Were in the washes, all unwarily,
Devourèd by the unexpected flood.
Shakespeare, “King John.”
I
The floods of ’52 are still remembered in East Anglia. The worst and most widespread were in November, but “February Fill-Dyke1” brought the more localized catastrophe2 in Little Bradmarsh. The village, lying as it did along the left bank of the Brad, was caught between two waters, the overflow3 of the streams to the north that ran down silt4-laden5 towards this bank, and the backwash over the bank from the Brad itself, which, already swollen6 by rain, and by the waters pumped into it from the marsh-mills on its right bank, was prevented overflowing7 southwards by the dyke that further protected Long Bradmarsh.
It was Nip that brought Jinny the news, though she did not understand its purport8 till the service was over. For it was to church that he brought it. That ancient building, standing9 isolated10 on its green knoll11 flaked12 with gravestones, had begun to appeal to him as much as to Jinny, and despite her efforts to dodge13 or shake him off, he had become a regular churchgoer. Nobody seemed to mind his sitting in her pew or squatting15 by the stove: perhaps so exiguous16 a congregation could not be exigent, and in that aching void even a canine17 congregant was not unwelcome. But his mistress, despite the sense she shared with Mr. Fallow of divine glimmerings in the animal creation, had always an uneasy feeling of indecorum, especially when Nip snored through the sermon like a Christian18, and she was congratulating herself that the “Fifthly and Finally” had been safely reached without him, when in he trotted—far wetter and muddier than on the day he had plumped on Will’s knees in the chapel19. The sight of him dripping steadily20 along the aisle21 towards the stove did not interrupt the hymn22: the worshippers, though the morning had begun with a set-back to snow, were in no wise surprised by a return to rain. Only that Saturday night it had rained “cats and dogs”: one dripping dog was therefore no alarming phenomenon. They did not realize that Nip had largely swum to church.
But when, at the church-door, they began to fumble23 with their umbrellas, they saw with wide eyes of astonishment24 and dismay that though a mere25 sleety26 drizzle27 misted the air, below the lych-gate a strange expanse of waters awaited their feet. Except for one broad finger of land pointing along the centre of a vast yellow lake, their world was suddenly turned to water, and Jinny had a weird28 wonder as to what the dead would think could they rise and see the transformation29 wrought30 in the earthy spot where they had laid themselves so securely to sleep.
But the first impression of plumbless depth was contradicted by the hedgerows standing up—despite their reflections—much as before, still with a light powder of the morning’s snow, and when Jinny advancing to the gate, amid a chaos31 of ejaculatory comment that would have done credit to a full-sized congregation, probed the lake with the point of her umbrella, she exhibited barely three inches of moist tip. Reassured32 except for Sunday shoes, the bulk of the worshippers plashed forwards more or less boldly. But Miss Gentry33 refused to be comforted: she was already half hysterical34 and clutching at Jinny, for she recalled her anciently prophesied35 doom36 of drowning. What was the use of a lifelong refusal to set foot on the water? The water was come to her, as the Clown opined of Ophelia. Jinny could quiet her only by promising37 to see her safely to her door. With a jump the girl reached the four steps by which the ladies anciently mounted to their pillions, and running up, she surveyed the vista38 of waters, amid which the three pollarded lime-trees before Miss Gentry’s cottage rose like a landmark39. She could now make a mental map of the driest route. For from this observation-post, though she had a sodden41 sense of mist and rain and blowiness, the sense of an unbroken aqueous expanse disappeared. She could see water, water, but not everywhere, nor were even the watery42 parts submerged uniformly. It was like some infallible illustration of the ups and downs of Little Bradmarsh. Never before, not even under the varying strains of Methusalem, had she realized how undulating the village was for all its apparent flatness. She saw now how much a few feet counted, and how the majority of the cottages and the farmhouses—all the ancient ones indeed—had planted themselves along that dry finger: “the Ridge44” they called it, she remembered, though the name had hitherto been a mere sound to her ear, for so gradual was its slope that she had never felt the ascent45 nor put on the brake in descending47. But to see it culminating in the Common and her own dear Blackwater Hall was now a cheering spectacle. While a white-flecked, wind-whipped waste of yellow water was spreading where yesterday blackened pastures had stretched, here were brown fields quite untouched by the flood-water, with their furrows48 chalked out in snow. One field all winter white, with thin blades just peeping up, looked friendly rather than forlorn—such was the effect of contrast. Lower down the Ridge were stretches covered with a deposit of silt and leaf-mould, with plough-handles sticking up, and between these and the flooded regions was a half-and-half world that reminded Jinny of the salt-marshes: a maze49 of pools and pondlets and water-patterns in a greenish slime mottled with hillocks.
Taking off her precious shoes and stockings, Jinny descended50 from her observation-post and plunged51 the “little fitten” admired of her grandfather into the chilling muddy lake, which seemed to have risen since she gauged52 it. Miss Gentry, clenching53 her teeth, followed her example, but in the effort to grasp at once her skirt, shoes, and muff (with prayer-book couchant), and to prevent her umbrella from soaring off on adventures of its own, she made more twitter than progress, and when, at their first stile, Nip, plunging54 through the bars, dived into the field and swam boldly forward, Miss Gentry with a shriek55 perched herself on the stile and refused to come down. Jinny, baring her legs still higher, strove to laugh away her patron’s fears, but her very precaution of tucking up had driven the dressmaker into a new frenzy56.
“There’s no risk so long as we dodge the ditches,” Jinny pointed57 out, “and you can see those by the hedges. And look up there—there’s your lime-trees signalling their feet are dry.”
“Yes, but I can’t get to them. Oh, Jinny, go and fetch me your cart. Do be a love.”
“Sunday?”
“It’s a question of life and death.”
“Very well,” Jinny pretended. “If I cut through that field with the cows I shan’t be long,” she said with cunning carelessness.
But she had not gone many yards ere, as she expected, she heard Miss Gentry plashing desperately58 behind her with cries of “Wait for me, Jinny! Wait!” Miss Gentry did not reflect that the cows would not be out in that weather; to face those fearsome inches under escort was a lesser59 evil than the possible dangers from panic-stricken cattle that now rose before her mind, and with one horn of the dilemma60 a bull’s, her choice was precipitated61.
At the Four Wantz Way new terrors arose for the poor lady. It was not from the swirl62 of waters that met there, for her road now stretched visibly upwards63, but from the fact that the Pennymoles were occupied in moving their treasures to “the high room.” The genial64 paterfamilias darting65 to his doorstep—with the kerchiefed owl66 he was rescuing in his hand—had his own flood of authoritative67 lore68 to pour out, but he could make no headway till Miss Gentry had blushingly apologized for her bare feet, and been assured that no respectable man would look at them. Then, though his hearers stood splashed and blown about, he held even Jinny spellbound with a description of Long Bradmarsh as he had known it in his boyhood before the embankment was put up, and when his parents had often had, even in summer, to open the back door of their cottage to let the water pour out. And what a work it had been, clearing up the muck afterwards! “That’s a terrible thing, the power of water,” he said solemnly. “People don’t know what it means who ain’t seen it. And it’s rising every minute.”
“What did I tell you, Jinny?” cried Miss Gentry. “Oh, Mr. Pennymole, will my house be safe?”
“It’s one thing, mum, to be in the flood and another to be out of it,” he responded oracularly.
“Come along!” said Jinny impatiently. “Your cottage has got two steps to begin with, and even if it gets up to your garden, you’ll be safe inside.”
“Beggin’ your pardon, Jinny,” corrected the oracle69. “That fares to sap the foundations, and then crack! bang! you think it’s a big gun, and down comes walls and ceilings. My gran’fer seen a whole row of cottages washed away. And then there’s flotsam what bangs about and smashes you in.”
Miss Gentry clutched wildly at Jinny, dropping shoes and muff into the swirl. “And Squibs does hate to get her feet wet,” she babbled70.
Alarmed at the effect of his pronouncement, the oracle hastened to tone it down and to pick up her things.
“No need to get into a pucker71, mum. You’re all right, same as you’re in the high room. And Oi count ye’ve got a grate upstairs, which is more than we’re blessed with this weather. That gre’t ole stove can’t git up.”
“And you could sew in your bedroom,” Jinny added soothingly72. “You’ve never known it get higher than the ground floor, have you, Mr. Pennymole?”
“Not in my born days,” answered the oracle.
“But there’s always new things happening,” wailed73 Miss Gentry.
“That’s wunnerful true,” Mr. Pennymole admitted, smiling. “Oi never thought Oi’d fare to oversleep myself. But the day there was that grand wedding at the church, Oi hadn’t time to make my tea.”
“And then he had two teas!” put in Mrs. Pennymole hilariously74.
But before the story had proceeded far, they all became aware of people hastening from every quarter towards the unsubmerged regions, not for safety, but for salvage75; carts and even wagons76 with teams began to come up, and the bustle77 and cackle recalled Mr. Pennymole to public duty.
Leaving his wife to finish telling the story, as well as transferring the furniture, he joined a party hurrying on to Farmer Gale78’s five-acre field, and as Jinny and Miss Gentry passed along, they saw potato clamps being dug up, cattle driven higher, corn and hay unstacked and transported, and even threshing in hasty operation. The Sunday clothes of those who hadn’t stayed to “shiften,” but emphasized the profanity of the scene.
“You see what Dissenters79 are!” said Miss Gentry in disgust.
“It’s a matter of life and death,” quoted Jinny maliciously80. But Miss Gentry did not recognize her own words. Jinny went on to praise the true Christianity of these labourers, who though ground down to a miserable81 wage, were now dashing to Farmer Gale’s assistance even in his absence—for he had apparently82 not yet returned from his place of worship at Chipstone. One cornstack saved, she calculated, would be worth more than he had paid Mr. Pennymole in the last five years.
“In this dreadful day of the Lord, it’s souls that want saving, not stacks,” said Miss Gentry.
Arrived at last on her own doorstep, she collapsed83 in Jinny’s arms. What was the use of not going to Boulogne, she demanded, if she was to be drowned in her bed? At least she might have had the hope of seeing her dear Cleopatra again. And surely the darling must have written, must have sent her address. Bundock must have lost the letters, or, worse, suppressed them! He owed her a grudge86 because she had resisted his importunities. Yes, Jinny—dead to Passion—had no idea to what lengths people born under other planets would go—even though married! But, extricating87 herself, Jinny, with that cold blood of hers, left her patron to the consolations88 of Squibs; she must get home to her grandfather, she explained; he would be worrying over her fate.
II
She found him at his telescope, as outraged90 as Miss Gentry, and enjoying himself immensely over the spectacle that shattered his Sunday dullness. His big Bible had been lugged91 upstairs, and now lay on the bed, open at the Deluge92; and the bucket that received his ceiling-drippings had been kicked over in his excitement. “That’s the Lord’s punishment on they Sabbath-breakers,” he said gleefully. Nor could all Jinny’s arguments—as she wiped up his private flood—bring home to him his inverted93 logic94. “The Lord knowed ’twas in their hearts to break it,” he persisted. “?‘And it repented95 the Lord that He had made man.’?”
“Oh, it’s not so bad as the flood of 2352,” said Jinny, airing her Spelling-Book chronology.
“Wait till the Brad flows over the dyke,” he chuckled96. “That’ll spill all over Long Bradmarsh, ay, and run down towards Chipstone.”
“Oh, you don’t think it will get over the dyke?” she said anxiously.
“Mebbe to Babylon itself,” he said voluptuously97.
“All the more reason they should try to save what they can,” she urged. “Time and tide wait for no man, and why should any man wait for the tide? It’s like with shepherds and stockmen that can’t ever have their Sunday. Come down to dinner.”
But the Gaffer’s eye was glued to his tube. “That’s as good as harvest!” he exclaimed in shocked exhilaration. “Dash my buttons ef they ain’t thatchin’ the stack they carted over from Pipit’s meadow. And they’re makin’ new mangold and potato clamps.”
“So long as they don’t get largesse99,” Jinny maintained.
The Gaffer groaned100. “Largesse or no largesse, Oi never seen sech a Sunday in all my born days. What a pity Sidrach dedn’t live to see it!”
When she at last got him to surrender the spy-glass, she could not refrain from taking a peep herself. She was astonished at the swift rise of the waters. Already the hedgerows were disappearing, while an avenue of elms rising mysteriously out of a lagoon101 was the sole indication of a road she had passed on her way to church. A swan and cygnets were now sailing upon it, with darker and less distinguishable objects tossing around. A bed of osiers seemed to be in its natural element as it rose from the waters that islanded a farm. The black, snow-powdered barn looked like the upturned hull102 of some squat14 galleon103, and the haystacks thatched as with hoar-frost had the air of cliffs crumbling104 before the sea. One clump105 of bare trees rose out of the glassy void like the rigging of a sinking ship. Her world had suffered a water-change into something rich and strange in which only the rare protuberances enabled her to trace out the original earth-pattern. Even seagulls were floating, and frank-herons wheeling, and kingfishers diving. Her grandfather watched her like one who had provided the show. “That makes me feel a youngster agen,” he cried. “?’Tis like the good ole times when there warn’t no drainage-mills ne yet Frog Farms.”
“Frog Farm isn’t swept away?” she cried with a sudden clamminess at her heart.
“Oi wouldn’t give much for the farniture downstairs,” he said, with sinister106 satisfaction. “That’s the lowest house in the parish. And then ye deny ’tis the Lord’s hand a-chastenin’ the evil-doers. Oi reckon though they’ve packed their waluables in the coach, the pirate thieves, and scuttled107 off Beacon108 Hill way.”
Without replying, she gazed through a tremulous telescope at the distant point where the Brad seemed to wind immediately behind the roof of Frog Farm but the convolutions and dip of the land, aided by an intervening copse, hid everything from her except the quaint109 chimney, though the smoke fluttering in the wind showed that if the Gaffer’s hypothesis was correct, evacuation must have been recent. It was something, though, to see the farmhouse43 still uncollapsed, though her imagination surrounded it with water like the more visible farm. She was glad to remember that Master Peartree at least would have been in his hut on higher ground, keeping vigil over the lambing ewes.
“Somebody ought to go and see if they’ve really got away,” she said anxiously.
“They’ll be all right ef the Lord don’t want to punish ’em,” he said surlily. “And ef He do, ’tain’t for nobody to baulk Him!”
After dinner he forwent110 his nap. The Lord had sent him not only a spectacle but a great new eye, and had even denuded111 the trees that might in summer have blocked his view, and he was not the man to “sin his mercies.” Jinny had ceased to be anxious about his catching112 cold at the casement113—evidently his life of driving had inured114 him—so, wrapping a blanket round his smock and the new-knitted muffler round his throat, she left him to enjoy himself while she cleared away the frugal115 meal.
Suddenly she heard a roar as of distant thunder, followed by a great shout from above.
“It’s busted116! It’s busted!”
She rushed up in alarm, nearly upsetting his bucket herself.
“Behold!” he cried Biblically, handing her the glass. “That’s busted a piece out of the bank.”
She looked—and beheld117 indeed! In the embankment that guarded Long Bradmarsh gaped118 a breach119 of some fifty yards, while giant blocks of clay that must have weighed tons were swirling120 like children’s marbles towards the Long Bradmarsh meadows whence panic-stricken labourers were now fleeing backwards121.
“It’s caught ’em, the Sabbath-breakers,” said the Gaffer ecstatically. “That didn’t wait to flow over the dyke.”
“I’ve got to go and give help on the Ridge,” she said resolutely122. And not all his arguments or threats could stay her cart. “Christ said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” she urged, and the text silenced him. But it was not so easy to dispose of the pietism of Methusalem, whose blank incredulity before her threatened disturbance123 of the holy day was only overcome by the convincing commonplaceness with which Nip barked around. The poor horse must have imagined that he had overslept himself and that it was Tuesday. Fortunately “the Ridge” lay downwards124 for him, and the crowds and the everyday bustle finally disillusioned125 him of his Sunday feeling, and he allowed his cart to be laden with the carrots, swedes, and mangolds that had lain in such snug126 rows packed betwixt hurdles127 and a sort of straw thatch98 kept down by long poles. At first Jinny kept looking round for the rival carrier, but either he would not demean his coach to such service, or he was water-bound.
Jinny asked several people whether they had seen the Flynts and whether Frog Farm would be safe, but if nobody could supply any information, nobody thought there would be any serious danger.
“They’ll be all right,” said Farmer Gale bitterly. “It’s my land there that’s drowned, and my stacks that are floating.” He was on the scene now, directing operations, cursing his looker. For the first time the breezy Cornishman doubted his father’s cuteness in buying up soil whose fatness was only due to its centuries of repose128 under water. “The land’ll be out of heart for years,” he lamented129. Jinny could not help a secret satisfaction in seeing the hard-hearted farmer confronted by a force as remorseless as that which had swept Uncle Lilliwhyte out of his cottage. Nor could she escape a still subtler pleasure in thus heaping coals of fire on his head. But both these joys as well as her anxiety about Frog Farm were soon lost in the glow of service. It was such a delight to be no longer shamming130 work, while to give had become an almost forgotten pleasure.
When she returned to the field for a second load, the flood was already creeping over it, and the early darkness and a pale quarter-moon threw a new weirdness131 over these unknown waters. She found the lane outside still more flooded, and as Methusalem plashed homewards, she encountered Uncle Lilliwhyte rising from the waters like a disreputable river-god. He was dexterously132 spearing mangolds as they floated past, and stacking them, mixed with drowned hares, in a wheelbarrow, itself apparently flotsam. He had an air of legal operations, there was none of the furtive133 look that goes with bulges134 in smock-frocks, and Jinny, too, thought he was justly avenged135 on his evictor136, though she refused to desecrate137 the Sabbath by buying any of his spoils. She could not help feeling rewarded when Nip appeared with a rabbit gratis138. As he had not killed it, she refrained from rebuking139 him, and he came in subsequently for the bones. But his pride at having thus at last achieved his ideal almost turned his head, and all the more bitter was his humiliation140 when his next epoch-making capture—a dead rat—was rejected with reproach.
III
If Jinny had much to tell her grandfather over the rabbit stew141, he in his turn had no lack of material for excited conversation. Both were exhilarated, rejuvenated142 by the metamorphosis of their landscape; it seemed, more pungently143 even than snow, to re-create the wonder of the world. It was a gay young grandfather that rattled144 off the farces145 and tragedies of the day’s drama: a sodden haystack hurled146 into the Brad, a cart of mangolds overturned in a watery field, a bullock swimming for dear life and landing safely on a mound147 where stampeded horses cowered148; dead ewes floating—and just in the lambing season too!—men in boats rescuing pigs and poultry149 from the grounds of water-logged cottages, and hauling clothes and bedding through the windows.
“There’s hundreds o’ Farmer Gale’s acres drowned what was cropped with seed,” he said with gloomy relish150, “and regiments151 o’ rats ha’ saved theirselves atop of his stacks. When they’ve goffled their fill they wentures down for a drink, the warmints, and then up again. Same as ’twixt the devil and the deep sea for they onfortunit stacks.”
That night a white mist rising from the waters blotted152 out everything, but the next morning, when Jinny went up to induce her grandfather to descend46 to breakfast, she found to her surprise and relief that though the Brad was still hurling153 itself through the breach, the bulk of Long Bradmarsh was still unflooded, still alive with salvage parties. The low arms of the marsh-mills were still working with frantic154 efficiency. What miracle had saved this village? Her grandfather explained that there must still be some righteous men there. But Jinny, looking through his glass for herself, discovered—after a preliminary peep at the Frog Farm chimney, whose smokelessness was a fresh relief—that the breach-water instead of flowing evenly over Long Bradmarsh had half found, half scooped155 out for itself, a sort of river-bed. Turning aside before a slight rise, it had veered156 round sharply eastward157, and then curving back westward158, when it met another obstacle three hundred yards later, it had finally poured itself over the dyke back into the Brad.
“That’s a mercy,” she said, expounding159 it.
“But now there’s a chance of both they rivers flowin’ over,” he pointed out hopefully.
But as she gazed, she grew aware of a new phenomenon.
“Why, the Brad’s going backwards!” she said.
He snatched the glass from her hand. “So it be!” he agreed. “But that’s onny where the little river busts160 in agen the wrong way and pours along the top o’ the real river.”
Jinny was thrilling all down her spine161. Again the sibylline162 prophecy of Miss Gentry rang in her ears:
When the Brad in opposite ways shall course,
Lo! Jinny’s husband shall come on a horse,
And Jinny shall then learn Passion’s force.
Overwhelmed by the uncanny divination163 of the dressmaker—a “wise woman” in good sooth it now appeared—she sank into a chair, her whole being aquiver with a premonition that she had reached the crucial point of her destiny. Who was it coming on a horse? Who but Will, that incarnation of equestrian164 grace? He was coming to rescue her, the dear silly, imagining her menaced by the flood. As if she had not got Methusalem! As if Blackwater Hall was not an Ararat! But his foolishness was part of the Fate—might he not even ride his horse through the doorway165, lying along its back to avoid the lintel, and thus be practically “on his hands and knees”? In her grandfather’s present happy mood, the old man might very well accept that solution. And Will himself would be “carried in,” and might equally accept the compromise. Absorbed in her sophistic day-dream, she sat there till even the old man at his tube remembered breakfast. Nor did she again volunteer to help in the fields. All day she stayed at home over her Monday housework and wash-tub, awaiting the horseman, afraid to stir out.
And with equal patience her grandfather sat at his all-day show. Engineers and gesticulating figures appeared on the broken bank for his delectation, and a mile or so lower down labourers began to shovel166 gault (culch, he called it to Jinny), and lighters167 laden with it tried to sink themselves in the breach, but some were swirled168 away like bandboxes and others turned turtle—a comical sight that made him roar with laughter. At last exciting operations with ropes, stretched across the river, succeeded in keeping some in place. After that a big-sailed barge169 came to the rescue—he could even recognize the two punters with long poles who eked170 out the sail. Ravens171’ grandson, that ne’er-do-well, and Ephraim Bidlake, whose grandfather’s barge used to “competition wuss than coaches,” he told Jinny. They had brought a cargo172 of the blue-grey stuff—hundreds of sacks—and “dinged” it into the breach, wellnigh clogging173 it up. And then—oh side-splitting drollery174!—the dyke had gone and “busted” in another weak place—near the bridge. And they were left “like dickies” with empty sacks, while the folk in the new-swamped fields went scurrying175 like rats.
So continuous were her grandfather’s shouts of glee that Jinny ceased to attend to them, and would not come up to see even the new gap. She was the more amazed when at supper he talked of having seen “?’Lijah Skindle” fishing from the window of Frog Farm. “Oi called ye to come and see,” he said reproachfully when she expressed incredulity. “He got his line danglin’ from a broomstick!”
The sight of Miss Gentry astride a broomstick seemed far likelier to Jinny. In the first place, no window of the farmhouse was visible from theirs; in the second, how could Elijah Skindle be living there?
“What would Mr. Skindle be doing at Frog Farm?” she said.
“So long as he ain’t taken Annie there!” he answered. “Oi shouldn’t wonder ef the whole place comes tumblin’ down like they fir-trees. For the more Oi set thinkin’ on it, the more Oi see as it’s to punish that competitioning pirate that the flood’s been sent.”
“Don’t talk like that, Gran’fer. I expect you’ve been dozing176.”
“Oi tell you Oi seen him and his broomstick,” he cried angrily. “And when he couldn’t catch nawthen, he tied his han’kercher on it and signalled with it, too.”
She did remember now that Elijah and Will had become thicker than their respective relations to Blanche seemed to warrant, and she had shrewdly divined that Will wanted to flaunt177 his indifference178 to his rejection179, and Elijah to pose as the magnanimous conqueror180. It was not impossible, therefore, that the horse-doctor, summoned to Snowdrop or Cherry-blossom on the Saturday afternoon, had been caught by the torrential rain and the gale and persuaded to stay the night in that spare bedroom once occupied by Mr. Flippance. But more probably it was only another of the old man’s illusions. “Why, there wasn’t even any smoke from the chimney,” she reminded him.
“Mebbe there was too much water in it,” he chuckled.
Jinny’s blood ran cold, but not on account of the Flynts. She was still too obsessed182 with the vision of Will arriving on a horse to imagine him or his parents immured183 by the waters. No, the feeling that stole over her was that Elijah Skindle was not living at the farm, but that while the occupants had evacuated184 it, he had been drowned outside it—swept away with his trap—and that her grandfather had seen yet another ghost.
“If anybody was signalling,” she pointed out, “the engineers and the wherrymen would have seen him.”
“They can’t see through a brick wall,” he retorted crushingly. “Frog Farm ain’t got no eyes on the Brad. Depend on’t, ’tis the Lord’s finger.”
She was still incredulous. But the moment supper was over, she ran up to examine the farmhouse afresh. The wind had “sobbed185 down”; the sky was sprinkled with stars, seen through frequent rifts186 in the clouds; and the moon, though only a crescent, emerging through a cloud-rack, shed a silver radiance over the watery waste, and cast over it black rippling187 bands of shadow from the bare elms and poplars rising from it in such unearthly beauty. And there in the region of Frog Farm, perceptible even to the naked eye, a mysterious reddish-yellow light, like some new star, threw its far-reaching beams upon the softened188 flood. A closer examination revealed that some of the trees of the fir-copse had been sapped and now lay heaving gently—the old man, she remembered, had alluded189 to fallen firs—and that the ruddy rays came from a farm bedroom, no longer shut out by the foliage190. The smoke, too, was rising again. It was clear that the house was not uninhabited, and that her grandfather might very well have seen Elijah Skindle, while the absence of smoke all day might be traceable to the inability of the occupants to get a light earlier from sodden matches.
“But if they are starving and signalling,” she cried agitatedly191, “we must tell people. We must send a boat.”
“We can’t get no boat,” he said philosophically193.
“But you’ve seen plenty of boats,” she urged. “I saw two myself rowing over the five-acre field. And there’s that fowling-punt on the bank.”
“That! Oi seen that fleetin’ bottom up! Ye can’t goo out to-night. Ye’d be drownded. Why, look there! That’s a dead cow from the Farm meadow!”
“Where? I can’t see anything.”
“There! Bobbin’ near the copse.” He pointed and snatched the glass from her. “Why, that’s a hoss,” he shouted exultantly194, “a black hoss! That should be Snowdrop, ef it ain’t Cherry-blossom!” He was on his feet now, quivering with excitement, his blanket falling from his shoulders.
“Why, how can you be sure in this light?” she said, trembling no less. “It may be a brown horse, or even a plough-horse.”
“That’s a black coach-hoss sure enough, black as his heart, the pirate thief. What did Oi tell ye? ‘Wengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Oi will repay.’?” He looked so solemn in the moonlight, with his white beard, and his white-sleeved arm pointing starward, that she almost felt his standpoint had a prophetic justification195. But she shook off the spell.
“Sit down, Gran’fer,” she pleaded, readjusting his blanket. “Mr. Flynt was in his right.”
“Ef he was in his right, why has the Lord drownded his hoss?” he demanded fiercely. “Do ye set down, yerself.” And he clutched her wrist with his bony hand.
“Let me go!” she cried. “There’s Mr. Skindle to be saved too.”
“There ain’t no danger for them—’tis your boat what ’ud come into colloosion with trees and cattle and fences and—why, just look at that!”
He dropped her hand to scrutinize196 the strange object awash. “Hallelujah!” he cried hysterically197. “That’s the top o’ the coach! Dedn’t Oi say ’twas a funeral coach?”
She shivered, and a cloud, coming just then over the moon, seemed to eclipse her resolution to rouse the neighbours. The sudden pall198 of darkness made the old man clutch her again—his own evocation199 of the funeral coach had frightened him. “Oi won’t be left alone by night,” he quavered and wiped a watery eye. Jinny refused to take it as pathos200. “You’ll blind yourself with that telescope,” she said sternly. But inwardly she felt he was not so wrong. In that dim fitful light there was more danger to the would-be rescuers than to the party so snugly201 gathered round some bedroom hearth202 in Frog Farm. That ruddy lamplight, still brighter by the extinction203 of the moon, beamed reassuringly205 over the waters. Skindle’s broomstick-rod might have represented merely an effort to break the monotony of imprisonment—it was no proof that they had been cut off from their larder206. And with the waters now calmer, the house that had stood the gale was not likely to subside207 in the night. No, they were probably safer where they were than if “rescued.” She must wait till the morning.
A loud thumping208 at the kitchen-door shattered her speculations209. Jinny’s heart beat almost as loudly. So the horseman had come at last, unheard in their excitement, choosing the back door as less of a surrender. Will had escaped then. He was not water-logged. She flew down the stairs three at a time. Poor Will! Poor Snowdrop—or was it Snowdrop that was saved and was now bearing his master to the heart that would give him compensation for all his shattered fortunes? Alas210, no proud cavalier waited to bear her off clasped to his breast, no smoking steed—only a tatterdemalion before whose malodorous corduroys and battered211 beaver212 she recoiled213 in as much disgust as disappointment, though Uncle Lilliwhyte bore in his grimy claws a plump partridge, for which he demanded only twopence.
“But the season’s over,” she murmured.
“That’s onny the tother day and ’twarnt me as killed it,” he said. “The Lord don’t seem to care about they game laws; He killed even on Sunday.”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain,” Jinny rebuked214 him. “We can’t understand His ways.”
“They do seem wunnerful odd,” admitted the nondescript. “Ever since Oi was a brat215 Oi’ve tried to puzzle ’em out, but it git over me. Same as a man now perished in this here flood, and went straight to hell. Wouldn’t that be a cur’ous change for the chap—like the Lord larkin’ with him!”
“Perhaps there’ll be a flood that will put out hell one day,” said Jinny evasively.
“Martha Flynt should be sayin’ there ain’t no hell to put out. That looks as if ye’ve got to goo to Heaven, do what ye will.”
“Oh, I don’t think she means that,” said Jinny, smiling despite her heavy heart.
“That’s what the humes sounded like as her and the looker used to sing of a Sunday afore Master Will come home and stopped ’em. Oi used to listen to ’em chance times—put me in mind of my young days like—but Oi don’t howd with their doctrines216.”
“With whose then?” asked Jinny, interested.
“With nobody’s. Dedn’t Oi say, git over me? Ef the Lord was to offer me Heaven or Hell, which d’ye think Oi’d choose?”
“Is there a catch in it?” she asked cautiously.
“We’ve got to be catched in one or the tother,” he said, misunderstanding. “But Oi mislikes ’em both. Will you be buyin’ the bird?”
As Jinny produced two of her only three pennies, she began to realize for the first time the revolution in her fortunes implicit217 in the destruction of the coach. But her heart was aching too poignantly218 for any joy of victory. She could not savour, as her grandfather was savouring, the miraculous220 collapse84 of the competition. Victory or defeat—heaven or hell—she thought ruefully, she misliked them both. She was consumed with yearning221, anxiety and compassion222 for the young rival who had failed to “come on a horse,” who had perhaps no longer even a single horse to come on. Nor did the fate of Snowdrop or Cherry-blossom—that superb vitality223 turned into a floating carcase—leave her jubilant. In the morning, indeed, she was to awake to a sense of her triumph. But what endless hours of insomnia224 and nightmare had first to be lived through! Again Queen Victoria, who was also quite intelligibly225 Miss Jinny Boldero, was saved by “The Father of the Fatherless” from the gins and stratagems226 of the red-haired villain227 who cut away London Bridge just as Her Majesty228 was going over it in her gold coronation coach with its six black ponies229 and its canvas tilt230. Struggling in the cold waters, she was held up by Henry Brougham, Esq., who helped her to scramble231 athwart the naked carcase of a black pony232 on which she floated to shore, when it stood upon its feet, and with Queen Jinny astride the saddle and Miss Gentry (in bridal attire) not at all surprisingly on the pillion, galloped233 towards Blackwater Hall across the dry Common where anglers sat with broomsticks. And while she was lying along the pony’s mane to get through the door to the red-haired young man (now become the hero), just as she was beginning to feel Passion’s force, that stupid Miss Gentry came crack with her neck against the lintel, and off rolled her head on the floor, its moustache dabbled234 in blood. Picking herself up, and her scattered235 bedclothes, and rubbing her bruised236 crown, Jinny congratulated herself on sleeping in a chest of drawers in such proximity237 to the floor.
But the bang, slight as it was, had cleared away the vapours of sleep and she awoke to a consciousness of victory brimming her veins238 with vital joy. Song, so long strange to her lips, unless simulated to lull240 Gran’fer, came back to them as she dressed, and when she prayed “Give us this day our daily bread,” it was no longer an almost despairing cry to a deaf heaven.
Running upstairs to see if Frog Farm was safe, she was relieved to find it smoking imperturbably241, though up to its bedrooms in water, and a glimpse of Caleb at the casement serenely242 lowering a bucket into the flood was still more reassuring204. But she was thunderstruck when her grandfather gleefully pointed out that the bridge to Long Bradmarsh had broken down, almost as in her dream, and she half looked round for the coronation coach. Doubtless, she felt, surveying the broken bankside arch, which lay in uncouth243 masses impeding244 the current and sending it swirling through the still-standing central arch, the breach hard by in the dyke had helped to sap the bridge, and she was glad to see this breach being already repaired by her friends, Bidlake and Ravens, with a gang of labourers, for they were clearly heaven-sent minions245 for the expedition to Frog Farm.
But if she sang on as she cleared the breakfast things, her grandfather was in still higher feather. Not only had the morning brought to him as to Jinny a keener realization246 of the collapse of their mushroom rival, but he had discovered floating near the bridge a black horse which he persisted was the second horse, and though Jinny maintained it was the same horse, the old man had more faith in heaven. So occupied was he in gloating over this distant horse swirling against the ruined brickwork, with its stiffened247 leg pointing skywards, that he had not seen Methusalem harnessing under his nose, and it was not till Nip started his hysteric prelude248 to departure that Mr. Quarles was aroused to Jinny’s proceedings249.
“Ye can’t goo out in the flood,” he called down in alarm.
“It’s Tuesday,” she called up. The blood was dancing gaily250 in her veins. The frosty morning air was fresh and invigorating. She was young and unconquered. The long anxiety was over. Methusalem had survived the coach, even as he had survived the murderous wiles251 of Elijah! She put her horn to her lips and blew a challenge to the world.
“But there bain’t no bridge,” cried her grandfather.
“Daniel Quarles hasn’t been downed by a coach,” she said, “and he isn’t going to be downed by a flood.”
“No, by God, he ain’t!” cried the old Carrier delightedly. “Oi’ll goo round miles by the next bridge sooner than miss my day. And they false customers’ll ha’ to come to me on their hands and knees ere Oi takes ’em back. Goo to the coach, ye warmints, Oi’m done wi’ ye! And Oi wish ye joy of your fine black hosses all a-jinglin’ and a-tinklin’. He, he, he! Make muddles253, do Oi? Oi never made no muddle252 like that, stablin’ my hosses with the frogs. Do ye give a squint254 at that carcase, Jinny, as ye pass by and ye’ll see it ain’t the one but the tother.”
“And do ye don’t squint into that spy-glass no more,” she called up in merry earnest. “Do, ye’ll get a glass eye.”
He laughed. “No fear. Have they writ85 ye yet about Sidrach’s stone?”
Annoyed with herself at having called up that memory, she feigned255 deafness. “You’ll find partridge for your dinner,” she called out, and flicking256 playfully at Methusalem she burst forth257 joyously258: “There is Hey——”
“There is Ree!” responded the sepulchral259 bass260 from above, and then as the old horse stepped out, both voices declared in duet that ’twas Methusalem bore the bells away. Jinny, waving her whip with a last backward glance at her grandfather, saw him wildly agitating261 his telescope, to which his coloured handkerchief was tied like a flag of victory.
IV
Methusalem waded262 stolidly263 towards the river, his cart nearly floating in places. On the drier artificial slope leading up to the bridge she drew rein264, and, jumping down, walked cautiously over the two still standing arches to hail Ephraim Bidlake, now some hundred yards down the opposite bank. As she put her horn to her lips to summon him, she saw, quanted up-stream, another barge with a reinforcement of sacks, and as it must pass under the bridge she moved to the other side to send her message by it as it came along. But the posse of mud-grimed men with a last push of their submerged poles fell prostrate265 before her, as in some Oriental obeisance266, and she heard the tops of the gault-sacks scraping against the brickwork of the arch as the boat passed under it, so high was the water. It reminded her again of her nightmare. But no heads came crack as they glided268 through, and running to the other side, she spoke269 the rising crew.
Turning, she became aware of Bundock standing, bag-bowed, on the dyke, amid a mass of sodden straw, gazing in horror at the ruins and the dead horse bashing against them, swathed in yellow weed. She advanced to the edge of the void and hailed him across some fifteen feet of eddying270 water.
“Ahoy, Bundock!”
“For God’s sake, Jinny!” he cried, startled. “Go back! That’ll give way.”
“Not with my weight!” she laughed. “You going across?”
“How can I?”
“There’s boats, barges271, wherries, lighters, punts, and swimming,” called Jinny, “and you’ve got to do your duty to the Queen.”
“And haven’t I done it?” he said pathetically, exhibiting his soused leggings. “But there’s only three letters for Little Bradmarsh and all for the same man.”
“I can guess who that is,” she said. “And yet you won’t kill three frogs with one stone.”
Bundock burst into laughter. “So you’ve heard my joke,” he said happily. “I do liven folks up, don’t I, though few have the brains to appreciate aught beyond the Bellman’s silly puns.” Then his ruddy, pitted countenance272 resumed its melancholy273 mien274. “But I can’t joke about the flood, Jinny, you mustn’t expect me to. There’s poor Charley Mott!”
“Why, what’s he got to do with water?” Jinny jested.
“Haven’t you heard? He’s drowned.”
Jinny’s laugh froze on her lips. Charley had obstinately275 gone to fish in the troubled waters of the Brad, the postman related, despite the weather. All the Sunday morning he had fished from the dyke, and was just walking off to dine with some pals276 at “The King of Prussia” when the bank burst, and he was caught by the torrent181 and smashed among the whirling blocks. It was exactly like the moral of the Spelling-Book, and Jinny saw before her as on a scroll277 of judgment278 the grey blurred279 type of Lesson XV: “Harry280’s Downfall.” True, Harry had been torn by wild beasts as well as shipwrecked on the coast of Barbary, but in a country without the larger carnivora a complete analogy could not be expected.
“Poor Mr. Mott,” she sighed. And then, remembering the case put by Uncle Lilliwhyte, had the luckless young man indeed gone straight from water to fire, she wondered. “It’ll be a relief for Mrs. Mott anyhow,” she said.
“A relief?” gasped281 Bundock. “Why, she’s carrying on like mad. Says it’s all her fault for trying to drive him to chapel. And that it was Deacon Mawhood that egged her on to drive him on the curb282. And that he was worth a dozen Deacons, and she won’t have any more to do with you Peculiars. Why, when I brought her the letters this morning, if she hadn’t kept me such a time pouring out all Charley’s virtues283, I might have got across before this bridge broke down. Not that I could have delivered my letters anyhow.”
“I think it broke in the night,” said Jinny. Then she fell silent, disconcerted by these illogical manifestations284 of human nature, and she did not remember where she was till she found Nip tugging285 at her dress and cowering286 on the brink287 of the abyss, as if afraid she would be walking on. The wherry, she perceived too, was now coming up, and young Ravens’ voice was floating melodiously288 across the waters:
“’Tis my delight of a shiny night
?In the season of the year!”
“There’s your ferry, Bundock!” she called.
“And what’s the good of going across?” he asked. “By what I see I couldn’t possibly get to Frog Farm.”
“But I’m going there!”
“What!” He gazed towards her side of the river, the willows289 surging from which alone marked the former bank. Plover290 were flying with dismal291 cries over the unseen pastures.
He shook his head: “One inquest’s enough for Chipstone.”
“I’ll take your letters,” she said with a sudden thought that made her happier.
Bundock resisted the offer. His repugnance292 to seeing the Queen’s mail sacrilegiously carried by a member of Her Majesty’s sex was deep-seated, and it was only because he took seriously Jinny’s threat to write to his sovereign that he finally handed the three letters by a compromise to Ephraim Bidlake. Needless to say that as soon as Bundock’s pouched293 back was turned, that faithful henchman transferred them to Jinny.
When he took her little horse and cart on board his broad-built wherry, he imagined she only wanted to be ferried across, but she had soon spurred him to the great adventure across the “drowned” meadows. It was a question of life-saving, she said, and for the British Navy as embodied294 in Bidlake and Ravens, this was enough. Fortunately the females were now lodged295 on shore, awaiting Mrs. Bidlake’s annual event. Moreover the wherry, relieved by the other barge, had a slack moment, and with Jinny to guide them from the vantage-point of her driving-board over hidden snags in the shape of submerged stiles, sheds, mounds296 or bushes, the two men punted boldly over the left bank. The mast had been lowered, for apart from the danger of boughs297 catching in the sail, the trees made a wind-screen to the pastures.
It was odd as the barge passed between two willows on the margin298 of the river, to see these trees reflected doubly, at once in stream and in flood. There was no difficulty in avoiding the larger flotsam, though one of Farmer Gale’s haystacks was only staved off with Bidlake’s pole, and it was not till they had quanted to the farmhouse itself that the steering299 became troublesome, for there were no windows at the back, at which they were arriving, there were farm-buildings and floating stacks waiting to embarrass them at the front, the so-called Frog Cottage presented a blank black wall at one side, while the windowed side-wall, from which Martha had once beheld Bundock marching through morasses300, was encumbered301, not only by the wreckage302 of the stable and the mangled303 body of the coach, but by Caleb’s wild “orchard304,” in whose mystically rising oak-branches and pear-tree-tops poultry, to which fear had restored wings, were seen to be roosting. But by taking a wide course over the wheat-patch so as to avoid the stacks, the barge was able to double Frog Cottage safely, to glide267 triumphantly306 into dock, and lie alongside Frog Farm. The exciting man?uvre had been accomplished307 in grim silence—even Ravens forgetting to sing as they bumped over the chaotic308 remains309 of the old log-dyke and raised wagon-road—and it was not till it was over that Jinny found breath to blow her horn. And as she did so, she was startled to see behind the diamond panes310 of the closed casement of the central bedroom—now on a level with her driving-board and almost opposite it—a head that vaguely311 recalled Mr. Duke’s.
But the next instant she recognized Maria, and the old black sow was pushed aside, the casement flung open and a red-haired head flung out. And if Jinny had stared incredulously at the sight of the pig, what word can convey the dilatation of Will’s eyes as they now beheld the little Carrier perched on her accustomed seat, whip in hand, as though on the solid road! It was some seconds before he even perceived the barge sustaining her cart.
“What do you want?” broke harshly from his lips.
Such ungraciousness after the perils312 of her voyage jarred upon her. “Don’t you want anything from Chipstone?” she asked, with a malice313 she had not intended.
“No,” he barked.
“Well, here’s your letters I’ve carried,” she said demurely314. “The postal315 service, like the coach service, has broken down.” She hurled the letters through the window just as he was banging it to, but ere it could close it was thrown open again, and Elijah, Maria, Martha, and Caleb were tumbling over one another in their eagerness to greet her.
“Jinny!” came from all their mouths, even, it seemed, from Maria’s, and she saw through dimming eyes that the bedroom was a chaos of furniture and fowls316.
“Here, catch hold of that rope, one of ye,” cried Ephraim Bidlake. “Tie it to a bedpost.” He had already fastened the stem of the boat to an oak, but the current was swinging out the stern.
It was with a thrill that Jinny found herself gazing for the first time into Will’s bedroom, though its normal character was disturbed by its emergency use as a sitting-room317, poultry-run, pigsty318, and salvage store. The wet crinkled motto: “When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” was lying as if in ironic320 questioning atop a pile of parlour ornaments321, and Martha’s silk sampler lay stained and sodden on the very chair on which Mr. Flippance had sat admiring it. “Unstable as water,” human destinies seemed to Jinny as she surveyed the jumble322 in the whitewashed323 attic324. But there was too much bustle for reflection, nor could she even see clearly what Will himself was doing, for Maria and Elijah were jostling each other at the window in their efforts to get through, and the vet319.’s cap fell on the deck in his agitation325.
“Pigs first!” called Jinny, and as though obediently, Elijah clutching at the edge of her tilt scrambled326 on the foot-board of the cart and thence to the deck. “Nice behaviour, leaving us to starve,” he grumbled327 in the same pachydermatous spirit, as he clapped his cap on his chilled cranium.
“How could you starve with all those fowls?” said Jinny.
“They weren’t for weekday eating, the old woman said. Nothing since Sunday but dry bread!”
“As long as it was dry,” Jinny laughed.
“It wasn’t even that! Simply sopping328.”
“Well, all prisoners get bread and water,” said Jinny in mock consolation89. Ravens had hastened to pull out a greasy329 package. Elijah waved it aside with a sniffy air. “Thanks—I’ll wait till we land now.”
“Elijah not fed by Ravens,” laughed Jinny. Outwardly she was in the gayest of moods, bandying words again in quite her old vein239. But it was a feverish330 gaiety—underneath, every nerve was astrain for Will’s reappearance with all it forboded of ecstasy331 and conflict. “Come along, Maria,” she called, for the barge had drifted out a little on its window-rope, and the sow’s eagerness was damped. Now encouraged, she allowed herself to be helped into the cart by Caleb above and Bidlake below. After the fowls had been chivied beside her, there was a delay.
“The missus be in our bedroom packin’ some things for the night,” apologized Caleb, returning to the window. “She can’t sleep without her nightcap, it wouldn’t be decent, and she likes me to change my red shirt for bed.”
“But where will you sleep?” Jinny now asked, feeling suddenly responsible as for an eviction332.
“Mr. Skindle’s kindly333 offered to put us all up till we looks round,” said Caleb.
“It’s the big house I’m furnishing for my wedding regardless,” Elijah explained. “And I’m going to give them their food, too, and it isn’t the sort of food they’ve given me either. But when you’re cooped up with folks in danger of your life, you get closer to them and don’t grudge expense, especially when they’re in low water.”
“In low water?” echoed Jinny. “Oh, Mr. Skindle!”
“You know what I mean,” Elijah replied. “Poor Will’s lost his horses—such a come-down. Not that he ever had enough to appeal to a girl brought up to be a lady. In my new house now there’s three spare bedrooms—I’ll get my mother to make ’em all ready—that’ll be one apiece for ’em if they care to spread themselves.”
“But then how about Maria?” Jinny jested.
“Maria!” he grunted334. “It’s all her fault. I always said she was the fussiest335 pig I ever attended. A mere cramp336, through not taking exercise all this rainy weather; fright cured her in a jiffy. But think of the valuable time she’s cost me! I wouldn’t have come but to oblige Will. No wonder they call the place Frog Farm.”
“I don’t hear any croaking337 but yours,” flashed Jinny. “Why, if time is all you’ve lost, you’re lucky. Where’s your horse?”
“You didn’t think I’d risk Jess on these roads in the weather we’ve been having? I only agreed to come in the coach Saturday night and go back Sunday morning with Farmer Gale and his wife when they drove in to chapel. Poor Blanche! She must have been in a terrible twitter when I didn’t turn up at the Sunday dinner!”
“I wonder she didn’t come out for you in a boat?” said Jinny slyly.
“She’d be thinking I’d been called to another patient. We medical gents can never call our time our own,” he explained, but there was a tremor338 of uneasiness in his words. He pulled out his empty pipe and stuck it between his blackened teeth. Caleb here appeared with uncouth bundles, and Martha (embellished by sudden Sunday clothes) with a last frightened chicken, and as the barge had now quite tautened its window-rope and left a watery gap, Martha’s descent was a fluttering episode.
“Not so easy as the New Jerusalem coming down,” gasped Caleb, when she was safely installed inside the cart with Maria and the poultry and the dazed Nip.
Ephraim Bidlake, intimating he could not wait on this jaunt339 to lower any of the furniture, had gone off—in a little dinghy he carried—to rescue the fowls in the orchard branches, and their fearful cackling and the excitement of his perilous340 quest now drew all eyes, except Jinny’s, which remained furtively341 bent342 on the window, from which the drifting of the barge had carried her away. It was with relief that she heard Martha suddenly exclaim:
“But where’s the boy?”
“Oi count he’s got such a mort o’ new-fangled things,” scoffed343 Caleb. “Tooth-brushes and underclothes and shavin’-strops—happen he’ll want a whole portmantle. Oi offered to help him with his poor arm, but he’s that fiery344 and sperrited—ye remember, Jinny, how he lugged his great ole box all the way Chipstone!”
“But what’s the matter with his arm?” Jinny asked anxiously.
“Didn’t you see his sling345?” called Elijah proudly.
“Broken?” Jinny murmured, paling.
“Only a simple fracture.” He puffed346 complacently347 at his pipe, forgetting it was empty.
“You’ve got to go back, Caleb, and help the poor lad,” said Martha, with renewed agitation.
“Then you might as well get my hand-bag from my room,” Elijah added. “I didn’t think of it in the rush.”
Ravens, labouring mightily348 with his pole to larboard, pushed the barge back to the window, and as Caleb obediently clambered in again, Martha, growing calmer, began telling Jinny how Will had swum out to the stable to save the horses, but had only got his arm kicked for his pains. And then, of course, he couldn’t help her in carrying any of her furniture upstairs—it was a mercy he got back at all—and, it being Sunday, “Flynt” would help only to save life, though you’d have thought from Maria’s squeals350, as she was haled upstairs, that she was being slaughtered351 rather than saved. As for Mr. Skindle, he seemed stricter with the Sabbath than even the Peculiars, and would do nothing but try to light the fire.
“You were at home. I hadn’t got but the clothes I stood in,” Elijah explained. “What should I have done if I’d gone up to my neck in water?”
“Here’s your bag,” Caleb’s voice broke in from the window, “but Will won’t come, Martha!”
“Won’t come?” shrilled352 Martha, and before Jinny could stop her, she was on the footboard and had disappeared through the casement.
“He’s an ungrateful, ill-tempered fellow,” Elijah commented, picking up his bag, and changing his collar as he talked. “I don’t call him a gentleman. He can’t forgive that his arm was set by a vet., and he sits about like a broody hen. Asked me not to mention it, which, of course, as a gentleman, I won’t. What good do you suppose it would do me to have it known—I said to him—seeing I’ve already got the family connexion with Maria? But he got very cross,” Elijah wound up innocently, “though I said I wouldn’t even charge pig’s price, but would swap353 the fee and Maria’s too against his horses, provided I could recover the carcases.”
“I’ve got to stay here,” cried Martha, reappearing hysterically at the window. “He won’t come.”
“What nonsense!” cried Jinny, losing her temper. “We’ll all go and pull him out.”
“He’s locked himself in my bedroom—the one with the side window—you can’t get in from here.” She wrung354 her hands; these days of durance and danger had evidently told upon her nerves.
“I’ll smash the door in and his head too!” growled355 Ravens, his foot on the window-sill.
“No, no,” Jinny commanded, swinging herself suddenly past him. “You take your wife down, Mr. Flynt. She’s too excited. I’ll rout40 him out.”
Martha protested shrilly356 that where she had failed, a stranger could not succeed. No, she must stay with her boy, tend his poor arm! But the men overruled her and were returning her gently but firmly to the footboard of the cart when she cried desperately:
“Wait! Wait! I’ve forgotten something under my pillow.” “I’ll get it!” Jinny promised. “What is it?”
But Martha refused to say. It was very precious. It was in an envelope. It wasn’t for Jinny to see. In vain Jinny declared she wouldn’t open the envelope. Martha’s hysteric protests mingled357 with the frenzied358 cackling of the fowls that Ephraim Bidlake was still chasing.
Leaving the males to pacify359 Martha and deposit her in the cart, Jinny stooped under the barge-rope and threaded the litter betwixt the bed and the right-hand door—the other door, she knew, gave on the bedroom bisected by Frog Cottage. Pausing but a moment to look down the now literal well of the staircase, in which dead mice floated, she rapped imperiously at the connubial360 chamber361 under the gable.
“Go away, mother!” came the fretful answer.
“I’m not your mother—if I were I’d slap you. A nice state you’ve got her into!”
“What do you want?” he said in a changed tone.
“Your mother’s left something precious in an envelope under her pillow.”
“I thought you said you’d never cross my doorstep.”
“I didn’t—I came by the window-sill.” But even as her lips gave the obvious repartee362, her mind beheld her grandfather scrambling363 into the room of the Angel-Mother, and it all seemed ineffably364 silly in view of the tragic365 realities of life. As if she would not have crossed even an enemy’s threshold to bind366 up a broken arm!
“Well, suppose you return the same way,” he retorted.
“That’s what I mean to do,” she said, angry again. “I’ve got my rounds.”
“What! In the barge?”
“I don’t want a boat. Long Bradmarsh has kept its head above water and Methusalem’s going just as strong as before the flood.” Then, afraid she had recalled his own dead horses, she added hurriedly: “How’s your arm?”
“That’s nothing, thank you. Good-bye.”
“Not without the envelope.”
Their words came muffled367 through the door-panels, and a barrier as obstructive seemed to divide their spirits, though they yearned368 dumbly towards each other.
“I’ll put it under the door,” he said surlily.
“I don’t wonder you’re ashamed to look me in the face.”
Jinny was thinking of his behaviour to his mother. But it was an unfortunate remark. Will was ashamed, mortally ashamed of his defeat. He had come along from over the seas, he felt, swelling369 and strutting370 and jeering371! Poor little Jinny! Poor, comical little village carrier! Oho, he’d soon crush her! Oho, he’d soon make an end of her! And now! His coach smashed up, his horses drowned, his capital gone, his savings—the bulk spent on his fine clothes—barely sufficient to carry him along while seeking some new employment, even his parents impoverished372 by the flood, their very roof perhaps about to collapse over his head! While she—! Here she was with her invincible373 old cart, walking the waters, posing as the saviour374 of the whole family, carrying on the postal service and the coach service, blowing her triumphant305 trumpet375 on her immemorial Tuesday round, her old clients doubly at her mercy! What humiliation could be more bitter?
And the worst of it all was that the ache of passion, nourished by her rejection of his new advances, had become intolerably poignant219. Jinny! Jinny! He seemed to hear it all around him, Jinny! Jinny! from morning to night—and even all through the night, floating through his dreams like a strain of music. And Jinny herself was ever before him night and day, with her eyes laughing and her tongue stinging.
But now that she was there in the flesh, with only a door between them, he felt he could not open it. He must never look in her face again till he had rehabilitated376 his fortunes. No word of love had ever been spoken between them. But could he see her, stand near her now, and not speak it? And a fine story it would sound, even if his lips proved spiritless enough to attempt it. He had loved her from the first moment he had seen her in the courtyard of “The Black Sheep,” nay377, from childhood, and had tried to steal her business! Had loved her and might have driven her, with the grandfather she supported, to die in a ditch! And now that it was he who was in the ditch, could he come prating378 of love, add her enhanced scorn to his self-contempt? No, he had missed his opportunities! A nice hand to offer her—even if there was any chance of her taking it—a hand swathed in a sling, symbol of his crippled fortunes! He must set out on his travels again—that was clear—work his passage—as soon as his bones had grown together—to those new Australian goldfields that everybody was talking of, and then, when his self-respect had grown together too, he would write to her and ask her to wait for him. And if she still said “No”—or had already said “Yes” to a better man—why what else had he deserved, monkeying around with a flirt379 who was not worthy380 even of Elijah!
As Jinny now heard him moving speechlessly to get the envelope, the voice of Ravens carolling the popular “Gipsy King,” told her that Martha had been quieted down—unlike the fowls, which were still squawking under Bidlake’s coaxings.
“I confess I am but a man,
???My feelings, who pleases may know,
?I am fond of my girl and my can,
???And jolly companions a row!”
Suddenly she heard Will laughing.
“What’s up?” she called, more brightly.
“Well of all the—!” And then an envelope was pushed under the door. “She hasn’t opened it yet!”
Jinny stooped down. It was the letter from Will that Martha would not let her read in the Spring of ’51!
“Well, she knew what was in it,” said Jinny, her eyes misting. “And you oughtn’t to laugh at such a proof of love. Nobody else would call that a precious treasure.”
The word “love” sent vibrations381 through them both, despite the woodwork between.
“Well, there’s money in the others anyhow,” he said, and three opened envelopes came unexpectedly under the door—the letters she had just brought to him.
“What are these for?” she asked.
“You may as well have them—commissions for the coach.”
“For me?” Jinny said, touched.
“Yes, I’d be obliged if you helped me out.”
“Oh, Will!” Her voice was as broken as his pride seemed to be. But his mood was less of meekness382 than of self-scourging.
“Well, you said the coach service had broken down,” he reminded her.
“I didn’t mean to twit you—I’m sorry——”
“What for? You told me I’d get stuck and come to you to pull me out.”
“But I’m so sorry, really. Poor Snowdrop! Poor Cherry-blossom!”
“Didn’t you call it a funeral coach? Good-bye, you’ve got the treasure.”
“You’d better come too.”
“No, thank you.”
“You needn’t be beholden to the cart if that’s what’s sticking in your gizzard. You can get off at the dyke.”
“Not me. You won’t see me again—not for a long time.”
“Rubbish! I can see you now through the keyhole.”
“So long as I don’t see you,” he said gruffly.
“You’ll see me before you’re a day older.”
“Bet my bottom dollar I won’t.”
“A dashing young lad from Canada,” she carolled. “Once a great wager383 did lay— Why have you buried your face in your hands?” she broke off.
“I haven’t—it’s to shut you out!”
“Aha! So I do come in all the same.”
Loud cries of “Jinny! Jinny!” now intimated, like the silence of the rescued poultry, that the barge was preparing to cast off.
“Just coming!” she called loudly. “Good-bye, you sullen384, runty idiot. They can’t wait any longer.”
“Good-bye!” he growled.
Her look was mischievous385 as she ran off. But that he could not see: he could only hear the noisy banging of the opposite door. He had already forgotten his wager. But by hook or crook386 she meant to lure387 him out, if only for an instant. That was why she came as noisily back and thumped388 at his door again. “You can’t be left without food,” she said.
“That’s my business. Let me be.”
“Not till I know you won’t starve. There’s Ravens’ dinner-packet you can have.”
“Take it away,” he roared.
Her eyes twinkled. He had played into her hands, empty as they were. “I won’t take it away,” she said. There was a sound as of angry dumping outside his door. Then the opposite door banged and silence fell.
After a moment Will, drawing a sigh, half of relief, half of despair, opened his door and the next moment—he never knew how it had happened exactly (still less did he realize that there was no dinner-packet there at all), but since he had only one arm it seemed to him afterwards it could not be he that had enfolded her, even if he had done so with his eyes when her merry mocking face shone so trickily389 upon the landing, while Jinny always felt that it was precisely390 the arm out of action that had come round her, just as it was his not coming on a horse that had made her feel Passion’s force—but there they were (by some irresistible391 flood) in each other’s arms, with Jinny’s flower-soft cheek pressed with a wonderful warmth to his own, and her silvery little voice crooning: “Oh, my poor Will! Oh, my poor Will!” He knew immediately that there had been nothing like this in all his motley experience, nothing at once so pure, so sweet, so tender. This was the love that lifted, not degraded.
But Jinny, though she had no comparative lore of love and was all the more absorbed in the absolute wonder, uniqueness and completeness of it, knew more swiftly than her lover that this was no time for dallying392. In what seemed to him a mere flash of lightning the whole episode was cruelly over, he was being helped into the barge, while Bidlake was in his bedroom untying393 the rope, and Jinny with motherly zeal394 and uncanny knowledge was scrambling together his things for the night. For her, too, the moment of breaking away had been hard, and as her face moved from his, it seemed like passing from a sunny clime to a polar world. But as she now busied herself with his little equipment, the glow was back again at her heart, and the transfigured world of that magic moment was hers again.
As the wherry began to move off at last, and Frog Cottage was doubled again, Martha, who had been laid snugly inside the cart surrounded by her live stock, with blankets from the bed thrown over her, threw them off, stretched her arms to her receding395 farm and burst into a new passion of tears.
“Dear heart! Dear heart!” cried Caleb, almost as agitated192.
“Shall we ever see our things again?” she sobbed.
“That’s nawthen to cry over, dear heart, even ef we don’t. We’ve got to thank the Lord for givin’ us the use of Frog Farm all they long years.”
But Martha sobbed on, unconsoled.
“And Will’s been taken from me too.”
“No, no, Martha,” Caleb reassured her. “There he is by the starn, smokin’ his pipe. ’Tis middlin’ clever to my thinkin’ to fill it one-handed.”
Still Martha refused to be comforted. So spasmodic were her gulpings that Nip set up a sympathetic howl and Maria a perturbed396 squeal349. But none of these sounds—not even Ravens’ singing—could drown the celestial397 music Will and Jinny heard in their hearts.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
dyke
|
|
| n.堤，水坝，排水沟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
catastrophe
|
|
| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
overflow
|
|
| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
silt
|
|
| n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
laden
|
|
| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
swollen
|
|
| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
overflowing
|
|
| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
purport
|
|
| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
isolated
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
knoll
|
|
| n.小山，小丘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
flaked
|
|
| 精疲力竭的，失去知觉的，睡去的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
dodge
|
|
| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
squat
|
|
| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
squatting
|
|
| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
exiguous
|
|
| adj.不足的，太少的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
canine
|
|
| adj.犬的，犬科的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
aisle
|
|
| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
hymn
|
|
| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
fumble
|
|
| vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
sleety
|
|
| 雨夹雪的，下雨雪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
drizzle
|
|
| v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
weird
|
|
| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
transformation
|
|
| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
wrought
|
|
| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
chaos
|
|
| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
reassured
|
|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
gentry
|
|
| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
hysterical
|
|
| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
prophesied
|
|
| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
promising
|
|
| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
vista
|
|
| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
landmark
|
|
| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
rout
|
|
| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
sodden
|
|
| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
watery
|
|
| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
farmhouse
|
|
| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
ridge
|
|
| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
ascent
|
|
| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
furrows
|
|
| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
maze
|
|
| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
gauged
|
|
| adj.校准的；标准的；量规的；量计的v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
clenching
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
plunging
|
|
| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
shriek
|
|
| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
frenzy
|
|
| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
dilemma
|
|
| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
precipitated
|
|
| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
swirl
|
|
| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
upwards
|
|
| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
genial
|
|
| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
darting
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
owl
|
|
| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
authoritative
|
|
| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
lore
|
|
| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
oracle
|
|
| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
babbled
|
|
| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
pucker
|
|
| v.撅起，使起皱；n.（衣服上的）皱纹，褶子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
soothingly
|
|
| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
wailed
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
hilariously
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
salvage
|
|
| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
wagons
|
|
| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
bustle
|
|
| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
gale
|
|
| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
dissenters
|
|
| n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
maliciously
|
|
| adv.有敌意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
collapsed
|
|
| adj.倒塌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
collapse
|
|
| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
writ
|
|
| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
grudge
|
|
| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
extricating
|
|
| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
consolations
|
|
| n.安慰，慰问( consolation的名词复数 )；起安慰作用的人（或事物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
consolation
|
|
| n.安慰，慰问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
outraged
|
|
| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
lugged
|
|
| vt.用力拖拉（lug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
deluge
|
|
| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
inverted
|
|
| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
logic
|
|
| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
repented
|
|
| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
chuckled
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
voluptuously
|
|
| adv.风骚地，体态丰满地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
thatch
|
|
| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
largesse
|
|
| n.慷慨援助，施舍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
lagoon
|
|
| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
hull
|
|
| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
galleon
|
|
| n.大帆船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
crumbling
|
|
| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
clump
|
|
| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
scuttled
|
|
| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
beacon
|
|
| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
quaint
|
|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
forwent
|
|
| v.没有也行，放弃( forgo的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
111
denuded
|
|
| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
casement
|
|
| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
inured
|
|
| adj.坚强的，习惯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
frugal
|
|
| adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
busted
|
|
| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
beheld
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
gaped
|
|
| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
breach
|
|
| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
swirling
|
|
| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
backwards
|
|
| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
resolutely
|
|
| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
downwards
|
|
| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
disillusioned
|
|
| a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
snug
|
|
| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
hurdles
|
|
| n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
repose
|
|
| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
lamented
|
|
| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
shamming
|
|
| 假装，冒充( sham的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
weirdness
|
|
| n.古怪，离奇，不可思议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
dexterously
|
|
| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
furtive
|
|
| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
bulges
|
|
| 膨胀( bulge的名词复数 )； 鼓起； （身体的）肥胖部位； 暂时的激增 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
avenged
|
|
| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
evictor
|
|
| n.逐出者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
137
desecrate
|
|
| v.供俗用，亵渎，污辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
gratis
|
|
| adj.免费的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
rebuking
|
|
| 责难或指责( rebuke的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
humiliation
|
|
| n.羞辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
stew
|
|
| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
rejuvenated
|
|
| 更生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
pungently
|
|
| adv.苦痛地，尖锐地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
farces
|
|
| n.笑剧( farce的名词复数 )；闹剧；笑剧剧目；作假的可笑场面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
mound
|
|
| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
cowered
|
|
| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
poultry
|
|
| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
relish
|
|
| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
regiments
|
|
| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
blotted
|
|
| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
hurling
|
|
| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
frantic
|
|
| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
scooped
|
|
| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
veered
|
|
| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
eastward
|
|
| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
westward
|
|
| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
expounding
|
|
| 论述，详细讲解( expound的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
busts
|
|
| 半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
spine
|
|
| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
sibylline
|
|
| adj.预言的；神巫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
divination
|
|
| n.占卜，预测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
equestrian
|
|
| adj.骑马的；n.马术 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
shovel
|
|
| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
lighters
|
|
| n.打火机，点火器( lighter的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
swirled
|
|
| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
barge
|
|
| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
eked
|
|
| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
ravens
|
|
| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
cargo
|
|
| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
clogging
|
|
| 堵塞，闭合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
drollery
|
|
| n.开玩笑，说笑话；滑稽可笑的图画（或故事、小戏等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
scurrying
|
|
| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
dozing
|
|
| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
flaunt
|
|
| vt.夸耀，夸饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
rejection
|
|
| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
conqueror
|
|
| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
obsessed
|
|
| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
immured
|
|
| v.禁闭，监禁( immure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
evacuated
|
|
| 撤退者的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
sobbed
|
|
| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
rifts
|
|
| n.裂缝( rift的名词复数 )；裂隙；分裂；不和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
rippling
|
|
| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
softened
|
|
| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
alluded
|
|
| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
foliage
|
|
| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
agitatedly
|
|
| 动摇，兴奋； 勃然 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
agitated
|
|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
philosophically
|
|
| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
exultantly
|
|
| adv.狂欢地，欢欣鼓舞地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
justification
|
|
| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
scrutinize
|
|
| n.详细检查，细读 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
hysterically
|
|
| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
pall
|
|
| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
evocation
|
|
| n. 引起，唤起 n. <古> 召唤，招魂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
pathos
|
|
| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
snugly
|
|
| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
hearth
|
|
| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
extinction
|
|
| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
reassuring
|
|
| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
reassuringly
|
|
| ad.安心，可靠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
larder
|
|
| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
subside
|
|
| vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
thumping
|
|
| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
speculations
|
|
| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
211
battered
|
|
| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
beaver
|
|
| n.海狸，河狸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
recoiled
|
|
| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
rebuked
|
|
| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
brat
|
|
| n.孩子；顽童 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
doctrines
|
|
| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
implicit
|
|
| a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
218
poignantly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
219
poignant
|
|
| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
220
miraculous
|
|
| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
221
yearning
|
|
| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
222
compassion
|
|
| n.同情，怜悯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
223
vitality
|
|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
224
insomnia
|
|
| n.失眠，失眠症 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
225
intelligibly
|
|
| adv.可理解地，明了地，清晰地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
226
stratagems
|
|
| n.诡计，计谋( stratagem的名词复数 )；花招 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
227
villain
|
|
| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
228
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
229
ponies
|
|
| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
230
tilt
|
|
| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
231
scramble
|
|
| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
232
pony
|
|
| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
233
galloped
|
|
| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
234
dabbled
|
|
| v.涉猎( dabble的过去式和过去分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
235
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
236
bruised
|
|
| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
237
proximity
|
|
| n.接近，邻近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
238
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
239
vein
|
|
| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
240
lull
|
|
| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
241
imperturbably
|
|
| adv.泰然地，镇静地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
242
serenely
|
|
| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
243
uncouth
|
|
| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
244
impeding
|
|
| a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
245
minions
|
|
| n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
246
realization
|
|
| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
247
stiffened
|
|
| 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
248
prelude
|
|
| n.序言，前兆，序曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
249
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
250
gaily
|
|
| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
251
wiles
|
|
| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
252
muddle
|
|
| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
253
muddles
|
|
| v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的第三人称单数 )；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
254
squint
|
|
| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
255
feigned
|
|
| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
256
flicking
|
|
| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
257
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
258
joyously
|
|
| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
259
sepulchral
|
|
| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
260
bass
|
|
| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
261
agitating
|
|
| 搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
262
waded
|
|
| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
263
stolidly
|
|
| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
264
rein
|
|
| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
265
prostrate
|
|
| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
266
obeisance
|
|
| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
267
glide
|
|
| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
268
glided
|
|
| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
269
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
270
eddying
|
|
| 涡流，涡流的形成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
271
barges
|
|
| 驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
272
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
273
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
274
mien
|
|
| n.风采；态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
275
obstinately
|
|
| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
276
pals
|
|
| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
277
scroll
|
|
| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
278
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
279
blurred
|
|
| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
280
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
281
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
282
curb
|
|
| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
283
virtues
|
|
| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
284
manifestations
|
|
| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
285
tugging
|
|
| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
286
cowering
|
|
| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
287
brink
|
|
| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
288
melodiously
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
289
willows
|
|
| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
290
plover
|
|
| n.珩，珩科鸟，千鸟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
291
dismal
|
|
| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
292
repugnance
|
|
| n.嫌恶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
293
pouched
|
|
| adj.袋形的，有袋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
294
embodied
|
|
| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
295
lodged
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
296
mounds
|
|
| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
297
boughs
|
|
| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
298
margin
|
|
| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
299
steering
|
|
| n.操舵装置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
300
morasses
|
|
| n.缠作一团( morass的名词复数 )；困境；沼泽；陷阱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
301
encumbered
|
|
| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
302
wreckage
|
|
| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
303
mangled
|
|
| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
304
orchard
|
|
| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
305
triumphant
|
|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
306
triumphantly
|
|
| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
307
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
308
chaotic
|
|
| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
309
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
310
panes
|
|
| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
311
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
312
perils
|
|
| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
313
malice
|
|
| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
314
demurely
|
|
| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
315
postal
|
|
| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
316
fowls
|
|
| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
317
sitting-room
|
|
| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
318
pigsty
|
|
| n.猪圈，脏房间 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
319
vet
|
|
| n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
320
ironic
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
321
ornaments
|
|
| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
322
jumble
|
|
| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
323
whitewashed
|
|
| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
324
attic
|
|
| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
325
agitation
|
|
| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
326
scrambled
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
327
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
328
sopping
|
|
| adj. 浑身湿透的 动词sop的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
329
greasy
|
|
| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
330
feverish
|
|
| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
331
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
332
eviction
|
|
| n.租地等的收回 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
333
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
334
grunted
|
|
| （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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
335
fussiest
|
|
| adj.瞎忙的( fussy的最高级 )；紧张不安的；过分琐碎的；装饰太多的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
336
cramp
|
|
| n.痉挛；[pl.](腹)绞痛；vt.限制，束缚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
337
croaking
|
|
| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
338
tremor
|
|
| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
339
jaunt
|
|
| v.短程旅游；n.游览 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
340
perilous
|
|
| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
341
furtively
|
|
| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
342
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
343
scoffed
|
|
| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
344
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
345
sling
|
|
| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
346
puffed
|
|
| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
347
complacently
|
|
| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
348
mightily
|
|
| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
349
squeal
|
|
| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
350
squeals
|
|
| n.长而尖锐的叫声( squeal的名词复数 )v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
351
slaughtered
|
|
| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
352
shrilled
|
|
| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
353
swap
|
|
| n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
354
wrung
|
|
| 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） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
355
growled
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
356
shrilly
|
|
| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
357
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
358
frenzied
|
|
| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
359
pacify
|
|
| vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
360
connubial
|
|
| adj.婚姻的，夫妇的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
361
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
362
repartee
|
|
| n.机敏的应答 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
363
scrambling
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
364
ineffably
|
|
| adv.难以言喻地，因神圣而不容称呼地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
365
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
366
bind
|
|
| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
367
muffled
|
|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
368
yearned
|
|
| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
369
swelling
|
|
| n.肿胀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
370
strutting
|
|
| 加固，支撑物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
371
jeering
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
372
impoverished
|
|
| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
373
invincible
|
|
| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
374
saviour
|
|
| n.拯救者，救星 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
375
trumpet
|
|
| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
376
rehabilitated
|
|
| 改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
377
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
378
prating
|
|
| v.（古时用语）唠叨，啰唆( prate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
379
flirt
|
|
| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
380
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
381
vibrations
|
|
| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
382
meekness
|
|
| n.温顺，柔和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
383
wager
|
|
| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
384
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
385
mischievous
|
|
| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
386
crook
|
|
| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
387
lure
|
|
| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
388
thumped
|
|
| v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
389
trickily
|
|
| adv.欺骗着，用奸计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
390
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
391
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
392
dallying
|
|
| v.随随便便地对待( dally的现在分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
393
untying
|
|
| untie的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
394
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
395
receding
|
|
| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
396
perturbed
|
|
| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
397
celestial
|
|
| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |