We crossed the river by the ferry that plied3 from the Louvre gardens, landing near the end of the Rue4 de Seine, a hundred paces below the Tour de Nesle. Thence we followed the same street till we reached the Rue du Bussy, where we turned to the right, keeping straight on till we reached the pillory5 which stands, as a terror to evil-doers, at the junction6 of the Rue du Four and the Rue des Boucheries. There, in the triangular7 open space used as an occasional market, we were joined by Monsieur de Rochfort, the Chancellor8, and Monsieur de Commines, who, so far, had ridden by my side pointing out this or that of interest as we passed, drew apart.
"It is for your sake," said he, with a kindly9 nod. "The Chancellor and I are both too near the King to wish well to the other's friends."
Once or twice thereafter through the day he reined10 back alongside Roland, just as he did with each of the three or four gentlemen in his train. But, unless we were out of earshot of the Chancellor's friends, there was an indifferent coldness in his manner which, more than any words could have done, warned me how warily11 men must walk whose paths lie near a throne. So plain was this coldness to himself that he half-excused it.
"There are three parties at court," said he waving his hand aside as if indicating some point in the landscape. "I call them the party of the present, of the early future, and for all time; or, to put it more clearly, of the King, of the Dauphin, and of France. I am of the last, and so most truly for the King, though all do not see as I do. When the King is well, Monsieur de Rochfort is of the first; when the King is sick, he is of the second; and never, to my thinking, of the third. Now, such a man rarely,—oh ho! here comes one of his friends slipping back to catch what I am saying. Good-morning, Monsieur de Bueil, there is an urgent matter on which I wish to consult you, but without advertisement. Do you think the Chancellor would consider it wise——" and lowering his voice he drew aside, plunging12 into I know not what story, having in a single sentence flattered not only the Chancellor's wisdom and influence at court, but also Monsieur de Bueil's intimacy13 with his master.
That night we lay at Anneau where, because of the inn's cramped14 space, I slept on hay, and was glad of its softness for my wound still stung me. Next night our quarters were at Vend15?me, and so Tours was reached before dinner on the third day. There Martin and I dropped off; Plessis, which lay a mile or so to the south-west, was not for us as yet.
"Put up at the Cross of Saint Martin," was Monsieur de Commines' last advice. "It is not the best inn in the city, but the other is in the Rue des Trois Pucelles, and so too near Confrère Tristan's for comfort, unless you have a strong stomach," a hint which, in my innocence16, I failed to understand. "Give me a week," he added at parting, "but remember, I promise nothing except that I am at all times the friend of your father's son," and so rode on.
Later I was grateful for his choice of our lodgings17. As we gaped18 about the streets, Martin a discreet19 half-pace behind me, but talking across my shoulder without a break, touched me.
"Monsieur Tristan's," he said, nodding at the other side. "That a man should make a gallows20 of the house where he eats and sleeps, and, it maybe, loves his wife and children."
"A gallows? where?"
"For God's sake walk on, Monsieur Gaspard, and don't stare. These nails, and that fag end of a cut rope blowing in the wind make my flesh creep."
That is always the way! The kennel21 is swimming in mud and a pretty woman crosses the road with her skirts a-tilt; or an unhappy gallant22 in silks is chasing his bonnet23 through the self-same mud, and you are bidden to look and not stare! Not stare? That's not in nature; the very warning is a challenge. Of course I stood and stared, though at first there was little to look at, a house, like a hundred others in Tours with a dozen of the kind in the same street. Then, as I looked again, there came a sense of the sinister24. It was as when a face, which at the first glance seems one of a score, shows something of a peculiar25 and personal devil, and with it a fascination26 that fastens the attention, as all things evil or ugly fasten it.
It was a tall narrow house of four storeys, tapering27 as if by steps and stairs to a point at the ridge28. The wall of the floor on the street level was pierced by two unequal windows, heavily barred. The larger was to the left, and in its position it balanced the stout29 door raised two steps above the pavement. Above these were three windows, the largest again to the left, and all with similar significant heavy defences; whoso lived there was careful of his safety. The two upper storeys were in the contraction30 of the roof. Each had but one outlook, and in the case of the lower it was again to the left, leaving a wide expanse of blank wall, and when I understood the tale it told, my gorge31 rose. Here was the sinister threat, the foul32 vice1 writ33 on an honest seeming; Fran?ois Villon in stone and mortar34 stared across the road.
The whole wide expanse, and it was a very wide one, for the windows were small, was studded over by stout nails driven between the joints35 of the masonry36. From these fluttered rope-ends, some short, some long, some weather-frayed to rags, others—horrible to think of—newly cut, and there men and women had choked to death while the King's Provost Marshal ate, drank, or took his pleasure within to the music of the dying wretches37 clattering38 their boot heels against the wall!
Shuddering39 and half-sick with disgust I swallowed down my loathing40 as best I could. And yet it was nothing more than the sordid41 commentary to the comedy of the Louvre and a plain warning. Everywhere I turned the law of the King's will was a handwriting on the wall, inexorable, inevitable42, callous43.
Perhaps because of this newly reawakened sense of the dangers that lay behind the walls of Plessis, or perhaps—and I trust it was so—because to the heart of every man who thinks at all there comes the desire to give God thanks for mercies undeserved and unlooked for, and to seek His strength and guidance in the uncertainties44 of life, I shook off Martin about vespers, and made my way alone to the great church of Saint Gatien. Behind the grated screens of its dim aisles45 there rarely fails a priest to ease a burdened spirit of that which grows too heavy to be borne.
But before a man can thus cleanse46 his soul it is fitting he should pray, and so I knelt, but not before the great altar. No! its hard brilliance47 and gorgeous extravagance of this world's passing splendours repelled48 me. What had a poor crushed soul in common with such proud display? The God who loved these flaring49 lights, silver lamps that swung by silver chains, gilt50 candlesticks of many branches all ablaze51, who took complacent52 pleasure in such ostentation of gold vessels53, broidered draperies, fretted54 carvings55, gems56 that flashed and gems that glowed, how could He stoop to a worm of the earth? True, the pure, pale Face of the suffering Christ looked out from it all, but looked out as if to ask, What have I, the Man of Sorrows acquainted with grief, Who had not where to lay His head, what have I to do with all this arrogance57 of flaunted58 wealth? Either I am the Son of God in My heaven of heavens, and what to Me are your tinsel glories! or I am the Son of Man working out salvation59 in anguish60 and alone, sweating, as it were, great drops of blood, no man ministering to Me, and what have I to do with all this splendour! The God of the high altar is either the God of the very great or the very poor; of the man who says in his pride, I, too, am a god, a god to myself, a god upon earth for the people's worship, and so we are a-kin, thou and I! Or else it is for those ignorants who find the incense61 of heaven in the smell of the unsnuffed guttering62 candles; for myself, I could not pray there. I found instead a small remote chapel63, where a single rushlight trembled before a darkened shrine64, faint and small like a soul facing the unknowable; shrinking, and yet persistent65 because of the Love unseen that watched and waited, yearning66 to be gracious. Nor was I alone. A woman knelt upon the altar step, her head bowed forward till it rested on the wooden rail.
Seeing her rapt worship I kept back, and in the quiet of the little sanctuary67 lost myself. The world, with its drone of life, its careless callous tread, was behind my back, and I forgot everything but that Solignac was in ashes, Babette murdered, and that God had prospered68 me on my way to retribution. What He begins He finishes, and not a thousand Jan Meerts, no, nor Louis of France, could turn back the hand of His justice.
But how diverse are His attributes, how infinite, how inscrutable, is the greatness of His powers. As I, through His justice cried for vengeance69, another kneeling at the same footstool sought peace through mercy.
"Not the King's will, but Thine, O Lord!"
It was the voice of Mademoiselle, and as I heard it, my heart leaped! Our paths had come together through no seeking of mine, and there was now no question of disloyalty to Monsieur de Commines. Nor, I remembered with satisfaction, being a frail70 man, was I any longer in rags.
It may be asked, What was Mademoiselle to me, who had never so much as seen her face clearly, never spoken three words to her, never touched her hand? I answer, Nothing! And yet my heart leaped; perhaps because Monsieur de Commines' interference piqued71 me, perhaps—but at twenty-five one does not stop to analyse a perhaps that makes the heart leap! It is still the age of impulse and half-blind instinct, and these ask no questions. Rising, I slipped out into the growing dusk and waited without a thought as to whether or no there was a priest behind his grille ready to give comfort to the sinner.
Presently she came.
"Mademoiselle!" and I bared my head.
With a little twitch72 of her skirts she stood aside, straightening herself.
"What?" she said. "Even on the very church step? Oh, for shame, Monsieur, for shame!"
"No, no," I protested, "you mistake."
"Prove it, Monsieur," she retorted; "prove it by going your way while I go mine."
But as she had moved so had I, and the waning73 light fell sufficiently74 strongly on the gay greens and yellows of my bruised75 forehead for her to see them.
"Ah!" she cried, drawing in her breath, "you come from—from—Monseigneur? You were with us in the Paris inn and are the servant of that Monsieur Hellewyl he said he knew? What is your message? Has he seen the King?"
"I have no message, Mademoiselle, and it is I who am Gaspard Hellewyl."
"You? But it was the other——"
"That was a mistake and——"
"No message? Then whoever you may be, Monsieur, what have I to do with you, or you with me?"
"Nothing, Mademoiselle, except——" and I stopped, not knowing how to answer her.
The pain of her disappointment was written on her face, and I, in my blundering want of thought, had brought it there. The optimism of her youth had jumped to the comfort of the hope that Monsieur de Commines had already good news for her, and that I had brought it. Now the reaction galled76 her like a blow; I could have cursed myself for my tactless want of foresight77. But her gentle womanhoods found an excuse even for that stupidity.
"Except—?" and her face softened78.
Have I described her face? I think not, no, I cannot have since till then I had not seen it, and God forbid that I should describe it now. No two faces are alike in the world, and that in almost every one some other finds a sweetness others fail to see is the recurrent miracle of life. I could tell you much of the face that looked up to mine in the twilight79, but I could never tell its sweetness, and failing that, the rest is little better than dead flesh. What do so many inches matter except in a man who may have to use their strength? It is not the inches a wise man loves, nor yet the eyes or lips or cheeks, but the Spirit that uses all these, and more than these, as God uses the cold dead things of stone and wood, the perishing things of the world, to point a promise of eternal life. And yet, understand me; I did not, at that time, love Mademoiselle, nor had I totally forgotten Brigitta, as will be seen. But I had begun to compare the two, and when a man begins comparing a new interest with an old love a change is not far off.
"Except," she said, her face softening80, and, I think, a little moisture shining in her eyes, "except that we owe you a life—perhaps even more than a life."
"No, no," and I drew back, wounded that she should think I traded on her gratitude81, and yet with the wound salved by her wakened warmth of kindliness82; "it was not that, it was that in Tours—in a strange city—at this hour—Mademoiselle might have trouble——"
"And that Monsieur might have the pleasure of killing83 some one else? Bah?" and she searched me gravely with her eyes a second or two. "I can guard myself. What does Tours care for a serving maid! Had it been my mistress, there might have been a need for your gallantry."
"Oh! Mademoiselle, but Monseigneur said——"
"Nothing to you, of that I am sure; and besides Monseigneur knows there are more cloaks in the world than go on the shoulders."
A serving maid? Her mistress? Of course it should have been an evident folly84; but remember I was no more than a Flemish clod. I suppose it was that same cloddishness in me, for even while I staggered at what she said I kept my hat in my hand.
"But," I persisted, "Tours is still Tours, and you are still you. With your leave, I will see you safe home."
Turning, she looked over her shoulder with the first glimpse of coquetry I had seen. We had, of course, quitted the Place Saint Gatien, I following her a foot or two behind, as Martin earlier in the day had followed me. But now she slackened her pace, and without increasing mine I drew along side.
"Madame will laugh when I tell her how Monsieur Hellewyl—you said you were Monsieur Hellewyl, did you not, and not that other? I think I prefer the exchange, but it is hard to be sure on so short an acquaintance—how Monsieur Hellewyl, Monseigneur's friend, squired a serving maid through the streets of Tours!"
"Let her laugh!" answered I bravely, "better she should laugh than that a woman left alone in Tours should have bitter cause to weep."
"One woman!" she cried with a sudden pained sharpness, "oh! what does one woman matter? If your King has his way it will not be one woman who will weep but thousands; yes, thousands, thousands."
"Not my King," I answered, and again I will say, answered bravely. More bravely than I knew. To say such words on the streets of Tours risked more than the being laughed at for a woman's sake; Tristan's House of the Great Nails was grim warrant for the danger. "Not my King, I am of Flanders, and so—not my King."
"The better fortune yours!" she answered curtly85. "I would rather trust the grossest bully86 in Tours than Louis of France."
"Then," said I, giving tongue to the thought that had troubled me these ten minutes, "why come to Tours at all, with Louis only a mile away?"
"Because it was safest so. Do you think he would look for me under the shadow of Tristan's gallows? And because, too, I am a woman, Monsieur Hellewyl, and hoped—hoped I might bring back a message of peace to my—my—mistress."
With the words in her mouth, words caught by a half-breath of tears, she turned into a little covered archway opening off the street, and dropped a curtsey.
"I lodge87 here, Monsieur, and my mistress and I both thank you for your care—though this time there was no man to kill!"
"To-morrow——" I began.
"To-morrow?" echoed she, looking back at me with her foot on the doorstep, "I hope there is no To-morrow for me in Tours, for if there is, it will be passed dangling88 from one of Tristan's flesh hooks!" and with a little gesture of farewell, she was gone.
Nor had Tours a To-morrow for me either; by midday I was behind the triple walls of Plessis.
点击收听单词发音
1 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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2 ostentation | |
n.夸耀,卖弄 | |
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3 plied | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的过去式和过去分词 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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4 rue | |
n.懊悔,芸香,后悔;v.后悔,悲伤,懊悔 | |
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5 pillory | |
n.嘲弄;v.使受公众嘲笑;将…示众 | |
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6 junction | |
n.连接,接合;交叉点,接合处,枢纽站 | |
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7 triangular | |
adj.三角(形)的,三者间的 | |
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8 chancellor | |
n.(英)大臣;法官;(德、奥)总理;大学校长 | |
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9 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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10 reined | |
勒缰绳使(马)停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 ); 驾驭; 严格控制; 加强管理 | |
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11 warily | |
adv.留心地 | |
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12 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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13 intimacy | |
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
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14 cramped | |
a.狭窄的 | |
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15 vend | |
v.公开表明观点,出售,贩卖 | |
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16 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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17 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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18 gaped | |
v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 );张开,张大 | |
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19 discreet | |
adj.(言行)谨慎的;慎重的;有判断力的 | |
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20 gallows | |
n.绞刑架,绞台 | |
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21 kennel | |
n.狗舍,狗窝 | |
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22 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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23 bonnet | |
n.无边女帽;童帽 | |
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24 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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25 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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26 fascination | |
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
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27 tapering | |
adj.尖端细的 | |
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28 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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30 contraction | |
n.缩略词,缩写式,害病 | |
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31 gorge | |
n.咽喉,胃,暴食,山峡;v.塞饱,狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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32 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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33 writ | |
n.命令状,书面命令 | |
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34 mortar | |
n.灰浆,灰泥;迫击炮;v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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35 joints | |
接头( joint的名词复数 ); 关节; 公共场所(尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所) (非正式); 一块烤肉 (英式英语) | |
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36 masonry | |
n.砖土建筑;砖石 | |
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37 wretches | |
n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 );可怜的人;恶棍;坏蛋 | |
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38 clattering | |
发出咔哒声(clatter的现在分词形式) | |
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39 shuddering | |
v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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40 loathing | |
n.厌恶,憎恨v.憎恨,厌恶( loathe的现在分词);极不喜欢 | |
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41 sordid | |
adj.肮脏的,不干净的,卑鄙的,暗淡的 | |
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42 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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43 callous | |
adj.无情的,冷淡的,硬结的,起老茧的 | |
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44 uncertainties | |
无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 ); 不确定; 变化不定; 无把握、不确定的事物 | |
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45 aisles | |
n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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46 cleanse | |
vt.使清洁,使纯洁,清洗 | |
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47 brilliance | |
n.光辉,辉煌,壮丽,(卓越的)才华,才智 | |
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48 repelled | |
v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 );使厌恶;排斥;推开 | |
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49 flaring | |
a.火焰摇曳的,过份艳丽的 | |
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50 gilt | |
adj.镀金的;n.金边证券 | |
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51 ablaze | |
adj.着火的,燃烧的;闪耀的,灯火辉煌的 | |
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52 complacent | |
adj.自满的;自鸣得意的 | |
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53 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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54 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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55 carvings | |
n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 );雕刻术;雕刻品;雕刻物 | |
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56 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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57 arrogance | |
n.傲慢,自大 | |
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58 flaunted | |
v.炫耀,夸耀( flaunt的过去式和过去分词 );有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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59 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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60 anguish | |
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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61 incense | |
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气 | |
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62 guttering | |
n.用于建排水系统的材料;沟状切除术;开沟 | |
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63 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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64 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
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65 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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66 yearning | |
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的 | |
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67 sanctuary | |
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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68 prospered | |
成功,兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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70 frail | |
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的 | |
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71 piqued | |
v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 );激起(好奇心) | |
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72 twitch | |
v.急拉,抽动,痉挛,抽搐;n.扯,阵痛,痉挛 | |
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73 waning | |
adj.(月亮)渐亏的,逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 );(月)亏;变小;变暗淡 | |
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74 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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75 bruised | |
[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
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76 galled | |
v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 );擦伤;烦扰;侮辱 | |
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77 foresight | |
n.先见之明,深谋远虑 | |
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78 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
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79 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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80 softening | |
变软,软化 | |
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81 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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82 kindliness | |
n.厚道,亲切,友好的行为 | |
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83 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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84 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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85 curtly | |
adv.简短地 | |
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86 bully | |
n.恃强欺弱者,小流氓;vt.威胁,欺侮 | |
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87 lodge | |
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
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88 dangling | |
悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 ); 摆动不定; 用某事物诱惑…; 吊胃口 | |
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