The impulse to get away mastered him on the instant of its appearance. He strode forth3 as if delay were fraught4 with sore perils5. At a shabby luncheon-bar in the Strand6 below he consumed a cup of abominable7 coffee and a dry sausage-roll in the same nervous haste. The barmaid in attendance was known to him. She annoyed him now by displaying in her manner the assumption that he wished to laugh and joke with her as usual. He glowered9 at her instead, and met her advances to conversation with a curt10 nod.
“You must have got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning,” she commented loftily.
“Very likely,” he answered with cold brevity, counting out the necessary coppers11 and turning on his heel.
Outside he seemed to himself to choose the direction of his steps quite at random12. He walked slowly, trying to fasten his brain down to the task of conjecturing13 what on earth it all meant. Alas14, his mind was as empty as those desolate15 rooms up at the top of Dunstan’s Inn. The power of coherent speculation16 had left him. It was hardly possible even to arrange in decent sequence the details of what had happened. An indefinitely sweeping17 rage at destiny in general oppressed all his faculties18. He muttered meaningless oaths under his breath as he went along, directed at an intangible “it” which was equally without form and personality, a mere19 abstract symbol of the universal beastliness of things.
The notion of cursing Vestalia did not suggest itself. So far as he had any intelligible20 thoughts about her, they were instinctively21 exculpatory22. She seemed indeed to have behaved stupidly, but it must have been under a misapprehension of some sort. Something perverse23 had happened to lead her off into a foolish course of action. He resolutely24 declined to open his mind to any other view of her. She must have quitted the Inn for some reason which wholly satisfied her sense of honourable25 conduct. What was this reason? Had she conjured26 it up out of her own meditations27, or had it been furnished to her from an external source?
All at once he stopped short, mental and bodily progress alike arrested by a striking thought. “Damn him!” he murmured to himself, as he turned this new idea over. How that it had come to him, he fairly marvelled28 at the dulness which had failed to discover it at the beginning. It was as plain as the nose on one’s face—the Earl had bidden Vestalia to begone. “Ah, that miserly, meddling29 fool of a Drumpipes!” he groaned30, between clenched31 teeth.
This laying bare of the mystery brought no consolation32. The day was as irretrievably ruined, the tender little romance as ruthlessly crushed, as ever. A certain doubtful solace33 seemed to offer itself in the shape of a quarrel with Drumpipes, but Mosscrop shook his head despondently34 at it. What good would that do? And for that matter, how should one go to work to quarrel with that tough-hided, fatuous35, conceited36, dense-witted, imperturbable38, and impenetrable idiot? He would never even perceive that the attempt was being made. David piled up in reverie the loathly epithets39 upon the over-large bald head of his friend with a savage40 satisfaction. “You preposterous41 clown!” he snarled42 at the burly blond image of the absent nobleman in his mind’s eye. “You gratuitous43 and wanton ass8! Oh, you unthinkable duffer!”
And somehow there was after all a kind of relief in these comminatory exercises. The dim light of a possible diversion began to filter through the storm-cloud of Mosscrop’s wrath44. He was still bitterly depressed45, and furious as well, of course, but self-possession was returning to him, and with it the capacity for planning and ordering his movements. It occurred to him that he ought to do something to turn his thoughts temporarily at least from this world-weary sadness.
Up on the opposite corner his eye caught the legend “Savoy Street.” He stared at the small sign, perched above the dingy46 brick cornice of the first-floor, for a moment with an unreflecting gaze. Then he turned and walked briskly down the steep hillside thoroughfare, and into the courtyard of the great hotel which, like the street and the quarter, commemorates47 in its name the first of a long and steadfast48 line of needy49 Continental50 princes whose maintenance the British tax-payer has found himself fated to provide.
At the desk, he wrote out a card and sent it up as an accompaniment to the inquiry51 whether Mr. Laban Skinner was in or not.
No, it was reported presently; Mr. Skinner had gone out—but the young lady was in.
David pondered this unexpected intelligence. “Did she tell you that she was in?” he asked the boy, suspiciously.
Yes; she had done so.
Mosscrop discovered that he had been quite unprepared for this. He knit his brows and ruminated52 upon it. His impression had been at the time that the girl disliked him, or at least disliked the proposition which her absurd father had made. It seemed to him, moreover, that he disliked, her in turn. She had stared rudely at poor Vestalia—but then it should be remembered in fairness that all women did that to one another. Her attitude towards him had been ostentatiously apathetic54, almost to the point of insolence55; and yet he recalled that in that moment when he had caught her unawares, she had been displaying a notable interest in what was going on. The notion that there had been a sort of challenge underlying56 the mask of studied indifference57 she had presented to him returned to his mind. And he still needed diversion, too, as much as ever.
“If you will show the way,” he said to the boy at this juncture58.
The lift bore them a long distance upward, quite to the roof it seemed. David formed the impression that rents must be cheap at that altitude; hut when he took the first glance round the sitting-room59 into which he found himself presently ushered60, the idea vanished.
It was a large and imposingly-appointed room, exhaling62, as it were, an effect of high-priced luxury. The broad windows at the front came down to the floor, and opened upon a balcony. There were awnings64 hung outside to ward53 off the sunshine, and this threw the whole apartment into a mellow65 twilight66, contrasting sharply with the brightness of the corridor Mosscrop had just quitted.
He looked about him, hesitatingly, to make sure that there really was no one in the room. The glimpse of some white drapery fluttering against the edge of a chair out on the balcony caught his eye, and he moved across to the nearest open window. The noble prospect67 of the Thames viewed from this height impressed itself with great vividness upon his mind, even in advance of his perception that he had indeed found Miss Skinner. He looked downward with a gaze which embraced both the girl and the river, and for a moment they preserved an equally unconscious aspect.
The young lady then lifted her head, sidewise, and acknowledged Mosscrop’s presence by a slow drooping68 movement of her black lashes69. “How do you do?” she remarked, placidly70. “Bring out a chair for yourself.”
He did as he was told, and seated himself near the balustrade, so that he partially71 faced her; but he looked again at the wonderful picture below, to collect his thoughts.
“I had no idea it was so magnificent up here,” he said at last.
“Indeed,” commented his companion. It was impossible to say whether the remark was in the nature of an exclamation72 or an inquiry. Mosscrop found himself compelled to glance up, if only to determine this open question.
The realisation that she was extremely well worth looking at swept over him like a flood, at the instant of his lifting his eyes. It suited her to be hare-headed, and to wear just the creamy white cashmere house-gown that he beheld73 her in. The glossy74 plaits and masses of her hair were wonderful. In the softened75, tinted76 half-shadow of the awning63 her dark skin glowed with a dusky radiance which fascinated him. Her mien77 was as imperious as ever, but it suggested now an empress disposed to play, a sultana whose inclination78 was for amusement.
“Did you come up to see the view? I daresay it is even better from the leads. You call them leads here, don’t you? Your novels always do, I know.”
This speech of hers, languidly delivered, had its impertinent side, without doubt, but Mosscrop caught in its tone a not unamiable intention. She did not smile in response to the puzzled questioning of his swift glance, but he convinced himself none the less that it was a pleasantry. He noted79 in this instant of confused speculation that she had a book in her lap—a large, red-covered volume with much gilt80 on the binding—and that she kept a finger in it to mark some particular place.
“Your father was good enough to ask me to call,” he reminded her, with gentleness.
“I asked for him, and I——”
“You are disappointed to find him out?” Yes; there could be no doubt she was amusing herself. “Oh, that depends,” ventured David, with temerity81.
The girl surveyed him at her leisure. “If I remember aright,” she said, “you were invited conditionally82. You were to come, or rather to communicate with us, if you decided83 to close with my father’s offer. So I suppose you’ve made up your mind to accept.”
“Well, I should like to talk more about it; get a clearer idea of what was proposed.”
“My father takes great pains in expressing himself. I should have said his explanation was as full as anything could well be on this earth.”
“To speak frankly,” replied David, “I got the idea that you didn’t care much about your father’s scheme—in fact, that you disliked it. That’s what I wanted to be clear about. It would be ridiculous for me to be going round, delivering instructive lectures to you on antiquities84 and ruins and so forth, and you hating me all the while for a bore and a nuisance. It would place us both in a false position.”
“And you can’t stand false positions, eh?”
Mosscrop rose. “I’m afraid I can’t stand this one, at all events,” he answered, with dignified85 brevity.
“Oh, you mustn’t think of going!” his hostess protested, with a momentary86 ring of animation87 in her voice. “My father’s liable to return any minute, and he’d be greatly put out to find he’d missed you.”
“I could wait for him in the reception room downstairs,” he suggested, moodily—“or, for that matter, I don’t know that it’s very important that we should meet at all.”
“I don’t call that a bit polite,” she commented.
“I’m afraid your standards of politeness are beyond me,” he began, formally. Then the absurdity88 of the thing struck him, and he grinned in a reluctant fashion. “Do you really want me to stay?” he asked, with the spirit of banter89 in his tone.
“Oh that depends,” she mocked back at him. “If you can be amusing, yes.”
“Just how amusing must I be?” He propped90 into his chair again, and this time laid his hat aside.
“Oh, say as much so as you were yesterday with the young lady of the butter-coloured hair. I think that would about fill the bill.”
Mosscrop ground his teeth with swift annoyance91. Then he chuckled92 in a mood of saturnine93 mirth. Finally he sighed, and dolefully shook his head.
“Ah, yesterday!” he mourned, drawing a still deeper breath.
“You were extremely entertaining, then,” pursued the other, ignoring his emotions. “Do you find yourself—as a usual thing, I mean—varying a good deal from day to day? I ask entirely94 from curiosity. I’ve never met anyone before in precisely95 your position.”
“No, I should think not!” he assented96, with gloomy emphasis. “I can well believe that my position is unique in the history of mankind. Such grotesque97 luck could scarcely repeat itself. But I beg your pardon—it isn’t a thing that would interest you; I had no business to mention it at all.”
“It was I who mentioned it, I believe,” she corrected him calmly.
There was obvious meaning in her insistence98. He looked up at her in vague surprise, the while he mentally retraced99 the steps by which the conversation had reached this point. There was undoubtedly100 a very knowing expression in her eyes. Clearly she had meant to associate Vestalia with what she described as his position—the position which she deemed so unusual; it was equally plain that she desired him to understand that she did so. It was impossible that she should know anything of what had happened. He searched his memory, and made sure that no personal hint of any sort had drifted into that rambling101 discourse102 of his in the Assyrian corridors, which the Americans had more or less overheard. What then was she talking about?
Ah, what indeed? She lay back in her chair, and met his gaze of bewildered interrogation with a fine show of composure. She looked at him tranquilly103 through lazy, halfclosed eyelids104. His suspicions discerned beneath the passive surface of this regard animated105 under-currents of ironical106 amusement and triumph. There was nothing overt107 upon which he could found the challenge to an explanation, but as he continued to scrutinise her, he could fancy that her whole presence radiated the suggestion of repressed glee. Whatever the mystery might be, she was extracting great delight from her possession of a clue to it.
“Yes, it was you who mentioned my position,” he remarked, groping lamely108 for some sure footing on which to redress109 his disadvantage. “I don’t know that! quite follow you; wherein do you find my position, as you term it, so exceptional?
“You yourself have boasted that it couldn’t be matched in all history,” she reminded him. Her tone was casual enough, but the sense of sport began to gleam unmistakably in her eyes.
“Now you argue in a circle,” he remonstrated110, with a shade of professional acerbity111 in his voice. “Your remark came before mine, and hence cannot possibly have been based upon my subsequent comment. If I may be permitted the observation, they seem to teach logic112 but indifferently in the United States.”
“Oh, that is why we came here,” retorted the girl, with ostentatious na?veté. The conceit37 pleased her so much that she bent113 forward, and assumed the manner of one communicating an important fact. “That is why I had my father make you an offer at once. You know, most professors, and teachers, and so on, are so hard to understand. But the moment I laid eyes on you I said, ‘There’s a man that I can see through as if he were plate-glass; I can read him like a book.’ And, of course, that must be the most valuable of all qualities in an instructor114.”
“So I am entirely transparent115, am I? I present no secrets to your gaze?” Mosscrop spoke116 like one in whom pique117 and a sense of the comical struggled for mastery. “Then I cannot do better than beg you to tell me some things about myself. Why, for example, do I sit here patiently and submit to be laughed at, heckled, satirised, and generally bully-ragged by a young lady, whose title to do these things is not in the least apparent to me?”
“Why, don’t you remember? You’re waiting for papa.”
“And incidentally providing his offspring, in the interim118, with much harmless and chaste119 entertainment,” put in Mosscrop, drily. “I am charmed to have diverted you so successfully. It occurs to me, since you are so readily amused, that you must have been wofully bored before I made my happy appearance.”
“Oh, quite the contrary,” exclaimed the girl, with a sudden stress in her tone, which hinted that this was what she had been waiting for. She opened the volume, as she spoke, at the place marked by her finger. “I was reading in the Peerage, you know. It is a most entrancing book. I am never dull when I am reading about earls and things.”
“I have heard that the work enjoys a remarkable120 popularity in your country,” David remarked, sourly.
“There is such romance in it!” she went on, in mock rhapsody; “it makes such appeals to the imagination! It puts you at once in an atmosphere of chivalry121, of knightly122 adventures and exploits, of tournaments and chain-armour, and courts of love——”
“And of divorce, and bankruptcy123, too,” he interposed. “Don’t forget those.”
The girl looked grave for a moment, and nodded her head as if in relenting apology. Then she recovered her high spirits by as swift a transition.
“And such splendid old names as you get, too!” she continued, with her eyes on the open page. “Listen to this, for example. Could anything be finer?”
DRUMPIPES, Earl of. (Sir Archibald-Coro-nach-Dugal-Strathspey-Malcolm- Linkhaw) Viscount Dunfugle of Inverdummie, and Baron124 Pilliewillie of Slug-Angus, Morayshire, all in the peerage of Scotland, and a Baronet of Nova Scotia. Born August 24th, 1866. Succeeded his grandfather as 19th Earl January 10th, 1888. Married May 2nd, 1890, Janet-Eustasia-Marjory, 3rd daughter of the Master of Craigie-whaup by his wife, the Hon. Tryphena Pincock (who deceased March 6th, 1879), elder daughter of the 4th Baron Dubb of Kilwhissel. Seat, Skirl Castle, near Lossiewink, Elgin. Club, Wanderers.
She read it all with marked deliberation and distinctness of utterance125. When she finished, silence reigned126 for some time on the balcony.
“Well, am I not right?” she asked at last, lifting her head, and flashing the full richness of her black eyes into Mosscrop’s face. “Don’t you admit the inspiration of such names?”
David answered in a hesitating, dubious127 manner. “I am more curious about the source—and scope—of your inspiration,” he said.
“Unhappily, it cannot be pretended that you are transparent. You confront me with an opacity128 against which my feeble wits beat in vain. I can see that it is known to you that I know Drumpipes. But why this fact should assume in your mind such portentous129 and mysterious dimensions, and why you should treat it with the air of one who has unearthed130 a great conspiracy131, a terrible secret, I can’t for the life of me comprehend.”
“Ah, you are more complicated than I had thought,” she replied. “I did not imagine you would keep up the defence so long.”
“Me?—a defence? never,” cried David, incited132 in some vague way by this remark to an accession of assurance. “I defend nothing. I surrender with eagerness. I roll myself at your feet, Miss Skinner. All I crave133 in return is that you will put a label on my submission134. It may be weak, but I should dearly like to know what it is that I am abandoning.”
“What I should suggest that you give up is your attempt to deceive me—us—as to your identity.”
“Ah! am I indeed someone else, then? Upon my word, I can’t congratulate the other fellow.”
“You wrote your name down for my father yesterday, and again on this card here this morning, as Mosscrop—David Mosscrop.”
He assented by a nod, and allowed the beginnings of an abashed135 and contrite136 look to gather upon his face.
“Well, it just happened that, the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew who you really were. By the merest accident, your picture had been shown to me—by a gentleman who knows you intimately, and is indeed distantly related to you—on shipboard coming over. I recognised you instantly, there in the Museum, and I made papa speak to you. I was curious to see what you would say and do.”
“I’m afraid you were disappointed. Did you think I would shout and dance, or what?” He struggled with some degree of success to speak impassively.
“I had never met any one before in your position in life, and I had the whim137 to experiment on my own account.” She said this as if defending her action to herself more than to her auditor138.
“And may I have my little whim gratified too?” he asked. “I am extremely curious to know how you like your experiment as far as you have got with it.”
She did not answer immediately, and he occupied the interval139 by an earnest mental scuffle after some clue to what she was driving at. He knew of no man who possessed140 his portrait—at least among those who went down to the sea in ships. He had had no photograph taken for years, to begin with. A distant relation of his, she had said, and on a very recent voyage from America. Who the deuce could it be? What acquaintance of his had been of late in America? All at once the answer leaped upward in his mind. He laughed aloud, with an abruptness141 which took him not less than his companion by surprise. But then a puzzled scowl142 overshadowed the grin on his countenance143. He saw a little way farther into the millstone, but that was all.
“I hope you don’t regret your experiment,” he repeated. “It would have been simpler, perhaps, if your father had mentioned that you were friends of Mr. Linkhaw’s. That in itself would have been an ample introduction.”
“Perhaps we should have done so, had you been alone.” Her tone was cool to the verge144 of haughtiness145.
He rapidly considered what this might mean. Her remark clearly indicated that Vestalia’s presence had seemed to her reprehensible146. Why? There was some intricacy here which he could not fathom147. That confounded Drumpipes had told her—what? Eureka! He had it! The picture that she had seen was a little cheap ambrotype of Drumpipes and himself, standing148 together, which had been made by a poor devil of a wayside photographer, two Derby days before. Undoubtedly that was what the Earl had shown her—the only one he could have shown her. And—why of course—Drumpipes had pointed61 him, David, out as the Earl. What his motive149 could have been, heaven only knew, but this was palpably the key to the riddle150.
He grasped this key with decision, on the instant. He straightened himself, frowned a little, and laboriously151 stiffened152 the tell-tale muscles about his mouth.
“I don’t think I quite like this notion of Linkhaw’s babbling153 about me and my affairs,” he said, with austerity.
“Oh, I assure you,” she protested, anxiously, “he was very cautious. He only gave the most sparing answers to my questions. I had to literally154 drag things from him.”
“But what business had he showing my picture about to begin with? He shall hear what I think of it! Men’s allowances have been stopped for less than that.”
“It will be very unjust indeed if you visit it upon him,” the girl urged, almost tremulously; “it was all my fault. I asked him one day if he had ever met a nobleman, and he, quite as a matter of course, mentioned that one of his own relatives was an Earl. One day, later, he was showing me a little tin-type of himself, and he merely said that you were the other person in the picture, that was all.”
“And then you proceeded to drag things from him. I believe that was your phrase,” remarked David, in a severe tone. The sensation of having this proud and insolent155 beauty in a tremor156 of entreaty157 before him was very delightful158.
“Naturally, I asked him questions,” she replied, with a little more spirit. “Earls don’t grow on every bush with us. And for that matter, why, goodness me! he did nothing but praise you from morning till night. By his account, one would think butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth. He made you out a regular saint. I was quite prepared to see you with a halo round your head—and instead, I——”
She stopped short, with a confused and deprecatory smile. David, noting it, rejoiced that he had taken a peremptory159 tone about the garrulous160 Linkhaw.
“Instead, you discovered that I was a mere flesh and blood mortal like the rest.” He permitted himself to unbend, and even to smile a little, as he furnished this conclusion to her sentence. “Was it a very painful disillusionment?”
“Oh, I’ve read and heard enough about the lives that your class lead here in Europe,” she replied, with a marked reversion toward her former manner. “I don’t pretend that I was really surprised.”
David assumed a judicial161 expression. “Considering the way we are brought up, and the temptations that are thrust upon us,” he said, impartially162, “I would not say that we are so much worse than other men.”
“But you are pretty bad—that you must admit.”
Before David had satisfactorily framed the admission expected of him, the sound of an opening door and of footsteps came from within.
“It is papa,” whispered the girl, leaning forward in a confidential163 manner. “I’m going to tell him.”
“I see no valid164 objection,” answered David, with dignity.
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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fraught
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| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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glowered
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| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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coppers
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| 铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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conjecturing
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| v. & n. 推测，臆测 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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exculpatory
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| adj.辩解的，辩明无罪的 | |
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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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meddling
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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despondently
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fatuous
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| adj.愚昧的；昏庸的 | |
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36
conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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37
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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38
imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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39
epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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40
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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41
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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42
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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43
gratuitous
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| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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44
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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45
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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46
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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47
commemorates
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| n.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的名词复数 )v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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48
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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49
needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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50
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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51
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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52
ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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53
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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54
apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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55
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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56
underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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57
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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58
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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59
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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60
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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62
exhaling
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的现在分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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63
awning
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| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
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64
awnings
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| 篷帐布 | |
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65
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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66
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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67
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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68
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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69
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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70
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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71
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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72
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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73
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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74
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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75
softened
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| （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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76
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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77
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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78
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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79
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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80
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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81
temerity
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| n.鲁莽，冒失 | |
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82
conditionally
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| adv. 有条件地 | |
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83
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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84
antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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85
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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86
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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87
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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88
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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89
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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90
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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92
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93
saturnine
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| adj.忧郁的，沉默寡言的，阴沉的，感染铅毒的 | |
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94
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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95
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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96
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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98
insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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99
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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100
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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101
rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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102
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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103
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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104
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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105
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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106
ironical
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| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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107
overt
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| adj.公开的，明显的，公然的 | |
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108
lamely
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| 一瘸一拐地，不完全地 | |
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109
redress
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| n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除 | |
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110
remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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111
acerbity
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| n.涩，酸，刻薄 | |
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112
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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113
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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114
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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115
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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116
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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117
pique
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| v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气 | |
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118
interim
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| adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间 | |
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119
chaste
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| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
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120
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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121
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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122
knightly
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| adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地 | |
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123
bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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124
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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125
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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126
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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127
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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128
opacity
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| n.不透明；难懂 | |
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129
portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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130
unearthed
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| 出土的（考古） | |
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131
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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132
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
crave
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| vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求 | |
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134
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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135
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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136
contrite
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| adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的 | |
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137
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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138
auditor
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| n.审计员，旁听着 | |
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139
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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140
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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141
abruptness
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| n. 突然，唐突 | |
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142
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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143
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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144
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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145
haughtiness
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| n.傲慢；傲气 | |
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146
reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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147
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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148
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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149
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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150
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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151
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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152
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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153
babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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154
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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155
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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156
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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157
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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158
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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159
peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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160
garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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161
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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162
impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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163
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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164
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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