To Laura Pavely the 6th of January opened as had done all the other days during the last few weeks, that is, quietly, dully, and sadly.
There was one difference, trifling3 or not as one happened to look at the matter. Godfrey was away in London. He had been absent for over a week—since the 28th, and though he had been expected back last night, there had come a telephone message, late in the afternoon, to say that his business would keep him away a day longer.
This morning—it was a Friday morning—Laura, trying hard to shake off her depression, told herself that she and Alice might as well go for a ride. It was a beautiful day, and the wind blew soft. They would go across the downs to a certain lonely spot which Alice loved.
Laura was already in the hall in her riding habit, waiting for the child, when there came a telephone message through from Pewsbury. It was from the Bank asking what time Mr. Pavely would be there. A gentleman with whom he had made an appointment for ten o'clock, had been waiting for him since that hour. It was now nearly eleven.
[Pg 174] Laura turned to the servant: "Did Mr. Pavely give you any message to send on to the Bank?" she asked.
The man answered, "No, ma'am, not that I understood. Mr. Pavely didn't come himself to the telephone."
"What was the message exactly?" Laura was always kind and courteous4 in her manner to her servants, and they were all attached to her.
"It was as how Mr. Pavely was being detained, and could not be home last night, ma'am. The person who gave the message was in a great hurry—he cut me off before I could say anything to him."
"I suppose we ought to have telephoned to the Bank early this morning," said Laura thoughtfully. But it had never occurred to her that it would be necessary for her to do so. Her husband was a very exact man of business. She had taken it as certain that he had also communicated with the Bank.
"Who was it telephoned just now?" she asked.
"I think it was Mr. Privet himself, ma'am. He said he felt sure Mr. Pavely intended to be back this morning, because of the gentleman he had arranged to see."
"Perhaps I had better speak to Mr. Privet myself," said Laura. "Is that you, Mr. Privet?"
"I wish you a very good morning, Mrs. Pavely. I didn't mean to put you to any trouble, but you see the matter is important——" Even through the telephone she could hear a mysterious tone in the old voice, though he was speaking in so low a tone that she could scarcely hear. "It's Lord St. Amant. He's been here since ten o'clock, and he says he can't stop any longer. Mr. Pavely made an appointment with his [Pg 175] lordship over a week ago. It's very strange he should have forgotten, isn't it, Mrs. Pavely?"
"Yes, I think it is strange," she said slowly. "Will you tell his lordship that I'm exceedingly sorry that word was not sent him. If I had known of the appointment, of course I would have communicated with him either by telephone or by a note."
"Then I'm to put off all Mr. Pavely's appointments for to-day?"
"Well, yes, Mr. Privet, that seems to me the only thing you can do."
Laura smiled a little as she left the telephone. Mr. Privet's tone, if not his words, made it quite clear that he thought Mr. Pavely had committed a serious solecism, almost the worst solecism a country banker could commit, in not keeping an appointment with the great man of the neighbourhood, who was to be the new Lord Lieutenant5 of the county.
An hour and a half later, as mother and child were riding slowly home, Laura suddenly told herself that it was a long time since Mrs. Tropenell had seen Alice on pony6-back. Why shouldn't they both go on to Freshley? And if Aunt Letty asked them to stay to lunch, as she very probably would, so much the better!
On their way to the front door of the house, they turned into the stable-yard to find a groom7, and then, suddenly, Laura felt a queer, and to herself an utterly8 unexpected and new, sensation sweep over her. It was a sensation of eager, unreasoning joy.
Oliver Tropenell stood in the middle of the yard, talking to his mother's old groom. He looked ill and [Pg 176] tired—dreadfully tired. But all at once, as he saw Laura and her child come riding in, a wonderful change swept over his dark face—there came over it a glowing expression of welcome and delight. He lifted Alice off her pony. Then he came forward to help Laura....
With a shock of surprise which seemed to make her heart stop beating, Laura felt her whole being responding to the ardent9, and at once imperious and imploring10 look with which he gazed up into her eyes. She was shaken, awed11 by the passion he threw, perhaps unconsciously, into that long, beckoning12 look—stirred to the heart by the feeling of content his mere13 presence brought her.
But even in those few flashing moments, Laura Pavely quickly, almost fiercely, assured herself that this new, strange sensation of oneness, of surrender on her part, was "friendship," nothing more.
Yet her voice faltered14 in spite of herself, as she said, "Hadn't we better ride round? I only came in here to find some one to hold the horses, in case your mother wanted us to come in."
But with a muttered, "Mother has got Lord St. Amant to luncheon15—I know she would like you both to stay, too," he lifted her off her horse.
They walked to a door which led into the back part of the house, and so by a corridor to a small room where Mrs. Tropenell generally sat in the morning. As they went along, Alice, alone, chattered16 happily.
At last Laura, more for the sake of proving to herself that she felt quite at ease than for anything else, asked suddenly, "I suppose you didn't see Godfrey on your way through London?"
[Pg 177] Oliver waited a few moments—so long indeed that she wondered if he had heard her. But she knew in her heart that he had, for his face had darkened at the mention of her husband's name. At last he answered, very deliberately17, "Is Godfrey away then?"
"Yes. He went off some days ago. We expected him home yesterday; but he sent a telephone message to say he wasn't coming back till to-night."
They were now before the door of Mrs. Tropenell's sitting-room18. Her son opened it quietly, and for a moment the three stood there, gazing into the panelled, sunlit little room, which was part of the survival of a much older building than the eighteenth-century manor19-house.
Mrs. Tropenell, sitting upright in a low chair, was looking up into the face of the man who stood before her, and they were both so absorbed in what they were saying that neither had heard the door open.
Laura gazed with new eyes, a new curiosity, at Lord St. Amant. She had seen him often in this house, though sometimes at comparatively long intervals20, ever since she was a child, and always he had had a fixed21 place, in her mind and imagination, as Mrs. Tropenell's one man-friend.
To-day, seeing the two thus talking eagerly together she felt her interest oddly quickened. She was asking herself eagerly whether some such passage as that which had taken place between herself and Oliver Tropenell three months ago, and which had caused her so much pain, had ever occurred between those two in the days when Lady St. Amant, a fretful, selfish invalid22 whom every one disliked, was still alive. If yes, then Mrs. Tropenell had evidently known how to retain the [Pg 178] friendship, the warm affections of a man who, younger, had been notoriously inconstant.
In Laura's eyes these two had always been old when she thought of them at all. But to-day she realised, as in a flash, that the man and woman before her had also been young, and that not so very long ago.
Even now, Lord St. Amant was a still vigorous and active-looking man. He was leaning over the back of a chair, looking eagerly into his old friend's face. Was it true, as some of the gossips said, that he had remained a widower23 for that same friend's sake?
Laura gazed at him with an almost hungry curiosity. She was absurdly surprised that he looked to-day exactly as he had always looked in her eyes—a pleasant, agreeable-mannered, amusing man of the world, not at all her notion of the one-time lover of many women.
Lord St. Amant's hair had now gone white, but, apart from that he looked just as he had been wont24 to look, when he came and went about Freshley Manor, when she, as a child, had stayed there with her mother. Some years later, she had become dimly aware—girls always know such things—that Mrs. Tropenell had had a fleeting25 notion of marrying her to Lord St. Amant. But Laura had also known that it was Mrs. Tropenell, not herself, who was the magnet which then drew him so often to Freshley Manor.
They had once, however, had an intimate talk together. It had been on one of the very rare occasions when Mrs. Tropenell was ill, confined to bed, upstairs, and she, Laura Baynton, had been left alone to entertain her Aunt Letty's old friend. And their talk—she remembered it now—had been all of Oliver: of Oliver and his mother.
[Pg 179] Lord St. Amant had spoken with much heat of Oliver's having settled on the other side of the world, leaving Mrs. Tropenell lonely. Then he had smiled a curious little smile: "But that makes no difference. To a mother 'distance makes the heart grow fonder,' and also 'lends enchantment26 to the view.' An only son, Laura, is the most formidable of rivals."
The girl had been flattered, touched too, by the implied confidence.
She had yet another vivid memory of Lord St. Amant. He had sent her, immediately on hearing of her engagement to Godfrey Pavely, a magnificent wedding present; also he had come, at some inconvenience, to her marriage.
Godfrey had supposed the compliment due to regard for himself and for his father, but Laura, of course, had known better. Lord St. Amant had come to her marriage to please Mrs. Tropenell—because he regarded her, in a sense, as Mrs. Tropenell's adopted daughter.
Something of all this moved in quick procession through Laura Pavely's mind, as she stood in the doorway27, looking more beautiful, more animated28, more feminine, in spite of—or was it because of?—her riding dress, than Oliver Tropenell had ever seen her.
She moved forward into the room, and Lord St. Amant turned quickly round.
If Laura looked at Lord St. Amant with a new interest, a new curiosity in her beautiful eyes, he, on his side, now looked at Laura more attentively29 than he had done for a long time. He had been abroad for two months, and this was the first time he and Mrs. Tropenell had met since his return.
[Pg 180] They had just had a long talk, and during that talk she had at last told him something which had amused, surprised, and yes, interested him very much; for Lord St. Amant, in the evening of his days, found himself more, not less, tolerant of, and interested in, human nature, and in human nature's curious kinks and byways, than at the time when he himself had provided his friends and contemporaries with food for gossip and scandal. But he had been very comforting in his comments on her story, and more than once he had made his old friend smile. Mrs. Tropenell had felt very, very glad to see Lord St. Amant. It was natural that she should be glad to have once more within easy reach of her the one human being in the world to whom she could talk freely, and who took an unaffectedly close, deep interest in all her concerns.
Not till they were all sitting at luncheon, was Laura able, in a low tone, to inquire after her brother. Little Alice knew nothing of her uncle's visit to England. Godfrey and Laura had tacitly agreed to keep the child in ignorance of it. But now Laura asked, with some eagerness, "And Gillie? What's happened to Gillie? Is he still abroad?"
Olive answered at once, "No, he's gone back to Mexico." And then, as he saw a look of blank disappointment shadow her face, he added, hastily, "He gave me a lot of messages for you—I was coming over this afternoon to deliver them. You know what Gillie's like—he never writes if he can help it!"
"Yes," she said, "I know that," and she sighed. "Did he go from a French port?" she asked.
Oliver hesitated. It was almost as if he had forgotten. [Pg 181] But at last he answered, "Yes, he went from Havre. I saw him off."
And then something rather untoward30 happened. There came a violent ringing at the front door—a loud, imperious pulling at the big, old-fashioned iron bell-pull. To the surprise of his mother, Oliver flushed—a deep, unbecoming brick red. Starting up from table, he pushed his chair aside, and walked quickly to the door. It was almost as if he expected some one. "I'll see who it is!" he called out.
They heard him striding across the hall, and flinging open the front door....
Then he came back slowly, and Mrs. Tropenell saw that there was a look of immeasurable relief on his face. "It's a man who's brought a parcel from Pewsbury for one of the servants. He declared he couldn't make any one hear at the back, and so he came round to the front door—rather impudent31 of him, eh?" and he sat down again.
Coffee was served in the pleasant, low-ceilinged drawing-room, and then Oliver and Laura went out of doors, with Alice trotting32 by their side.
It was quite like old times. And the child voiced their unspoken feeling, when, slipping her hand into Oliver's, she exclaimed, "This is jolly! Just like what it used to be when you were here before!"
And he pressed the little hand which lay so confidingly33 in his. "Yes," he said, in a low voice, "the same—but nicer, don't you think so, Alice?"
And Alice answered with the downrightness of childhood, "I can't tell yet! I shall know that after you've been here a little while. We can't garden as much as we did then, for now the ground is too hard."
[Pg 182] "But we can do other things," said Oliver, smiling down at her.
And Alice answered doubtfully, "Yes, I suppose we can."
They did not say very much. Oliver did not talk, as perhaps another man would have done, of his and Gillie's adventures in France and Italy. And after a comparatively short time Laura suggested that she and Alice had better now ride home.
"Will you come over to tea?" she asked.
And Oliver said yes, that he would.
"I daresay Godfrey will be back by then. He often takes the early afternoon train down from London."
But to that he made no answer, and Laura, with a rather painful sensation, saw the light suddenly die out of his face.
He came round to the stable. "I'll walk a little way with you," he said.
But she exclaimed rather hurriedly, "No, don't do that, Oliver! Stay with your mother and Lord St. Amant."
And without any word of protest he obeyed her.
It is strange what a difference the return of a friend may make to life! Laura Pavely felt another woman as she busied herself that afternoon, happily waiting for Oliver Tropenell. Honestly she hoped that Godfrey would come back by the early afternoon train; he, too, would be glad to see Oliver.
But the time went by, and there came no message through from London ordering the car to be sent to the station, and Laura told herself that perhaps Godfrey had gone straight to the Bank.
[Pg 183] At last, a little after five, Oliver Tropenell came sauntering in, very much as he used to saunter in, during the long happy summer days when they had just become friends.
They had tea in Alice's day-nursery, and after tea, they all three played games till it was nearly seven. Then, reluctantly, Oliver got up, and said he must go home. And as he stood there, gazing down into her face, Laura was struck, as she had been that morning in the first moment of their meeting, by his look of fatigue34 and of strain. She, who was so little apt to notice such things, unless her little girl was in question, glanced up at him anxiously. "You don't look well," she said, with some concern. "You don't look as if you'd had a holiday, Oliver."
"I shall soon get all right," he muttered, "now that I'm here, with mother." And then, in a lower voice, he added the words, "and with you, Laura."
She answered, nervously35 determined36 to hark back to what had been their old, happy condition, "Alice and I have both missed you dreadfully—haven't we, my darling?"
And Alice said gaily37, "Oh yes, indeed, we have, mother." Then the child turned, in her pretty, eager way to Oliver, "I hope you'll stay a long, long time at Freshley. If only it snows, father thinks it may soon, you and I can make a snow man!"
And Oliver, after a moment's pause, answered, "Yes, so we can, Alice. I'm going to stay at home some time now, I hope."
And again, on hearing those words, Laura felt that new, unreasoning thrill of joy which she had felt when she had seen Oliver standing38 in the middle of [Pg 184] his mother's stable-yard. Till that moment, and now again, just now, she had not known how much she had missed her friend.
At last, when it was really time for him to go, Laura and Alice both accompanied their guest to the hall. Then he turned abruptly39 to Laura: "How about to-morrow? May I come to-morrow morning?"
And over Laura there came just a little tremour of misgiving40. Surely Oliver was going to be—reasonable?
"Yes," she said hesitatingly, "I shall be very glad to see you—though of course I'm rather busy in the morning. To-morrow Mademoiselle is not coming. Perhaps I'd better telephone early and tell you our plans for the day. Godfrey will be so glad to see you, Oliver. He asked only the other day when Mrs. Tropenell expected you back."
But to that remark Oliver made no answer.
After the heavy front door had shut behind her visitor, and when Alice had already run out of the hall, Laura opened the front door again.
She called out: "Perhaps you'll meet Godfrey. He may be here any moment now; if he's been at the Bank, he will walk out from Pewsbury."
But Oliver did not turn round. He was evidently already out of hearing.
Feeling strangely restless, Laura walked out a little way, closing the door partly behind her. There was about a quarter of a mile of carriage road from the house to the gate, but the night was very clear, the ground hard and dry. Soon her eyes became accustomed to the darkness; she could see Oliver's tall figure rapidly growing less and less, dimmer and dimmer. [Pg 185] Every moment she expected to see another, still more familiar, form emerge from out of the darkness. But, after pacing up and down for perhaps as long as ten minutes, she went back into the house. Godfrey was evidently coming home by the last train.
Moved by an indefinable feeling of peace as well as of contentment, Laura sat up long that night, waiting for her husband. She had made up her mind to tell him, not only that Oliver had come back, but also that her brother was on his way to Mexico. Half ashamedly she asked herself why they should not all three go back to the happy conditions which had lasted all the summer?
But there came neither Godfrey nor news of him, and Laura spent the evening of a day of which the date was to become memorable, not unhappily in reading.
When it came to half-past eleven, she knew that her husband would not be home that night, but, even so, she sat up till the tall lacquered clock in the hall struck out the chimes of midnight. Then, a little reluctantly, she went upstairs, telling herself that if in the morning there was still no news of Godfrey, she and Alice would stroll along to Rosedean. Katty might know something of Godfrey's movements, for when she had been last at The Chase an illusion had been made to a bit of business he was to do for her in London, which would necessitate41 some correspondence.
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1
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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2
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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3
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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4
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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5
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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6
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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8
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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10
imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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11
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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13
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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14
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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15
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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16
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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17
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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18
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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19
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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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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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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24
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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26
enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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27
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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28
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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30
untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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31
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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32
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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33
confidingly
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| adv.信任地 | |
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34
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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35
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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36
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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37
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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38
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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39
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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40
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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41
necessitate
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| v.使成为必要，需要 | |
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