price . . . livrable au prix de l’houillemaigre dans l’enceinte des puits de ma campagne.’ . . . Much to the satisfaction of the duchess, who knew all about prices . . . A triumph for Christopher was at that moment so exactly what Sylvia thought she did not want that she decided¹⁰³ to tell the general that Christopher was a Socialist¹⁰⁴. That might well take him down a peg¹⁰⁵ or two in the general’s esteem¹⁰⁶ . . . for the general’s arm-patting admiration¹⁰⁷ for Tietjens, the man who did not argue but acted over the price of coal, was as much as she could bear . . . But, thinking it over in the smoking-room after dinner, by which time she was a good deal more aware of what she did want, she was not so certain that she had done what she wanted . . . Indeed, even in the octagonal room during the economical festivities that followed the signatures, she had been far from certain that she had not done almost exactly what she did not want . . .

It had begun with the general’s exclaiming to her:

‘You know your man’s the most unaccountable fellow . . . He wears the damn-shabbiest uniform of any officer I ever have to talk to. He’s said to be unholily hard up . . . I even heard he had a cheque sent back to the club . . . Then he goes and makes a princely gift like that — just to get Levin out of ten minutes’ awkwardness . . . I wish to goodness I could understand the fellow . . . He’s got a positive genius for getting all sorts of things out of the most beastly muddles¹⁰⁸ . . . Why, he’s even been useful to me . . . And then he’s got a positive genius for getting into the most disgusting messes . . . You’re too young to have heard of Dreyfus . . . But I always say that Christopher is a regular Dreyfus . . . I shouldn’t be astonished if he didn’t end by being drummed out of the army . . . which heaven forfend!’

It had been then that Sylvia had said:

‘Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that Christopher was a Socialist?’

For the first time in her life Sylvia saw her husband’s godfather look grotesque . . . His jaw¹⁰⁹ dropped down, his white hair became disarrayed¹¹⁰, and he dropped his pretty cap with all the gold oakleaves and the scarlet. When he rose from picking it up his thin old face was purple and distorted. She wished she hadn’t said it: she wished she hadn’t said it. He exclaimed:

‘Christopher! . . . A So . . . ’ He gasped¹¹¹ as if he could not pronounce the word. He said: ‘Damn it all! . . . I’ve loved that boy . . . He’s my only godson . . . His father was my best friend . . . I’ve watched over him . . . I’d have married his mother if she would have had me . . . Damn it all, he’s down in my will as residuary legatee after a few small things left to my sister and my collection of horns to the regiment¹¹² I commanded . . . ’

Sylvia — they were sitting on the sofa the duchess had left — patted him on the forearm and said:

‘But general . . . godfather . . . ’

‘It explains everything,’ he said with a mortification¹¹³ that was painful. His white moustache drooped¹¹⁴ and trembled. ‘And what makes it all the worse — he’s never had the courage to tell me his opinions.’ He stopped, snorted and exclaimed: ‘By God, I will have him drummed out of the service . . . By God, I will. I can do that much . . . ’

His grief so shut him in on himself that she could say nothing to him . . .

‘You tell me he seduced¹¹⁵ the little Wannop girl . . . The last person in the world he should have seduced . . . Ain’t there millions of other women? . . . He got you sold up, didn’t he? . . . Along with keeping a girl in a tobacco-shop . . . By jove, I almost lent him . . . offered to lend him money on that occasion . . . You can forgive a young man for going wrong with women . . . We all do . . . We’ve all set up girls in tobacco-shops in our time . . . But, damn it all, if the fellow’s a Socialist it puts a different complexion¹¹⁷ . . . I could forgive him even for the little Wannop girl, if he wasn’t . . . But . . . Good God, isn’t it just the thing that a dirty-minded Socialist would do? . . . To seduce¹¹⁶ the daughter of his father’s oldest friend, next to me . . . Or perhaps Wannop was an older friend than me . . . ’

He had calmed himself a little — and he was not such a fool. He looked at her now with a certain keenness in his blue eyes that showed no sign of age. He said:

‘See here, Sylvia . . . You aren’t on terms with Christopher for all the good game you put up here this afternoon . . . I shall have to go into this. It’s a serious charge to bring against one of His Majesty’s officers . . . Women do say things against their husbands when they are not on good terms with them . . . ’ He went on to say that he did not say she wasn’t justified¹¹⁹. If Christopher had seduced the little Wannop girl it was enough to make her wish to harm him. Had always found her the soul of honour, straight as a die, straight as she rode to hounds. And if she wished to nag¹⁰² against her husband, even if in little things it wasn’t quite the truth, she was perhaps within her rights as a woman. She had said, for instance, that Tietjens had taken two pairs of her best sheets. Well, his own sister, her friend, raised Cain if he took anything out of the house they lived in. She had made an atrocious row because he had taken his own shaving-glass out of his own bedroom at Mounts-by. Women liked to have sets of things. Perhaps she, Sylvia, had sets of pairs of sheets. His sister had linen¹²⁰ sheets with the date of the battle of Waterloo on them . . . Naturally you would not want a set spoiled . . . But this was another matter. He ended up very seriously:

‘I have not got time to go into this now . . . I ought not to be another minute away from my office. These are very serious days . . . ’ He broke off to utter against the Prime Minister and the Cabinet at home a series of violent imprecations. He went on:

‘But this will have to be gone into . . . It’s heart-breaking that my time should be taken up by matters like this in my own family . . . But these fellows aim at sapping the heart of the army . . . They say they distribute thousands of pamphlets recommending the rank and file to shoot their officers and go over to the Germans . . . Do you seriously mean that Christopher belongs to an organization? What is it you are going on? What evidence have you? . . . ’

She said:

‘Only that he is heir to one of the biggest fortunes in England, for a commoner, and he refuses to touch a penny . . . His brother Mark tells me Christopher could have . . . Oh, a fabulous¹²¹ sum a year . . . But he has made over Groby to me . . . ’

The general nodded his head as if he were ticking off ideas.

‘Of course, refusing property is a sign of being one of these fellows. By jove, I must go . . . But as for his not going to live at Groby: if he is setting up house with Miss Wannop . . . Well, he could not flaunt¹²² her in the face of the country . . . And, of course, those sheets! . . . As you put it it looked as if he’d beggared himself with his dissipations . . . But of course, if he is refusing money from Mark, it’s another matter . . . Mark would make up a couple of hundred dozen pairs of sheets without turning a hair . . . Of course there are the extraordinary things Christopher says . . . I’ve often heard you complain of the immoral¹²³ way he looks at the serious affairs of life . . . You said he once talked of lethal-chambering unfit children.’

He exclaimed:

‘I must go. There’s Thurston looking at me . . . But what then is it that Christopher has said? . . . Hang it all: what is at the bottom of that fellow’s mind? . . . ’

‘He desires,’ Sylvia said, and she had no idea when she said it, ‘to model himself upon our Lord . . . ’

The general leant back in the sofa. He said almost indulgently:

‘Who’s that . . . our Lord?‘

Sylvia said:

‘Upon our Lord Jesus Christ . . . ’

He sprang to his feet as if she had stabbed him with a hatpin.

‘Our . . . ’ he exclaimed. ‘Good God! . . . I always knew he had a screw loose . . . But . . . ’ He said briskly: ‘Give all his goods to the poor! . . . But He wasn’t a . . . Not a Socialist! What was it He said: Render unto Caesar . . . It wouldn’t be necessary to drum Him out of the Army . . . ’ He said: ‘Good Lord! . . . Good Lord! . . . Of course his poor dear mother was a little . . . But, hang it! . . . The Wannop girl! . . . ’ Extreme discomfort¹²⁴ overcame him . . . Tietjens was half-way across from the inner room, coming towards them.

He said:

‘Major Thurston is looking for you, sir. Very urgently . . . ’ The general regarded him as if he had been the unicorn¹²⁵ of the royal arms, come alive. He exclaimed:

‘Major Thurston! . . . Yes! Yes! . . . ’ and, Tietjens saying to him:

‘I wanted to ask you, sir . . . ’ he pushed Tietjens away as if he dreaded¹²⁶ an assault and went off with short, agitated¹²⁷ steps.

So sitting there, in the smoking-lounge of the hotel which was cram-jam full of officers, and no doubt perfectly respectable, but over-giggling women — the sort of place and environment which she had certainly never expected to be called upon to sit in; and waiting for the return of Tietjens and the ex-sergeant-major — who again was certainly not the sort of person that she had ever expected to be asked to wait for, though for long years she had put up with Tietjens’ protégé, the odious¹²⁸ Sir Vincent Macmaster, at all sorts of meals and all sorts of places . . . but of course that was only Christopher’s rights . . . to have in his own house, which, in the circumstances, wasn’t morally hers, any snuffling, nervous, walrus-moustached or orientally obsequious¹²⁹ protégé that he chose to patronize . . . And she quite believed that Tietjens, when he had invited the sergeant-major to celebrate his commission with himself at dinner, hadn’t expected to dine with her . . . It was the sort of obtuseness¹³¹ of which he was disconcertingly capable, though at other times he was much more disconcertingly capable of reading your thoughts to the last hairsbreadth . . . And, as a matter of fact, she objected much less to dining with the absolute lower classes than with merely snuffly little official critics like Macmaster, and the sergeant-major had served her turn very well when it had come to flaying¹³² the hide off Christopher . . . So, sitting there, she made a new pact, this time with Father Consett in heaven . . .

Father Consett was very much in her mind, for she was very much in the midst of the British military authorities who had hanged him . . . She had never seemed before to be so in the midst of these negligible, odious, unpresentable, horse-laughing schoolboys. It antagonized her, and it was a weight upon her, for hitherto she had completely ignored them: in this place they seemed to have a coherence¹³³, a mass . . . almost a life . . . They rushed in and out of rooms occupied, as incomprehensibly, as unpresentably, with things like boots, washing, vaccination¹³⁴ certificates . . . Even with old tins! . . . A man with prematurely¹³⁵ white hair and a pasty face, with a tunic¹³⁶ that bulged¹³⁷ both above and below his belt, would walk into the drawing-room of a lady who superintended all the acid-drop and cigarette stalls of that city and remark to a thin-haired, deaf man with an amazingly red nose — a nose that had a perfectly definite purple and scarlet diagonal demarcation running from the bridge to the upper side of the nostrils — that he had got his old tins off his hands at last. He would have to repeat it in a shout because the red-nosed man, his head hanging down, would have heard nothing at all. The deaf man would say Humph! Humph! Snuffle. The woman giving the tea — a Mrs Hemmerdine, of Tarbolton, whom you might have met at home, would be saying that at last she had got twelve reams of notepaper with forget-me-nots in the top corners when the deaf-faced man would begin, gruffly and uninterruptedly, a monologue¹³⁸ on his urgent need for twenty thousand tons of sawdust for the new slow-burning stoves in the men’s huts . . .

It was undeniably like something moving . . . All these things going in one direction . . . A disagreeable force set in motion by gawky schoolboys — but schoolboys of the Sixth Form, sinister¹³⁹, hobbledehoy, waiting in the corners of playgrounds to torture someone, weak and unfortunate . . . In one or other corner of their world-wide playground they had come upon Father Consett and hanged him. No doubt they tortured him first. And, if he made an offering of his sufferings, then and there to Heaven, no doubt he was already in paradise . . . Or, if he was not yet in heaven, certain of these souls in purgatory¹⁴⁰ were yet listened to in the midst of their torments¹⁴¹ . . .

So she said:

‘Blessed and martyred father, I know that you loved Christopher and wish to save him from trouble. I will make this pact with you. Since I have been in this room I have kept my eyes in the boat — almost in my lap. I will agree to leave off torturing Christopher and I will go into retreat in a convent of Ursuline Dames¹⁴⁴ Nobles — for I can’t stand the nuns of that other convent — for the rest of my life . . . And I know that will please you, too, for you were always anxious for the good of my soul . . . ’ She was going to do that if when she raised her eyes and really looked round the room she saw in it one man that looked presentable. She did not ask that he should more than look presentable, for she wanted nothing to do with the creature. He was to be a sign: not a prey¹⁴⁵!

She explained to the dead priest that she could not go all the world over to see if it contained a presentable man, but she could not bear to be in a convent for ever, and have the thought that there wasn’t, for other women, one presentable man in the world . . . For Christopher would be no good to them. He would be mooning for ever over the Wannop girl. Or her memory. That was all one . . . He was content with LOVE . . . If he knew that the Wannop girl was loving him in Bedford Park, and he in the Khyber States with the Himalayas between them, he would be quite content . . . That would be correct in its way, but not very helpful for other women . . . Besides, if he were the only presentable man in the world, half the women would be in love with him . . . And that would be disastrous¹⁴⁶, because he was no more responsive than a bullock in a fatting pen.

‘So, father,’ she said, ‘work a miracle . . . It’s not very much of a little miracle . . . Even if a presentable man doesn’t exist you could put him there . . . I’ll give you ten minutes before I look . . . ’

She thought it was pretty sporting of her, for, she said to herself, she was perfectly in earnest. If in that long, dim, green-lamp-shaded, and of course be-palm-leaved, badly-proportioned, glazed¹⁴⁷, ignoble¹⁴⁸ public room, there appeared one decentish man, as decentish men went before this beanfeast began, she would go into retreat for the rest of her life . . .

She fell into a sort of dim trance after she had looked at her watch. Often she went into these dim trances . . . ever since she had been a girl at school with Father Consett for her spiritual adviser¹⁴⁹! . . . She seemed to be aware of the father moving about the room, lifting up a book and putting it down . . . Her ghostly friend! . . . Goodness, he was unpresentable enough, with his broad, open face that always looked dirtyish, his great dark eyes, and his great mouth . . . But a saint and a martyr¹⁴³ . . . She felt him there . . . What had they murdered him for? Hanged at the word of a half-mad, half-drunk subaltern, because he had heard the confession¹⁵⁰ of some of the rebels the night before they were taken . . . He was over in the far corner of the room . . . She heard him say: they had not understood, the men that had hanged him. That is what you would say, father . . . Have mercy on them, for they know not what they do . . .

Then have mercy on me, for half the time I don’t know what I’m doing! . . . It was like a spell you put on me. At Lobscheid. Where my mother was, when I came back from that place without my clothes . . . You said, didn’t you, to mother, but she told me afterwards: The real hell for that poor boy, meaning Christopher, will come when he falls in love with some young girl — as, mark me, he will . . . For she, meaning me, will tear the world down to get at him . . . And when mother said she was certain I would never do anything vulgar you obstinately¹⁵¹ did not agree . . . You knew me . . .

She tried to rouse herself and said: He knew me . . . Damn it he knew me! . . . What’s vulgarity to me, Sylvia Tietjens, born Satterthwaite? I do what I want and that’s good enough for anyone. Except a priest. Vulgarity! I wonder mother could be so obtuse¹³⁰. If I am vulgar I’m vulgar with a purpose. Then it’s not vulgarity. It may be vice³⁶. Or viciousness . . . But if you commit a mortal sin with your eyes open it’s not vulgarity . . . You chance hell fire for ever . . . Good enough!

The weariness sank over her again and the sense of the father’s presence . . . She was back again in Lobscheid, thirty-six hours free of Perowne with the father and her mother in the dim sitting-room¹⁵², all antlers, candle-lit, with the father’s shadow waving over the pitchpine walls and ceilings . . . It was a bewitched place, in the deep forest of Germany. The father himself said it was the last place in Europe to be Christianized. Or perhaps it was never Christianized . . . That was perhaps why those people, the Germans, coming from those deep, devil-infested woods, did all these wickednesses. Or maybe they were not wicked . . . One would never know properly . . . But maybe the father had put a spell on her . . . His words had never been out of her mind, much . . . At the back of her brain, as the saying was . . .

Some man drifted near her and said:

‘How do you do, Mrs Tietjens? Who would have thought of seeing you here?’

She answered:

‘I have to look after Christopher now and then.’ He remained hanging over her with a schoolboy grin for a minute, then he drifted away as an object sinks into deep water . . . Father Consett again hovered¹⁵³ near her. She exclaimed:

‘But the real point is, father . . . Is it sporting? . . . Sporting or whatever it is?’ And Father Consett breathed: ‘Ah! . . . ’ with his terrible power of arousing doubts . . . She said:

‘When I saw Christopher . . . Last night? . . . Yes, it was last night . . . Turning back to go up that hill . . . And I had been talking about him to a lot of grinning private soldiers . . . To madden him . . . You mustn’t make scenes before the servants . . . A heavy man, tired . . . come down the hill and lumbering¹⁵⁴ up again . . . There was a searchlight turned on him just as he turned . . . I remembered the white bulldog I thrashed on the night before it died . . . A tired, silent beast . . . with a fat white behind . . . Tired out . . . You couldn’t see its tail because it was turned down, the stump¹⁵⁵ . . . A great, silent beast . . . The vet¹⁵⁶ said it had been poisoned with red lead by burglars . . . It’s beastly to die of red lead . . . It eats up the liver . . . And you think you’re getting better for a fortnight. And you’re always cold . . . freezing in the blood-vessels . . . And the poor beast had left its kennel¹⁵⁷ to try and be let in to the fire . . . And I found it at the door when I came in from a dance without Christopher . . . And got the rhinoceros¹⁵⁸ whip and lashed¹⁵⁹ into it . . . There’s a pleasure in lashing¹⁶⁰ into a naked white beast . . . Obese¹⁶¹ and silent . . . Like Christopher . . . I thought Christopher might . . . That night . . . It went through my head . . . It hung down its head . . . A great head, room for a whole British encyclopaedia¹⁶² of mis-information, as Christopher used to put it . . . It said: “What a hope!” . . . As I hope to be saved, though I never shall be, the dog said: “What a hope!” . . . Snow-white in quite black bushes . . . And it went under a bush . . . They found it dead there in the morning . . . You can’t imagine what it looked like, with its head over its shoulder, as it looked back and said: What a hope to me . . . Under a dark bush. An eu . . . eu . . . euonymus, isn’t it? . . . In thirty degrees of frost with all the blood-vessels exposed on the naked surface of the skin . . . It’s the seventh circle of hell, isn’t it? the frozen one . . . The last stud-white bulldog of that breed . . . As Christopher is the last stud-white hope of the Groby Tory breed . . . Modelling himself on our Lord . . . But our Lord was never married. He never touched on topics of sex. Good for Him . . .

She said: ‘The ten minutes is up, father . . . ’ and looked at the round, starred surface between the diamonds of her wrist watch. She said: ‘Good God! . . . Only one minute . . . I’ve thought all that in only one minute . . . I understand how hell can be an eternity¹⁶³ . . . ’

Christopher, very weary, and ex-Sergeant-Major Cowley, very talkative by now, loomed¹⁶⁴ down between palms. Cowley was saying: ‘It’s infamous¹⁶⁵! . . . It’s past bearing . . . To re-order the draft at eleven . . . ’ They sank into chairs . . . Sylvia extended towards Tietjens a small packet of letters. She said: ‘You had better look at these . . . I had your letters sent to me from the flat as there was so much uncertainty¹⁶⁶ about your movements . . . ’ She found that she did not dare, under Father Consett’s eyes, to look at Tietjens as she said that. She said to Cowley: ‘We might be quiet for a minute or two while the captain reads his letters . . . Have another liqueur? . . . ’

She then observed that Tietjens just bent⁵⁸ open the top of the letters from Mrs Wannop and then opened that from his brother Mark.

‘Curse it,’ she said, ‘I’ve given him what he wants! . . . He knows . . . He’s seen the address . . . that they’re still in Bedford Park . . . He can think of the Wannop girl as there . . . He has not been able to know, till now, where she is . . . He’ll be imagining himself in bed with her there . . . ’

Father Consett, his broad, unmodelled dark face full of intelligence and with the blissful unction of the saint and martyr, was leaning over Tietjens’ shoulder . . . He must be breathing down Christopher’s back as, her mother said, he always did when she held a hand at auction¹⁶⁷ and he could not play because it was between midnight and his celebrating the holy mass . . .

She said:

‘No, I am not going mad . . . This is an effect of fatigue¹⁶⁸ on the optic nerves . . . Christopher has explained that to me . . . He says that when his eyes have been very tired with making one of his senior wrangler’s calculations he has often seen a woman in an eighteenth-century dress looking into a drawer in his bureau . . . Thank God, I’ve had Christopher to explain things to me . . . I’ll never let him go . . . Never, never, let him go . . . ’

It was not, however, until several hours later that the significance of the father’s apparition¹⁶⁹ came to her and those intervening hours were extraordinarily¹⁷⁰ occupied — with emotions, and even with action. To begin with, before he had read the fewest possible words of his brother’s letter, Tietjens looked up over it and said:

‘Of course you will occupy Groby . . . With Michael . . . Naturally the proper business arrangements will be made . . . ’ He went on reading the letter, sunk in his chair under the green shade of a lamp . . .

The letter, Sylvia knew, began with the words: ‘Your —— of a wife has been to see me with the idea of getting any allowance I might be minded to make you transferred to herself. Of course she can have Groby, for I shan’t let it, and could not be bothered with it myself. On the other hand, you may want to live at Groby with that girl and chance the racket. I should if I were you. You would probably find the place worth the . . . what is it? ostracism¹⁷¹, if there was any . . . But I’m forgetting that the girl is not your mistress unless anything has happened since I saw you . . . And you probably would want Michael to be brought up at Groby, in which case you couldn’t keep the girl there, even if you camouflaged¹⁷² her as governess. At least I think that kind of arrangement always turns out badly: there’s bound to be a stink¹⁷³, though Crosby of Ulick did it and nobody much minded . . . But it was mucky for the Crosby children. Of course if you want your wife to have Groby she must have enough to run it with credit, and expenses are rising damnably. Still, our incomings rise not a little, too, which is not the case with some. The only thing I insist on is that you make plain to that baggage that whatever I allow her, even if it’s no end of a hot income, not one penny of it comes out of what I wish you would allow me to allow you. I mean I want you to make plain to that rouged¹⁷⁴ piece — or perhaps it’s really natural, my eyes are not what they were — that what you have is absolutely independent of what she sucks up as the mother of our father’s heir and to keep our father’s heir in the state of life that is his due . . . I hope you feel satisfied that the boy is your son, for it’s more than I should be, looking at the party . . . But even if he is not he is our father’s heir all right and must be so treated . . .

‘But be plain about that, for the trollop came to me, if you please, with the proposal that I should dock you of any income I might propose to allow you — and to which of course you are absolutely entitled under our father’s will, though it is no good reminding you of that! — as a token from me that I disapproved¹⁷⁵ of your behaviour when, damn it, there is not an action of yours that I would not be proud to have to my credit. At any rate in this affair, for I cannot help thinking that you could be of more service to the country if you were anywhere else but where you are. But you know what your conscience demands of you better than I, and I dare say these hell-cats have so mauled you that you are glad to be able to get away into any hole. But don’t let yourself die in your hole. Groby will have to be looked after, and even if you do not live there you can keep a strong hand on Sanders, or whoever you elect to have as manager. That monstrosity you honour with your name — which is also mine, thank you! — suggested that if I consented to let her live at Groby she would have her mother to live with her, in which case her mother would be good to look after the estate. I dare say she would, though she has had to let her own place. But then almost everyone else has. She seems anyhow a notable woman, with her head screwed on the right way. I did not tell the discreditable daughter that she — her mother — had come to see me at breakfast immediately after seeing you off, she was so upset. And she keawert ho down i’ th’ ingle and had a gradely pow. You remember how Gobbles the gardener used to say that. A good chap, though he came from Lancasheere! . . . The mother has no illusions about the daughter and is heart and soul for you. She was dreadfully upset at your going, the more so as she believes that it’s her offspring has driven you out of the country and that you purpose . . . isn’t stopping one the phrase? Don’t do that.

‘I saw your girl yesterday . . . She looked peaky. But of course I have seen her several times, and she always looks peaky. I do not understand why you do not write to them. The mother is clamorous¹⁷⁷ because you have not answered several letters and have not sent her military information she wants for some article she is writing for a Swiss magazine . . . ’

Sylvia knew the letter almost by heart as far as that because in the unbearable¹⁷⁸ white room of the convent near Birkenhead she had twice begun to copy it out, with the idea of keeping the copies for use in some sort of publicity¹⁷⁹. But, at that point, she had twice been overcome by the idea that it was not a very sporting thing to do, if you really think about it. Besides, the letter after that — she had glanced through it — occupied itself almost entirely¹⁸⁰ with the affairs of Mrs Wannop. Mark, in his nave¹⁸¹ way, was concerned that the old lady, although now enjoying the income from the legacy¹⁸² left her by their father, had not immediately settled down to write a deathless novel; although, as he added, he knew nothing about novels . . .

Christopher was reading away at his letters beneath the green-shaded lamp; the ex-quartermaster had begun several sentences and dropped into demonstrative silence at the reminder¹⁸³ that Tietjens was reading. Christopher’s face was completely without expression; he might have been reading a return from the office of statistics in the old days at breakfast. She wondered, vaguely¹⁸⁴, if he would see fit to apologize for the epithets¹⁸⁵ that his brother had applied¹⁸⁶ to her. Probably he would not. He would consider that she having opened the letter must take the responsibility of the contents. Something like that. Thumps¹⁸⁷ and rumbles¹⁸⁹ began to exist in the relative silence. Cowley said: ‘They’re coming again then!’ Several couples passed them on the way out of the room. Amongst them there was certainly no presentable man; they were all either too old or too hobbledehoy, with disproportionate noses and vacant, half-opened mouths.

Accompanying Christopher’s mind, as it were, whilst he read his letter had induced in her a rather different mood. The pictures in her own mind were rather of Mark’s dingy¹⁹¹ breakfast-room in which she had had her interview with him — and of the outside of the dingy house in which the Wannops lived, at Bedford Park . . . But she was still conscious of her pact with the father and, looking at her wrist watch, saw that by now six minutes had passed . . . It was astonishing that Mark, who was a millionaire at least, and probably a good deal more, should live in such a dingy apartment — it had for its chief decoration the hoofs¹⁹² of several deceased race-winners, mounted as ink-stands, as pen-racks, as paper-weights — and afford himself only such a lugubrious¹⁹³ breakfast of fat slabs¹⁹⁴ of ham over which bled pallid¹⁹⁵ eggs . . . For she too, like her mother, had looked in on Mark at breakfast-time — her mother because she had just seen Christopher off to France, and she because, after a sleepless¹⁹⁶ night — the third of a series — she had been walking about St. James’s Park and, passing under Mark’s windows, it had occurred to her that she might do Christopher some damage by putting his brother wise about the entanglement¹⁹⁷ with Miss Wannop. So, on the spur of the moment, she had invented a desire to live at Groby with the accompanying necessity for additional means. For, although she was a pretty wealthy woman, she was not wealthy enough to live at Groby and keep it up. The immense old place was not so immense because of its room-space, though, as far as she could remember, there must be anything between forty and sixty rooms, but because of the vast old grounds, the warren of stabling, wells, rose-walks and fencing . . . A man’s place, really, the furniture very grim and the corridors on the ground floor all slabbed with great stones. So she had looked in on Mark, reading his correspondence with his copy of The Times airing on a chair-back before the fire — for he was just the man to retain the eighteen-forty idea that you catch cold by reading a damp newspaper. His grim, tight, brown-wooden features that might have been carved out of an old chair, had expressed no emotion at all during the interview. He had offered to have up some more ham and eggs for her and had asked one or two questions as to how she meant to live at Groby if she went there. Otherwise he had said nothing about the information she had given him as to the Wannop girl having had a baby by Christopher — for purposes of conversation she had adhered to that old story, at any rate till that interview. He had said nothing at all. Not one word . . . At the end of the interview, when he had risen and produced from an adjoining room a bowler¹⁹⁸ hat and an umbrella, saying that he must now go to his office, he had put to her without any expression pretty well what stood in the letter, as far as business was concerned. He said that she could have Groby, but she must understand that, his father being now dead and he a public official, without children and occupied in London with work that suited him, Groby was practically Christopher’s property to do what he liked with as long as — which he certainly would — he kept it in proper style. So that, if she wished to live there, she must produce Christopher’s authorization¹⁹⁹ to that effect. And he added, with an equableness so masking the proposition that it was not until she was well out of the house and down the street that its true amazingness took her breath away:

‘Of course, Christopher, if what you say is true, might want to live at Groby with Miss Wannop. In that case he would have to.’ And he had offered her an expressionless hand and shepherded her, rather fussily²⁰⁰, through his dingy and awkward front passages that were lit only from ground-glass windows giving apparently on to his bathroom . . .

It wasn’t until that moment, really, that, at once with exhilaration and also with a sinking at the heart, she realized what she was up against in the way of a combination. For, when she had gone to Mark’s, she had been more than half-maddened by the news that Christopher at Rouen was in hospital and, although the hospital authorities had assured her, at first by telegram and then by letter, that it was nothing more than his chest, she had not had any knowledge of to what extent Red Cross authorities did or did not mislead the relatives of casualties.

So it had seemed natural that she should want to inflict²⁰¹ on him all the injuries that she could at the moment, the thought that he was probably in pain making her wish to add all she could to that pain . . . Otherwise, of course, she would not have gone to Mark’s . . . For it was a mistake in strategy. But then she said to herself: ‘Confound it! . . . What strategy was it a mistake in? What do I care about strategy? What am I out for? . . . ’ She did what she wanted to, on the spur of the moment! . . .

Now she certainly realized. How Christopher had got round Mark she did not know or much care, but there Christopher certainly was, although his father had certainly died of a broken heart at the rumours²⁰² that were going round about his son — rumours she, almost as efficiently²⁰³ as the man called Ruggles and more irresponsible gossips, had set going about Christopher. They had been meant to smash Christopher: they had smashed his father instead . . .

But Christopher had got round Mark, whom he had not seen for ten years . . . Well, he probably would. Christopher was perfectly immaculate, that was a fact, and Mark, though he appeared half-witted in a North Country way, was no fool. He could not be a fool. He was a really august public official. And, although as a rule Sylvia gave nothing at all for any public official, if a man like Mark had the position by birth amongst presentable men that he certainly ought to have and was also the head of a department and reputed absolutely indispensable — you could not ignore him . . . He said, indeed, in the later, more gossipy parts of his letter that he had been offered a baronetcy, but he wanted Christopher to agree with his refusing it. Christopher would not want the beastly title after his death, and for himself he would be rather struck with the pip than let that harlot — meaning herself — become Lady T. by any means of his. He had added, with his queer solicitude²⁰⁴, ‘Of course if you thought of divorcing — which I wish to God you would, though I agree that you are right not to — and the title would go to the girl after my decease I’d take it gladly, for a title is a bit of a help after a divorce. But as it is I propose to refuse it and ask for a knighthood, if it won’t too sicken you to have me a Sir . . . For I hold no man ought to refuse an honour in times like these, as has been done by certain sickening intellectuals, because it is like slapping the sovereign in the face and bound to hearten the other side, which no doubt was what was meant by those fellows.’

There was no doubt that Mark — with the possible addition of the Wannops — made a very strong backing for Christopher if she decided to make a public scandal about him . . . As for the Wannops . . . the girl was negligible. Or possibly not, if she turned nasty and twisted Christopher round her fingers. But the old mother was a formidable figure — with a bad tongue, and viewed with a certain respect in places where people talked . . . both on account of her late husband’s position and of the solid sort of articles she wrote . . . She, Sylvia, had gone to take a look at the place where these people lived . . . a dreary²⁰⁵ street in an outer suburb, the houses — she knew enough about estates to know — what is called tile-healed, the upper parts of tile, the lower flimsy brick and the tiles in bad condition. Oldish houses really, in spite of their sham²⁰⁶ artistic²⁰⁷ aspect, and very much shadowed by old trees that must have been left to add to the picturesqueness²⁰⁸ . . . The rooms poky, and they must be very dark . . . The residence of extreme indigence²⁰⁹, or of absolute poverty . . . She understood that the old lady’s income had so fallen off during the war that they had nothing to live on but what the girl made as a schoolteacher, or a teacher of athletics²¹⁰ in a girls’ school . . . She had walked two or three times up and down the street with the idea that the girl might come out: then it had struck her that that was rather an ignoble proceeding²¹¹, really . . . It was, for the matter of that, ignoble that she should have a rival who starved in an ashbin . . . But that was what men were like: she might think herself lucky that the girl did not inhabit a sweetshop . . . And the man, Mac-master, said that the girl had a good head and talked well, though the woman Macmaster said that she was a shallow ignoramus . . . That last was probably not true; at any rate the girl had been the Macmaster woman’s most intimate friend for many years — as long as they were sponging on Christopher and until, lower middle-class snobs²¹² as they were, they began to think that they could get into Society by carneying to herself . . . Still, the girl probably was a good talker and, if little, yet physically²¹³ uncommonly²¹⁴ fit . . . A good homespun article . . . She wished her no ill!

What was incredible was that Christopher should let her go on starving in such a poverty-stricken place when he had something like the wealth of the Indies at his disposal . . . But the Tietjens were hard people! You could see that in Mark’s rooms . . . and Christopher would lie on the floor as lief as in a goose-feather bed. And probably the girl would not take his money. She was quite right. That was the way to keep him . . . She herself had no want of comprehension of the stimulation²¹⁵ to be got out of parsimonious²¹⁶ living . . . In retreat at her convent she lay as hard and as cold as any anchorite, and rose to the nuns’ matins at four.

It was not, in fact, their fittings or food that she objected to — it was that the lay-sisters, and some of the nuns, were altogether too much of the lower classes for her to like to have always about her . . . That was why it was to the Dames Nobles that she would go, if she had to go into retreat for the rest of her life, according to contract . . .

A gun manned by exhilarated anti-aircraft fellows, and so close that it must have been in the hotel garden, shook her physically at almost the same moment as an immense maroon²¹⁷ popped off on the quay²¹⁸ at the bottom of the street in which the hotel was. She was filled with annoyance²¹⁹ at these schoolboy exercises. A tall, purple-faced, white-moustached general of the more odious type, appeared in the doorway and said that all the lights but two must be extinguished and, if they took his advice, they would go somewhere else. There were good cellars in the hotel. He loafed about the room extinguishing the lights, couples and groups passing him on the way to the door . . . Tietjens looked up from his letter — he was now reading one of Mrs Wannop’s — but seeing that Sylvia made no motion he remained sunk in his chair . . .

The old general said:

‘Don’t get up, Tietjens . . . Sit down, lieutenant . . . Mrs Tietjens, I presume . . . But of course I know you are Mrs Tietjens . . . There’s a portrait of you in this week’s . . . I forget the name . . . ’ He sat down on the arm of a great leather chair and told her of all the trouble her escapade to that city had caused him . . . He had been awakened²²⁰ immediately after a good lunch by some young officer on his staff who was scared to death by her having arrived without papers. His digestion²²² had been deranged²²³ ever since . . . Sylvia said she was very sorry. He should drink hot water and no alcohol with lunch. She had had very important business to discuss with Tietjens, and she had really not understood that they wanted papers of grown-up people. The general began to expatiate²²⁴ on the importance of his office and the number of enemy agents his perspicacity²²⁵ caused to be arrested every day in that city and the lines of communication . . .

Sylvia was overwhelmed at the ingenuity²²⁶ of Father Consett. She looked at her watch. The ten minutes were up, but there did not appear to be a soul in the dim place . . . The father had — and no doubt as a Sign that there could be no mistaking! — completely emptied that room. It was like his humour!

To make certain, she stood up. At the far end of the room, in the dimness of the one other reading lamp that the general had not extinguished, two figures were rather indistinguishable. She walked towards them, the general at her side extending civilities all over her. He said that she need not be under any apprehension²²⁷ there. He adopted that device of clearing the room in order to get rid of the beastly young subalterns who would use the place to spoon in when the lights were turned down. She said she was only going to get a timetable from the far end of the room . . .

The stab of hope that she had that one of the two figures would turn out to be the presentable man died . . . They were a young mournful subaltern, with an incipient²²⁸ moustache and practically tears in his eyes, and an elderly, violently indignant baldheaded man in evening civilian²²⁹ clothes that must have been made by a country tailor. He was smacking²³⁰ his hands together to emphasize what, with great agitation²³¹, he was saying.

The general said that it was one of the young cubs²³² on his own staff getting a dressing²³³ down from his dad for spending too much money. The young devils would get amongst the girls — and the old ones too. There was no stopping it. The place was a hotbed of . . . He left the sentence unfinished. She would not believe the trouble it gave him . . . That hotel itself . . . The scandals . . .

He said she would excuse him if he took a little nap in one of the arm-chairs too far away to interfere²³⁴ with their business talk. He would have to be up half the night. He seemed to Sylvia a blazingly contemptible²³⁵ personage — too contemptible really for Father Consett to employ as an agent, in clearing the room . . . But the omen was given. She had to consider her position. It meant — or did it? — that she had to be at war with the heavenly powers! . . . She clenched²³⁶ her hands . . .

In passing by Tietjens in his chair the general boomed out the words:

‘I got your chit of this morning, Tietjens I must say . . . ’

Tietjens lumbered²³⁷ out of his chair and stood at attention, his leg-of-mutton hands stiffly on the seams of his breeches.

‘It’s pretty strong,’ the general said, ‘marking a charge-sheet sent down from my department: Case explained. We don’t lay charges without due thought. And Lance-Corporal Berry is a particularly reliable N.C.O. I have difficulty enough to get them. Particularly after the late riots. It takes courage, I can tell you.’

‘If,’ Tietjens said, ‘you would see fit, sir, to instruct the G.M.P. not to call Colonial troops damned conscripts, the trouble would be over . . . We’re instructed to use special discretion²³⁸, as officers, in dealing²³⁹ with troops from the Dominions²⁴⁰. They are said to be very susceptible²⁴¹ of insult . . . ’

The general suddenly became a boiling pot from which fragments of sentences came away: damned insolence²⁴²; court of inquiry²⁴³; damned conscripts they were too. He calmed enough to say:

‘They are conscripts, your men, aren’t they? They give me more trouble . . . I should have thought that you would have wanted . . . ’

Tietjens said:

‘No, sir. I have not a man in my unit, as far as it’s Canadian or British Columbian, that is not voluntarily enlisted²⁴⁴ . . . ’

The general exploded to the effect that he was bringing the whole matter before the G.O.C.I.C.’s department. Campion could deal with it how he wished: it was beyond himself. He began to bluster²⁴⁵ away from them; stopped; directed a frigid²⁴⁷ bow to Sylvia who was not looking at him; shrugged²⁴⁸ his shoulders and stormed off.

It was difficult for Sylvia to get hold again of her thoughts in the smoking-room, for the evening was entirely pervaded²⁴⁹ with military effects that seemed to her the pranks²⁵⁰ of schoolboys. Indeed, after Cowley, who had by now quite a good skinful of liquor, had said to Tietjens:

‘By Jove, I would not like to be you and a little bit on if old Blazes caught sight of you to-night,’ she said to Tietjens with real wonder:

‘You don’t mean to say that a gaga old fool like that could have any possible influence over you . . . You!‘

Tietjens said:

‘Well, it’s a troublesome business, all this . . . ’

She said that it so appeared to be, for before he could finish his sentence an orderly was at his elbow extending, along with a pencil, a number of dilapidated papers. Tietjens looked rapidly through them, signing one after the other and saying intermittently²⁵¹:

‘It’s a trying time.’ ‘We’re massing troops up the line as fast as we can go.’ ‘And with an endlessly changing personnel . . . ’ He gave a snort of exasperation²⁵² and said to Cowley: ‘That horrible little Pitkins has got a job as bombing instructor²⁵³. He can’t march the draft . . . Who the deuce am I to detail? Who the deuce is there? . . . You know all the little . . . ’ He stopped because the orderly could hear. A smart boy. Almost the only smart boy left him.

Cowley barged out of his seat and said he would telephone the mess to see who was there . . . Tietjens said to the boy:

‘Sergeant-Major Morgan made out these returns of religions in the draft?’

The boy answered: ‘No, sir, I did. They’re all right.’ He pulled a slip of paper out of his tunic pocket and said shyly:

‘If you would not mind signing this, sir . . . I can get a lift on an A.S.C. trolley²⁵⁴ that’s going to Boulogne to-morrow at six . . . ’

Tietjens said:

‘No, you can’t have leave. I can’t spare you. What’s it for?’

The boy said almost inaudibly that he wanted to get married.

Tietjens, still signing, said: ‘Don’t . . . Ask your married pals²⁵⁵ what it’s like!’

The boy, scarlet in his khaki, rubbed the sole of one foot on the instep of the other. He said that saving madam’s presence it was urgent. It was expected any day now. She was a real good gel. Tietjens signed the boy’s slip and handed it to him without looking up. The boy stood with his eyes on the ground. A diversion came from the telephone, which was at the far end of the room. Cowley had not been able to get on to the camp because an urgent message with regard to German espionage²⁵⁶ was coming through to the sleeping general.

Cowley began to shout: Tor goodness’ sake hold the line . . . For goodness’ sake hold the line . . . I’m not the general . . . I’m not the general . . . ’ Tietjens told the orderly to awaken²²¹ the sleeping warrior²⁵⁷. A violent scene at the mouth of the quiescent²⁵⁸ instrument took place. The general roared to know who was the officer speaking . . . Captain Bubbleyjocks . . . Captain Cuddlestocks . . . what in hell’s name! And who was he speaking for? . . . Who? Himself? . . . Urgent was it? . . . Didn’t he know the proper procedure was by writing? . . . Urgent damnation! . . . Did he not know where he was? . . . In the First Army by the Cassell Canal . . . Well then . . . But the spy was in L. of C. territory, across the canal . . . The French civilian authorities were very concerned . . . They were, damn them! . . . And damn the officer. And damn the French maire. And damn the horse the supposed spy rode upon . . . And when the officer was damned let him write to First Army Headquarters about it and attach the horse and the bandoliers as an exhibit . . .

There was a great deal more of it. Tietjens, reading his papers still, intermittently explained the story as it came in fragments over the telephone in the general’s repetitions . . . Apparently the French civilian authorities of a place called Warendonck had been alarmed by a solitary²⁵⁹ horseman in English uniform who had been wandering desultorily²⁶⁰ about their neighbourhood for several days, seeming to want to cross the canal bridges, but finding them guarded . . . There was an immense artillery²⁶¹ dump in the neighbourhood, said to be the largest in the world, and the Germans dropped bombs as thick as peas all over those parts in the hopes of hitting it . . . Apparently the officer speaking was in charge of the canal bridgehead guards; but, as he was in First Army country, it was obviously an act of the utmost impropriety to awaken a general in charge of the spy-catching apparatus²⁶² on the other side of the canal . . . The general, returning past them to an arm-chair farther from the telephone, emphasized this point of view with great vigour²⁶³.

The orderly had returned; Cowley went once more to the telephone, having consumed another liqueur brandy. Tietjens finished his papers and went through them rapidly again. He said to the boy: ‘Got anything saved up?’ The boy said: ‘A fiver and a few bob.’ Tietjens said: ‘How many bob?’ The boy: ‘Seven, sir.’ Tietjens, fumbling⁴⁵ clumsily in an inner pocket and a little pocket beneath his belt, held out one leg-of-mutton fist and said: ‘There! That will double it. Ten pounds fourteen! But it’s very improvident²⁶⁴ of you. See that you save up a deuced lot more against the next one. Accouchements are confoundedly expensive things, as you’ll learn, and ring money doesn’t stretch for ever! . . . ’ He called out to the retreating boy: ‘Here, orderly, come back . . . ’ He added: ‘Don’t let it get all over camp . . . I can’t afford to subsidize all the seven-months children in the battalion . . . I’ll recommend you for paid lance-corporal when you return from leave if you go on as well as you have done.’ He called the boy back again to ask him why Captain McKechnie had not signed the papers. The boy stuttered and stammered²⁶⁵ that Captain McKechnie was . . . He was . . .

Tietjens muttered: ‘Good God!’ beneath his breath. He said:

‘The captain has had another nervous breakdown²⁶⁶ . . . The orderly accepted the phrase with gratitude²⁶⁷. That was it. A nervous breakdown. They say he had been very queer at mess. About divorce. Or the captain’s uncle. A barrow-night! Tietjens said: ‘Yes, yes.’ He half rose in his chair and looked at Sylvia. She exclaimed painfully:

‘You can’t go. I insist that you can’t go.’ He sank down again and muttered wearily that it was very worrying. He had been put in charge of this officer by General Campion. He ought not to have left the camp at all perhaps. But McKechnie had seemed better. A great deal of the calmness of her insolence had left her. She had expected to have the whole night in which luxuriously²⁶⁸ to torment¹⁴² the lump opposite her. To torment and to allure²⁶⁹ him. She said:

‘You have settlements to come to now and here that will affect your whole life. Our whole lives! You propose to abandon them because a miserable little nephew of your miserable little friend . . . ’ She added in French: ‘Even as it is you cannot pay attention to these serious matters, because of these childish pre-occupations of yours. That is to be intolerably insulting to me!’ She was breathless.

Tietjens asked the orderly where Captain McKechnie was now. The orderly said he had left the camp. The colonel of the depot had sent a couple of officers as a search-party. Tietjens told the orderly to go and find a taxi. He could have a ride himself up to camp. The orderly said taxis would not be running on account of the air-raid. Could he order the G.M.P. to requisition one on urgent military service? The exhilarated air-gun pooped off thereupon three times from the garden. For the next hour it sent off every two or three minutes. Tietjens said: ‘Yes! Yes!’ to the orderly. The noises of the air raid became more formidable. A blue express letter of French civilian make was handed to Tietjens. It was from the duchess to inform him that coal for the use of greenhouses was forbidden by the French Government. She did not need to say that she relied on his honour to ensure her receiving her coal through the British military authorities, and she asked for an immediate¹⁷⁶ reply. Tietjens expressed real annoyance while he read this. Distracted by the noise, Sylvia cried out that the letter must be from Valentine Wannop in Rouen. Did not the girl intend to let him have an hour in which to settle the whole business of his life? Tietjens moved to the chair next to hers. He handed her the duchess’s letter.

He began a long, slow, serious explanation with a long, slow, serious apology. He said he regretted very much that when she should have taken the trouble to come so far in order to do him the honour to consult him about a matter which she would have been perfectly at liberty to settle for herself, the extremely serious military position should render him so liable to interruption. As far as he was concerned Groby was entirely at her disposal with all that it contained. And of course a sufficient income for the upkeep.

She exclaimed in an access of sudden and complete despair:

‘That means that you do not intend to live there.’ He said that that must settle itself later. The war would no doubt last a good deal longer. While it lasted there could be no question of his coming back. She said that that meant that he intended to get killed. She warned him that, if he got killed, she would cut down the great cedar²⁷⁰ at the south-west corner of Groby. It kept all the light out of the principal drawing-room and the bedrooms above it . . . He winced²⁷¹: he certainly winced at that. She regretted that she had said it. It was along other lines that she desired to make him wince²⁷².

He said that, apart from his having no intention of getting himself killed, the matter was absolutely out of his hands. He had to go where he was ordered to go and do what he was told to do.

She exclaimed:

‘You! You! Isn’t it ignoble. That you should be at the beck and call of these ignoramuses. You!’

He went on explaining seriously that he was in no great danger — in no danger at all unless he was sent back to his battalion. And he was not likely to be sent back to his battalion unless he disgraced himself or showed himself negligent²⁷³ where he was. That was unlikely. Besides his category was so low that he was not eligible²⁷⁴ for his battalion, which, of course, was in the line. She ought to understand that everyone that she saw employed there was physically unfit for the line. She said:

‘That’s why they’re such an awful lot . . . It is not to this place that one should come to look for a presentable man . . . Diogenes with his lantern was nothing to it.’

He said:

‘There’s that way of looking at it . . . It is quite true that most of . . . let’s say your friends . . . were killed off during the early days, or if they’re still going they’re in more active employments.’ What she called presentableness was very largely a matter of physical fitness . . . The horse, for instance, that he rode was rather a crock . . . But though it was German and not thoroughbred it contrived²⁷⁵ to be up to his weight . . . Her friends, more or less, of before the war were professional soldiers or of the type. Well, they were gone: dead or snowed under. But on the other hand, this vast town full of crocks did keep the thing going, if it could be made to go. It was not they that hindered the show: if it was hindered, that was done by her much less presentable friends, the ministry²⁷⁶ who, if they were professionals at all, were professional boodlers.

She exclaimed with bitterness:

‘Then why didn’t you stay at home to check them, if they are boodlers?’ She added that the only people at home who kept social matters going at all with any life were precisely²⁷⁷ the more successful political professionals. When you were with them you would not know there was any war. And wasn’t that what was wanted? Was the whole of life to be given up to ignoble horseplay? . . . She spoke with increased rancour because of the increasing thump¹⁸⁸ and rumble¹⁹⁰ of the air-raid . . . Of course the politicians were ignoble beings that, before the war, you would not have thought of having in your house . . . But whose fault was that, if not that of the better classes, who had gone away leaving England a dreary wilderness²⁷⁸ of fellows without consciences or traditions or manners? And she added some details of the habits at a country house of a member of the Government whom she disliked. ‘And,’ she finished up, ‘it’s your fault. Why aren’t you Lord Chancellor²⁷⁹, or Chancellor of the Exchequer²⁸⁰, instead of whoever is, for I am sure I don’t know? You could have been, with your abilities and your interests. Then things would have been efficiently and honestly conducted. If your brother Mark, with not a tithe²⁸¹ of your abilities, can be a permanent head of a department, what could you not have risen to with your gifts, and your influence . . . and your integrity?’ And she ended up: ‘Oh, Christopher!’ on almost a sob²⁸².

Ex-Sergeant-Major Cowley, who had come back from the telephone, and during an interval²⁸³ in the thunderings, had heard some of Sylvia’s light cast on the habits of members of the home Government, so that his jaw had really hung down, now, in another interval, exclaimed:

‘Hear, hear! Madam! . . . There is nothing the captain might not have risen to . . . He is doing the work of a brigadier now on the pay of an acting²⁸⁴ captain . . . And the treatment he gets is scandalous . . . Well, the treatment we all get is scandalous, tricked and defrauded²⁸⁵ as we are all at every turn . . . And look at this new start with the draft . . . ’ They had ordered the draft to be ready and countermanded²⁸⁶ it, and ordered it to be ready and countermanded it, until no one knew whether he stood on is ‘ed or is ‘eels . . . It was to have gone off last night: when they’d ‘ad it marched down to the station they ‘ad it marched back and told them all it would not be wanted for six weeks . . . Now it was to be got ready to go before daylight to-morrow morning in motor-lorries to the rail Ondekoeter way, the rail here ‘aving been sabotaged²⁸⁷! . . . Before daylight so that the enemy aeroplanes should not see it on the road . . . Wasn’t that a thing to break the ‘arts of men and horderly rooms? It was outrageous²⁸⁸. Did they suppose the ‘Uns did things like that?

He broke off to say with husky enthusiasm of affection to Tietjens: ‘Look ’ere, old . . . I mean, sir . . . There’s no way of getting hold of an officer to march the draft. Them as are eligible gets to ‘ear of what drafts is going and they’ve all bolted into their burries. Not a man of ’em will be back in camp before five to-morrow morning. Not when they ‘ears there’s a draft to go at four of mornings like this . . . Now . . . ’ His voice became husky with emotion as he offered to take the draft hisself to oblige Captain Tietjens. And the captain knew he could get a draft off pretty near as good as himself: or very near. As for the draft-conducting major he lived in that hotel and he, Cowley, ‘ad seen ’im. No four in the morning for ’im. He was going to motor to Ondekoeter Station about seven. So there was no sense in getting the draft off before five, and it was still dark then: too dark for the ‘Un planes to see what was moving. He’d be glad if the captain would be up at the camp by five to take a final look and to sign any papers that only the commanding officer could sign. But he knew the captain had had no sleep the night before because of his, Cowley’s, infirmity, mostly, so he couldn’t do less than give up a day and a half of his leave to taking the draft. Besides, he was going home for the duration and he would not mind getting a look at the old places they’d seen in ‘fourteen, for the last time as a Cook’s tourist . . .

Tietjens, who was looking noticeably white, said:

‘Do you remember 0 Nine Morgan at Noircourt?’

Cowley said:

‘No . . . Was ‘e there? In your company, I suppose? . . . The man you mean that was killed yesterday. Died in your arms owing to my oversight²⁸⁹. I ought to have been there.’ He said to Sylvia with the gloating idea N.C.O.’s had that wives liked to hear of their husband’s near escapes: ‘Killed within a foot of the captain, ‘e was. An ‘orrible shock it must ‘ave been for the captain.’ A horrible mess . . . The captain held him in his arms while he died . . . As if he’d been a baby. Wonderful tender, the captain was! Well, you’re apt to be when it’s one of your own men . . . No rank then!‘Do you know the only time the King must salute²⁹⁰ a private soldier and the private takes no notice? . . . When ‘e’s dead . . . ’

Both Sylvia and Tietjens were silent — and silvery white in the greenish light from the lamp. Tietjens indeed had shut his eyes. The old N.C.O. went on rejoicing to have the floor to himself. He had got on his feet preparatory to going up to camp, and he swayed a little . . .

‘No,’ he said and he waved his cigar gloriously. ‘I don’t remember 0 Nine Morgan at Noircourt . . . But I remember . . . ’

Tietjens, with his eyes still shut, said:

‘I only thought he might have been a man . . . ’

‘No,’ the old fellow went on imperiously, ‘I don’t remember ’im . . . But, Lord, I remember what happened to you!‘ He looked down gloriously upon Sylvia: ‘The captain caught ‘is foot in . . . You’d never believe what ‘e caught ‘is foot in! Never! . . . A pretty quiet affair it was, with a bit of moonlight . . . Nothing much in the way of artillery . . . Perhaps we surprised the ‘Uns proper, perhaps they were wanting to give up their front-line trenches²⁹¹ for a purpose . . . There was next to no one in ’em . . . I know it made me nervous . . . My heart was fair in my boots, because there was so little doing! . . . It was when there was little doing that the ‘Uns could be expected to do their worst . . . Of course there was some machine-gunning . . . There was one in particular away to the right of us . . . And the moon, it was shining in the early morning. Wonderful peaceful. And a little mist . . . And frozen hard . . . Hard as you wouldn’t believe . . . Enough to make the shells dangerous.’

Sylvia said:

‘It’s not always mud, then?’ and Tietjens, to her: ‘He’ll stop if you don’t like it.’ She said monotonously²⁹²: ‘No . . . I want to hear.’

Cowley drew himself up for his considerable effect:

‘Mud!’ he said. ‘Not then . . . Not by half . . . I tell you, ma’am, we trod on the frozen faces of dead Germans as we doubled . . . A terrible lot of Germans we’d killed a day or so before . . . That was no doubt the reason they give up the trenches so easy: difficult to attack from, they was . . . Anyhow, they left the dead for us to bury, knowing probably they were going, with a better ’eart! . . . But it fair put the wind up me anyhow to think of what their counter-attack was going to be . . . The counter-attack is always ten times as bad as the preliminary resistance. They ‘as you with the rear of their trenches — the parados, we call it — as your front to boot. So I was precious glad when the moppers-up and supports come and went through us . . . Laughing, they was . . . Wiltshires . . . My missus comes from that country . . . Mrs Cowley, I mean . . . So I’d seen the captain go down earlier on and I’d said: “There’s another of the best stopped one . . . "’ He dropped his voice a little: he was one of the noted²⁹³ yarners of the regiment: ‘Caught ‘is foot, ‘e ‘ad, between two ‘ands . . . Sticking up out of the frozen ground . . . As it might be in prayer . . . Like this!’ He elevated his two hands, the cigar between the fingers, the wrists close together and the fingers slightly curled inwards: ‘Sticking up in the moonlight . . . Poor devil!’

Tietjens said:

‘I thought perhaps it was 0 Nine Morgan I saw that night . . . Naturally I looked dead . . . I hadn’t a breath in my body . . . And I saw a Tommy put his rifle to his pal⁸³’s upper arm and fire . . . As I lay on the ground . . . ’

Cowley said:

‘Ah, you saw that . . . I heard the men talking of it . . . But they naturally did not say who and where!’

Tietjens said with a negligence²⁹⁴ that did not ring true:

‘The wounded man’s name was Stilicho . . . A queer name . . . I suppose it’s Cornish . . . It was B Company in front of us.’

‘You didn’t bring ’em to a court martial²⁹⁵?’ Cowley asked. Tietjens said: No. He could not be quite certain. Though he was certain. But he had been worrying about a private matter. He had been worrying about it while he lay on the ground and that rather obscured his sense of what he saw. Besides, he said faintly, an officer must use his judgement. He had judged it better in this case not to have seen the . . . His voice had nearly faded away: it was clear to Sylvia that he was coming to a climax²⁹⁶ of some mental torture. Suddenly he exclaimed to Cowley:

‘Supposing I let him off one life to get him killed two years after. My God! That would be too beastly!’

Cowley snuffled in Tietjens’ ear something that Sylvia did not catch — consolatory²⁹⁷ and affectionate. That intimacy²⁹⁸ was more than she could bear. She adopted her most negligent tone to ask:

‘I suppose the one man had been trifling²⁹⁹ with the other’s girl. Or wife!’

Cowley exploded: ‘God bless you, no! They’d agreed upon it between them. To get one of them sent ‘ome and the other, at any rate, out of that ‘ell, leading him back to the dressing-station.’ She said:

‘You mean to say that a man would do that, to get out of it? . . . ’

Cowley said:

‘God bless you, ma’am, with the ‘ell the Tommies ‘as of it . . . For it’s in the line that the differences between the Other Ranks’ life and the officers’ comes in . . . I tell you, ma’am, old soldier as I am, and I’ve been in seven wars one with another . . . there were times in this war when I could have shrieked³⁰⁰, holding my right hand down . . . ’

He paused and said: ‘It was my idea . . . And it’s been a good many others’, that if I ‘eld my ‘and up over the parapet with perhaps my hat on it, in two minutes there would be a German sharpshooter’s bullet through it. And then me for Blighty, as the soldiers say . . . And if that could happen to me, a regimental sergeant-major, with twenty-three years in the service . . .

The bright orderly came in, said he had found a taxi, and melted into the dimness.

‘A man,’ the sergeant-major said, ‘would take the risk of being shot for wounding his pal . . . They get to love their pals, passing the love of women . . . ’ Sylvia exclaimed: ‘Oh!’ as if at a pang³⁰¹ of toothache. ‘They do, ma’am,’ he said, ‘it’s downright touching³⁰² . . . ’

He was by now very unsteady as he stood, but his voice was quite clear. That was the way it took him. He said to Tietjens:

‘It’s queer, what you say about home worries taking up your mind . . . I remember in the Afghan campaign, when we were in the devil of a hot corner, I got a letter from my wife, Mrs Cowley, to say that our Winnie had the measles³⁰³ . . . And there was only one difference between me and Mrs Cowley: I said that a child must have flannel³⁰⁴ next its skin, and she said flannelette was good enough. Wiltshire doesn’t hold by wool as Lincolnshire does. Long fleeces the Lincolnshire sheep have . . . And . . . dodging³⁰⁵ the Afghan bullets all day among the boulders³⁰⁶ as we was, all I could think of . . . For you know, ma’am, being a mother yourself, that the great thing with measles is to keep a child warm . . . I kep’ saying to myself —‘arf crying I was —“If she only keeps wool next Winnie’s skin! If she only keeps wool next Winnie’s skin!” . . . But you know that, being a mother yourself. I’ve seen your son’s photo on the captain’s dressing-table. Michael, ‘is name is . . . So you see, the captain doesn’t forget you and ’im.’

Sylvia said in a clear voice:

‘Perhaps you would not go on!’

Distracted as she was by the anti-air-gun in the garden, though it was on the other side of the hotel and permitted you to get in a sentence or two before splitting your head with a couple of irregular explosions, she was still more distracted by a sudden vision — a remembrance of Christopher’s face when their boy had had a temperature of 105° with the measles, up at his sister’s house in Yorkshire. He had taken the responsibility, which the village doctor would not face, of himself placing the child in a bath full of split ice . . . She saw him bending, expressionless in the strong lamp-light, with the child in his clumsy arms over the glittering, rubbled surface of the bath . . . He was just as expressionless then as now . . . He reminded her now of how he had been then: some strain in the lines of the face perhaps that she could not analyse . . . Rather as if he had a cold in the head — a little suffocating³⁰⁷, with suppressing his emotions, of course: his eyes looking at nothing. You would not have said that he even saw the child — heir to Groby and all that! . . . Something had said to her, just in between two crashes of the gun: ‘It’s his own child. He went as you might say down to hell to bring it back to life . . . ’ She knew it was Father Consett saying that. She knew it was true: Christopher had been down to hell to bring the child back . . . Fancy facing its pain in that dreadful bath! . . . The thermometer had dropped, running down under their eyes . . . Christopher had said: ‘A good heart, he’s got! A good plucked one!’ and then held his breath, watching the thin filament³⁰⁸ of bright mercury drop to normal . . . She said now, between her teeth: ‘The child is his property as much as the damned estate . . . Well, I’ve got them both . . . ’

But it wasn’t at this juncture that she wanted him tortured over that. So, when the second gun had done its crash, she had said to the bibulous³⁰⁹ old man:

‘I wish you would not go on!’ And Christopher had been prompt to the rescue of the convenances with:

‘Mrs Tietjens does not see eye to eye with us in some matters!’

She said to herself: ‘Eye to eye! My God! . . . ’ The whole of this affair, the more she saw of it, overwhelmed her with a sense of hatred³¹⁰ . . . And of depression! . . . She saw Christopher buried in this welter of fools, playing a schoolboy’s game of make-believe. But of a make-believe that was infinitely³¹¹ formidable and infinitely sinister . . . The crashing of the gun and of all the instruments for making noise seemed to her so atrocious and odious because they were, for her, the silly pomp of a schoolboy-man’s game . . . Campion, or some similar schoolboy, said: ‘Hullo! Some German airplanes about . . . That lets us out on the air-gun! Let’s have some pops!’ . . . As they fire guns in the park on the King’s birthday. It was sheer insolence to have a gun in the garden of an hotel where people of quality might be sleeping or wishing to converse³¹²!

At home she had been able to sustain the conviction that it was such a game . . . Anywhere: at the house of a minister of the Crown, at dinner, she had only to say: ‘Do let us leave off talking of these odious things . . . ’ And immediately there would be ten or a dozen voices, the minister’s included, to agree with Mrs Tietjens of Groby that they had altogether too much of it . . .

But here! . . . She seemed to be in the very belly³¹³ of the ugly affair . . . It moved and moved, under your eyes dissolving, yet always there. As if you should try to follow one diamond of pattern in the coil of an immense snake that was in irrevocable motion . . . It gave her a sense of despair: the engrossment of Tietjens, in common with the engrossment of this disreputable toper. She had never seen Tietjens put his head together with any soul before: he was the lonely buffalo³¹⁴ . . . Now 1 Anyone: any fatuous staff-officer, whom at home he would never so much as have spoken to: any trustworthy beer-sodden sergeant, any street urchin³¹⁵ dressed up as orderly . . . They had only to appear and all his mind went into a close-headed conference over some ignoble point in the child’s game: the laundry, the chiropody, the religions, the bastards³¹⁶ . . . of millions of the indistinguishable . . . Or their deaths as well! But, in heaven’s name what hypocrisy³¹⁷, or what inconceivable chicken-heartedness was this? They promoted this beanfeast of carnage for their own ends: they caused the deaths of men in inconceivable holocausts³¹⁸ of pain and terror. Then they had crises of agony over the death of one single man. For it was plain to her that Tietjens was in the middle of a full nervous breakdown. Over one man’s death! She had never seen him so suffer; she had never seen him so appeal for sympathy: him, a cold fiend of reticence³¹⁹! Yet he was now in an agony! Now! . . . And she began to have a sense of the infinitely spreading welter of pain, going away to an eternal horizon of night . . . ‘Ell for the Other Ranks! Apparently it was hell for the officers as well.

The real compassion³²⁰ in the voice of that snuffling, half-drunken old man had given her a sense of that enormous wickedness . . . These horrors, these infinities³²¹ of pain, this atrocious condition of the world had been brought about in order that men should indulge themselves in orgies of promiscuity³²² . . . That in the end was at the bottom of male honour, of male virtue, observance of treaties, upholding of the flag . . . An immense warlock’s carnival³²³ of appetites, lusts³²⁴, ebrieties . . . And once set in motion there was no stopping it . . . This state of things would never cease . . . Because once they had tasted of the joy — the blood — of this game, who would let it end? . . . These men talked of these things that occupied them there with the lust²⁴⁶ of men telling dirty stories in smoking-rooms . . . That was the only parallel!

There was no stopping it, any more than there was any stopping the by now all but intoxicated³²⁵ ex-sergeant major. He was off! With, as might be expected, advice to a young couple with differences of opinion! The wine had made him bold!

In the depth of her pictures of these horrors, snatches of his wisdom penetrated³²⁶ to her intelligence . . . Queer snatches . . . She was getting it certainly in the neck! . . . Someone, to add to the noise, had started some mechanical musical instrument in an adjacent hall.

‘Corn an’ lasses

Served by Ras’us!’

a throaty voice proclaimed,

‘I’d be tickled³²⁷ to death to know that I could go

And stay right there . . .

The ex-sergeant-major was adding to her knowledge the odd detail that when he, Sergeant-Major Cowley, went to the wars — seven of them — his missus, Mrs Cowley, spent the first three days and nights unpicking and re-hemstitching every sheet and pillow-slip in the ’ouse. To keep ‘erself f’m thinking . . . This was apparently meant as a reproof³²⁸ or an exhortation³²⁹ to her, Sylvia Tietjens . . . Well, he was all right! Of the same class as Father Consett, and with the same sort of wisdom.

The gramophone bowled: a new note of rumbling³³⁰ added itself to the exterior³³¹ tumult³³² and continued through six mitigated³³³ thumps of the gun in the garden . . . In the next interval, Cowley was in the midst of a valedictory³³⁴ address to her. He was asking her to remember that the captain had had a sleepless night the night before.

There occurred to her irreverent mind a sentence of one of the Duchess of Marlborough’s letters to Queen Anne. The duchess had visited the general during one of his campaigns in Flanders. ‘My Lord,’ she wrote, ‘did me the honour three times in his boots!’ . . . The sort of thing she would remember . . . She would — she would — have tried it on the sergeant-major, just to see Tietjens’ face, for the sergeant-major would not have understood . . . And who cared if he did! . . . He was bibulously³³⁵ skirting round the same idea . . .

But the tumult increased to an incredible volume: even the thrillings of the near-by gramophone of two hundred horse-power, or whatever it was, became mere⁶³ shimmerings of a gold thread in a drab fabric³³⁶ of sound. She screamed blasphemies³³⁷ that she was hardly aware of knowing. She had to scream against the noise: she was no more responsible for the blasphemy³³⁸ than if she had lost her identity under an anaesthetic. She had lost her identity . . . She was one of this crowd!

The general woke in his chair and gazed malevolently³³⁹ at their group as if they alone were responsible for the noise. It dropped. Dead! You only knew it, because you caught the tail end of a belated woman’s scream from the hall and the general shouting: Tor God’s sake don’t start that damned gramophone again!’ In the blessed silence, after preliminary wheezes³⁴⁰ and guitar noises, an astonishing voice burst out:

‘Less than the dust . . .

Before thy char¹¹⁸ . . . ’

And then, stopping after a murmur³⁴¹ of voices, began:

‘Pale hands I loved . . . ’

The general sprang from his chair and rushed to the hall . . . He came back crestfallenly.

‘It’s some damned civilian big-wig . . . A novelist, they say . . . I can’t stop him . . . ’ He added with disgust: ‘The hall’s full of young beasts and harlots . . . Dancing!‘ . . . The melody had indeed, after a buzz, changed to a languorous³⁴² and interrupted variation of a waltz. ‘Dancing in the dark!’ the general said with enhanced disgust . . . ‘And the Germans may be here at any moment . . . If they knew what I know! . . . ’

Sylvia called across to him:

‘Wouldn’t it be fun to see the blue uniform with the silver buttons again and some decently set-up men? . . . ’

The general shouted:

‘I’d be glad to see them . . . I’m sick to death of these . . . ’

Tietjens took up something he had been saying to Cowley: what it was Sylvia did not hear, but Cowley answered, still droning on with an idea Sylvia thought they had got past:

‘I remember when I was sergeant in Quetta, I detailed³⁴³ a man — called Herring — for watering the company horses, after he begged off it because he had a fear of horses . . . A horse got him down in the river and drowned ’im . . . Fell with him and put its foot on his face . . . A fair sight he was . . . It wasn’t any good my saying anything about military exigencies³⁴⁴ . . . Fair put me off my feed, it did . . . Cost me a fortune in Epsom salts . . . ’

Sylvia was about to scream out that if Tietjens did not like men being killed it ought to sober him in his war-lust, but Cowley continued meditatively³⁴⁵:

‘Epsom salts they say is the cure for it . . . For seeing your dead . . . And of course you should keep off women for a fortnight . . . I know I did. Kept seeing Herring’s face with the hoof-mark. And . . . there was a piece: a decent bit of goods in what we called the Government Compound . . .

He suddenly exclaimed:

‘Saving your . . . Ma’am, I’m . . . ’ He stuck the stump of the cigar into his teeth and began assuring Tietjens that he could be trusted with the draft next morning, if only Tietjens would put him into the taxi.

He went away, leaning on Tietjens’ arm, his legs at an angle of sixty degrees with the carpet . . .

‘He can’t . . . ’ Sylvia said to herself, ‘he can’t, not . . . If he’s a gentleman . . . After all that old fellow’s hints . . . He’d be a damn coward if he kept off . . . For a fortnight . . . And who else is there not a public . . . ’ She said: ‘0 God! . . . ’

The old general, lying in his chair, turned his face aside to say:

‘I wouldn’t, madam, not if I were you, talk about the blue uniform with silver buttons here . . . We, of course, understand . . .

She said: ‘You see . . . even that extinct volcano . . . He’s undressing me with his eyes full of blood veins . . . Then why can’t he? . . . ’

She said aloud:

‘Oh, but even you, general, said you were sick of your companions!’

She said to herself:

‘Hang it! . . . I will have the courage of my convictions . . . No man shall say I am a coward . . . ’

She said:

‘Isn’t it saying the same thing as you, general, to say that I’d rather be made love to by a well-set-up man in blue and silver — or anything else! — than by most of the people one sees here! . . . ’

The general said:

‘Of course, if you put it that way, madam . . . ’ She said:

‘What other way should a woman put it?’ . . . She reached to the table and filled herself a lot of brandy. The old general was leering towards her:

‘Bless me,’ he said, ‘a lady who takes liquor like that . . . ’

She said:

‘You’re a Papist, aren’t you? With the name of O’Hara and the touch of the brogue you have . . . And the devil you no doubt are with . . . You know what . . . Well, then . . . It’s with a special intention! . . . As you say your Hail Marks . . . ’

With the liquor burning inside her she saw Tietjens loom⁷² in the dim light.

The general, to her bitter amusement, said to him: ‘Your friend was more than a bit on . . . Not the society surely for madam!’

Tietjens said:

‘I never expected to have the pleasure of dining with Mrs Tietjens to-night . . . That officer was celebrating his commission and I could not put him off . . . ’ The general said: ‘Oh, ah! Of course not . . . I dare say . . . ’ and settled himself again in his chair . . .

Tietjens was overwhelming her with his great bulk. She had still lost her breath . . . He stooped over and said: it was the luck of the half-drunk; he said:

‘They’re dancing in the lounge . . . ’

She coiled herself passionately³⁴⁶ into her wickerwork. It had dull blue cushions. She said:

‘Not with anyone else . . . I don’t want any introductions . . . ’ Fiercely! . . . He said:

‘There’s no one there that I could introduce you to . . . ’

She said:

‘Not if it’s a charity!’

He said:

‘I thought it might be rather dull . . . It’s six months since I danced . . . ’ She felt beauty flowing over all her limbs. She had a gown of gold tissue. Her matchless hair was coiled over her ears . . . She was humming Venusberg music: she knew music if she knew nothing else . . .

She said: ‘You call the compounds where you keep the W.A.A.C.’s Venusbergs, don’t you? Isn’t it queer that Venus should be your own? . . . Think of poor Elisabeth!’

The room where they were dancing was very dark . . . It was queer to be in his arms . . . She had known better dancers . . . He had looked ill . . . Perhaps he was . . . Oh, poor Valentine-Elisabeth . . . What a funny position! . . . The good gramophone played . . . Destiny! . . . You see, father! . . . In his arms! . . . Of course, dancing is not really . . . But so near the real thing! So near!‘Good luck to the special intention! . . . ’ She had almost kissed him on the lips . . . All but! Effleurer, the French call it . . . But she was not as humble³⁴⁷ . . . He had pressed her tighter . . . All these months without . . . My lord did me honour . . . Good for Malbrouck s’en va-t-en guerre . . . He knew she had almost kissed him on the lips . . . And that his lips had almost responded . . . The civilian, the novelist, had turned out the last light . . . Tietjens said, ‘Hadn’t we better talk? . . . ’ She said: ‘In my room, then! I’m dog-tired . . . I haven’t slept for six nights: . . . In spite of drugs . . . ’ He said: ‘Yes. Of course! Where else? . . . ’ Astonishingly . . . Her gown of gold tissue was like the colobium sindonis the King wore at the coronation . . . As they mounted the stairs she thought what a fat tenor³⁴⁸ Tannh?user always was! . . . The Venusberg music was dinning³⁴⁹ in her ears . . . She said: ‘Sixty-six inexpressibles! I’m as sober as a judge . . . I need to be!’

1 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

2 creased   

（使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴

参考例句：

• You've creased my newspaper. 你把我的报纸弄皱了。
• The bullet merely creased his shoulder. 子弹只不过擦破了他肩部的皮肤。

3 creases   

（使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹

参考例句：

• She smoothed the creases out of her skirt. 她把裙子上的皱褶弄平。
• She ironed out all the creases in the shirt. 她熨平了衬衣上的所有皱褶。

4 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

6 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

7 ordnance   

n.大炮，军械

参考例句：

• She worked in an ordnance factory during the war.战争期间她在一家兵工厂工作。
• Shoes and clothing for the army were scarce,ordnance supplies and drugs were scarcer.军队很缺鞋和衣服，武器供应和药品就更少了。

8 abdominal   

adj.腹（部）的，下腹的；n.腹肌

参考例句：

• The abdominal aorta is normally smaller than the thoracic aorta.腹主动脉一般比胸主动脉小。
• Abdominal tissues sometimes adhere after an operation.手术之后腹部有时会出现粘连。

9 stoutly   

adv.牢固地，粗壮的

参考例句：

• He stoutly denied his guilt.他断然否认自己有罪。
• Burgess was taxed with this and stoutly denied it.伯杰斯为此受到了责难，但是他自己坚决否认有这回事。

10 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

11 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

12 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 remiss   

adj.不小心的，马虎

参考例句：

• It was remiss of him to forget her birthday.他竟忘了她的生日，实在是糊涂。
• I would be remiss if I did not do something about it.如果我对此不做点儿什么就是不负责任。

14 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

15 addled   

adj.（头脑）糊涂的，愚蠢的；（指蛋类）变坏v.使糊涂( addle的过去式和过去分词 )；使混乱；使腐臭；使变质

参考例句：

• Being in love must have addled your brain. 坠入爱河必已使你神魂颠倒。
• He has addled his head with reading and writing all day long. 他整天读书写字，头都昏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 ragtime   

n.拉格泰姆音乐

参考例句：

• The most popular music back then was called ragtime.那时最流行的音乐叫拉格泰姆音乐。
• African-American piano player Scott Joplin wrote many ragtime songs.非裔美国钢琴家ScottJoplin写了许多拉格泰姆歌曲。

17 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 tablecloth   

n.桌布，台布

参考例句：

• He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思，轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
• She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。

19 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

20 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

21 freckles   

n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She had a wonderful clear skin with an attractive sprinkling of freckles. 她光滑的皮肤上有几处可爱的小雀斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When she lies in the sun, her face gets covered in freckles. 她躺在阳光下时，脸上布满了斑点。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 decency   

n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重

参考例句：

• His sense of decency and fair play made him refuse the offer.他的正直感和公平竞争意识使他拒绝了这一提议。
• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。

23 aloof   

adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的

参考例句：

• Never stand aloof from the masses.千万不可脱离群众。
• On the evening the girl kept herself timidly aloof from the crowd.这小女孩在晚会上一直胆怯地远离人群。

24 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

25 hiss   

v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满

参考例句：

• We can hear the hiss of air escaping from a tire.我们能听到一只轮胎的嘶嘶漏气声。
• Don't hiss at the speaker.不要嘘演讲人。

26 vindictive   

adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的

参考例句：

• I have no vindictive feelings about it.我对此没有恶意。
• The vindictive little girl tore up her sister's papers.那个充满报复心的小女孩撕破了她姐姐的作业。

27 remonstrated   

v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫

参考例句：

• They remonstrated with the official about the decision. 他们就这一决定向这位官员提出了抗议。
• We remonstrated against the ill-treatment of prisoners of war. 我们对虐待战俘之事提出抗议。 来自辞典例句

28 leisurely   

adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的

参考例句：

• We walked in a leisurely manner,looking in all the windows.我们慢悠悠地走着，看遍所有的橱窗。
• He had a leisurely breakfast and drove cheerfully to work.他从容的吃了早餐，高兴的开车去工作。

29 pomposity   

n.浮华；虚夸；炫耀；自负

参考例句：

• He hated pomposity and disliked being called a genius. 他憎恶自负的作派，而且不喜欢被称为天才。 来自辞典例句
• Nothing could deflate his ego/pomposity, ie make him less self-assured or pompous. 任何事都不能削弱他的自信心[气焰]。 来自辞典例句

30 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

31 pompous   

adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities.他有点自大，自视甚高。
• He is a good man underneath his pompous appearance. 他的外表虽傲慢，其实是个好人。

32 thigh   

n.大腿；股骨

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了，疼得很。
• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。

33 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

34 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

35 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

36 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

37 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

38 omen   

n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示

参考例句：

• The superstitious regard it as a bad omen.迷信的人认为那是一种恶兆。
• Could this at last be a good omen for peace?这是否终于可以视作和平的吉兆了？

39 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

40 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

41 hilariously   

参考例句：

• Laughing hilariously, Wu Sun-fu left the study and ran straight upstairs. 吴荪甫异样地狂笑着，站起身来就走出了那书房，一直跑上楼去。 来自互联网
• Recently I saw a piece of news on the weband I thought it was hilariously ridiculous. 最近在网上的新闻里看到一则很好笑的新闻。 来自互联网

42 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

43 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

44 fumblingly   

令人羞辱地

参考例句：

45 fumbling   

n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理

参考例句：

• If he actually managed to the ball instead of fumbling it with an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。
• If he actually managed to secure the ball instead of fumbling it awkwardly an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-50提议有时。他从off-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。

46 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

47 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

48 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

49 alabaster   

adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石

参考例句：

• The floor was marble tile,and the columns alabaster.地板是由大理石铺成的，柱子则是雪花石膏打造而成。
• Her skin was like alabaster.她的皮肤光洁雪白。

50 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

51 fatuous   

adj.愚昧的；昏庸的

参考例句：

• He seems to get pride in fatuous remarks.说起这番蠢话来他似乎还挺得意。
• After his boring speech for over an hour,fatuous speaker waited for applause from the audience.经过超过一小时的烦闷的演讲，那个愚昧的演讲者还等着观众的掌声。

52 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

53 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

54 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

55 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。

56 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

57 gentry   

n.绅士阶级，上层阶级

参考例句：

• Landed income was the true measure of the gentry.来自土地的收入是衡量是否士绅阶层的真正标准。
• Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the gentry.宁做自由民之首，不居贵族之末。

58 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

59 honourable   

adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的

参考例句：

• I don't think I am worthy of such an honourable title.这样的光荣称号，我可担当不起。
• I hope to find an honourable way of settling difficulties.我希望设法找到一个体面的办法以摆脱困境。

60 nuns   

n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句

61 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

62 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

63 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

64 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

65 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

66 gilt   

adj.镀金的；n.金边证券

参考例句：

• The plates have a gilt edge.这些盘子的边是镀金的。
• The rest of the money is invested in gilt.其余的钱投资于金边证券。

67 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

68 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

69 chauffeur   

n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车

参考例句：

• The chauffeur handed the old lady from the car.这个司机搀扶这个老太太下汽车。
• She went out herself and spoke to the chauffeur.她亲自走出去跟汽车司机说话。

70 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

71 entente   

n.协定；有协定关系的各国

参考例句：

• The French entente with Great Britain had already been significantly extended.法国和英国之间友好协议的范围已经大幅度拓宽。
• Electoral pacts would not work,but an entente cordiale might.选举协定不会起作用，但是政府间的谅解也许可以。

72 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

73 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

74 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

75 careworn   

adj.疲倦的，饱经忧患的

参考例句：

• It's sad to see the careworn face of the mother of a large poor family.看到那贫穷的一大家子的母亲忧劳憔悴的脸庞心里真是难受。
• The old woman had a careworn look on her face.老妇脸上露出忧心忡忡的神色。

76 expend   

vt.花费，消费，消耗

参考例句：

• Don't expend all your time on such a useless job.不要把时间消耗在这种无用的工作上。
• They expend all their strength in trying to climb out.他们费尽全力想爬出来。

77 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

78 sardonically   

adv.讽刺地，冷嘲地

参考例句：

• Some say sardonically that combat pay is good and that one can do quite well out of this war. 有些人讽刺地说战地的薪饷很不错，人们可借这次战争赚到很多钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Tu Wei-yueh merely drew himself up and smiled sardonically. 屠维岳把胸脯更挺得直些，微微冷笑。 来自子夜部分

79 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

80 sagged   

下垂的

参考例句：

• The black reticule sagged under the weight of shapeless objects. 黑色的拎包由于装了各种形状的东西而中间下陷。
• He sagged wearily back in his chair. 他疲倦地瘫坐到椅子上。

81 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

82 appallingly   

毛骨悚然地

参考例句：

• His tradecraft was appallingly reckless. 他的经营轻率得令人吃惊。
• Another damning statistic for South Africa is its appallingly high murder rate. 南非还有一项糟糕的统计，表明它还有着令人毛骨悚然的高谋杀率。

83 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

84 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

85 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。

86 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

87 contrive   

vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出

参考例句：

• Can you contrive to be here a little earlier?你能不能早一点来？
• How could you contrive to make such a mess of things?你怎么把事情弄得一团糟呢？

88 vaulted   

adj.拱状的

参考例句：

• She vaulted over the gate and ran up the path. 她用手一撑跃过栅栏门沿着小路跑去。
• The formal living room has a fireplace and vaulted ceilings. 正式的客厅有一个壁炉和拱形天花板。

89 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

90 stoutish   

略胖的

参考例句：

• There was a knock on the door and a large stoutish man stepped in. 门上敲了一下，一个身材魁梧、略为发胖的男人走了进来。

91 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

92 conceals   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He conceals his worries behind a mask of nonchalance. 他装作若无其事，借以掩饰内心的不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Drunkenness reveals what soberness conceals. 酒醉吐真言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

93 squat   

v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的

参考例句：

• For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
• He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。

94 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

95 fretted   

焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的

参考例句：

• The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝，有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
• The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。

96 porcupine   

n.豪猪， 箭猪

参考例句：

• A porcupine is covered with prickles.箭猪身上长满了刺。
• There is a philosophy parable,call philosophy of porcupine.有一个哲学寓言，叫豪猪的哲学。

97 notaries   

n.公证人，公证员( notary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The positions of director and deputy director shall be assumed by notaries. 主任、副主任领导公证处的工作，并且必须执行公证员职务。 来自互联网
• One of the notaries sat down, the other remained standing. 律师之中有一位坐下来，其余的都站着。 来自互联网

98 oration   

n.演说，致辞，叙述法

参考例句：

• He delivered an oration on the decline of family values.他发表了有关家庭价值观的衰退的演说。
• He was asked to deliver an oration at the meeting.他被邀请在会议上发表演说。

99 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

100 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

101 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

102 nag   

v.(对…)不停地唠叨；n.爱唠叨的人

参考例句：

• Nobody likes to work with a nag.谁也不愿与好唠叨的人一起共事。
• Don't nag me like an old woman.别像个老太婆似的唠唠叨叨烦我。

103 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

104 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

105 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

106 esteem   

n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• The veteran worker ranks high in public love and esteem.那位老工人深受大伙的爱戴。

107 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

108 muddles   

v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的第三人称单数 )；使糊涂；对付，混日子

参考例句：

• Translation muddles model concepts, which leads to destructive refactoring of code. 这些转换混淆了模型的概念，可能导致重构代码时的失败。 来自互联网
• A glass of whisky soon muddles him. 一杯威士忌很快就会把他醉得迷迷糊糊。 来自互联网

109 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

110 disarrayed   

vt.使混乱（disarray的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• She disarrayed her baby. 她为婴儿脱衣。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

111 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

112 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

113 mortification   

n.耻辱，屈辱

参考例句：

• To my mortification, my manuscript was rejected. 使我感到失面子的是：我的稿件被退了回来。
• The chairman tried to disguise his mortification. 主席试图掩饰自己的窘迫。

114 drooped   

弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。
• The flowers drooped in the heat of the sun. 花儿晒蔫了。

115 seduced   

诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷

参考例句：

• The promise of huge profits seduced him into parting with his money. 高额利润的许诺诱使他把钱出了手。
• His doctrines have seduced many into error. 他的学说把许多人诱入歧途。

116 seduce   

vt.勾引，诱奸，诱惑，引诱

参考例句：

• She has set out to seduce Stephen.她已经开始勾引斯蒂芬了。
• Clever advertising would seduce more people into smoking.巧妙策划的广告会引诱更多的人吸烟。

117 complexion   

n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格

参考例句：

• Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
• Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。

118 char   

v.烧焦；使...燃烧成焦炭

参考例句：

• Without a drenching rain,the forest fire will char everything.如果没有一场透地雨，森林大火将烧尽一切。
• The immediate batch will require deodorization to char the protein material to facilitate removal in bleaching.脱臭烧焦的蛋白质原料易在脱色中去除。

119 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

120 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

121 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

122 flaunt   

vt.夸耀，夸饰

参考例句：

• His behavior was an outrageous flaunt.他的行为是一种无耻的炫耀。
• Why would you flaunt that on a public forum?为什么你们会在公共论坛大肆炫耀？

123 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

124 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

125 unicorn   

n.(传说中的)独角兽

参考例句：

• The unicorn is an imaginary beast.独角兽是幻想出来的动物。
• I believe unicorn was once living in the world.我相信独角兽曾经生活在这个世界。

126 dreaded   

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)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

127 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

128 odious   

adj.可憎的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• The judge described the crime as odious.法官称这一罪行令人发指。
• His character could best be described as odious.他的人格用可憎来形容最贴切。

129 obsequious   

adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的

参考例句：

• He looked at the two ladies with an obsequious air.他看着两位太太,满脸谄媚的神情。
• He was obsequious to his superiors,but he didn't get any favor.他巴结上司，但没得到任何好处。

130 obtuse   

adj.钝的；愚钝的

参考例句：

• You were too obtuse to take the hint.你太迟钝了，没有理解这种暗示。
• "Sometimes it looks more like an obtuse triangle,"Winter said.“有时候它看起来更像一个钝角三角形。”温特说。

131 obtuseness   

感觉迟钝

参考例句：

• Much of the contentment of that time was based on moral obtuseness. 对那个年代的满意是基于道德上的一种惰性。 来自互联网

132 flaying   

v.痛打( flay的现在分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评

参考例句：

• Every tree doomed to the flaying process was first attacked by Upjohn. 每一棵决定要剥皮的树，首先由厄普约翰开始动手干。 来自辞典例句
• Cannon rolled past, the drivers flaying the thin mules with lengths of rawhide. 后面是辚辚滚动的炮车，赶车的用长长的皮鞭狠狠抽打着羸弱的骡子。 来自飘（部分）

133 coherence   

n.紧凑；连贯；一致性

参考例句：

• There was no coherence between the first and the second half of the film.这部电影的前半部和后半部没有连贯性。
• Environmental education is intended to give these topics more coherence.环境教育的目的是使这些课题更加息息相关。

134 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

135 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

136 tunic   

n.束腰外衣

参考例句：

• The light loose mantle was thrown over his tunic.一件轻质宽大的斗蓬披在上衣外面。
• Your tunic and hose match ill with that jewel,young man.你的外套和裤子跟你那首饰可不相称呢，年轻人。

137 bulged   

凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物）

参考例句：

• His pockets bulged with apples and candy. 他的口袋鼓鼓地装满了苹果和糖。
• The oranges bulged his pocket. 桔子使得他的衣袋胀得鼓鼓的。

138 monologue   

n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白

参考例句：

• The comedian gave a long monologue of jokes.喜剧演员讲了一长段由笑话组成的独白。
• He went into a long monologue.他一个人滔滔不绝地讲话。

139 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

140 purgatory   

n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的

参考例句：

• Every step of the last three miles was purgatory.最后3英里时每一步都像是受罪。
• Marriage,with peace,is this world's paradise;with strife,this world's purgatory.和谐的婚姻是尘世的乐园，不和谐的婚姻则是人生的炼狱。

141 torments   

（肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人]

参考例句：

• He released me from my torments. 他解除了我的痛苦。
• He suffered torments from his aching teeth. 他牙痛得难受。

142 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

143 martyr   

n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲

参考例句：

• The martyr laid down his life for the cause of national independence.这位烈士是为了民族独立的事业而献身的。
• The newspaper carried the martyr's photo framed in black.报上登载了框有黑边的烈士遗像。

144 dames   

n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人

参考例句：

• Dames would not comment any further. Dames将不再更多的评论。 来自互联网
• Flowers, candy, jewelry, seemed the principal things in which the elegant dames were interested. 鲜花、糖果和珠宝看来是那些贵妇人的主要兴趣所在。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

145 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

146 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

147 glazed   

adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神

参考例句：

• eyes glazed with boredom 厌倦无神的眼睛
• His eyes glazed over at the sight of her. 看到她时，他的目光就变得呆滞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

148 ignoble   

adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的

参考例句：

• There's something cowardly and ignoble about such an attitude.这种态度有点怯懦可鄙。
• Some very great men have come from ignoble families.有些伟人出身低微。

149 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

150 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

151 obstinately   

ad.固执地，顽固地

参考例句：

• He obstinately asserted that he had done the right thing. 他硬说他做得对。
• Unemployment figures are remaining obstinately high. 失业数字仍然顽固地居高不下。

152 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

153 hovered   

鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
• A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。

154 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

155 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

156 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

157 kennel   

n.狗舍，狗窝

参考例句：

• Sporting dogs should be kept out of doors in a kennel.猎狗应该养在户外的狗窝中。
• Rescued dogs are housed in a standard kennel block.获救的狗被装在一个标准的犬舍里。

158 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

159 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

160 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

161 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

162 encyclopaedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• An encyclopaedia contains a lot of knowledge.百科全书包含很多知识。
• This is an encyclopaedia of philosophy.这是本哲学百科全书。

163 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

164 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

165 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

166 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

167 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

168 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

169 apparition   

n.幽灵，神奇的现象

参考例句：

• He saw the apparition of his dead wife.他看见了他亡妻的幽灵。
• But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand.这新出现的幽灵吓得我站在那里一动也不敢动。

170 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

171 ostracism   

n.放逐；排斥

参考例句：

• Until I emigrated to America,my family and I endured progressive ostracism and discrimination.我的家庭和我自己忍受着变本加厉的排斥和歧视直到我移居美国。
• For the first time in her life the import and horror of social ostracism flashed upon her.她生平第一次突然想到遭受社交界排斥的意义与可怕。

172 camouflaged   

v.隐蔽( camouflage的过去式和过去分词 )；掩盖；伪装，掩饰

参考例句：

• We camouflaged in the bushes and no one saw us. 我们隐藏在灌木丛中没有被人发现。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They camouflaged in bushes. 他们隐蔽在灌木丛中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

173 stink   

vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
• The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。

174 rouged   

胭脂，口红( rouge的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Tigress in a red jacket, her face powdered and rouged, followed him with her eyes. 虎妞穿着红袄，脸上抹着白粉与胭脂，眼睛溜着他。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• She worked carefully on her penciled her eyebrows and rouged her lips. 她仔细地梳理着头发，描眉，涂口红。

175 disapproved   

v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My parents disapproved of my marriage. 我父母不赞成我的婚事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing. 她不赞成儿子不加选择地收看电视。 来自《简明英汉词典》

176 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

177 clamorous   

adj.吵闹的，喧哗的

参考例句：

• They are clamorous for better pay.他们吵吵嚷嚷要求增加工资。
• The meeting began to become clamorous.会议开始变得喧哗了。

178 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

179 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

180 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

181 nave   

n.教堂的中部；本堂

参考例句：

• People gathered in the nave of the house.人们聚拢在房子的中间。
• The family on the other side of the nave had a certain look about them,too.在中殿另一边的那一家人，也有着自己特有的相貌。

182 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

183 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

184 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

185 epithets   

n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He insulted me, using rude epithets. 他用粗话诅咒我。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He cursed me, using a lot of rude epithets. 他用上许多粗鲁的修饰词来诅咒我。 来自辞典例句

186 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

187 thumps   

n.猪肺病；砰的重击声( thump的名词复数 )v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Normally the heart movements can be felt as distinct systolic and diastolic thumps. 正常时，能够感觉到心脏的运动是性质截然不同的收缩和舒张的撞击。 来自辞典例句
• These thumps are replaced by thrills when valvular insufficiencies or stenoses or congenital defects are present. 这些撞击在瓣膜闭锁不全或狭窄，或者有先天性缺损时被震颤所代替。 来自辞典例句

188 thump   

v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声

参考例句：

• The thief hit him a thump on the head.贼在他的头上重击一下。
• The excitement made her heart thump.她兴奋得心怦怦地跳。

189 rumbles   

隆隆声，辘辘声( rumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If I hear any rumbles I'll let you know. 我要是听到什么风声就告诉你。
• Three blocks away train rumbles by. 三个街区以外，火车隆隆驶过。

190 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

191 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

192 hoofs   

n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The stamp of the horse's hoofs on the wooden floor was loud. 马蹄踏在木头地板上的声音很响。 来自辞典例句
• The noise of hoofs called him back to the other window. 马蹄声把他又唤回那扇窗子口。 来自辞典例句

193 lugubrious   

adj.悲哀的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• That long,lugubrious howl rose on the night air again!夜空中又传来了那又长又凄凉的狗叫声。
• After the earthquake,the city is full of lugubrious faces.地震之后，这个城市满是悲哀的面孔。

194 slabs   

n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片

参考例句：

• The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句

195 pallid   

adj.苍白的，呆板的

参考例句：

• The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.月亮从云朵后面钻出来，照着尸体那张苍白的脸。
• His dry pallid face often looked gaunt.他那张干瘪苍白的脸常常显得憔悴。

196 sleepless   

adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的

参考例句：

• The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
• One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上，我听说了一个传闻，把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。

197 entanglement   

n.纠缠，牵累

参考例句：

• This entanglement made Carrie anxious for a change of some sort.这种纠葛弄得嘉莉急于改变一下。
• There is some uncertainty about this entanglement with the city treasurer which you say exists.对于你所说的与市财政局长之间的纠葛,大家有些疑惑。

198 bowler   

n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手

参考例句：

• The bowler judged it well,timing the ball to perfection.投球手判断准确，对球速的掌握恰到好处。
• The captain decided to take Snow off and try a slower bowler.队长决定把斯诺撤下，换一个动作慢一点的投球手试一试。

199 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

200 fussily   

adv.无事空扰地，大惊小怪地，小题大做地

参考例句：

• She adjusted her head scarf fussily. 她小题大做地整了整头巾。 来自辞典例句
• He spoke to her fussily. 他大惊小怪地对她说。 来自互联网

201 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

202 rumours   

n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传

参考例句：

• The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
• Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。

203 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

204 solicitude   

n.焦虑

参考例句：

• Your solicitude was a great consolation to me.你对我的关怀给了我莫大的安慰。
• He is full of tender solicitude towards my sister.他对我妹妹满心牵挂。

205 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

206 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

207 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

208 picturesqueness   

参考例句：

• The picturesqueness of the engineer's life was always attractive to Presley. 这司机的丰富多彩的生活，始终叫普瑞斯莱醉心。
• Philip liked the daring picturesqueness of the Americans'costume. 菲利浦喜欢美国人装束的那种粗犷的美。

209 indigence   

n.贫穷

参考例句：

• His present indigence is a sufficient punishment for former folly.他现在所受的困苦足够惩罚他从前的胡作非为了。
• North korea's indigence is almost as scary as its belligerence.朝鲜的贫乏几乎和其好战一样可怕。

210 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

211 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

212 snobs   

（谄上傲下的）势利小人( snob的名词复数 )； 自高自大者，自命不凡者

参考例句：

• She dislikes snobs intensely. 她极其厌恶势利小人。
• Most of the people who worshipped her, who read every tidbit about her in the gossip press and hung up pictures of her in their rooms, were not social snobs. 崇敬她大多数的人不会放过每一篇报导她的八卦新闻，甚至在他们的房间中悬挂黛妃的画像，这些人并非都是傲慢成性。

213 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

214 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

215 stimulation   

n.刺激，激励，鼓舞

参考例句：

• The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
• You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。

216 parsimonious   

adj.吝啬的，质量低劣的

参考例句：

• Many scrollbars are quite parsimonious in doling out information to users.很多滚动条都很吝啬，给用户传递的信息太少。
• His parsimonious nature did not permit him to enjoy any luxuries.他那吝啬的本性不容许他享受任何奢侈品。

217 maroon   

v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的

参考例句：

• Five couples were marooned in their caravans when the River Avon broke its banks.埃文河决堤的时候，有5对夫妇被困在了他们的房车里。
• Robinson Crusoe has been marooned on a desert island for 26 years.鲁滨逊在荒岛上被困了26年。

218 quay   

n.码头，靠岸处

参考例句：

• There are all kinds of ships in a quay.码头停泊各式各样的船。
• The side of the boat hit the quay with a grinding jar.船舷撞到码头发出刺耳的声音。

219 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

220 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

221 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

222 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

223 deranged   

adj.疯狂的

参考例句：

• Traffic was stopped by a deranged man shouting at the sky.一名狂叫的疯子阻塞了交通。
• A deranged man shot and killed 14 people.一个精神失常的男子开枪打死了14人。

224 expatiate   

v.细说，详述

参考例句：

• The tendency to expatiate and make much of local advantages was Western.喜欢唠唠叨叨、夸张本地优点的脾气是西部特有的。
• My present purpose is not to expatiate upon my walks.现在我并不打算絮絮不休地描述我的散步。

225 perspicacity   

n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力

参考例句：

• Perspicacity includes selective code, selective comparing and selective combining. 洞察力包括选择性编码、选择性比较、选择性联合。
• He may own the perspicacity and persistence to catch and keep the most valuable thing. 他可能拥有洞察力和坚忍力，可以抓住和保有人生中最宝贵的东西。

226 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

227 apprehension   

n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑

参考例句：

• There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑，于是她越来越担心。
• She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。

228 incipient   

adj.起初的，发端的，初期的

参考例句：

• The anxiety has been sharpened by the incipient mining boom.采矿业初期的蓬勃发展加剧了这种担忧。
• What we see then is an incipient global inflation.因此，我们看到的是初期阶段的全球通胀.

229 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

230 smacking   

活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的

参考例句：

• He gave both of the children a good smacking. 他把两个孩子都狠揍了一顿。
• She inclined her cheek,and John gave it a smacking kiss. 她把头低下，约翰在她的脸上响亮的一吻。

231 agitation   

n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动

参考例句：

• Small shopkeepers carried on a long agitation against the big department stores.小店主们长期以来一直在煽动人们反对大型百货商店。
• These materials require constant agitation to keep them in suspension.这些药剂要经常搅动以保持悬浮状态。

232 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

233 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

234 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

235 contemptible   

adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的

参考例句：

• His personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.他气貌不扬，言语粗俗。
• That was a contemptible trick to play on a friend.那是对朋友玩弄的一出可鄙的把戏。

236 clenched   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
• She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

237 lumbered   

砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• A rhinoceros lumbered towards them. 一头犀牛笨重地向他们走来。
• A heavy truck lumbered by. 一辆重型卡车隆隆驶过。

238 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

239 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

240 dominions   

统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图

参考例句：

• The King sent messengers to every town, village and hamlet in his dominions. 国王派使者到国内每一个市镇，村落和山庄。
• European powers no longer rule over great overseas dominions. 欧洲列强不再统治大块海外领土了。

241 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

242 insolence   

n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度

参考例句：

• I've had enough of your insolence, and I'm having no more. 我受够了你的侮辱，不能再容忍了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• How can you suffer such insolence? 你怎么能容忍这种蛮横的态度？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

243 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

244 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

245 bluster   

v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声

参考例句：

• We could hear the bluster of the wind and rain.我们能听到狂风暴雨的吹打声。
• He was inclined to bluster at first,but he soon dropped.起初他老爱吵闹一阵，可是不久就不做声了。

246 lust   

n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望

参考例句：

• He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
• Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念，就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。

247 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

248 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

249 pervaded   

v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A retrospective influence pervaded the whole performance. 怀旧的影响弥漫了整个演出。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The air is pervaded by a smell [smoking]. 空气中弥散着一种气味[烟味]。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

250 pranks   

n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Frank's errancy consisted mostly of pranks. 法兰克错在老喜欢恶作剧。 来自辞典例句
• He always leads in pranks and capers. 他老是带头胡闹和开玩笑。 来自辞典例句

251 intermittently   

adv.间歇地；断断续续

参考例句：

• Winston could not intermittently remember why the pain was happening. 温斯顿只能断断续续地记得为什么这么痛。 来自英汉文学
• The resin moves intermittently down and out of the bed. 树脂周期地向下移动和移出床层。 来自辞典例句

252 exasperation   

n.愤慨

参考例句：

• He snorted with exasperation.他愤怒地哼了一声。
• She rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation.她气急败坏地转动着眼珠。

253 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

254 trolley   

n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车

参考例句：

• The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
• In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆，书籍是放在台车上搬动的。

255 pals   

n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙

参考例句：

• We've been pals for years. 我们是多年的哥们儿了。
• CD 8 positive cells remarkably increased in PALS and RP(P CD8+细胞在再生脾PALS和RP内均明显增加(P 来自互联网

256 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

257 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

258 quiescent   

adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that such an extremist organization will remain quiescent for long.这种过激的组织是不太可能长期沉默的。
• Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind.时间和空间上的远距离有一种奇妙的力量，可以使人的心灵平静。

259 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

260 desultorily   

adv. 杂乱无章地, 散漫地

参考例句：

• The man continued talking. She answered him desultorily. 那个男人继续说着。她随口应答。 来自柯林斯例句

261 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

262 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

263 vigour   

（=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力

参考例句：

• She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情，有朝气。
• At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。

264 improvident   

adj.不顾将来的，不节俭的，无远见的

参考例句：

• Her improvident speech at the meeting has set a stone rolling.她在会上的发言缺乏远见，已产生严重后果。
• He must bear the consequences of his improvident action.他必须对自己挥霍浪费所造成的后果负责。

265 stammered   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠，结结巴巴地说，“你是什么意思？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

266 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

267 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

268 luxuriously   

adv.奢侈地，豪华地

参考例句：

• She put her nose luxuriously buried in heliotrope and tea roses. 她把自己的鼻子惬意地埋在天芥菜和庚申蔷薇花簇中。 来自辞典例句
• To be well dressed doesn't mean to be luxuriously dressed. 穿得好不一定衣着豪华。 来自辞典例句

269 allure   

n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• The window displays allure customers to buy goods.橱窗陈列品吸引顾客购买货物。
• The book has a certain allure for which it is hard to find a reason.这本书有一种难以解释的魅力。

270 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

271 winced   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
• He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。

272 wince   

n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避

参考例句：

• The barb of his wit made us wince.他那锋芒毕露的机智使我们退避三舍。
• His smile soon modified to a wince.他的微笑很快就成了脸部肌肉的抽搐。

273 negligent   

adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的

参考例句：

• The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
• If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽，就应支付赔偿。

274 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

275 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

276 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

277 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

278 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

279 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

280 exchequer   

n.财政部；国库

参考例句：

• In Britain the Chancellor of the Exchequer deals with taxes and government spending.英国的财政大臣负责税务和政府的开支。
• This resulted in a considerable loss to the exchequer.这使国库遭受了重大损失。

281 tithe   

n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税

参考例句：

• It's not Christ plus your tithe.这不是基督再加上你的什一税。
• The bible tells us that the tithe is the lords.圣经说十分之一是献给主的。

282 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

283 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

284 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

285 defrauded   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He defrauded his employers of thousands of dollars. 他诈取了他的雇主一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He defrauded them of their money. 他骗走了他们的钱。 来自辞典例句

286 countermanded   

v.取消（命令），撤回( countermand的过去分词 )

参考例句：

287 sabotaged   

阴谋破坏（某事物）( sabotage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The main pipeline supplying water was sabotaged by rebels. 供水主管道被叛乱分子蓄意破坏了。
• They had no competition because competitors found their trucks burned and sabotaged. 他们之所以没有竞争对象，那是因为竞争对象老是发现自己的卡车遭火烧或被破坏。 来自教父部分

288 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

289 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

290 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。

291 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

292 monotonously   

adv.单调地，无变化地

参考例句：

• The lecturer phrased monotonously. 这位讲师用词单调。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The maid, still in tears, sniffed monotonously. 侍女还在哭，发出单调的抽泣声。 来自辞典例句

293 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

294 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

295 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

296 climax   

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

参考例句：

• The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
• His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

297 consolatory   

adj.慰问的，可藉慰的

参考例句：

• Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions. 行动是可以慰藉的。它是思想的敌人，是幻想的朋友。 来自互联网
• Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of glittering illusions. 行动是令人安慰的，它是思想的敌人，是美好幻想的朋友。 来自互联网

298 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

299 trifling   

adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的

参考例句：

• They quarreled over a trifling matter.他们为这种微不足道的事情争吵。
• So far Europe has no doubt, gained a real conveniency,though surely a very trifling one.直到现在为止,欧洲无疑地已经获得了实在的便利，不过那确是一种微不足道的便利。

300 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

301 pang   

n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷

参考例句：

• She experienced a sharp pang of disappointment.她经历了失望的巨大痛苦。
• She was beginning to know the pang of disappointed love.她开始尝到了失恋的痛苦。

302 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

303 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

304 flannel   

n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服

参考例句：

• She always wears a grey flannel trousers.她总是穿一条灰色法兰绒长裤。
• She was looking luscious in a flannel shirt.她穿着法兰绒裙子，看上去楚楚动人。

305 dodging   

n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
• I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句

306 boulders   

n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾

参考例句：

• Seals basked on boulders in a flat calm. 海面风平浪静，海豹在巨石上晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The river takes a headlong plunge into a maelstrom of rocks and boulders. 河水急流而下，入一个漂砾的漩涡中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

307 suffocating   

a.使人窒息的

参考例句：

• After a few weeks with her parents, she felt she was suffocating.和父母呆了几个星期后，她感到自己毫无自由。
• That's better. I was suffocating in that cell of a room.这样好些了，我刚才在那个小房间里快闷死了。

308 filament   

n.细丝；长丝；灯丝

参考例句：

• The source of electrons in an electron microscope is a heated filament.电子显微镜中的电子源，是一加热的灯丝。
• The lack of air in the bulb prevents the filament from burning up.灯泡内缺乏空气就使灯丝不致烧掉。

309 bibulous   

adj.高度吸收的，酗酒的

参考例句：

• He is a bibulous fellow.他是个爱喝酒的家伙。
• But it can control the bibulous of handsheet in the demanding range through accession suitable waterproof. 但通过添加适量的防水剂可以使纸板的吸水值在要求的范围内。

310 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

311 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

312 converse   

vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反

参考例句：

• He can converse in three languages.他可以用3种语言谈话。
• I wanted to appear friendly and approachable but I think I gave the converse impression.我想显得友好、平易近人些,却发觉给人的印象恰恰相反。

313 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

314 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

315 urchin   

n.顽童；海胆

参考例句：

• You should sheer off the urchin.你应该躲避这顽童。
• He is a most wicked urchin.他是个非常调皮的顽童。

316 bastards   

私生子( bastard的名词复数 )； 坏蛋； 讨厌的事物； 麻烦事 （认为别人走运或不幸时说）家伙

参考例句：

• Those bastards don't care a damn about the welfare of the factory! 这批狗养的，不顾大局！ 来自子夜部分
• Let the first bastards to find out be the goddam Germans. 就让那些混账的德国佬去做最先发现的倒霉鬼吧。 来自演讲部分

317 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

318 holocausts   

n.大屠杀( holocaust的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They have been able to keep on cheerfully plotting their holocausts right into their senescene. 他们都还能津津有味地继续策划他们的大暴动，直至他们的垂暮之年。 来自辞典例句
• The down sides to our inventions-the wars, weapons, holocausts, pollution-these too define our being. 发明的阴暗面——战争、武器、屠杀、污染——同样也定义了我们。 来自互联网

319 reticence   

n.沉默，含蓄

参考例句：

• He breaks out of his normal reticence and tells me the whole story.他打破了平时一贯沈默寡言的习惯，把事情原原本本都告诉了我。
• He always displays a certain reticence in discussing personal matters.他在谈论个人问题时总显得有些保留。

320 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

321 infinities   

n.无穷大( infinity的名词复数 )；无限远的点；无法计算的量；无限大的量

参考例句：

322 promiscuity   

n.混杂，混乱；（男女的）乱交

参考例句：

• Promiscuity went unpunished, divorce was permitted. 乱交挨不着惩罚，离婚办得成手续。 来自英汉文学
• There is also no doubt that she falls into promiscuity at last. 同时无疑她最后也堕入性乱。 来自互联网

323 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

324 lusts   

贪求（lust的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• A miser lusts for gold. 守财奴贪财。
• Palmer Kirby had wakened late blooming lusts in her. 巴穆·柯比在她心中煽动起一片迟暮的情欲。

325 intoxicated   

喝醉的，极其兴奋的

参考例句：

• She was intoxicated with success. 她为成功所陶醉。
• They became deeply intoxicated and totally disoriented. 他们酩酊大醉，东南西北全然不辨。

326 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

327 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

328 reproof   

n.斥责，责备

参考例句：

• A smart reproof is better than smooth deceit.严厉的责难胜过温和的欺骗。
• He is impatient of reproof.他不能忍受指责。

329 exhortation   

n.劝告，规劝

参考例句：

• After repeated exhortation by his comrades,he finally straightened out his thinking.经过同志们再三劝导，他终于想通了。
• Foreign funds alone are clearly not enough,nor are exhortations to reform.光有外资显然不够，只是劝告人们进行改革也不行。

330 rumbling   

n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词

参考例句：

• The earthquake began with a deep [low] rumbling sound. 地震开始时发出低沉的隆隆声。
• The crane made rumbling sound. 吊车发出隆隆的响声。

331 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

332 tumult   

n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹

参考例句：

• The tumult in the streets awakened everyone in the house.街上的喧哗吵醒了屋子里的每一个人。
• His voice disappeared under growing tumult.他的声音消失在越来越响的喧哗声中。

333 mitigated   

v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of getting there is mitigated by Sydney's offer of a subsidy. 由于悉尼提供补助金，所以到那里的花费就减少了。 来自辞典例句
• The living conditions were slightly mitigated. 居住条件稍有缓解。 来自辞典例句

334 valedictory   

adj.告别的；n.告别演说

参考例句：

• He made a valedictory address after two years as chairman.在担任主席职务两年后他发表了告别演说。
• This valedictory dispatch was written as he retired from the foreign service a few weeks ago.这份告别报告是他几周前从外交界退休时所写的。

335 bibulously   

adj.嗜酒的；吸水的，吸潮的

参考例句：

• He is a bibulous fellow. 他是个爱喝酒的家伙。 来自辞典例句

336 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

337 blasphemies   

n.对上帝的亵渎，亵渎的言词[行为]( blasphemy的名词复数 )；侮慢的言词（或行为）

参考例句：

• That foul mouth stands there bringing more ill fortune with his blasphemies. 那一张臭嘴站在那儿满嘴喷粪，只能带来更多恶运。 来自辞典例句
• All great truths begin as blasphemies. 一切伟大的真理起初都被视为大逆不道的邪说。 来自辞典例句

338 blasphemy   

n.亵渎，渎神

参考例句：

• His writings were branded as obscene and a blasphemy against God.他的著作被定为淫秽作品，是对上帝的亵渎。
• You have just heard his blasphemy!你刚刚听到他那番亵渎上帝的话了！

339 malevolently   

参考例句：

• She watched him malevolently. 她恶意地看着他。 来自互联网
• The little woman advanced slowly with her eyes fixed malevolently on the pink paper. 那小妇人慢慢前进，眼睛恶意地盯在那张粉红钯的纸上。 来自互联网

340 wheezes   

n.喘息声( wheeze的名词复数 )v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They've tried some brilliant wheezes, but every time, Jerry's twigged at the last moment. 他们使用了一些华丽的陈腐俏皮话，但是每次到了最后关头，德国人就察觉了。 来自互联网
• The lungs are clear to auscultation bilaterally, without any wheezes, rales, or rhonchi. 双肺听诊清音，无喘鸣或干湿罗音。 来自互联网

341 murmur   

n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言

参考例句：

• They paid the extra taxes without a murmur.他们毫无怨言地交了附加税。
• There was a low murmur of conversation in the hall.大厅里有窃窃私语声。

342 languorous   

adj.怠惰的，没精打采的

参考例句：

• For two days he was languorous and esteemed. 两天来，他因身体衰弱无力，受到尊重。 来自辞典例句
• Some one says Fuzhou is a languorous and idle city. 有人说，福州是一个慵懒闲淡的城市。 来自互联网

343 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

344 exigencies   

n.急切需要

参考例句：

• Many people are forced by exigencies of circumstance to take some part in them. 许多人由于境况所逼又不得不在某种程度上参与这种活动。
• The people had to accept the harsh exigencies of war. 人们要承受战乱的严酷现实。

345 meditatively   

adv.冥想地

参考例句：

• The old man looked meditatively at the darts board. 老头儿沉思不语，看着那投镖板。 来自英汉文学
• "Well,'said the foreman, scratching his ear meditatively, "we do need a stitcher. “这--"工头沉思地搔了搔耳朵。 "我们确实需要一个缝纫工。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

346 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

347 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

348 tenor   

n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意

参考例句：

• The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
• The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。

349 dinning   

vt.喧闹（din的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• The cries of his tormentors were still dinning in his ears. 使他痛苦的人们的叫嚣仍然在他的耳际震响。 来自辞典例句
• The meals in the artistic little dinning-room were pleasant. 在雅致的小餐厅里吃饭是一种享受。 来自辞典例句