The recollection of that afternoon will always be graven on my mind. Northmour and I were persuaded that an attack was imminent1; and if it had been in our power to alter in any way the order of events, that power would have been used to precipitate2 rather than delay the critical moment. The worst was to be anticipated; yet we could conceive no extremity4 so miserable5 as the suspense6 we were now suffering. I have never been an eager, though always a great, reader; but I never knew books so insipid7 as those which I took up and cast aside that afternoon in the pavilion. Even talk became impossible, as the hours went on. One or other was always listening for some sound, or peering from an upstairs window over the links. And yet not a sign indicated the presence of our foes8.
We debated over and over again my proposal with regard to the money; and had we been in complete possession of our faculties9, I am sure we should have condemned10 it as unwise; but we were flustered11 with alarm, grasped at a straw, and determined12, although it was as much as advertising13 Mr. Huddlestone’s presence in the pavilion, to carry my proposal into effect.
The sum was part in specie, part in bank paper, and part in circular notes payable14 to the name of James Gregory. We took it out, counted it, enclosed it once more in a despatch-box belonging to Northmour, and prepared a letter in Italian which he tied to the handle. It was signed by both of us under oath, and declared that this was all the money which had escaped the failure of the house of Huddlestone. This was, perhaps, the maddest action ever perpetrated by two persons professing15 to be sane16. Had the despatch-box fallen into other hands than those for which it was intended, we stood criminally convicted on our own written testimony17; but, as I have said, we were neither of us in a condition to judge soberly, and had a thirst for action that drove us to do something, right or wrong, rather than endure the agony of waiting. Moreover, as we were both convinced that the hollows of the links were alive with hidden spies upon our movements, we hoped that our appearance with the box might lead to a parley18, and, perhaps, a compromise.
It was nearly three when we issued from the pavilion. The rain had taken off; the sun shone quite cheerfully.
I have never seen the gulls19 fly so close about the house or approach so fearlessly to human beings. On the very doorstep one flapped heavily past our heads, and uttered its wild cry in my very ear.
“There is an omen3 for you,” said Northmour, who like all freethinkers was much under the influence of superstition20. “They think we are already dead.”
I made some light rejoinder, but it was with half my heart; for the circumstance had impressed me.
A yard or two before the gate, on a patch of smooth turf, we set down the despatch-box; and Northmour waved a white handkerchief over his head. Nothing replied. We raised our voices, and cried aloud in Italian that we were there as ambassadors to arrange the quarrel; but the stillness remained unbroken save by the sea-gulls and the surf. I had a weight at my heart when we desisted; and I saw that even Northmour was unusually pale. He looked over his shoulder nervously22, as though he feared that some one had crept between him and the pavilion door.
“By God,” he said in a whisper, “this is too much for me!”
I replied in the same key: “Suppose there should be none, after all!”
“Look there,” he returned, nodding with his head, as though he had been afraid to point.
I glanced in the direction indicated; and there, from the northern quarter of the Sea-Wood, beheld23 a thin column of smoke rising steadily24 against the now cloudless sky.
“Northmour,” I said (we still continued to talk in whispers), “it is not possible to endure this suspense. I prefer death fifty times over. Stay you here to watch the pavilion; I will go forward and make sure, if I have to walk right into their camp.”
He looked once again all round him with puckered25 eyes, and then nodded assentingly to my proposal.
My heart beat like a sledge-hammer as I set out walking rapidly in the direction of the smoke; and, though up to that moment I had felt chill and shivering, I was suddenly conscious of a glow of heat over all my body. The ground in this direction was very uneven26; a hundred men might have lain hidden in as many square yards about my path. But I had not practised the business in vain, chose such routes as cut at the very root of concealment27, and, by keeping along the most convenient ridges28, commanded several hollows at a time. It was not long before I was rewarded for my caution. Coming suddenly on to a mound29 somewhat more elevated than the surrounding hummocks30, I saw, not thirty yards away, a man bent31 almost double, and running as fast as his attitude permitted, along the bottom of a gully. I had dislodged one of the spies from his ambush32. As soon as I sighted him, I called loudly both in English and Italian; and he, seeing concealment was no longer possible, straightened himself out, leaped from the gully, and made off as straight as an arrow for the borders of the wood.
It was none of my business to pursue; I had learned what I wanted — that we were beleaguered33 and watched in the pavilion; and I returned at once, and walking as nearly as possible in my old footsteps, to where Northmour awaited me beside the despatch-box. He was even paler than when I had left him, and his voice shook a little.
“Could you see what he was like?” he asked.
“He kept his back turned,” I replied.
“Let us get into the house, Frank. I don’t think I’m a coward, but I can stand no more of this,” he whispered.
All was still and sunshiny about the pavilion as we turned to re-enter it; even the gulls had flown in a wider circuit, and were seen flickering34 along the beach and sand-hills; and this loneliness terrified me more than a regiment35 under arms. It was not until the door was barricaded36 that I could draw a full inspiration and relieve the weight that lay upon my bosom37. Northmour and I exchanged a steady glance; and I suppose each made his own reflections on the white and startled aspect of the other.
“You were right,” I said. “All is over. Shake hands, old man, for the last time.”
“Yes,” replied he, “I will shake hands; for, as sure as I am here, I bear no malice38. But, remember, if, by some impossible accident, we should give the slip to these blackguards, I’ll take the upper hand of you by fair or foul39.”
“Oh,” said I, “you weary me!”
He seemed hurt, and walked away in silence to the foot of the stairs, where he paused.
“You do not understand,” said he. “I am not a swindler, and I guard myself; that is all. It may weary you or not, Mr. Cassilis, I do not care a rush; I speak for my own satisfaction, and not for your amusement. You had better go upstairs and court the girl; for my part, I stay here.”
“And I stay with you,” I returned. “Do you think I would steal a march, even with your permission?”
“Frank,” he said, smiling, “it’s a pity you are an ass21, for you have the makings of a man. I think I must be FEY to-day; you cannot irritate me even when you try. Do you know,” he continued softly, “I think we are the two most miserable men in England, you and I? we have got on to thirty without wife or child, or so much as a shop to look after — poor, pitiful, lost devils, both! And now we clash about a girl! As if there were not several millions in the United Kingdom! Ah, Frank, Frank, the one who loses this throw, be it you or me, he has my pity! It were better for him — how does the Bible say? — that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the depth of the sea. Let us take a drink,” he concluded suddenly, but without any levity40 of tone.
I was touched by his words, and consented. He sat down on the table in the dining-room, and held up the glass of sherry to his eye.
“If you beat me, Frank,” he said, “I shall take to drink. What will you do, if it goes the other way?”
“God knows,” I returned.
“Well,” said he, “here is a toast in the meantime: ‘ITALIA IRREDENTA!’”
The remainder of the day was passed in the same dreadful tedium41 and suspense. I laid the table for dinner, while Northmour and Clara prepared the meal together in the kitchen. I could hear their talk as I went to and fro, and was surprised to find it ran all the time upon myself. Northmour again bracketed us together, and rallied Clara on a choice of husbands; but he continued to speak of me with some feeling, and uttered nothing to my prejudice unless he included himself in the condemnation42. This awakened43 a sense of gratitude44 in my heart, which combined with the immediateness45 of our peril46 to fill my eyes with tears. After all, I thought — and perhaps the thought was laughably vain — we were here three very noble human beings to perish in defence of a thieving banker.
Before we sat down to table, I looked forth47 from an upstairs window. The day was beginning to decline; the links were utterly48 deserted49; the despatch-box still lay untouched where we had left it hours before.
Mr. Huddlestone, in a long yellow dressing-gown, took one end of the table, Clara the other; while Northmour and I faced each other from the sides. The lamp was brightly trimmed; the wine was good; the viands50, although mostly cold, excellent of their sort. We seemed to have agreed tacitly; all reference to the impending51 catastrophe52 was carefully avoided; and, considering our tragic53 circumstances, we made a merrier party than could have been expected. From time to time, it is true, Northmour or I would rise from table and make a round of the defences; and, on each of these occasions, Mr. Huddlestone was recalled to a sense of his tragic predicament, glanced up with ghastly eyes, and bore for an instant on his countenance54 the stamp of terror. But he hastened to empty his glass, wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, and joined again in the conversation.
I was astonished at the wit and information he displayed. Mr. Huddlestone’s was certainly no ordinary character; he had read and observed for himself; his gifts were sound; and, though I could never have learned to love the man, I began to understand his success in business, and the great respect in which he had been held before his failure. He had, above all, the talent of society; and though I never heard him speak but on this one and most unfavourable occasion, I set him down among the most brilliant conversationalists I ever met.
He was relating with great gusto, and seemingly no feeling of shame, the manoeuvres of a scoundrelly commission merchant whom he had known and studied in his youth, and we were all listening with an odd mixture of mirth and embarrassment55 when our little party was brought abruptly56 to an end in the most startling manner.
A noise like that of a wet finger on the window-pane interrupted Mr. Huddlestone’s tale; and in an instant we were all four as white as paper, and sat tongue-tied and motionless round the table.
“A snail,” I said at last; for I had heard that these animals make a noise somewhat similar in character.
“Snail be d-d!” said Northmour. “Hush!”
The same sound was repeated twice at regular intervals57; and then a formidable voice shouted through the shutters58 the Italian word “TRADITORE!”
Mr. Huddlestone threw his head in the air; his eyelids59 quivered; next moment he fell insensible below the table. Northmour and I had each run to the armoury and seized a gun. Clara was on her feet with her hand at her throat.
So we stood waiting, for we thought the hour of attack was certainly come; but second passed after second, and all but the surf remained silent in the neighbourhood of the pavilion.
“Quick,” said Northmour; “upstairs with him before they come.”
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1
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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4
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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6
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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8
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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10
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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11
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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12
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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13
advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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14
payable
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| adj.可付的，应付的，有利益的 | |
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15
professing
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| 声称( profess的现在分词 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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18
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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21
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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22
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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23
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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24
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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27
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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28
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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29
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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hummocks
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| n.小丘，岗( hummock的名词复数 ) | |
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31
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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32
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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33
beleaguered
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| adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰 | |
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flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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38
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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39
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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40
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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41
tedium
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| n.单调；烦闷 | |
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42
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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43
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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44
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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45
immediateness
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| 直接，立刻 | |
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46
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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47
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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48
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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49
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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50
viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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51
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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52
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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53
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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54
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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55
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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56
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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57
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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58
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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59
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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