Entering the building, he made his way direct to the bar-room back of the office—a place where he had rarely been before—and poured out for himself a heavy portion of whiskey, which he drank off without noticing the glass of iced water placed for him beside the bottle. He turned to go, but came back again to the bar after he had reached the swinging screen-doors, and said he would take a bottle of the liquor up to his room. “I haven’t been sleeping well these last few nights,” he explained to the bar-keeper.
Once in his room, Horace put off his boots, got into easy coat and slippers5, raked down the fire, looked for an aimless minute or two at the row of books on his shelf, and then threw himself into the arm-chair beside the stove. The earlier suggestion of gray in his hair at the temples had grown more marked these last few weeks, and there were new lines of care on his clear-cut face, which gave it a haggard look now as he bent6 his brows in rumination7.
An important interview with Tenney and Wendover was to take place in this room a half hour later; but, besides a certain hard-drawn notion that he would briskly hold his own with them, Horace did not try to form plans for this or even to fasten his mind upon it.
The fortnight or more that had passed since that terrible momentary8 vision of Kate Minster running up the stairs to avoid him, had been to the young man a period of unexampled gloominess and unrest, full of deep wrath9 at the fate which had played upon him such a group of scurvy10 tricks all at once, yet having room for sustained exasperation11 over the minor12 discomforts13 of his new condition.
The quarrel with his father had forced him to change his residence, and this was a peculiarly annoying circumstance coming at just such a time. He realized now that he had been very comfortable in the paternal14 house, and that his was a temperament15 extremely dependent upon well-ordered and satisfactory surroundings. These new rooms of his, though they cost a good deal of money, were not at all to his liking16, and the service was execrable. The sense of being at home was wholly lacking; he felt as disconnected and out of touch with the life about him as if he had been travelling in a foreign country which he did not like.
The great humiliation17 and wrong—the fact that he had been rejected with open contumely by the rich girl he had planned to marry—lay steadily18 day and night upon the confines of his consciousness, like a huge black morass19 with danger signals hung upon all its borders. His perverse20 mind kept returning to view these menacing signals, and torturing him with threats to disregard them and plunge21 into the forbidden darkness. The constant strain to hold his thoughts back from this hateful abyss wore upon him like an unremitting physical pain.
The resolve which had chilled and stiffened22 him into self-possession that afternoon in the drawingroom, and had even enabled him to speak with cold distinctness to Mrs. Minster and to leave the house of insult and defeat with dignity, had been as formless and unshaped as poor, heart-torn, trembling Lear’s threat to his daughters before Gloster’s gate. Revenge he would have—sweeping, complete, merciless, but by what means he knew not. That would come later.
Two weeks were gone, and the revenge seemed measurably nearer, though still its paths were all unmapped. It was clear enough to the young man’s mind now that Tenney and Wendover were intent on nothing less than plundering23 the whole Minster estate. Until that fatal afternoon in the drawingroom, he had kept himself surrounded with an elaborate system of self-deception. He had pretended to himself that the designs of these associates of his were merely smart commercial plans, which needed only to be watched with equal smartness. Now the pretence25 was put aside. He knew the men to be villains26, and openly rated them as such in his thoughts.
He had a stem satisfaction in the thought that their schemes were in his hands. He would join them now, frankly27 and with all his heart, only providing the condition that his share of the proceeds should be safe-guarded. They should have his help to wreck28 this insolent29, purse-proud, newly rich family, to strip them remorselessly of their wealth. His fellow brigands30 might keep the furnaces, might keep everything in and about this stupid Thessaly. He would take his share in hard coin, and shake the mud and slush of Dearborn County from off his feet. He was only in the prime of his youth. Romance beckoned31 to him from a hundred centres of summer civilization, where men knew how to live, and girls added culture and dowries to beauty and artistic32 dress. Oh, yes! he would take his money and go.
The dream of a career in his native village had brought him delight only so long as Kate Minster was its central figure. That vision now seemed so clumsy and foolish that he laughed at it. He realized that he had never liked the people here about him. Even the Minsters had been provincial33, only a gilded34 variation upon the rustic35 character of the section. Nothing but the over-sanguine folly36 of youth could ever have prompted him to think that he wanted to be mayor of Thessaly, or that it would be good to link his fortunes with the dull, under-bred place. Oh, no! he would take his money and go.
The two men for whom he had been waiting broke abruptly in upon his revery by entering the room. They came in without even a show of knocking on the door, and Horace frowned a little at their rudeness.
Stout37 Judge Wendover panted heavily with the exertion38 of ascending39 the stairs, and it seemed to have put him out of temper as well as breath. He threw off his overcoat with an impatient jerk, took a chair, and gruffly grunted40 “How-de-do!” in the direction of his host, without taking the trouble to even nod a salutation. Tenney also seated himself, but he did not remove his overcoat. Even in the coldest seasons he seemed to wear the same light, autumnal clothes, creaseless and gray, and mouselike in effect. The two men looked silently at Horace, and he felt that they disapproved41 his velveteen coat.
“Well?” he asked, at last, leaning back in his chair and trying to equal them in indifference42. “What is new in New York, Judge?”
“Never mind New York! Thessaly is more in our line just now,” said Wendover, sternly.
The young man simulated a slight yawn. “You’re welcome to my share of the town, I’m sure,” he said; “I’m not very enthusiastic about it myself.”
“How much has Reuben Tracy got to work on? How much have you blabbed about our business to him?” asked the New Yorker.
“I neither know nor care anything about Mr. Tracy,” said Horace, coldly. “As for what you elegantly describe as my ‘blabbing’ to him, I daresay you understand what it means. I don’t.”
“It means that you have made a fool of us; got us into trouble; perhaps ruined the whole business, by your God A’mighty43 stupidity! That’s what it means!” said Wendover, with his little blue-bead eyes snapping angrily in the lamplight.
“I hope it won’t strike you as irrelevant44 if I suggest that this is my room,” drawled Horace, “and that I have a distinct preference for civil conversation in it. If you have any criticisms to offer upon my conduct, as you seem to think that you have, I must beg that you couch them in the language which gentlemen—”
“Gentlemen be damned!” broke in the Judge, sharply. “We’ve had too much ‘gentleman’ in this whole business! Answer me a plain question. What does Tracy mean by his applications?”
“I haven’t the remotest idea what you are talking about. I’ve already told you that I know nothing of Mr. Tracy or his doings.”
Schuyler Tenney interposed, impassively: “He may not have heard of the application, Judge. You must remember that, for the sake of appearances, he then being in partnership45, you were made Mrs. Minster’s attorney, in both the agreements. That is how notices came to be served on you.”
The Judge had not taken his eyes off the young man in the velveteen jacket. “Do you mean to tell me that you haven’t learned from Mrs. Minster that this man Tracy has made applications on behalf of the daughters to upset the trust agreement, and to have a receiver appointed to overhaul47 the books of the Mfg. Company?”
Horace sat up straight. “Good God, no!” he stammered48. “I’ve heard nothing of that.”
“You never do seem to hear about things. What did you suppose you were here for, except to watch Mrs. Minster, and keep track of what was going on?” demanded Wendover.
“I may tell you,” answered Horace, speaking hesitatingly, “that circumstances have arisen which render it somewhat difficult for me to call upon Mrs. Minster at her house—for that matter, out of the question. She has only been to my office office within the—the last fortnight.”
Schuyler Tenney spoke49 again. “The ‘circumstances’ means, Judge, that he—”
“Pardon me, Mr. Tenney,” said Horace, with decision: “what the circumstances mean is neither your business nor that of your friend. That is something that we will not discuss, if you please.”
“Won’t we, though!” burst in Wendover, peremptorily50. “You make a fool of us. You go sneaking51 around one of the girls up there. You think you’ll set yourself in a tub of butter, and let our schemes go to the devil. You try to play this behind our backs. You get kicked out of the house for your impudence52. And then you sit here, dressed like an Italian organ-grinder, by God, and tell me that we won’t discuss the subject!”
Horace rose to his feet, with all his veins53 tingling54. “You may leave this room, both of you,” he said, in a voice which he with difficulty kept down. His face was pale with rage.
Judge Wendover rose, also, but it was not to obey Horace’s command. Instead, he pointed46 imperiously to the chair which the young man had vacated.
“Sit down there,” he shouted. “Sit down, I tell you! I warn you, I’m in no mood to be fooled with. You deserve to have your neck wrung55 for what you’ve done already. If I have another word of cheek from you, by God, it shall be wrung! We’ll throw you on the dungheap as we would a dead rat.”
Horace had begun to listen to these staccato sentences with his arms folded, and lofty defiance56 in his glance. Somehow, as he looked into his antagonist’s blazing eyes, his courage melted before their hot menace. The pudgy figure of the Judge visibly magnified itself under his gaze, and the threat in that dry, husky voice set his nerves to quaking. He sank into his seat again.
“All right,” he said, in an altered voice. “I’m willing enough to talk, only a man doesn’t like to be bullied57 in that way in his own house.”
“It’s a tarnation sight better than being bullied by a warder in Auburn State’s prison,” said the Judge, as he too resumed his chair. “Take my word for that.”
Schuyler Tenney crossed his legs nervously58 at this, and coughed. Horace looked at them both in a mystified but uneasy silence.
“You heard what I said?” queried59 Wendover, brusquely, after a moment’s pause.
“Undoubtedly I did,” answered Horace. “But—but its application escaped me.”
“What I mean is”—the Judge hesitated for a moment to note Tenney’s mute signal of dissuasion60, and then went on: “We might as well not beat about the bush—what I mean is that there’s a penitentiary61 job in this thing for somebody, unless we all keep our heads, and have good luck to boot. You’ve done your best to get us all into a hole, with your confounded airs and general foolishness. If worse comes to worst, perhaps we can save ourselves, but there won’t be a ghost of a chance for you. I’ll see to that myself. If we come to grief, you shall pay for it.”
“What do you mean?” asked Horace, in a subdued62 tone, after a period of silent reflection. “Where does the penitentiary part come in?”
“I don’t agree with the Judge at all,” interposed Tenney, eagerly. “I don’t think there’s any need of looking on the dark side of the thing. We don’t know that Tracy knows anything. And then, why shouldn’t we be able to get our own man appointed receiver?”
“This is the situation,” said Wendover, speaking deliberately63. “You advised Mrs. Minster to borrow four hundred thousand dollars for the purchase of certain machinery64 patents, and you drew up the papers for the operation. It happens that she already owned—or rather that the Mfg. Company already owned—these identical rights and patents. They were a part of the plant and business we put into the company at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars when we moved over from Cadmus. But nobody on her side, except old Clarke, knew just what it was that we put in. He died in Florida, and it was arranged that his papers should pass to you. There was no record that we had sold the right of the nail machine.”
Horace gazed with bewilderment into the hard-drawn, serious faces of the two men who sat across the little table from him. In the yellow lamplight these countenances65 looked like masks, and he searched them in vain for any sign of astonishment66 or emotion. The thing which was now for the first time being put into words was strange, but as it shaped itself in his mind he did not find himself startled. It was as if he had always known about it, but had allowed it to lapse67 in his memory. These men were thieves—and he was their associate! The room with its central point of light where the three knaves68 were gathered, and its deepening shadows round about, suggested vaguely69 to him a robber’s cave. Primary instincts arose strong within him. Terror lest discovery should come yielded precedence to a fierce resolve to have a share of the booty. It seemed minutes to him before he spoke again.
“Then she was persuaded to mortgage her property, to buy over again at four times its value what she had already purchased?” he asked, with an assumption of calmness.
“That seems to be about what you managed to induce her to do,” said the Judge, dryly.
“Then you admit that it was I who did it—that you owe the success of the thing to me!” The young man could not restrain his eagerness to establish this point. He leaned over the table, and his eyes sparkled with premature70 triumph.
“No: I said ‘seems,’” answered Wendover. “We know better. We know that from the start you have done nothing but swell71 around at our expense, and create as many difficulties for us and our business as possible. But the courts and the newspapers would look at it differently. They would be sure to regard you as the one chiefly responsible.”
“I should think we were pretty much in the same boat, my friend,” said Horace, coldly.
“I daresay,” replied the New Yorker, “only with this difference: we can swim, and you can’t. By that I mean, we’ve got money, and you haven’t. See the point?”
Horace saw the point, and felt himself revolted at the naked selfishness and brutality72 with which it was exposed. The disheartening fact that these men would not hesitate for an instant to sacrifice him—that they did not like him, and would not lift a finger to help him unless it was necessary for their own salvation—rose gloomily before his mind.
“Still, it would be better for all of us that the boat shouldn’t be capsized at all,” he remarked.
“That’s it—that’s the point,” put in Tenney, with animation73; “that’s what I said to the Judge.”
“This Tracy of yours,” said Wendover, “has got hold of the Minster girls. He’s acting74 for them. He has been before Judge Waller with a whole batch75 of applications. First, in chambers76, he’s brought an action to dissolve the trust, and asked for an order returnable at Supreme77 Court chambers to show cause why, in the mean time, the furnaces shouldn’t be opened. His grounds are, first, that the woman was deceived; and second, that the trust is against public policy. Now, it seems to me that our State courts can’t issue an order binding78 on a board of directors at Pittsburg. Isn’t it a thing that belongs to a United States court? How is that?”
“I’m sure I don’t know,” answered Horace. “It’s a new question to me.”
“Tenney told me you knew something as a lawyer,” was Wendover’s angry comment. “I’d like to know where it comes in.”
The hardware merchant hastened to avert79 the threatened return to personalities80. “Tell him about the receiver motion,” he said.
“Then Tracy, before the same judge, but in special term, has applied81 for a receiver for the Thessaly Mfg. Company, on the ground of fraud.”
“That’s the meanest thing about the whole business,” commented Tenney.
“Well, what do you advise doing?” asked Horace, despondently82.
“There are two things,” said Wendover. “First, to delay everything until after New Year, when Mrs. Minster’s interest becomes due and can’t be paid. That can be done by denying jurisdiction83 of the State court in the trust business, and by asking for particulars in the receiver matter. The next thing is to make Thessaly too hot for those women, and for Tracy, too, before New Year. If a mob should smash all the widow’s windows for her, for instance, perhaps burn her stable, she’d be mighty glad to get out of town, and out of the iron business, too.”
“But that wouldn’t shut Tracy up,” observed Tenney. “He sticks at things like a bull-dog, once he gets a good hold.”
“I’m thinking about Tracy,” mused84 the Judge.
Horace found himself regarding these two visitors of his with something like admiration85. The resourcefulness and resolution of their villainy were really wonderful. He felt his courage coming back to him. Such men would be sure to win, if victory were not absolutely impossible. At least, there was nothing for it but to cordially throw in his lot with them.
“Whatever is decided86 upon, I’ll do my share,” he said, with decision. Upon reflection, he added: “But if I share the risks, I must be clearly understood to also share the profits.”
Judge Wendover looked at the young man sternly, and breathed hard as he looked. “Upon my word,” he growled87 at last, “you’re the cheekiest young cub88 I’ve seen since before the war!”
Horace stood to his guns. “However that may be,” he said, “you see what I mean. This is a highly opportune89 time, it strikes me, to discover just how I stand in this matter.”
“You’ll stand where you’re put, or it will be the worse for you!”
“Surely,” Schuyler Tenney interposed, “you ought to have confidence that we will do the fair thing.”
“My bosom90 may be simply overflowing91 with confidence in you both”—Horace ventured upon a suggestion of irony92 in his intonation—“but experience seems to indicate the additional desirability of an understanding. If you will think it over, I daresay you will gather the force of my remark.”
The New Yorker seemed not to have heard the remark, much less to have understood it. He addressed the middle space between Horace and Tenney in a meditative93 way: “Those two speech-making fellows who are here from the Amalgamated94 Confederation of Labor24, or whatever it is, can both be had to kick up a row whenever we like. I know them both of old. They notified me that they were coming here ten days ago. We can tell them to keep their hands off the Canadians when they come next week, and lead their crowd instead up to the Minster house. We’ll go over that together, Tenney, later on. But about Tracy—perhaps these fellows might—”
Wendover followed up the train of this thought in silence, with a ruminative95 eye on vacancy96.
“What I was saying,” insisted Horace, “was that I wanted to know just how I stand.”
“I suppose it’s out of the question to square Tracy,” pursued Wendover, thinking aloud, “and that Judge Waller that he’s applied to, he’s just another such an impracticable cuss. There’s no security for business at all, when such fellows have the power to muddle97 and interfere98 with it. Tenney, you know this Tracy. Why can’t you think of something?”
“As I remarked before,” Horace interposed once more, “what am I to get out of this thing?”
This time the New Yorker heard him. He slowly turned his round, white-framed face toward the speaker, and fixed99 upon him a penetrating100 glance of wrath, suspicion, and dislike.
“Oh, that is what you want to know, is it?” he said, abruptly, after a momentary silence. “Well, sir, if you had your deserts, you’d get about seven years’ hard labor. As it is, you’ve had over seven thousand dollars out of the concern, and you’ve done seven hundred thousand dollars’ worth of damage. If you can make a speech before Judge Waller this week that will stave off all these things until after New Year’s, perhaps I may forgive you some of the annoyance101 and loss your infernal idiocy102 and self-conceit have caused us. When you’ve done that, it will be time enough to talk to me about giving you another chance to keep your salary. But understand this, sir! You never made a bigger mistake in your life than in thinking you could dictate103 terms to Peter Wendover, now or any other time! Why, you poor empty-headed creature, who do you suppose you could frighten? You’re as helpless as a June-bug in a cistern104 with the curb105 shut down.”
The Judge had risen while speaking, and put on his overcoat. He took his hat now, and glanced to note that Tenney was also on his feet. Then he added these further words to the young man, whose head was drooping106 in spite of himself, and whose figure had sunk into a crouching107 posture108 in the easy-chair:
“Let me give you some advice. Take precious good care not to annoy me any more while this business is on. I never did take much stock in you. It was Tenney who picked you out, and who thought you could be useful. I didn’t believe in you from the start. Now that I’ve summered and wintered you, I stand amazed, by God! that I could ever have let you get mixed up in my affairs. But here you are, and it will be easier for us to put up with you, and carry you along, than throw you out. Besides, you may be able to do some good, if what I’ve said puts any sense into your head. But don’t run away with the idea that you are necessary to us, or that you are going to share anything, as you call it, or that you can so much as lift your finger against us without first of all crushing yourself. This is plain talk, and it may help you to size yourself up as you really are. According to your own notion of yourself, God Almighty’s overcoat would have about made you a vest. My idee of you is different, you see, and I’m a good deal nearer right than you are. I’ll send the papers over to you to-morrow, and let us see what you will do with them.”
The New York magnate turned on his heel at this, and, without any word of adieu, he and Tenney left the room.
Horace sat until long after midnight in his chair, with the bottle before him, half-dazed and overwhelmed amidst the shapeless ruins of his ambition.
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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rumination
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| n.反刍，沉思 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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scurvy
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| adj.下流的，卑鄙的，无礼的；n.坏血病 | |
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exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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discomforts
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| n.不舒适( discomfort的名词复数 )；不愉快，苦恼 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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morass
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| n.沼泽，困境 | |
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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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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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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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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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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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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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43
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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44
irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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47
overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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48
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
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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50
peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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51
sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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52
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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53
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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54
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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55
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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56
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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57
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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dissuasion
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| n.劝止；谏言 | |
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61
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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despondently
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| adv.沮丧地，意志消沉地 | |
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83
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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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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85
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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86
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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87
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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88
cub
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| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
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opportune
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| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
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90
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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amalgamated
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| v.（使）（金属）汞齐化( amalgamate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）合并；联合；结合 | |
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95
ruminative
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| adj.沉思的，默想的，爱反复思考的 | |
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96
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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97
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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98
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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99
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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100
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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101
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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102
idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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103
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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104
cistern
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| n.贮水池 | |
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105
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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106
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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107
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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108
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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