"Well?"
"May I come in?"
"All right," said Pip in a surprised tone. His sister was not in the habit of craving1 admission to his den2 in this formal manner.
The reason revealed itself with the opening of the door. Pipette entered the room with another girl, at whose appearance Pip, always deferential3 to the point of obsequiousness4 in female society, rose up hastily and removed his pipe from his mouth. He was in his shirt-sleeves, and otherwise unprepared for company. His private apartment was in a state of more than usual confusion, for a difference of opinion had arisen between John—the fox-terrier—and a cricket-boot, and the one-sided conflict that ensued, together with the subsequent chastisement5 of John, had deranged6 even the primitive7 scheme of upholstery that prevailed in "the pig-sty," as Pip's apartment was commonly called.
"This is Elsie Innes," said Pipette. "My brother."
Pip saw before him a girl of about sixteen. [Pg 156] She had extremely fair hair, a clear skin, not unbecomingly freckled9, and eyes which had a habit of changing from blue to grey in different lights. Girls of sixteen are not always graceful,—like their male prototypes they frequently run to knees and elbows,—but this girl appeared to be free from such defects. She possessed10 a slim, lithe11, young figure, and carried herself with an elasticity12 and freedom that spoke13 of open air and early bedtimes. She was in the last stages of what slangy young men call "flapperdom," and her hair was gathered on the nape of her neck with a big black bow. Pip, of course, did not take in all these things at once, but he had time to note especially the neatness of Elsie Innes's feet and the whiteness of her teeth. From which it will be observed that, though his experience in these matters was limited and his judgment14 unformed, Pip's instincts were sound.
"Please sit down," he said, sweeping15 John and "The Field" from out of the armchair. "Pipette, what on earth did you bring Miss—Miss, er—"
"Innes."
"—Miss Innes up to this untidy hole for?"
"The drawing-room has got two plumbers16 in it, and they are laying lunch in the dining-room, and Father is in the study, so we came here," said Pipette.
[Pg 157] Pip expressed his delight rather lamely17, and the girls sat down.
"You must endure us till lunch," continued Pipette. "I suppose you know that this is the day of the Blanes' garden-party?"
"So it is! I had forgotten."
Pipette smiled amiably18 and turned to her friend.
"What did I tell you?" she said.
"You said," replied Miss Innes, "that he would say he had forgotten all about it."
"Pip, dear," continued Pipette, pointing an accusing finger, "don't think you can deceive us!"
"What do you mean?" inquired Pip uneasily.
"You know," said Pipette. "Think."
Pip thought, apparently19 with success. "Oh," he said, growing red in the face,—he had never outgrown20 that childish weakness,—"you are a little ass21, Pipette!"
Pipette nodded sagely22 and smiled at Miss Innes. That young person smiled indulgently upon Pip, and heaved a little sigh which intimated that boys would be boys.
For Pip was at this time involved in the meshes24 of his first serious love-affair. Being without skill in the art of dissimulation25, he made no attempt to conceal26 his condition, and in consequence was now acting27 as target for the [Pg 158] playful and occasionally rather heavy banter28 of his friends. Why, goodness knows! We have grown so accustomed to regard the youthful lover as an object of humour, that a young man, if he happens to fall in love, is now compelled to conceal the fact, or, at any rate, dress it up, and endeavour to pass the affair off as at most a mere29 airy flirtation30.
Now, roughly speaking, a man is in love from his fifteenth birthday onwards: nature has ordained31 it. But in most cases civilisation32, convention, society—call it what you like—has ordained that he must not treat this, the most inspiring passion of human life, as anything more than a jest for another ten years or so. And therein lie more little tragedies—disintegrated castles-in-the-air, secret disappointments, and endless efforts of self-repression—than this world dreams of. The boy may keep the girl's photograph on his mantelpiece, and that is just about all he may keep. Contrast with this the happy case of the girl. If she chooses to fall in love at the age of eighteen, nothing is deemed prettier or more natural: she is at liberty to enjoy her birthright openly; she receives sympathetic assistance on every hand; and if at the age of nineteen or twenty she decides to marry, society comes and sheds rapturous tears at the wedding. What of the boy who has been her playmate for [Pg 159] years back; who has taken the lead in all their childish escapades; who has been her trusted guardian33 and confidant ever since they pulled crackers34 and kissed under the mistletoe at children's parties? What of him? He is still a boy. True, he is a year older than she is, but by an immutable35 law he is for all practical purposes ten years her junior. She has sprung up at a stroke of some mysterious magician's wand into a woman, a personage with an acknowledged position in the scheme of things; and he, her old sweetheart, is only a poor, broken-hearted hobbledehoy. He will get over it, you say? Quite true. But that will not make things any easier for him at present. Ten years later he will take a girl away from some other hobbledehoy and marry her. He will then be in the prime of young manhood; and he will behold36 his first love, plump, matronly, and rather passée, sitting in a back pew at the wedding. It seems rather a dull sort of revenge, somehow.
Of course boy and girl marriages would never do. Joint37 inexperience is a sure guarantee of disaster. Still, sentimental38 persons may be permitted one sigh of regret for a millennium39 which, however hopelessly idyllic40 and unpractical it might be, would at any rate prevent young men from marrying wealthy widows, and pretty girls from giving themselves, in exchange for a position [Pg 160] in society, to middle-aged41 gentlemen with five-figure incomes. And if a young man must spend the best years of his life in repressing his tenderest instincts, let us at any rate refrain from laughing at his struggles.
All of which brings us back to Pip.
The female sex exercised a more than usual fascination42 over him. Brought up in a circle almost exclusively male,—Pipette was too completely subservient43 to himself to have any direct influence on the moulding of his character,—Pip regarded women in general much as the poor Indian regards the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies,—as things not to be understood or approached, but merely to be worshipped. Pip was a Galahad,—an extremely reserved, slow-moving, and, at times, painfully shy Galahad,—but a very perfect gentle knight45 for all that. He treated all women, from his sister's friends to the most plebeian46 young person who ever dispensed47 refreshment48 across a bar, with a grave courtesy which the more frivolous49 members of that captious50 sex occasionally found rather dull.
Such a girl was Miss Madeline Carr. Pip had met her six months before on a visit to the home of his friend Dick Blane, and, being a healthy young man and twenty-one, had fallen in love with her. Being Pip, he did the thing thoroughly51, and made no attempt to conceal his devotion. [Pg 161] Unfortunately, Madeline was of a type, not uncommon52, which only wants what it cannot get, and thinks but little of what may be had for nothing.
She was an exceedingly pretty girl of twenty, in her second season, and consequently almost sufficiently53 worldly-wise to be Pip's mother. Having made an absolutely bloodless conquest of Pip, she valued him accordingly, and Pip was now beginning to realise that there must be something wrong with an attachment54 which consisted of perpetual devotion on the one side and nothing but an occasional careless acknowledgment of services rendered on the other. Of late, however, the situation had improved. Madeline had come up to Cambridge for the May Week, and finding that Pip occupied a position of authority and even admiration55 among his fellows that she had never dreamed of, and of which she had gathered no hint from Pip's own references to his 'Varsity life, Miss Carr decided56 in her shrewd, business-like, and thoroughly cold-blooded little heart that, for the time being, considerable kudos57 might accrue58 to her as the exclusive proprietress of the most popular man of his year. Consequently for a brief week Pip had basked59 in the unaccustomed sunshine of her smiles; and though there had been a perceptible lowering of temperature since their return to [Pg 162] town, he was still about as cheerful as a man in love has any right to be.
He turned to Miss Innes.
"Are you going to the party?" he asked.
"Look at me!" replied his guest. "No, not at my face,"—Pip was regarding her resolutely60 between the eyes,—"my clothes. Can't you see I'm dressed for a party?"
"Ah!" remarked Pip meditatively61, shifting his gaze lower down, "I see. You are coming with us, I suppose?"
"Not us," interposed Pipette,—"you."
"What! aren't you coming yourself?"
"No. The Lindons are to be here for lunch, and I must stay and entertain the old lady while Father and Sir John sit in the study and talk shop."
"Bad luck!" replied Pip. "Sir John Lindon and the dad are always searching about inside people and finding new diseases," he explained, turning to Elsie. "It is called Research. I remember once in the 'lab' at—"
"So you must escort Miss Innes, Pip," said Pipette hastily.
"Right! That will be first-rate," said Pip, with a heartiness62 which quite surprised himself.
Presently they went down to lunch, and after Pip had arrayed himself in tennis costume, the two set off for the Blanes' garden-party.
[Pg 163] It was the last week in June. Term was over, and ten places had been filled up in the Cambridge Eleven against Oxford63. Pip so far had not received his Blue. He had just completed his first year, for he had not gone direct from school to the University, partly because his attainments64 were not quite up to the standard of the Previous Examination, and partly because he had never quite shaken off the effects of his fall in the dormitory that eventful night two-and-a-half years ago. A trip round the world with a tutor had corrected these deficiencies, and Pip was now at the end of his period of "Fresherdom" at the University of Cambridge.
But somehow all was not well with his cricket. He had been tried against the M.C.C. and had not been a success. His chief rival, Honeyburn of Trinity, had been tried against Yorkshire, and had been a failure. The University captain had been reduced to experimenting with a lob-bowler65, and such a creature had been tried against an England Eleven a week before. But though he had taken two good wickets they had cost forty-four runs apiece; and his further services had been dispensed with. So the last place was still unsettled. Pip, knowing that University captains very seldom go back to their first loves, had little hope of being chosen, though he had a good college record. Most probably the captain, [Pg 164] rendered desperate, would fall back on some well-tried friend of his own on whom he could rely to a certain, if limited, extent; or else—horror of horrors!—bring up some last year's Blue, dug out of an office or a public school, and so blight66 the last faint pretensions67 of all those gentlemen who were still hoping to be chosen, if only in the humble68 r?le of a pis aller.
It was now Wednesday, and Cambridge was to play Oxford at Lord's on the following Monday. Pip was a phlegmatic69 youth, but the knowledge that Cayley, the Cambridge captain, who was Mrs. Blane's nephew, would probably be at the garden-party, gave him a vague feeling of unrest. Perhaps Cayley had not made up his mind yet; perhaps the proverb about "out of sight out of mind" was capable of working negatively; perhaps—
"Do you imagine you are entertaining me?" inquired a cold voice at his side.
Pip started guiltily. "I had forgotten you were there," he said.
"I thought you had," said Miss Innes composedly.
Pip smiled at her in his most friendly and disarming70 fashion. "Very rude of me," he continued: "I'm sorry. The fact is, I never can think of things to say to people."
"Why not tell me what has been going on [Pg 165] in your mind all this time?" suggested the girl. "That would be something."
"Oh, that was only cricket," said Pip.
"I thought so. You were wondering if you were going to get your Blue."
Pip turned and regarded this discerning young person with increasing interest.
"How did you guess that?"
"Well, it was not very difficult. I should be too, if I were in your place. The papers are quite full of it. 'The Sportsman' says—"
"Do you read 'The Sportsman'?" asked Pip, much softened71.
"Yes; and of course I read 'The Field' on Saturdays. Now, tell me what you were twisting your left wrist about for?"
"Great Scott! Was I?" cried Pip, turning pink.
"Yes; and you were skipping about just like you do when you run up to the wicket to bowl."
Pip was too perturbed72 by this information to notice the compliment implied by Miss Innes's familiarity with his bowling73 action.
"I must have looked an ass," he said apologetically. "Bad luck on you, too!"
"Oh, I was all right. I walked a yard or two behind. People didn't know I was with you."
"Oh!" said Pip, rather sheepishly.
"And as I was watching your action," continued [Pg 166] the girl judicially74, "I thought of something—just as you dodged76 round that old gentleman at the corner of Reedham Gardens."
"I didn't notice him," said Pip humbly77.
"No? Well, he noticed you, I think, because he stopped and spoke to the policeman at the corner after he had passed us," said the girl gravely.
"I seem to have been going it. But what was the thing you thought of?"
"Well, you bowl left-handed."
"Yes; I know."
"You run up to the wicket in rather a queer way, as though you were going to bowl at point, and then you suddenly swing round the corner and let the batsman have it instead."
"Quite right. But where on earth—?"
"Don't interrupt! I am speaking to you for your good." The girl was genuinely in earnest now. "Well, you always bowl over the wicket, don't you?"
"Yes; why not?"
Elsie looked at him severely78.
"Don't you see what a grand chance you have been throwing away all this time?" she said. "If you bowled round the wicket, you would—"
"I see, I see!" roared Pip, slapping his leg. "Confound my thick head! The umpire! If I bowl over the wicket I'm in full view of the [Pg 167] batsman all the time; but with my diagonal run, if I bowled round the wicket I should pass behind the umpire just before delivering the ball, and so bother the batsman? Is that it?"
"That's it. You should have thought it out for yourself years ago," said the girl reprovingly.
The conversation was interrupted by their arrival at Mrs. Blane's house.
Miss Innes was immediately snapped up to play tennis, and Pip drifted off in search of the lady to whom he was wont79 to refer with mingled80 pride and depression as his "best girl." They greeted each other in their usual manner, the balance of cordiality being heavily on Pip's side; and Miss Carr inquired—
"Who is your friend—the school-girl person in the white frock?"
Pip, anxious to clear himself of any appearance of faithlessness, explained that Miss Innes was a friend of his sister's, and hastened on his own part to disclaim81 anything approaching intimacy82 with the lady. He then craved83 the favour of a game of croquet.
"Not at present," said Miss Carr, who had just been introduced to a young Guardsman,—"I'll see later. But you can go and get me some strawberries and bring them over to the croquet-lawn."
Pip departed as bidden; but somehow he was [Pg 168] not conscious of the glow of heroic devotion that usually actuated him when obeying Madeline Carr's behests. He had a feeling that she might have said "Please!" and a further feeling that "other people"—no further specification—would have done so at once.
At this point in his reflections he arrived at the croquet-lawn with the strawberries, and was promptly84 commanded to put them down and stand by for further orders. This treatment, customary though it was, annoyed him; and, feeling unusually independent and assertive85, he drifted behind a rhododendron bush, where he encountered his crony, Mr. Richard Blane, the son of the house, who was enjoying a quiet cigarette during a brief lull86 in the arduous87 labour of dispensing88 hospitality.
"Hallo, Pip!"
"Hallo!"
"Cigarette?"
"Thanks."
The two smoked silently for a moment, sitting side by side on the garden-roller.
"I say," inquired Mr. Blane, "who is that flapper you brought with you? All right—eh?"
"Name of Innes," replied Pip shortly. "Scotch—pal89 of Pipette's."
"Seems to be a pal of Cayley's, too," said [Pg 169] Blane. "They were having a quiet ice in the shrubbery just now. Very thick, they looked."
"Is Cayley here, then?" said Pip, looking more interested.
"Yes. Has he given you your Blue yet?"
Pip shook his head gloomily.
"Bad luck! Well, there are still a few days. I expect he is waiting to see if the wicket is going to be hard or soft."
"I suppose he hasn't given it to Honeyburn?"
"Don't think so."
"I expect he will," said Pip in resigned tones.
"Rot! You seem to be fearfully down on your luck this afternoon, old man. Come and have an orgy of claret-cup. It's about all we keep to-day." Mr. Blane rose from the roller, brushing some blades of grass from his immaculate flannels90.
"Sorry—can't," said Pip. "Miss Carr said she might be able to play croquet with me about now," he explained awkwardly.
Dick knew all about his infatuation.
"Pip," said that youthful sage23, inclining his head at a judicial75 angle, "you drop that girl! She's the wrong sort."
"Look here, Dick—" began Pip indignantly.
"Yes, I know," continued the voice of the misogynist91. "She's perfect and all that; but no woman is worth the seriousness you are putting [Pg 170] into this business. I believe it's spoiling your eyes, for one thing. Madeline Carr is simply making use of you. You see how she is behaving just now—playing a sort of in-and-out game? Well, she is waiting to see if you get your Blue. If you do, she will trot92 about with you during the luncheon93 interval94 at Lord's, and so on. It'll make the other girls jealous. If you don't—well, she'll have no use for you. Oh, I know 'em!" The orator95 wagged his head and paused for breath.
To Pip most of this diatribe96 was rank blasphemy97, but he felt uncomfortably conscious that there was some truth in his friend's remarks. Still, he stood up stoutly98 for his ideal.
"Don't talk rot, Dick!" he said. "There may be a few women like that,—just one or two,—but this girl isn't one of them. Why, you have only got to look at her face to see that!"
The world-weary Blane surveyed his friend with something approaching consternation99.
"A bad case!" he remarked, shaking his head. "Her face? My boy, faces are the most deceptive100 things in the world."
"Hers isn't," maintained Pip. "She is most sincere. You have only to look her in the eyes to see what is going on inside."
He stopped suddenly. He realised that he was growing too communicative.
[Pg 171] "Eyes? That's just it. A girl makes eyes at you, Pip, and you crumple101 up. I had no idea you were in such a drivelling state as this, or I should have jawed102 you sooner. Come and drink stimulants,—claret-cup, lemonade, iced-coffee, anything to drown the past,—but come. And never again, after this experience, trust a girl with big eyes and little ways."
So saying, the counsel for the prosecution103 took the counsel for the defence by the arm, and the two, nobly sinking their differences in a common cause, cast their cigarettes away and sallied forth104 to distribute tea and ices among hungry chaperons and plain girls.
Meanwhile Miss Elsie Innes and the Cambridge captain were conversing105 in a retired106 part of the garden. An introduction had been effected by Miss Blane, though at whose instigation need not concern us.
Cayley, whose conversational107 stock-in-trade was limited, was feeling unusually complacent108. The conversation had never flagged once, for this girl, though obviously young and inexperienced, had proved herself to be intelligent and appreciative109 beyond her years.
"I suppose you are going to beat Oxford," said Miss Innes, looking at her companion with innocent admiration.
"That is a large question," replied Cayley [Pg 172] heavily. "These things aren't settled by the spin of a coin. But we are going to do our best," he added, with an indulgent smile.
"Have you picked your team yet?"
"All but one. I want another bowler."
"I see. What sort of bowler?"
"A good bowler," replied the captain, facetiously110. It was hardly worth while wasting technicalities on a girl.
"Oh! Can't you find one?"
"I have got three in my eye, but I can only choose one."
"I saw the Cambridge Eleven play against the M.C.C.," said Miss Innes, apparently changing the subject.
"Which day?"
"The second. You made sixty-nine, not out."
Mr. Cayley, much gratified, coughed confusedly.
"Oh, that was a fluke," he said. "The difficulty that day was to get wickets."
"There was one Cambridge bowler," continued the girl, "who looked as though he ought to take wickets but didn't."
"Who was that?" inquired the captain, much amused.
"A man with black hair and blue eyes."
Mr. Cayley scratched his nose reflectively. His recollections of the eyes of his team were [Pg 173] vague. Their individual shades he had never observed, though he had frequently condemned112 them collectively.
"Well, really—" he said. "Do you remember anything else about him?"
"He was a medium-paced, left-handed bowler, breaking both ways, with a good deal of swerve113 as well," said Miss Innes, becoming suddenly and surprisingly technical: "he had a curious oblique114 run, and he usually bowled about one really fast ball every over."
"Oh—Pip!" said the captain at once.
"That is the name," said the girl; "I remember now, when a catch went to him in the outfield, you called out, 'Run for it, Pip!'"
"That's him," said Cayley. "Yes, he has been disappointing lately. He is a good bowler, too; but somehow he is not taking wickets at present."
"Have you ever tried him round the wicket?" asked Elsie. "With his run he would pass behind the umpire just before delivering the ball."
The captain was fairly startled this time. He turned and regarded the ingénue beside him with undisguised interest and admiration.
"I say," he remarked, with the air of one who has just made a profound discovery, "you know something about cricket!"
[Pg 174] Miss Innes, much to his surprise, blushed like a little schoolboy at the compliment.
"I was brought up to it," she said. "I am a sister of Raven115 Innes."
Then the captain understood; and he almost fell at her feet, for the name of Raven Innes is honourably116 known from Lord's to Melbourne.
"Do you play yourself?" he asked.
"A bit. I don't bat quite straight, but I can bowl a little. Leg-breaks," she added, with a touch of pride.
The captain's appreciative reverie was interrupted by the appearance of a third party—Pip, to wit—who now drifted into view and hovered117 rather disconsolately118 in the offing, as if uncertain whether to approach. He was a prey119 to melancholy120, having just completed a final rupture121 with Madeline Carr, and under the stress of subsequent reaction was anxious to escape home.
"Hallo!" said Cayley. "There's your man, Miss Innes."
Miss Innes glanced in Pip's direction.
"So it is. I can recognise him," she answered, with an air of gratified surprise. "Will you take me to have some strawberries now, please?"
The couple departed, leaving Pip still hove-to on the horizon.
"Rum things, women," mused111 the captain. "This girl's quite out of the common. I thought [Pg 175] at first she must be keen on Pip, or something; but she doesn't seem even to know him. Not often you get a woman taking a purely122 sporting interest in a man like that!"
Which is nothing but the truth.
Delighted to find a woman possessed of "some sense," Cayley, who was by nature a homely123 person with bachelor instincts, unbent still further, with the result that the end of a long bout8 of cricket "shop" with Elsie found him fully44 convinced—somewhat to his surprise, for he had hitherto been unable to make up his mind on the subject—that Pip was exactly the man he wanted for next Monday.
Elsie finally joined Pip, who was waiting, slightly depressed124, to take her away.
"Had a good time?" she inquired brightly, as they walked home.
"Rotten," said Pip.
"Didn't you meet any friends?"
"Yes, a good many 'Varsity men."
"I meant lady friends."
"I haven't got any," said Pip glumly125.
"You should speak the truth," said his companion with some acerbity126. "How about Miss Carr?"
Pip glanced at her; and then, moved by an impulse which he did not quite understand at the time, he said, with sudden and unwonted heat,—
[Pg 176] "I never wish to set eyes on Miss Carr again."
After this outburst they walked on silently, till they came to a house in Sussex Gardens.
"I live here," said Miss Innes. "Good-bye, and thank you so much for bringing me home."
They shook hands.
"When shall I see you again?" said Pip regretfully.
The girl smiled at his frank seriousness.
"Lord's, on Monday," she said. "Come and see me in the luncheon hour, or before, if Cambridge is batting."
"I say," said Pip gruffly, "aren't you rather taking things for granted?"
"You mean your coming to see me?"
"Gracious, no!" cried Pip in genuine distress127. "I meant about my playing."
Elsie Innes looked him straight in the face. "Pip," she said, "do you wear gloves?"
Pip extended two enormous palms and inspected them doubtfully. "Sometimes," he said—"at weddings."
"Very good. I'll bet you ten pairs of gloves to one that you get your Blue."
"Don't!" said Pip appealingly. "You couldn't afford it. I take nines."
"My size," said Miss Innes, "is six-and-a-quarter. White kid—eight buttons. Good-bye!"
[Pg 177] She turned and vanished into the recesses128 of the hall, a receding129 vision of white frock, glinting hair, and black bow.
After Pip had walked down two streets and halfway130 across a square, he stopped suddenly and dealt his leg a blow with a tennis-racquet that would have maimed an ordinary limb for life.
"By gad," he cried to a scandalised pug-dog which was taking the evening air on an adjacent doorstep, "she called me Pip!"
Next morning he received a communication from the authorities of the Cambridge University Cricket Club.
An hour later he was being shepherded, scarlet131 in the face, by a posse of stentorian132 shopwalkers, through an embarrassing wilderness133 of ladies' hosiery to the Glove Department of an establishment in Oxford Street.
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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deferential
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| adj. 敬意的，恭敬的 | |
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obsequiousness
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| 媚骨 | |
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chastisement
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deranged
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| adj.疯狂的 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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possessed
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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elasticity
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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plumbers
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| n.管子工，水暖工( plumber的名词复数 )；[美][口]（防止泄密的）堵漏人员 | |
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lamely
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amiably
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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21
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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22
sagely
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| adv. 贤能地，贤明地 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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24
meshes
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| 网孔( mesh的名词复数 )； 网状物； 陷阱； 困境 | |
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25
dissimulation
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| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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27
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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28
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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29
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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30
flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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31
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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32
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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33
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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34
crackers
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| adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘 | |
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35
immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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36
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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37
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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38
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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39
millennium
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| n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世 | |
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40
idyllic
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| adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的 | |
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41
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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42
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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43
subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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44
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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45
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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46
plebeian
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| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
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47
dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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48
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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49
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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50
captious
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| adj.难讨好的，吹毛求疵的 | |
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51
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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52
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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53
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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54
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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55
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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56
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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57
kudos
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| n.荣誉，名声 | |
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58
accrue
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| v.(利息等)增大，增多 | |
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59
basked
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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60
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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61
meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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62
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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63
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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64
attainments
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| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
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65
bowler
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| n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手 | |
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66
blight
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| n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残 | |
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67
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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68
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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69
phlegmatic
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| adj.冷静的，冷淡的，冷漠的，无活力的 | |
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70
disarming
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| adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒 | |
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71
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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72
perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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74
judicially
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| 依法判决地，公平地 | |
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75
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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76
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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77
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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78
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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79
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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80
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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81
disclaim
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| v.放弃权利，拒绝承认 | |
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82
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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83
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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84
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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85
assertive
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| adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的 | |
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86
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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87
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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88
dispensing
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| v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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89
pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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90
flannels
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| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
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91
misogynist
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| n.厌恶女人的人 | |
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92
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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93
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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94
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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95
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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96
diatribe
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| n.抨击，抨击性演说 | |
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97
blasphemy
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| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
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98
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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99
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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100
deceptive
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| adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的 | |
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101
crumple
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| v.把...弄皱，满是皱痕，压碎，崩溃 | |
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102
jawed
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| adj.有颌的有颚的 | |
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103
prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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104
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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105
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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106
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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107
conversational
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| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
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108
complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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109
appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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110
facetiously
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| adv.爱开玩笑地；滑稽地，爱开玩笑地 | |
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111
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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112
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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113
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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114
oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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115
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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116
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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117
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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118
disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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119
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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120
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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121
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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122
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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123
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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124
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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125
glumly
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| adv.忧郁地，闷闷不乐地；阴郁地 | |
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126
acerbity
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| n.涩，酸，刻薄 | |
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127
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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128
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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129
receding
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| 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 | |
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130
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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131
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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132
stentorian
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| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
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133
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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