While ascending4 the stairs of our hotel, I suffered under the most painful uncertainty5 as to how I should best communicate the news of my discovery to Alfred. If I could not succeed in preparing him properly for my tidings, the results, with such an organization as his, might be fatal. On opening the door of his room, I felt by no means sure of myself; and when I confronted him, his manner of receiving me took me so much by surprise that, for a moment or two, I lost my self-possession altogether.
Every trace of the lethargy in which he was sunk when I had last seen him had disappeared. His eyes were bright, his cheeks deeply flushed. As I entered, he started up, and refused my offered hand.
“You have not treated me like a friend,” he said, passionately7; “you had no right to continue the search unless I searched with you — you had no right to leave me here alone. I was wrong to trust you; you are no better than all the rest of them.”
I had by this time recovered a little from my first astonishment8, and was able to reply before he could say anything more. It was quite useless, in his present state, to reason with him or to defend myself. I determined10 to risk everything, and break my news to him at once.
“You will treat me more justly, Monkton, when you know that I have been doing you good service during my absence,” I said. “Unless I am greatly mistaken, the object for which we have left Naples may be nearer attainment12 by both of us than —”
The flush left his cheeks almost in an instant. Some expression in my face, or some tone in my voice, of which I was not conscious, had revealed to his nervously-quickened perception more than I had intended that he should know at first. His eyes fixed13 themselves intently on mine; his hand grasped my arm; and he said to me in an eager whisper:
“Tell me the truth at once. Have you found him?”
It was too late to hesitate. I answered in the affirmative.
“Buried or unburied?”
His voice rose abruptly14 as he put the question, and his unoccupied hand fastened on my other arm.
“Unburied.”
I had hardly uttered the word before the blood flew back into his cheeks; his eyes flashed again as they looked into mine, and he burst into a fit of triumphant15 laughter, which shocked and startled me inexpressibly.
“What did I tell you? What do you say to the old prophecy now?” he cried, dropping his hold on my arms, and pacing backward and forward in the room. “Own you were wrong. Own it, as all Naples shall own it, when once I have got him safe in his coffin16!”
His laughter grew more and mere17 violent. I tried to quiet him in vain. His servant and the landlord of the inn entered the room, but they only added fuel to the fire, and I made them go out again. As I shut the door on them, I observed lying on a table near at hand the packet of letters from Miss Elmslie, which my unhappy friend preserved with such care, and read and re-read with such unfailing devotion. Looking toward me just when I passed by the table, the letters caught his eye. The new hope for the future, in connection with the writer of them, which my news was already awakening18 in his heart, seemed to overwhelm him in an instant at sight of the treasured memorials that reminded him of his betrothed19 wife. His laughter ceased, his face changed, he ran to the table, caught the letters up in his hand, looked from them to me for one moment with an altered expression which went to my heart, then sank down on his knees at the table, laid his face on the letters, and burst into tears. I let the new emotion have its way uninterruptedly, and quitted the room without saying a word. When I returned after a lapse20 of some little time, I found him sitting quietly in his chair, reading one of the letters from the pack et which rested on his knee.
His look was kindness itself; his gesture almost womanly in its gentleness as he rose to meet me, and anxiously held out his hand.
He was quite calm enough now to hear in detail all that I had to tell him. I suppressed nothing but the particulars of the state in which I had found the corpse21. I assumed no right of direction as to the share he was to take in our future proceedings22, with the exception of insisting beforehand that he should leave the absolute superintendence of the removal of the body to me, and that he should be satisfied with a sight of M. Foulon’s paper, after receiving my assurance that the remains23 placed in the coffin were really and truly the remains of which we had been in search.
“Your nerves are not so strong as mine,” I said, by way of apology for my apparent dictation, “and for that reason I must beg leave to assume the leadership in all that we have now to do, until I see the leaden coffin soldered24 down and safe in your possession. After that I shall resign all my functions to you.”
“I want words to thank you for your kindness,” he answered. “No brother could have borne with me more affectionately, or helped me more patiently than you.”
He stopped and grew thoughtful, then occupied himself in tying up slowly and carefully the packet of Miss Elmslie’s letters, and then looked suddenly toward the vacant wall behind me with that strange expression the meaning of which I knew so well. Since we had left Naples I had purposely avoided exciting him by talking on the useless and shocking subject of the apparition25 by which he believed himself to be perpetually followed. Just now, however, he seemed so calm and collected — so little likely to be violently agitated26 by any allusion27 to the dangerous topic, that I ventured to speak out boldly.
“Does the phantom28 still appear to you,” I asked, “as it appeared at Naples?”
He looked at me and smiled.
“Did I not tell you that it followed me everywhere?” His eyes wandered back again to the vacant space, and he went on speaking in that direction as if he had been continuing the conversation with some third person in the room. “We shall part,” he said, slowly and softly, “when the empty place is filled in Wincot vault29. Then I shall stand with Ada before the altar in the Abbey chapel30, and when my eyes meet hers they will see the tortured face no more.”
Saying this, he leaned his head on his hand, sighed, and began repeating softly to himself the lines of the old prophecy:
When in Wincot vault a place
Waits for one of Monkton’s race —
When that one forlorn shall lie
Graveless under open sky,
Beggared of six feet of earth,
Though lord of acres from his birth —
That shall be a certain sign
Of the end of Monktons line.
Dwindling31 ever faster, faster,
Dwindling to the last-left master;
From mortal ken11, from light of day,
Monkton’s race shall pass away.”
Fancying that he pronounced the last lines a little incoherently, I tried to make him change the subject. He took no notice of what I said, and went on talking to himself.
“Monkton’s race shall pass away,” he repeated, “but not with me. The fatality32 hangs over my head no longer. I shall bury the unburied dead; I shall fill the vacant place in Wincot vault; and then — then the new life, the life with Ada!” That name seemed to recall him to himself. He drew his traveling desk toward him, placed the packet of letters in it, and then took out a sheet of paper. “I am going to write to Ada,” he said, turning to me, “and tell her the good news. Her happiness, when she knows it, will be even greater than mine.”
Worn out by the events of the day, I left him writing and went to bed. I was, however, either too anxious or too tired to sleep. In this waking condition, my mind naturally occupied itself with the discovery at the convent and with the events to which that discovery would in all probability lead. As I thought on the future, a depression for which I could not account weighed on my spirits. There was not the slightest reason for the vaguely33 melancholy34 forebodings that oppressed me. The remains, to the finding of which my unhappy friend attached so much importance, had been traced; they would certainly be placed at his disposal in a few days; he might take them to England by the first merchant vessel36 that sailed from Naples; and, the gratification of his strange caprice thus accomplished37, there was at least some reason to hope that his mind might recover its tone, and that the new life he would lead at Wincot might result in making him a happy man. Such considerations as these were, in themselves, certainly not calculated to exert any melancholy influence over me; and yet, all through the night, the same inconceivable, unaccountable depression weighed heavily on my spirits — heavily through the hours of darkness — heavily, even when I walked out to breathe the first freshness of the early morning air.
With the day came the all-engrossing business of opening negotiations38 with the authorities.
Only those who have had to deal with Italian officials can imagine how our patience was tried by every one with whom we came in contact. We were bandied about from one authority to the other, were stared at, cross-questioned, mystified — not in the least because the case presented any special difficulties or intricacies, but because it was absolutely necessary that every civil dignitary to whom we applied39 should assert his own importance by leading us to our object in the most roundabout manner possible. After our first day’s experience of official life in Italy, I left the absurd formalities, which we had no choice but to perform, to be accomplished by Alfred alone, and applied myself to the really serious question of how the remains in the convent outhouse were to be safely removed.
The best plan that suggested itself to me was to write to a friend in Rome, where I knew that it was a custom to embalm40 the bodies of high dignitaries of the Church, and where, I consequently inferred, such chemical assistance as was needed in our emergency might be obtained. I simply stated in my letter that the removal of the body was imperative41, then described the condition in which I had found it, and engaged that no expense on our part should be spared if the right person or persons could be found to help us. Here, again, more difficulties interposed themselves, and more useless formalities were to be gone through, but in the end patience, perseverance42, and money triumphed, and two men came expressly from Rome to undertake the duties we required of them.
It is unnecessary that I should shock the reader by entering into any detail in this part of my narrative43. When I have said that the progress of decay was so far suspended by chemical means as to allow of the remains being placed in the coffin, and to insure their being transported to England with perfect safety and convenience, I have said enough. After ten days had been wasted in useless delays and difficulties, I had the satisfaction of seeing the convent outhouse empty at last; passed through a final ceremony of snuff-taking, or rather, of snuff-giving, with the old Capuchin, and ordered the traveling carriages to be ready at the inn door. Hardly a month had elapsed since our departure ere we entered Naples successful in the achievement of a design which had been ridiculed44 as wildly impracticable by every friend of ours who had heard of it.
The first object to be accomplished on our return was to obtain the means of carrying the coffin to England — by sea, as a matter of course. All inquiries45 after a merchant vessel on the point of sailing for any British port led to the most unsatisfactory results. There was only one way of insuring the immediate2 transportation of the remains to England, and that was to hire a vessel. Impatient to return, and resolved not to lose sight of the coffin till he had seen it placed in Wincot vault, Monkton decided46 immediately on hiring the first ship that could be obtained. The vessel in port which we were informed could soonest be got ready for sea was a Sicilian brig, and this vessel my friend accordingly engaged. The best dock-yard artisans that could be got were set to work, and the smartest captain and crew to be picked up on an emergency in Naples were chosen to navigate47 the brig.
Monkton, after again expressing in the warmest terms his gratitude48 for the services I had rendered him, disclaimed49 any intention of asking me to accompany him on the voyage to England. Greatly to his surprise and delight, however, I offered of my own accord to take passage in the brig. The strange coincidences I had witnessed, the extraordinary discovery I had hit on since our first meeting in Naples, had made his one great interest in life my one great interest for the time being as well. I shared none of his delusions51, poor fellow; but it is hardly an exaggeration to say that my eagerness to follow our remarkable52 adventure to its end was as great as his anxiety to see the coffin laid in Wincot vault. Curiosity influenced me, I am afraid, almost as strongly as friendship, when I offered myself as the companion of his voyage home.
We set sail for England on a calm and lovely afternoon.
For the first time since I had known him, Monkton seemed to be in high spirits. He talked and jested on all sorts of subjects, and laughed at me for allowing my cheerfulness to be affected53 by the dread54 of seasickness55. I had really no such fear; it was my excuse to my friend for a return of that unaccountable depression under which I had suffered at Fondi. Everything was in our favor; everybody on board the brig was in good spirits. The captain was delighted with the vessel; the crew, Italians and Maltese, were in high glee at the prospect56 of making a short voyage on high wages in a well-provisioned ship. I alone felt heavy at heart. There was no valid57 reason that I could assign to myself for the melancholy that oppressed me, and yet I struggled against it in vain.
Late on our first night at sea, I made a discovery which was by no means calculated to restore my spirits to their usual equilibrium58. Monkton was in the cabin, on the floor of which had been placed the packing-case containing the coffin, and I was on deck. The wind had fallen almost to a calm, and I was lazily watching the sails of the brig as they flapped from time to time against the masts, when the captain approached, and, drawing me out of hearing of the man at the helm, whispered in my ear:
“There’s something wrong among the men forward. Did you observe how suddenly they all became silent just before sunset?”
I had observed it, and told him so.
“There’s a Maltese boy on board,” pursued the captain, “who is a smart enough lad, but a bad one to deal with. I have found out that he has been telling the men there is a dead body inside that packing-case of your friend’s in the cabin.”
My heart sank as he spoke59. Knowing the superstitious60 irrationality61 of sailors — of foreign sailors especially — I had taken care to spread a report on board the brig, before the coffin was shipped, that the packing-case contained a valuable marble statue which Mr. Monkton prized highly, and was unwilling62 to trust out of his own sight. How could this Maltese boy have discovered that the pretended statue was a human corpse? As I pondered over the question, my suspicions fixed themselves on Monkton’s servant, who spoke Italian fluently, and whom I knew to be an incorrigible63 gossip. The man denied it when I charged him with betraying us, but I have never believed his denial to this day.
“The little imp35 won’t say where he picked up this notion of his about the dead body,” continued the captain. “It’s not my place to pry64 into secrets; but I advise you to call the crew aft, and contradict the boy, whether he speaks the truth or not. The men are a parcel of fools who believe in ghosts, and all the rest of it. Some of them say they would never have signed our articles if they had known they were going to sail with a dead man; others only grumble65; but I’m afraid we shall have some trouble with them all, in case of rough weather, unless the boy is contradicted by you or the other gentleman. The men say that if either you or your friend tell them on your words of honor that the Maltese is a liar66, they will hand him up to be rope’s-ended accordingly; but that if you won’t, they have made up their minds to believe the boy.”
Here the captain paused and awaited my answer. I could give him none. I felt hopeless under our desperate emergency. To get the boy punished by giving my word of honor to support a direct falsehood was not to be thought of even for a moment. What other means of extrication67 from this miserable68 dilemma69 remained? None that I could think of. I thanked the captain for his attention to our interests, told him I would take time to consider what course I should pursue, and begged that he would say nothing to my friend about the discovery he had made. He promised to be silent, sulkily enough, and walked away from me.
We had expected the breeze to spring up with the morning, but no breeze came. As it wore on toward noon the atmosphere became insufferably sultry, and the sea looked as smooth as glass. I saw the captain’s eye turn often and anxiously to windward. Far away in that direction, and alone in the blue heaven, I observed a little black cloud, and asked if it would bring us any wind.
“More than we want,” the captain replied, shortly; and then, to my astonishment, ordered the crew aloft to take in sail. The execution of this maneuver70 showed but too plainly the temper of the men; they did their work sulkily and slowly, grumbling71 and murmuring among themselves. The captain’s manner, as he urged them on with oaths and threats, convinced me we were in danger. I looked again to windward. The one little cloud had enlarged to a great bank of murky72 vapor73, and the sea at the horizon had changed in color.
“The squall will be on us before we know where we are,” said the captain. “Go below; you will be only in the way here.”
I descended74 to the cabin, and prepared Monkton for what was coming. He was still questioning me about what I had observed on deck when the storm burst on us. We felt the little brig strain for an instant as if she would part in two, then she seemed to be swinging round with us, then to be quite still for a moment, trembling in every timber. Last came a shock which hurled75 us from our seats, a deafening76 crash, and a flood of water pouring into the cabin. We clambered, half drowned, to the deck. The brig had, in the nautical77 phrase, “broached to,” and she now lay on her beam-ends.
Before I could make out anything distinctly in the horrible confusion except the one tremendous certainty that we were entirely78 at the mercy of the sea, I heard a voice from the fore3 part of the ship which stilled the clamoring and shouting of the rest of the crew in an instant. The words were in Italian, but I understood their fatal meaning only too easily. We had sprung a leak, and the sea was pouring into the ship’s hold like the race of a mill-stream. The captain did not lose his presence of mind in this fresh emergency. He called for his ax to cut away the foremast, and, ordering some of the crew to help him, directed the others to rig out the pumps.
The words had hardly passed his lips before the men broke into open mutiny. With a savage79 look at me, their ringleader declared that the passengers might do as they pleased, but that he and his messmates were determined to take to the boat, and leave the accursed ship, and the dead man in her, to go to the bottom together. As he spoke there was a shout among the sailors, and I observed some of them pointing derisively80 behind me. Looking round, I saw Monkton, who had hitherto kept close at my side, making his way back to the cabin. I followed him directly, but the water and confusion on deck, and the impossibility, from the position of the brig, of moving the feet without the slow assistance of the hands, so impeded81 my progress that it was impossible for me to overtake him. When I had got below he was crouched82 upon the coffin, with the water on the cabin floor whirling and splashing about him as the ship heaved and plunged83. I saw a warning brightness in his eyes, a warning flush on his cheek, as I approached and said to him:
“There is nothing left for it, Alfred, but to bow to our misfortune, and do the best we can to save our lives.”
“Save yours,” he cried, waving his hand to me, “for you have a future before you. Mine is gone when this coffin goes to the bottom. If the ship sinks, I shall know that the fatality is accomplished, and shall sink with her.”
I saw that he was in no state to be reasoned with or persuaded, and raised myself again to the deck. The men were cutting away all obstacles so as to launch the longboat placed amidships over the depressed84 bulwark85 of the brig as she lay on her side, and the captain, after having made a last vain exertion86 to restore his authority, was looking on at them in silence. The violence of the squall seemed already to be spending itself, and I asked whether there was really no chance for us if we remained by the ship. The captain answered that there might have been the best chance if the men had obeyed his orders, but that now there was none. Knowing that I could place no dependence87 on the presence of mind of Monkton’s servant, I confided88 to the captain, in the fewest and plainest words, the condition of my unhappy friend, and asked if I might depend on his help. He nodded his head, and we descended together to the cabin. Even at this day it costs me pain to write of the terrible necessity to which the strength and obstinacy89 of Monkton’s delusion50 reduced us in the last resort. We were compelled to secure his hands, and drag him by main force to the deck. The men were on the point of launching the boat, and refused at first to receive us into it.
“You cowards!” cried the captain, “have we got the dead man with us this time? Isn’t he going to the bottom along with the brig? Who are you afraid of when we get into the boat?”
This sort of appeal produced the desired effect; the men became ashamed of themselves, and retracted90 their refusal.
Just as we pushed off from the sinking ship Alfred made an effort to break from me, but I held him firm, and he never repeated the attempt. He sat by me with drooping91 head, still and silent, while the sailors rowed away from the vessel; still and silent when, with one accord, they paused at a little distance off, and we all waited and watched to see the brig sink; still and silent, even when that sinking happened, when the laboring92 hull93 plunged slowly into a hollow of the sea — hesitated, as it seemed, for one moment, rose a little again, then sank to rise no more.
Sank with her dead freight — sank, and snatched forever from our power the corpse which we had discovered almost by a miracle — those jealously-preserved remains, on the safe-keeping of which rested so strangely the hopes and the love-destinies of two living beings! As the last signs of the ship in the depths of the waters.
I felt Monkton trembling all over as he sat close at my side, and heard him repeating to himself, sadly, and many times over, the name of “Ada.”
I tried to turn his thoughts to another subject, but it was useless. He pointed94 over the sea to where the brig had once been, and where nothing was left to look at but the rolling waves.
“The empty place will now remain empty forever in Wincot vault.”
As he said these words, he fixed his eyes for a moment sadly and earnestly on my face, then looked away, leaned his cheek on his hand, and spoke no more.
We were sighted long before nightfall by a trading vessel, were taken on board, and landed at Cartagena in Spain. Alfred never held up his head, and never once spoke to me of his own accord the whole time we were at sea in the merchantman. I observed, however, with alarm, that he talked often and incoherently to himself — constantly muttering the lines of the old prophecy — constantly referring to the fatal place that was empty in Wincot vault — constantly repeating in broken accents, which it affected me inexpressibly to hear, the name of the poor girl who was awaiting his return to England. Nor were these the only causes for the apprehension95 that I now felt on his account. Toward the end of our voyage he began to suffer from alternations of fever-fits and shivering-fits, which I ignorantly imagined to be attacks of ague. I was soon undeceived. We had hardly been a day on shore before he became so much worse that I secured the best medical assistance Cartagena could afford. For a day or two the doctors differed, as usual, about the nature of his complaint, but ere long alarming symptoms displayed themselves. The medical men declared that his life was in danger, and told me that his disease was brain fever.
Shocked and grieved as I was, I hardly knew how to act at first under the fresh responsibility now laid upon me. Ultimately I decided on writing to the old priest who had been Alfred’s tutor, and who, as I knew, still resided at Wincot Abbey. I told this gentleman all that had happened, begged him to break my melancholy news as gently as possible to Miss Elmslie, and assured him of my resolution to remain with Monkton to the last.
After I had dispatched my letter, and had sent to Gibraltar to secure the best English medical advice that could be obtained, I felt that I had done my best, and that nothing remained but to wait and hope.
Many a sad and anxious hour did I pass by my poor friend’s bedside. Many a time did I doubt whether I had done right in giving any encouragement to his delusion. The reasons for doing so which had suggested themselves to me after my first interview with him seemed, however, on reflection, to be valid reasons still. The only way of hastening his return to England and to Miss Elmslie, who was pining for that return, was the way I had taken. It was not my fault that a disaster which no man could foresee had overthrown96 all his projects and all mine. But, now that the calamity97 had happened and was irretrievable, how, in the event of his physical recovery, was his moral malady98 to be combated?
When I reflected on the hereditary99 taint6 in his mental organization, on that first childish fright of Stephen Monkton from which he had never recovered, on the perilously-secluded life that he had led at the Abbey, and on his firm persuasion100 of the reality of the apparition by which he believed himself to be constantly followed, I confess I despaired of shaking his superstitious faith in every word and line of the old family prophecy. If the series of striking coincidences which appeared to attest101 its truth had made a strong and lasting102 impression on me (and this was assuredly the case), how could I wonder that they had produced the effect of absolute conviction on his mind, constituted as it was? If I argued with him, and he answered me, how could I rejoin? If he said, “The prophecy points at the last of the family: I am the last of the family. The prophecy mentions an empty place in Wincot vault; there is such an empty place there at this moment. On the faith of the prophecy I told you that Stephen Monkton’s body was unburied, and you found that it was unburied”— if he said this, what use would it be for me to reply, “These are only strange coincidences after all?”
The more I thought of the task that lay before me, if he recovered, the more I felt inclined to despond. The oftener the English physician who attended on him said to me, “He may get the better of the fever, but he has a fixed idea, which never leaves him night or day, which has unsettled his reason, and which will end in killing103 him, unless you or some of his friends can remove it”— the oftener I heard this, the more acutely I felt my own powerlessness, the more I shrank from every idea that was connected with the hopeless future.
I had only expected to receive my answer from Wincot in the shape of a letter. It was consequently a great surprise, as well as a great relief, to be informed one day that two gentlemen wished to speak with me, and to find that of these two gentlemen the first was the old priest, and the second a male relative of Mrs. Elmslie.
Just before their arrival the fever symptoms had disappeared, and Alfred had been pronounced out of danger. Both the priest and his companion were eager to know when the sufferer would be strong enough to travel. The y had come to Cartagena expressly to take him home with them, and felt far more hopeful than I did of the restorative effects of his native air. After all the questions connected with the first important point of the journey to England had been asked and answered, I ventured to make some inquiries after Miss Elmslie. Her relative informed me that she was suffering both in body and in mind from excess of anxiety on Alfred’s account. They had been obliged to deceive her as to the dangerous nature of his illness in order to deter9 her from accompanying the priest and her relation on their mission to Spain.
Slowly and imperfectly, as the weeks wore on, Alfred regained104 something of his former physical strength, but no alteration105 appeared in his illness as it affected his mind.
From the very first day of his advance toward recovery, it had been discovered that the brain fever had exercised the strangest influence over his faculties106 of memory. All recollection of recent events was gone from him. Everything connected with Naples, with me, with his journey to Italy, had dropped in some mysterious manner entirely out of his remembrance. So completely had all late circumstances passed from his memory that, though he recognized the old priest and his own servant easily on the first days of his convalescence107, he never recognized me, but regarded me with such a wistful, doubting expression, that I felt inexpressibly pained when I approached his bedside. All his questions were about Miss Elmslie and Wincot Abbey, and all his talk referred to the period when his father was yet alive.
The doctors augured108 good rather than ill from this loss of memory of recent incidents, saying that it would turn out to be temporary, and that it answered the first great healing purpose of keeping his mind at ease. I tried to believe them — tried to feel as sanguine109, when the day came for his departure, as the old friends felt who were taking him home. But the effort was too much for me. A foreboding that I should never see him again oppressed my heart, and the tears came into my eyes as I saw the worn figure of my poor friend half helped, half lifted into the traveling-carriage, and borne away gently on the road toward home.
He had never recognized me, and the doctors had begged that I would give him, for some time to come, as few opportunities as possible of doing so. But for this request I should have accompanied him to England. As it was, nothing better remained for me to do than to change the scene, and recruit as I best could my energies of body and mind, depressed of late by much watching and anxiety. The famous cities of Spain were not new to me, but I visited them again and revived old impressions of the Alhambra and Madrid. Once or twice I thought of making a pilgrimage to the East, but late events had sobered and altered me. That yearning110, unsatisfied feeling which we call “homesickness” began to prey111 upon my heart, and I resolved to return to England.
I went back by way of Paris, having settled with the priest that he should write to me at my banker’s there as soon as he could after Alfred had returned to Wincot. If I had gone to the East, the letter would have been forwarded to me. I wrote to prevent this; and, on my arrival at Paris, stopped at the banker’s before I went to my hotel.
The moment the letter was put into my hands, the black border on the envelope told me the worst. He was dead.
There was but one consolation112 — he had died calmly, almost happily, without once referring to those fatal chances which had wrought113 the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy. “My beloved pupil,” the old priest wrote, “seemed to rally a little the first few days after his return, but he gained no real strength, and soon suffered a slight relapse of fever. After this he sank gradually and gently day by day, and so departed from us on the last dread journey. Miss Elmslie (who knows that I am writing this) desires me to express her deep and lasting gratitude for all your kindness to Alfred. She told me when we brought him back that she had waited for him as his promised wife, and that she would nurse him now as a wife should; and she never left him. His face was turned toward her, his hand was clasped in hers when he died. It will console you to know that he never mentioned events at Naples, or the shipwreck114 that followed them, from the day of his return to the day of his death.”
Three days after reading the letter I was at Wincot, and heard all the details of Alfred’s last moments from the priest. I felt a shock which it would not be very easy for me to analyze115 or explain when I heard that he had been buried, at his own desire, in the fatal Abbey vault.
The priest took me down to see the place — a grim, cold, subterranean116 building, with a low roof, supported on heavy Saxon arches. Narrow niches118, with the ends only of coffins119 visible within them, ran down each side of the vault. The nails and silver ornaments120 flashed here and there as my companion moved past them with a lamp in his hand. At the lower end of the place he stopped, pointed to a niche117, and said, “He lies there, between his father and mother.” I looked a little further on, and saw what appeared at first like a long dark tunnel. “That is only an empty niche,” said the priest, following me. “If the body of Mr. Stephen Monkton had been brought to Wincot, his coffin would have been placed there.”
A chill came over me, and a sense of dread which I am ashamed of having felt now, but which I could not combat then. The blessed light of day was pouring down gayly at the other end of the vault through the open door. I turned my back on the empty niche, and hurried into the sunlight and the fresh air.
As I walked across the grass glade121 leading down to the vault, I heard the rustle122 of a woman’s dress behind me, and turning round, saw a young lady advancing, clad in deep mourning. Her sweet, sad face, her manner as she held out her hand, told me who it was in an instant.
“I heard that you were here,” she said, “and I wished —” Her voice faltered123 a little. My heart ached as I saw how her lip trembled, but before I could say anything she recovered herself and went on: “I wished to take your hand, and thank you for your brotherly kindness to Alfred; and I wanted to tell you that I am sure in all you did you acted tenderly and considerately for the best. Perhaps you may be soon going away from home again, and we may not meet any more. I shall never, never forget that you were kind to him when he wanted a friend, and that you have the greatest claim of any one on earth to be gratefully remembered in my thoughts as long as I live.”
The inexpressible tenderness of her voice, trembling a little all the while she spoke, the pale beauty of her face, the artless candor124 in her sad, quiet eyes, so affected me that I could not trust myself to answer her at first except by gesture. Before I recovered my voice she had given me her hand once more and had left me.
I never saw her again. The chances and changes of life kept us apart. When I last heard of her, years and years ago, she was faithful to the memory of the dead, and was Ada Elmslie still for Alfred Monkton’s sake.
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1
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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2
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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3
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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4
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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5
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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6
taint
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| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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9
deter
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| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
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10
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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12
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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13
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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14
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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15
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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16
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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17
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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18
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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19
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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20
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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21
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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22
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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23
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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24
soldered
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| v.（使）焊接，焊合( solder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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27
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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28
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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29
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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30
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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31
dwindling
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| adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 ) | |
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32
fatality
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| n.不幸，灾祸，天命 | |
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33
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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34
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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35
imp
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| n.顽童 | |
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36
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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37
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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38
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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39
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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40
embalm
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| v.保存（尸体）不腐 | |
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41
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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42
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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43
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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44
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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46
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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47
navigate
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| v.航行，飞行；导航，领航 | |
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48
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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49
disclaimed
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| v.否认( disclaim的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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51
delusions
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| n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想 | |
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52
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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53
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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54
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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55
seasickness
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| n.晕船 | |
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56
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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57
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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58
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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59
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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60
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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61
irrationality
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| n. 不合理，无理性 | |
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62
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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63
incorrigible
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| adj.难以纠正的，屡教不改的 | |
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64
pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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65
grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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66
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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67
extrication
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| n.解脱；救出，解脱 | |
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68
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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69
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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70
maneuver
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| n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略 | |
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71
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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72
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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73
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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74
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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75
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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76
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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77
nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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78
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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79
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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80
derisively
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| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
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81
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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84
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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85
bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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86
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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87
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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88
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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89
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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90
retracted
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| v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回 | |
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91
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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92
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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93
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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94
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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95
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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96
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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97
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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98
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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99
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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100
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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101
attest
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| vt.证明，证实；表明 | |
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102
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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103
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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104
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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105
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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106
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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107
convalescence
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| n.病后康复期 | |
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108
augured
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| v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的过去式和过去分词 )；成为预兆；占卜 | |
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109
sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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110
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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111
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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112
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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113
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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114
shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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115
analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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116
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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117
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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118
niches
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| 壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位） | |
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119
coffins
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| n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物 | |
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120
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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121
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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122
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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123
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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candor
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| n.坦白，率真 | |
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