Agueda knew not the meaning of those words of calculation—"the world." She had never known the world, she had never seen the world. She found herself living as many did about her. Only that they had heart-burnings, jealousies1, disappointments, and sorrows. She was secure, and she pitied them that their lots had not been cast within so safe a fold as hers. Her nature, if ignorant, was undefiled and undepraved; and noble, in that she[Pg 23] found no sacrifice too great for this splendid young god who claimed her. What else was her mission in life but to make his life as near Heaven as earthly existence could become? She stretched out her young arms to the sky with a glow of happiness that asked nothing further of God. There were the mountains, the fields, the forests, the plantations3, the river, and the rambling4, thatched casa. These made for her the world.
Sometimes she thought of and pitied Aneta at El Cuco. Poor Aneta, who had thought that a life-long happiness was hers, when suddenly one day Don Mateo had returned from the city with a bride.
"Poor Aneta!" Agueda used often to say, with a pitying smile through which her own contentment broke in ripples5 of joy. How could she trust a man like Don Mateo? As Agueda sat and thought, she mended with anxious but unskilled fingers the pile of linen7 which old Juana had brought in from the ironing room. Juana had clumped9 along the back veranda10 and set the basket down with a heavy thump11. There were table linen and bed linen, there were the Se?or's striped shirts of fine material from the North, and his dainty underwear, and Agueda's neat waists and collars keeping company with them in truly domestic manner. Agueda had never done menial work; Uncle Adan's position as[Pg 24] manager of the plantation2 had secured something better for his niece.
If Uncle Adan knew the truth, he made no sign. The lax state of morals in the country had always been the same. In reality he saw no harm in it. Besides which, had he wished to, what change could he make—he, a simple manager and farming man, against the owner of the hacienda, a rich and powerful Se?or from Adan's point of view.
Suddenly Agueda remembered that she had not seen Aneta for a long time. She would go now, this very minute, and pay the visit so long overdue12. She arose at once. With characteristic carelessness she dropped the sheet upon which she had been engaged on the floor, took from its peg13 the old straw hat, and clapped it over her boyish curls. The hat was yellow, it had a peaked crown, and twisted round the crown was a handkerchief of pale blue. Agueda made no toilet; she hardly looked at her smiling image in the glass. From the corner of the room she took a time-worn umbrella, which had once been white, and started towards the door. A backward glance showed her the confusion of the room. For herself she did not care, but the Se?or might come in perhaps before her return. He had gone to the mail-station across the bay; the post-office and the bank were both there. He was bringing home some bags of pesos with which to[Pg 25] pay his men. Possibly he would bring a letter or two from the fruit agents, or the merchant to whom he sold the little coffee that he raised; but the pesos were more of a certainty than the letters. If he returned home before her, the sitting-room14 would have a disorderly appearance, and he disliked disorder15. His mother, the Do?a Maria, had been a very neat old lady.
There are some persons to whom order and neatness are inborn16. With a touch of a deft17 finger here or there, an apartment becomes at once a place where the most critical may enter. To others it is a labor18 to make a room appear well cared for. It may be immaculate in all that pertains19 to dust or the thorough cleanliness of linen or woodwork, but the power to so impress the beholder20 is lacking. Agueda was one of these. She sighed as she gazed at the unkempt appearance of the room. There was not much the matter, and yet she did not know how to remedy it. She re-entered the room and picked up the sheet from the floor, together with a pillow-slip whose starched21 glossiness22 had caused it to slide down to keep the sheet company. Folding these, not any too precisely23, she laid them upon the chair where she had lately sat. Then she glanced around the room again. Its careless air still offended her, but time was flying, and she had a long walk before her. Suddenly she put her[Pg 26] hand to her ear and took from behind it the rose that had been there since early morning. It was the first that she had struggled to raise, and it had repaid her efforts, in that hot section of the country, by dwining and dwindling24 like a puny25 child. Still, it was a rose. She laid it on the badly folded sheet; it gave an air of habitation to the room. She smiled down at this, her messenger. She gave the linen a final pat and went out, closing the door softly. It was as if a young mother had left her sleeping child to be awakened26 by its father, should he be the first to return.
"It is something of me," thought Agueda. "It will be the first to greet him."
Agueda stepped out on the broad veranda. The loose old boards creaked even under her slight weight.
"Juana!" she called, "I'm going to see Aneta at El Cuco." She made no other explanation. He would ask as soon as he returned, and they would tell him.
"Youah neva fin6 youah roaad in dis yer fawg," squeaked27 Juana.
"The fog may lift," laughed Agueda.
The river, forgetful of its past turbulence28, smiled and glanced and beckoned29 as it slipped tranquilly30 onward31, but Agueda did not answer the summons. She turned abruptly32 to the right and crossed the[Pg 27] well-known potrero path. This led her for a quarter of a mile through the mellow33 pasture-land, where horses were browsing34. The grey was not there—sure sign of his master's absence, but the little chestnut35 was in evidence, and farther along, beyond the wire fence, were the great bulls, which had not been driven afield with the suckers. There stood C?sar, the big brown bull with the great, irregular white spots. Agueda went close to the fence, and picked a handful of sweet herbs, such as C?sar loved.
"C?sar," she called, "C?sar, it is I that have the sweet things for you."
C?sar threw up his head quickly, tossing long strings36 of saliva37 into the air. He stood for a moment with hesitant look, then perceiving that it was Agueda, trotted38, tail held stiff, to where she waited, her hand held out to him. He extended his thick neck, holding his wet, pink nostrils39 just over the barrier, wound his dripping tongue round the dainty, and then withdrew his head that he might eat with ease.
"Too bad, poor C?sar, that the horses get all the sweets, and you none." With awkward arm held high, that she might not catch her sleeve upon the topmost wire, she patted the animal's nose; then thrust one more bunch of grass into the ready cavity, and turning, ran along toward the rise.
[Pg 28]
When Agueda had closed the rickety potrero gate, she started up the elevation40 which confronted her. Here the young bananas were just showing above the ground. She had deplored41 the fact that this pretty hill-forest had been sacrificed to banana culture, and had hated to see the great giants which she had known from childhood cut and slashed42. At the fall of each one of them she had felt as if she had lost a friend. "I shall never sit under the gri-gri again," she had thought, "and eat my guavas as I look down on the river"; or, "I shall never again play house beneath the old mahogany that stood up there at the edge of the meadow." The face of nature was changed for her in this particular. It was the only thing that she had to make her unhappy. Who among us would think the world a sadder place because of the felling of a tree! The stumps43 stood even with Agueda's shoulder, for Natalio, that African giant, was the axe-man of the hacienda. His ringing strokes struck hip44 high. It was less work to cut through the trunk some distance above its spreading roots. There was no clearing up nor carrying away of branches or limbs. With all their massive foliage45, the branches were hacked46 from the parent stem, and left to dry in the tropic sun. They were then placed in great piles about the mother tree, lighted, and left to burn. Sometimes these fallen denizens[Pg 29] of the wood, whose life had seen generations of puny men fade and wither47, and other generations spring up and die while they stood splendid and vigourous, refused to be annihilated48. The fallen trunk remained for years, proof of the vandalism of man. More often, a long line of ashes marked the spot where the giant had blazed, then smouldered sullenly49, to become wind-blown, intangible. This great woodland crematory having been made ready by death for the life that was to spring up through its vanquishment, the peons came with their machetes and dug the graves in which the bulbs, teeming50 with quiescent51 life, were to be planted, each sucker twelve feet from any one of its neighbors, there to be warmed and nurtured52 in the bosom53 of Mother Earth. Because exposed upon a windy hillside, the bulbs had been placed in their graves head and sprouting54 end downward, and at the depth of ten inches. This was a provision against hurricanes, which, with all their power, find it difficult to uproot55 so securely planted a stalk.
And now the field which she had helped to "avita"—for one gives in when the tide of circumstances flows too strong—the waste whose seed-graves she had seen dug, whose bulbs she had seen buried from sight, had suddenly become a field of life once more. Pale green spears were springing up in every direction—a light, wonderful green with a[Pg 30] tinge56 of yellow. The spatulated leaves were handsomest, Agueda thought, when spotted57 or marked with brown, or a rich chocolate shade. In their tender infancy58 they were the loveliest things on earth, she thought, as she ran about the damp, hot hillside, comparing one with another; and as she again returned to the path, she nearly stumbled against the ebony giant, who, standing59 just at the edge of the field, was watching her.
"It is wonderful, Natalio," she said, "how quickly they have sprouted60." She smiled upward.
"Si, Se?orit'," said Natalio, smiling down. "It is the early rains that bring the life. Perhaps the good God may be thanked a little, too, but it is the good soil, and the rains most of all."
He stooped his great height, and took some of the earth in his fingers. "It is the caliche so the Se?or says." He rubbed the disintegrated61 gravelly mass between his fingers. Some of it powdered away. The fine bits of stone that it contained dropped in a faint patter upon his feet.
"I never heard the Se?or say that," said Agueda, with the air of one who would know what were the Se?or's favourite convictions, "but of course he knows, the Se?or."
"Bieng," said Natalio. "It is certain that the Se?or knows."
[Pg 31]
Agueda moved on up the hill. She felt, crunching62 beneath her feet, the shells of the circular grub which had lost life and home in this terrific holocaust63.
"It seems hard," mused64 Agueda, "that some things must die that other things may be created." She smiled as she said this. She need not die that other things might live. It had no personal application for her. At least it would not have for sixty or eighty years, and that was a whole lifetime. She might not be glad to die even then! Agueda had reached the summit of the hill. She turned to look back at Natalio. He was standing gazing after her. When he saw her turn he expanded his handsome lips into a smile, showing his white teeth. Then he uncovered his head, and swept the ground with his ragged65 Panama hat. He called; Agueda could not hear at first what he said.
"Que es eso?" she called back in answer.
Natalio approached a few feet with his great strides.
"I asked if the Se?orit' would not ride the bull?"
"Pablo is away," said Agueda. "I cannot go alone. The Se?or will not have me to ride the bull alone."
"El Caballo Casta?o, Se?orit'," said Natalio, suggestively, approaching nearer.
"Would you saddle him, Natalio?" asked[Pg 32] Agueda, thinking this an excellent change of programme.
"It would give me pleasure, Se?orit'," said Natalio.
Agueda turned and began to walk rapidly down the hill.
"The small man's saddle, Natalio," she called. "I will be ready in a moment." Agueda ran down the hill, keeping ahead of the giant, and sped across the potrero. She flew to her room. There lay the rose as she had left it upon the chair, but she had no time for sentiment. The horse would be at the door in a moment, and indeed, before she had changed her skirt for the cotton riding garment that she usually wore, and which our ladies have imported of late under the name of a divided skirt, Natalio was at the steps. Agueda buckled66 on her spur, and was out on the veranda in the twinkling of an eye. Uncle Adan was coming up from the river. He saw her stand upon the second step and throw her leg boy-fashion over the saddle, seize the whip from Natalio, and canter away again toward the hill. To his shout of "Where are you going?" she flung back the words, "To Aneta's," and was off.
Her easy seat astride the animal gave her a sense of freedom and independence. The top of the hill reached, she struck off toward Troja, on the other[Pg 33] side of which lived Aneta, at El Cuco. Agueda galloped67 along the damp roads, and then clattered68 through the streets of the quiet little West Indian town. Arrived upon its further outskirts69, she allowed the chestnut to walk, for he was warm and tired. She was passing at the back of Escobeda's casa, through a narrow lane shaded with coffee trees. The wall of the casa descended70 abruptly to this lane, the garden being in front, facing the broad camino. Agueda heard her name softly called. She halted and looked towards the casa. A shutter71 just at the side of the balcony moved almost imperceptibly, then was pushed open a trifle, and she saw a face, the face of Raquel, the niece of Escobeda. Raquel had her finger upon her lips. Agueda guided her horse near, in as cautious a manner as could be. When she was well under the opening, Raquel spoke72 again.
"It is Agueda, is it not? Agueda from San Isidro?"
Raquel whispered her words. Agueda, seeing that there was need for secrecy73, also let her voice fall lower than was usual.
"Yes," she smiled, "I am certainly Agueda from San Isidro."
"Ah! you happy girl," said Raquel, in a cautious tone, "to be riding about alone." Agueda's head was almost on a level with Raquel's.
[Pg 34]
"I am a prisoner, Agueda," said Raquel. "My uncle has shut me up here. He means to take me away in a short time. It's a dreadful thing which is to happen. Can you carry a note for me, Agueda?"
"I will carry a note for you," said Agueda. "Is it ready, Se?orita?"
"I will write it in a moment. Agueda, good girl, you know the plantation of the Silencios, do you not? Palmacristi?"
"I can find it," said Agueda. "It is down by the sea. It is not much out of my way."
"If it were miles and miles out of your way, Agueda, dear, you must take my letter."
"Give it to me, then," said Agueda.
There was a noise inside the room, at the door of the chamber74.
"Ride on to the clump8 of coffee bushes where the roads meet," whispered Raquel. "The fog will help hide you, too. I will drop the note."
As she tried to guide the chestnut softly over the turf, Agueda heard a loud call from within. It was a man's coarse voice. She heard Raquel answer drowsily75, "In a moment, uncle; I was just asleep. Wait until I—"
Agueda halted for some minutes behind the concealment76 of the coffee bushes. She grudged77 this delay, for she had still some distance to travel, and[Pg 35] must make a detour78 because of Raquel's request. "But," she argued, "had I walked, I should have been much longer on the way." She watched the window at the back of Escobeda's house, then, presently, from the front, saw a man mount and ride away in the opposite direction. Then, as she still awaited the fluttering of the note, the shutter was flung wide, and an arm encased in a yellow sleeve beckoned desperately79. Agueda struck her spur into the chestnut, and was soon under the window again.
"He has gone," said Raquel, "and I am locked in the house alone. All the servants have gone to the fair."
"You can climb down," said Agueda. "It is not high."
"Where should I go then, Agueda?" asked Raquel. "No, he would only bring me back. Now I will write my note, and I will ask you to take it to Don Gil." As Raquel said this name her voice trembled. She coloured all over her face.
"You are lovely that way," said Agueda. "What does he do to you, Se?orita?—the Se?or Escobeda. Does he starve you? Does he ill treat—I could tell the Se?or Don Beltran—"
"You do not blush when you speak of him," said Raquel, who had heard some rumours80.
[Pg 36]
"I have no cause to blush," said Agueda, with dignity. "But come, Se?orita, the note!"
Raquel withdrew into the room. She scribbled81 a few words on a piece of blue paper, folded it, and encased it in a long thin envelope. This she sealed with a little pink wafer, on which were two turtle doves with their bills quite close together. She leaned out and handed the missive down to Agueda.
"Thank you, dear," she said. "I should like to kiss you."
"I should like much to have you," said Agueda. "Perhaps I can stand up." Agueda spurred her horse closer under the window. She raised herself as high as she could. The chestnut started.
"He will throw you," said Raquel. "I will lean out."
Raquel stretched her young form as far out of the window as possible. She could just reach Agueda's forehead. She kissed her gently.
"I thank you, Se?orita," said Agueda. She felt the kiss upon her forehead all the way to the plantation; it seemed like a benediction82. She did not reason out the cause of her feeling, but it was true that no one of Raquel's class had ever kissed her before.
Agueda rode along her way with quick gait. The plantation of Palmacristi was some miles [Pg 37]farther on, and she wished still to see Aneta. On her way toward Palmacristi, and as she mounted the slope leading to the casa, she met no one. Arrived at that splendid estate by the sea, she spurred her horse over the hill and round to the counting-house. This was the place, she had heard, where the Se?or was usually to be found. She had seen the Se?or at a distance. She thought that she would know him.
At that same hour the Se?or Don Gil Silencio-y-Estrada sat within his counting-house. The counting-house was constructed of the boards of the palm, the inner side plain, the outer side curved, as the tree had curved. The bark had not been removed. The roof of the building was also made of palm boards; it was thickly thatched with yagua.
Since the days of the old Don Gil the finca had enlarged and improved. The counting-house stood within its small enclosure, its back against the side of the casa, and though it communicated with the interior of the imposing83 mahogany mansion84, it remained the same palm-board counting-house—that is, to the outside world—that the estate of Palmacristi had ever known.
Two tall palms stood like sentinels upon either side of the low step before the doorway85. The palm trees were dead. They had been topped by no green[Pg 38] plume86 of leaves since before the death of the old Don Gil. Now, as then, the carpenter birds made their homes in the decaying shaft87. The round beak-made holes, from root to treetop, disclosed numberless heads, if so much as a tap were given the resounding88 stem of the palm.
No one wondered why Don Gil still used the ancient structure as a counting-house. No one ever wondered at anything at Palmacristi; everything was accepted with quiescence89. "The good God wills it," a shrug90 of the shoulders accompanying the remark, made alike, if a tornado91 unroofed a house or a peon died of the wounds received at the last garito.[2]
The changes which had taken place at Palmacristi had nothing to say to the condition of the counting-house, or it to them, except that it acceded92, somewhat slowly in some cases, to the payment of bills. Since his father's day Don Gil had added much to the estate. Upon the right he had bought more than twenty caballerias from Don Luis Salas—land which marched with his own to the seashore. This included a tall headland, with a sand spit at its base, which pushed itself a half mile out into the sea. This sand spit curved in a hook to the left, and formed a pleasant and safe harbour for boating.
To the north of his inheritance Don Gil had[Pg 39] taken in the old estates of La Flor and Provedencia, and at the back of the casa, which already stood high up on the slope, he had extended his possessions over the crest93 of the hill. Had the original owner of Palmacristi returned on a visit to earth, he would have found his old plantation the center of a magnificent estate, with, however, the same shiftless, careless ways of master and servant that had obtained in his time. This would probably grow worse as his descendants succeeded each other in ownership.
The casa was built upon a level, where the hill ceased to be a hill just long enough to allow of a broad foundation for Don Gil's improvements. At the edge of the veranda the hill sloped gently again for the distance of a hundred yards, and then dropped in a short but steep declivity94 to the sand beach.
The old habitation had been built entirely95 of palm boards, but in its place, at the bidding of Don Gil, had arisen a new and more modern erection, whose only material was mahogany. Pilotijos, escaleras, ligazones, verandas96, techos, all were hewn and formed of the fine red mahogany. The boards were unpolished, it is true, but dark and rich in tone. They made a cool interior, where, coming from the white glare outside, body and eye alike were at once at rest. The covering of the techos[Pg 40] was the glazed97 tile of Italy. Perhaps one should speak of the roofs as tejados, as they were covered with tiles. This tiling proved a beacon98 by day, as it glittered in the blazing light of the sun of the tropics.
Agueda guided her horse up the path between the two dead palm trees, and rapped with the stock of her whip upon the counting-house door, which stood partly open.
"Entra," was the reply. She rapped again.
"It is I who cannot enter, Se?or," she called in her clear, young voice. "I have not the time to dismount."
An inner door was opened and closed. A fine-looking young fellow stepped across the intervening space and appeared upon the threshold of the outer door. He raised his brows; he did not know Agueda. Don Beltran made various pretexts99 for her absence when he had visitors.
Agueda held out the note. It was crumpled100 and dusty from being held in her hand.
"I am sorry," she said; "the day is hot, and my Casta?o is not quiet."
Don Gil gazed with interest at the boyish-looking figure riding astride the little chestnut. "What a handsome lad she would make!" he thought. "And you are from—"
"It makes no difference for me. I bring a message."
[Pg 41]
Silencio took the note which she reached out to him.
"You will dismount and let me send for some fruit, some coffee?"
"I thank you, Se?or, I must hasten; I am going to El Cuco."
"That is not so far," said Don Gil, smiling.
"No, but I then have to ride a long way back to—"
"To—?"
"To San Isidro."
"The Se?orita takes roundabout ways. Is she then carrying messages all about the country?"
"Oh, no, Se?or," said Agueda, smiling frankly101. "When I go back to San Isidro I go to my home. I live there."
"Ah!" What was there imperceptible in Don Gil's tone? "You live there? Is the Se?orita perhaps the niece of the manager, Se?or Adan?"
"Si, Se?or," answered Agueda, flushing hotly, she knew not why.
She wheeled Casta?o and paced down between the palm trees.
"And you will not take pity on my loneliness?"
Don Gil was still smiling, but there was something new, something of familiarity, it seemed to Agueda, in his tone.
"I cannot stop, Se?or. A Dios!" she said, gravely.
As Agueda rode out of the enclosure the day seemed changed. Why was it? She had been so happy before she had delivered the note! Now she felt sad, depressed102. The sun was still shining, though there were occasional showers of rain, and the birds were still singing. Nothing in nature had changed. Ah, stay! There was a cloud over there, hanging low down above the sea. It was coming to the westward103, she thought. She hoped that it would come, and quickly. She hoped that it would burst in rain upon her, and make her ride for it, and struggle with it. Anything to drive away that unhappy impression.
Had Silencio been asked what he had said or done to cause this young girl to change suddenly from a thoughtless, happy creature to one who felt that she had reason for uneasiness, he could not have told. He had heard vague rumours of the girl, Adan's niece, who lived over at San Isidro. But that he had allowed any such impression to escape him in intonation104 or gesture he was quite unaware105. At all events, he was entirely oblivious106 of Agueda the moment that she had ridden away, for he opened the little blue note that she had brought, and was lost in its contents.
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1
jealousies
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| n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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fin
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| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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clumped
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| adj.[医]成群的v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的过去式和过去分词 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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thump
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| v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声 | |
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overdue
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| adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的 | |
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peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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inborn
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| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
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deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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pertains
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| 关于( pertain的第三人称单数 )； 有关； 存在； 适用 | |
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beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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starched
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| adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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glossiness
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| 有光泽的； 光泽度 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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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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puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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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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squeaked
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| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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28
turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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31
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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32
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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33
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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34
browsing
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| v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息 | |
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35
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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36
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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37
saliva
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| n.唾液，口水 | |
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38
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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39
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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40
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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41
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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43
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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45
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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46
hacked
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| 生气 | |
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47
wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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51
quiescent
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| adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的 | |
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52
nurtured
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| 养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长 | |
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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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sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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55
uproot
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| v.连根拔起，拔除；根除，灭绝；赶出家园，被迫移开 | |
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tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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58
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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60
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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disintegrated
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
crunching
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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63
holocaust
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| n.大破坏；大屠杀 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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67
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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68
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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69
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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71
shutter
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| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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72
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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73
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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74
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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75
drowsily
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| adv.睡地，懒洋洋地，昏昏欲睡地 | |
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76
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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grudged
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| 怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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78
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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79
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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80
rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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81
scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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82
benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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83
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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84
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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85
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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86
plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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87
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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88
resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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89
quiescence
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| n.静止 | |
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90
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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91
tornado
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| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
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92
acceded
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| v.（正式）加入( accede的过去式和过去分词 )；答应；（通过财产的添附而）增加；开始任职 | |
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93
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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94
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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95
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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96
verandas
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| 阳台，走廊( veranda的名词复数 ) | |
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97
glazed
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| 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 | |
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98
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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99
pretexts
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| n.借口，托辞( pretext的名词复数 ) | |
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100
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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101
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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102
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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103
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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104
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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105
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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106
oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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