By the time that Pip had reached his twenty-fifth year his name was scarcely less familiar to the man in the street than that of the leading picture-postcard divinity, and considerably1 more so than that, say, of the President of the Royal Academy. The English are a strange race, and worship strange gods. Pip's admission to the national Pantheon had been secured by the fact of his having been mainly responsible for the sensational2 dismissal of the Australians, for an infinitesimal score, in the second innings of the third Test Match.
The morning papers referred to him as "that phenomenal trundler, the young Middlesex amateur"; the sporting press hailed him as "the left-handed devastation-merchant"; and the evening "specials" called him "Pip," pure and simple.
To do him justice, Pip cared for none of these things. He was much more concerned with the future than the present. He had scraped a pass degree at Cambridge, and was now nominally3 studying medicine. But he knew in his heart [Pg 182] that he had not the brains to succeed in his task, and he persevered4 only to please his father, who, though he admitted that his son could never hope to put up a specialist's plate in Harley Street, considered him (just as a race-horse might consider that anything on four legs can haul a cab) quite capable of doing well in a country practice.
One morning in July Pip received an invitation to play in the Rustleford Cricket Week, an honour calculated to inflate5 the chest of any rising amateur with legitimate6 pride. John Chell, the Squire7 of Rustleford Manor8, was of a type now too rare. An old Grandwich captain, an old Oxford9 captain, and an old All England Eleven player, descended10 from a long line of top-hatted cricketers, he devoted11 what he called his "declining years" to fostering the spirit of the game. Rustleford Manor was one of the strongholds of English cricket. John Chell's reputation as a judge of the game was a recognised asset of the English Selection Committee, and more than one great professional had received his first chance on the Rustleford ground.
Pip was not intimately acquainted with John Chell, though he had frequently met him at Lord's and elsewhere, and had known his son Jacky at Cambridge. But he was genuinely pleased with this recognition of his merit. It [Pg 183] was a thing apart from journalistic celebrity12 and the adulation of a Surrey crowd. No man was invited to Rustleford who was not a cricketer, out and out; and a man who played in the Rustleford Manor Eleven was hall-marked for life.
The night before his departure he dined alone with his father. Pipette was out at the theatre.
The great physician looked aged13 and ill, and Pip, noticing this for the first time,—we are unobservant creatures where our daily companions are concerned,—and stricken with sudden pity, offered to abandon his cherished cricket week and accompany his father on a short holiday to a health resort.
The doctor shook his head.
"Can't get away, my boy," he said. "Wish I could. But it can't be done. I have consultations14 every day for five weeks, and hospital work as well. After that, perhaps—"
"After that your fixture15-card will have been still further filled up," said Pip.
His father laughed.
"You are right," he said, "I believe it will: it's a way it has."
"Well, why not fix up a month's holiday, say in five weeks' time, and stick to it?"
"And who is going to do my work?"
"I wish I could," said Pip, impulsively16 for [Pg 184] him. "Dad, I must be a devil of a disappointment to you. Fancy you—and me!"
By the latter rather condensed expression Pip meant to express his surprise that such a clever father should have produced such a stupid son.
"We don't all get ten talents, old man," said his father. "But soon, I dare say, when you are qualified17, there will be lots—"
Pip put down his glass of port.
"Dad, I shall never be qualified," he said.
"Why?"
"Because I haven't got it in me. You are so clever that you can't conceive what a fool's brain can be like. I tell you honestly that this thing is beyond me, Governor. I have worked pretty hard—"
"I know that," said his father heartily18.
"—And I think I am rather more at sea now than I was four years ago. I have learned a few things by heart—anything that can be picked up by those jingles19 and tips that coaches give one—and that is just about all. Fancy me going over a patient's ribs20 and mumbling21 rhymes to myself to remind me what part of his anatomy22 I had got to!"
Father and son laughed. Some of the memoria technica of the medical student are peculiar23.
"I have been meaning to tell you a long time," continued Pip, "but I saw you were keen on my [Pg 185] getting through, if possible, so I stuck to it. I think I know my limits. I'm not cut out for the learned professions. Fact is, I'm a blamed fool."
They smoked on silently after that. The doctor was not altogether surprised at Pip's outburst, for he had lately been realising, from the casual utterances24 of lecturers and examiners of his acquaintance, that Pip's prospects26 were hopeless. But he was sadly disappointed for all that. He had been a lonely man all his life, and now, especially that his health was uncertain, he realised the unhappy fact that his son—his big, strong, healthy son, to whose intellectual companionship he had looked forward so eagerly—was never to give him a shoulder to lean on save in a physical sense.
At this moment, much to the relief of both, the door opened and Pipette came in. She was just twenty-two, and to the tired man in the armchair by the fire she was her mother over again.
She threw off her opera-cloak and wrap and slipped into the chair beside her father. Then after one brief glance into his face she inquired—
"Well, old boy, what's the trouble?"
"Pip wants me to go for a holiday," said her father.
"Carried unanimously!" announced Pipette. "When shall we start?"
[Pg 186] "Can't be done at present. Too busy."
"Get somebody from the hospital staff to do your work."
"Hear, hear!" said Pip.
Dr. Wilmot gazed into the fire. Presently he said,—
"It's not altogether professional work. Pip, you said just now that you were a blamed fool. Your father is another."
"Let us hear all about it," said Pipette maternally27.
"Well, I am a prosperous man as professional men go. But a few years ago I realised a good many of my investments—"
"What does that mean?"
"I sacrificed my savings28 to get ready money, to finance that private cancer-research commission that Sir John Lindon and I got up,—you remember, Pip?"
"Yes; go on."
"Well, the Government ultimately paid the expenses of the commission,—we shamed them into it,—and I got my money back. When I came to reinvest it, instead of putting it into the old safe place, I devoted most of it to buying shares in a wild-cat Australian scheme—"
"Which has gone bust29?" said Pip.
"Not quite. But the shares are down to the bottom mark, and there is no dividend30. I believe [Pg 187] the thing is sound, and that in a year or two we shall be all right again. Meanwhile—meanwhile, children, I am extremely hard up!"
To people who have never been hungrier than an unpunctual cook can make them, the prospect25 of actual poverty is always rather sobering. There was a long pause. Presently Pipette slipped a soft and protecting arm round her father's neck.
"Dad," she asked, "why did you buy those queer shares?"
"To get rich quick."
"Why quick?"
"Because"—the doctor hesitated, surveyed his son and daughter rather doubtfully, and finally proceeded—"because human life in general is an uncertain thing, old lady, and my life in particular happens to be—don't choke me, child!"
Pipette's encircling arm had grown suddenly rigid32, and her father heard her heart flutter.
"Wh—what do you mean, Daddy?"
"I mean that I possess what insurance companies call 'a bad life.' Nothing serious—slight heart trouble, that's all. I shall have to be careful for a bit, and all will be well. It's the cracked pitcher33 that lasts longest." Dr. Wilmot had unconsciously dropped into the easy and optimistic tones which he reserved for nervous patients.
[Pg 188] After a little further conversation Pip and Pipette, somewhat reassured34, retired35 to bed.
Next morning Pip departed to Rustleford, but not before he had conferred briefly36 with Pipette.
"Do you think I ought to leave the Governor?" he said.
Pipette puckered37 her alabaster38 brow thoughtfully.
"Yes; why not?" she replied at length. "It isn't as if he were in bed or anything. He'll go to his work just the same whether you are here or not. I have made him faithfully promise to come away for a holiday for the whole of September, so we must just let him have his way just now. You go and enjoy yourself, little man. I'll look after him. Besides"—Pipette's angelic features relaxed into the suspicion of a smirk—"I heard yesterday that a particular friend of yours was to be there."
"Who? Linklater?"
"No—a lady."
"Not Madeline—"
"Dear no. I thought you had forgotten her. Can't you guess?"
Pip turned a delicate plum colour.
"Ah, now you are getting nearer," said Pipette. "It's your little flapper friend, Elsie Innes. How long is it since you saw her?"
"About a year, I think. She has been away [Pg 189] from town a lot lately," replied Pip, rather incautiously.
"She has put her hair up," said Pipette.
II
That evening Pip arrived at Rustleford.
He was hospitably39 greeted by John Chell, introduced to Mrs. Chell, Miss Emily Chell, and Miss Dorothy Chell, renewed his acquaintance with Jacky Chell, and then turned to the inspection40 of the rest of the house-party, most of whom were known to him.
The cricketers were headed by Raven41 Innes, a little past his best now, but still to be reckoned among the six finest bats in England. Then came Mallaby and Oake, the Oxford and Cambridge captains for that year. There was also a comic man—the Squire knew well that it takes all sorts to make an Eleven—a member of a noble house, with a polysyllabic and historic title; but nobody ever called him anything but "Cockles." There were one or two county cricketers of established merit, with or against whom Pip had waged many a gallant42 battle; and it was reported that the Squire had up his sleeve a young local professional, who would one day be the finest fast bowler43 in England.
Finally, there were two guests who require more elaborate introduction. The first was a [Pg 190] young man of about twenty-three. His name was Gresley. His father was sole proprietor44 of the Gresley Motor Works, and (it was said) a man of millions. He had sent his only son to Cambridge; and the son, a shy and retiring boy, after devoting his first two years to the study of mechanical science, oblivious45 of the glad fact that the world contained other things to do, had suddenly sprung into fame, almost malgré lui, as a bowler of absolutely natural "googlies," which fearsome term means an off-break with a leg-break action. This priceless talent had been accidentally discovered by Pip during a visit to Gresley's home in the vacation, in the course of a game of stump-cricket on the lawn after lunch. A year later Gresley had played for Cambridge at Lord's, with a success which had qualified him for an invitation to Rustleford. Indeed it was to him, together with Pip and the Squire's professional dark horse, that the Eleven looked for its wickets. Gresley was a small, slim fellow, looking much younger than he really was. He had been brought up by his widowed father almost by hand, and had never been to a public school. He was not quite at his ease in a crowd of people, and was devotedly46 attached to Pip, who had done him more than one good turn since they became acquainted.
The other man, Cullyngham, was of a very [Pg 191] different type; and indeed Pip's first action on catching47 sight of him playing bridge in the hall was to seek out Raven Innes and inquire, with unusual heat, what "that swine" was doing in the house.
"Can't say, laddie," said Innes. "The Squire asked him, not I. I suppose he has only met him casually48, and just knows him as a first-class cricketer."
"First-class cad!" grumbled49 Pip.
"Quite so, my son; but it's not our house, and he's not our guest. Still, it will do no harm to keep an eye on him."
A sudden idea struck Pip.
"Wouldn't it be a sound scheme," he suggested, "to warn your young sister about him?"
Raven cocked an inquiring eye at him.
"Why her in particular?"
"I meant all of them," corrected Pip, rather lamely50.
"I've only got one."
"No, no; I meant all the girls here."
"Not much," said the sagacious Raven; "they'd be after him like bees!"
After that the conversation reverted51 to ordinary channels, and Pip was apprised52 of the week's programme. On the morrow, Wednesday, the House Eleven, under the Squire himself, would play the village, led by the Vicar—a [Pg 192] time-honoured fixture. Thursday would be an off-day; on Friday they would meet the Grandwich Old Boys, who were on tour and would put up at "The George"; and on Saturday would come the tug-of-war, the match against the Gentlemen of the County, who were reputed to have whipped up a red-hot side.
Pip, who had arrived late for tea, met the ladies of the party in the drawing-room before dinner. They were of the usual diverse types. There was Kitty Davenport, slangy and mannish, who would not thank you for describing her as "a charming girl," but would be your firm friend if you called her "a good sort." There were the Misses Chell, fresh, unaffected, and healthily English. There were the two Calthrop girls, pretty, helpless, and clinging—a dangerous sort this, O young man!—together with an assortment53 of girls who were plain but lively, and girls who were dull but pretty, and a few less fortunate girls who were neither lively nor pretty. There was a solitary54 "flapper" of fifteen, who, untrammelled as yet by fear of Mrs. Grundy, was having the time of her life with the two callowest members of the Eleven.
And there was Elsie. Pip encountered her suddenly on the staircase. She was clad in the severely55 simple white frock that marks the débutante, and her lint-coloured hair was "up," [Pg 193] as Pipette had said. It was two years since Pip had seen her, for she had been to a finishing-school in Paris. He shook her hand in a manner which left that member limp and bloodless for the rest of the evening, and accompanied her downstairs, to find on reaching the hall that some never-to-be-sufficiently-blessed fairy had arranged that he was to take her in to dinner.
The most confirmed believer in the decadence56 of the Anglo-Saxon race might have been converted by the sight of the company round Squire Chell's table that night. Young men and maidens57, healthy, noisy, effervescent, ate and drank, babbled58 and laughed, flirted59 and squabbled with whole-hearted thoroughness from the soup to the savoury; and Pip, sitting silently ecstatic by Elsie, beheld60 the scene and suddenly realised that life was very good. What a splendid assemblage! The girls, of course, were girls, and as such beyond criticism. And the men? Maybe they were youthful and conventional,—each would probably have cut his own father dead in the street if he had met him wearing a made-up tie,—but Pip knew that they were for the most part clean-run, straight-going people like himself, good fellows, "white" men all. With one exception. And suddenly Pip realised that the exception was sitting on the other side of Elsie.
Cullyngham was smiling and talking. He [Pg 194] always was smiling. He smiled when he made a century. He smiled when he made a blob. He smiled when a rising ball hit him on the knuckles61. He was smiling now, and Elsie was smiling too; and Pip felt suddenly murderous.
They were talking of golf. Elsie, who had spent most of her life on the east coast of Scotland, was discussing matters that were Greek to poor cricketing Pip,—stymies, mashies, Kites, Falcons62, and other fearful wild-fowl,—and Cullyngham was offering to play Elsie a match round the home course next day. A brief review in Pip's mind of the most expeditious63 forms of assassination64 was interrupted by a cheery hail across the table from Jacky Chell, a hearty65 but tactless youth of boisterous67 temperament68.
"Quite like old times, seeing you and Cully together, Pip," he cried. "Played each other any billiard matches lately?"
Elsie scented69 a story.
"What billiard match?" she inquired, turning to Pip. "Did you two play much together at Cambridge?"
By this time Jacky Chell's stentorian70 laughter had reduced the table to silence, and all waited for Pip's answer, which when it finally came, was to the effect that Jacky Chell had better dry up. Cullyngham continued to smile, apparently71 without effort.
[Pg 195] "What is the story, Jacky?" said the Squire down the table.
"Cockles will tell it," said Jacky. "He'll make much more of it than I can."
The patrician72 humourist, thus flatteringly introduced into the conversation, readily took up his parable73.
"Well, it fell out on this wise, ladies and gents," he began. "Old Cully here regards himself as an absolutely top-hole pill-player, and one day he was laying off to some of us in the Pitt—"
"In the what?" exclaimed Mrs. Chell.
"Undergraduates' Club," interpolated her husband swiftly. "Go on, Cockles."
"Well, suddenly Pip cuts in and says, 'Look here, you've talked about your billiards74 for the last twenty minutes. I'll play you a hundred up now and beat you!'"
"And did he?" said several ladies.
"Wait a bit, if you please. None of us knew much about Pip's game, as he had just joined the club, but we all went into the billiard place next door, and I stood on a sofa and made a book—"
"What price?"
"Three to one on Cully."
"Who won?" cried the flapper.
"Wait a bit," said Cockles severely. "Don't crab75 my story. Cully went off at the start and [Pg 196] rattled76 up a couple of fifteens almost before Pip got his cue chalked. He reached his fifty just as Pip got to five."
Sensation.
"The odds77," continued the narrator, smacking78 his lips, "then receded79 to ten to one, and no takers. Then Cully got to seventy-five just after Pip had reached eighteen—wasn't it, Pip?"
No reply.
"Right-o! Never mind if you're shy. Anyhow, old Cully, being naturally a bit above himself, gave a sort of chuckle80, and said, 'What odds now, Pip, old man?'"
"Ooh!" said Miss Dorothy Chell. "How rash! It was quite enough to change your luck, Mr. Cullyngham."
"Did you tap wood when you said it, Mr. Cullyngham?" screamed the flapper down the table.
Mr. Cullyngham, possibly owing to the effort involved in keeping up a protracted81 smile, did not reply.
"Well," continued Cockles, "Pip just turned to him and said, 'I won't take any odds, but I'm da—blessed if I don't beat you yet.' And my word, do you know what he did?"
"What?" came from all corners of the table.
"He got the balls together a few minutes later, settled down—and ran out!"
[Pg 197] "What for?" inquired Miss Calthrop languidly.
"What for? He won. A break of eighty-three, unfinished. He wouldn't go on. Said he had come there to beat Cully, not to make a show of himself. The old ruffian! He had lain pretty low about his powers. Hadn't he, Cully?"
Cullyngham, to his eternal credit, still smiled.
"Rather!" he said. "You had me that time, Pip, old man."
Cullyngham's good nature and tact66 having smoothed over the rather jarring sensation produced by Cockles's thoroughly82 tactless reminiscences, conversation became general again. But Pip wriggled83 in his seat. He hated publicity84 of any kind, and he felt, moreover, that although he was the undoubted hero of Cockles's story, the smiling, unruffled man on the other side of Elsie was coming out of the affair better than he, if only by reason of the easy nonchalance85 with which he had faced a situation that had been rather unfairly forced upon him.
III
Next day came the match against the village. It was a serio-comic fixture, and as such does not call for detailed86 description. The Squire was early astir in cricket flannels87 and Harris tweed jacket, the latter garment being replaced at high noon by an M.C.C. blazer which ought to [Pg 198] have been let out at the seams twenty years ago: and in good time all the company assembled on the Rustleford Manor cricket-ground.
The village won the toss, and the Vicar, accompanied by the blacksmith, opened the innings. The attack was entrusted88 to Pip and the local phenomenon. The latter proved to be a bowler of appalling89 pace but uncertain length; and the blacksmith, whose generous figure offered a fair target to any ball directed within a yard of the wicket, growing restive90 under the bombardment, forgot more than once in his comments on the situation that a clergyman was standing91 less than twenty-two yards away.
The Vicar, an old Blue, played a skilful92 and patient innings, but the blacksmith did not stay long. As was natural, his chief stroke was a rather laboured upheaval93 of the bat over his head, followed by a downward sledge-hammer drive across the path of the elusive94 ball. He timed it correctly just once, and the ball, rebounding95 from the ground like a flash, sang over the head of the Squire at point and proceeded to the boundary for four. That was all. Next time, in endeavouring to bring off a particularly pyrotechnic late cut, the batsman was bowled. He made doubly sure of his dismissal by simultaneously96 bringing down his bat upon the top of the off-stump with a force which called [Pg 199] for the united efforts of the umpire and Cockles, who was keeping wicket, to get it out again.
The next comer was the Vicar's son, a public-school bat of the highest promise; and for a merry half-hour père et fils set Pip and partner at defiance97, and piled up runs to the credit of the village green. It was not until the Squire's prodigy98 had been taken off and Gresley put on that the schoolboy, tempted99 by one of the latter's insidious100 "googlies," mistimed a stroke and put up an easy one to Raven Innes at cover-point.
The next batsman was the booking-clerk from the station. Humourists on the boundary cried out that they expected something "first-class" this journey. They were doomed101 to disappointment, for the batsman was bowled first ball, a mishap102 which a facetious103 friend in the shade of the refreshment104 tent attributed to natural anxiety not to waste the return half of his ticket.
Eighty-two for three wickets is a good score for a village club; but when the three wickets grew to four, and so on to six, without any appreciable105 increase in the score, things cannot be regarded as so satisfactory. A rot set in after the Vicar was dismissed, and it was not until the last man came in that the hundred was reached. A really creditable stand now ensued, [Pg 200] the village policeman laying on for Tusculum at one end, while the curate (whom the parish darkly suspected of ritualistic tendencies) laid on for Rome at the other. These twain brought up the score to a hundred and twenty, at which point the policeman, in attempting a sort of truncheon-stroke to point, was deftly106 caught at second slip by Cullyngham.
The Rustleford Manor Eleven, as was usual in this fixture, took the field tail first, a proceeding107 which brought Pip to an unwontedly exalted108 position in the batting-list. He went in first wicket, two minutes after the commencement of the innings, Gresley having knocked off his bails109 in a misguided attempt to pull the first ball he received. The other end of the pitch was occupied by the Squire, who had gone in first in this match for twenty years. He liked plenty of time to make his runs, he explained, increasing girth precluding110 any great feats111 of agility112 between the wickets.
The bowling113 was shared by the Vicar and the policeman, the former with lobs, the latter with a delivery so frankly114 illegal that Pip, gazing open-mouthed at the bowler, made no attempt to play the first ball he received, and was nearly bowled.
"Rather a doubtful delivery that, isn't it?" he remarked to the umpire at the end of the over.
[Pg 201] "No possible doubt about it whatever, sir," said the grizzled ground-man decisively.
"You mean to say he doesn't throw?"
"I mean to say he does throw, sir."
"Then why don't you take him off?"
"Take him off, sir?" The veteran smiled indulgently in the direction of the bowler. "Lor' bless you! Now, why, sir? 'E ain't doin' no 'arm."
Pip could not but agree with the undeniable correctness of this pronouncement, which was shortly afterwards endorsed115 by the captain of the side, the limb of the law being relegated116 to a distant beat in the outfield and his place taken by another. The newcomer, an erratic117 bowler of great swiftness, shot his first ball into the Squire's knee-pad, and immediately appealed for leg-before-wicket. The village umpire, after an obvious struggle between a desire to get rid of a dangerous batsman and an inherent sense of loyalty118 to the feudal119 system, finally decided120 in favor of the gyrating Squire, and the game proceeded. Pip was bowled next over by one of the Vicar's lobs, and retired amid applause with a score of two fours and a six to his credit.
Outside the tent he espied121 Elsie. He sat down beside her, and the subsequent proceedings122 interested him no more. However, the House Eleven, after losing five wickets for thirty runs, [Pg 202] at last began to put real batsmen into the field. When the match ended at six o'clock the score was a hundred and eighty-five for seven wickets, the Oxford and Cambridge captains, Mallaby and Oake, being not out with fifty-five and forty-eight respectively. By this time Pip had asked for and been promised a lesson in golf next morning, when there was to be no cricket.
There was a nine-hole course round the house park, and here the lesson was given. After breakfast the two repaired to the tee, where Pip, whose whole weapon of offence consisted of an ancient left-handed cleek (discovered in the gunroom), made laborious123 and praiseworthy efforts to imitate Elsie's St. Andrew's swing, and to hit the little balls which she placed on the tee for him. He had asked for the lesson from purely124 ulterior motives125, but in half an hour he was badly bitten with the desire to excel at the game itself. He no longer regarded golf as a means to an end, but found himself liking126 it for its own sake. He listened carefully to Elsie's helpful instructions, ground his teeth when she heaved a resigned sigh, and glowed rosily127 at her rare expressions of approbation128. Twelve o'clock found him still hewing129 his way enthusiastically round the course, Elsie, appreciative130 of his keenness but a trifle bored, nonchalantly playing a ball to keep him company.
[Pg 203] The afternoon was devoted to a river picnic, at which Pip, to his huge disgust, found himself in the wrong boat both going and returning. Beyond a few minutes of what he called "good work" under a tree after tea, the afternoon was a blank for him; and it was with mingled131 feelings of ordinary jealousy132 and real concern for the girl that he found himself a helpless spectator of Cullyngham's undoubted progress in Elsie's good graces.
The evening was given to bridge, and Pip—one of the few men in Great Britain who combined the misfortune of being a hopelessly bad player with the merit of realising the fact—played billiards with Raven Innes till bedtime. Next morning broke dull and cloudy, and by the time that the Grandwich Old Boys had won the toss and decided to bat, the clouds broke and the rain came down in torrents133.
There is no duller or more depressing spectacle in this world than that of two elevens waiting in the pavilion for the rain to stop. Nervous men who have to go in next move restlessly about, much harassed134 by the exuberance135 of joyous136 youths who play small-cricket against the dressing-room door. Weather prophets gaze pessimistically at the weeping heavens and shake their heads, while optimists137 point out to each other fragments of blue sky, invisible to the [Pg 204] unbiassed eye, in distant corners of the firmament138. The pavilion bore descends139 upon you, and having backed you into a corner of the veranda140, where the rain can comfortably drip through a leak in the roof down your neck, regales you with stories which Shem probably told to Ham and Japheth under precisely141 similar circumstances.
On this occasion the cricketers divided their energies pretty equally between bridge and bear-fighting. Pip, who was in a contemplative mood, sat smoking patiently on the veranda railing. Presently Cullyngham, who had just cut out at bridge, came to the doorway142 and looked round. His eye fell on Pip, and he smiled in a friendly manner.
"Game of picquet, old man?" he inquired.
"No, thanks. Get another mug!"
This was rude of Pip, but Cullyngham took it angelically.
"Dear old Pip!" he cooed. "I wish I could say caustic143 things with that air. It's so effective."
At this moment Gresley came up the steps.
"Ah, here's my man!" exclaimed Cullyngham. "You are a sportsman, anyhow, Gresley. Come and have a hand at picquet till lunch."
Gresley, much flattered at this notice from a celebrity, agreed readily, and the pair disappeared [Pg 205] into the dressing-room, where, since the rain continued for the greater part of the day, they were destined144 to spend a considerable time.
IV
That evening there was an impromptu145 dance. It was much the same as other dances. There was plenty of music and champagne146 and laughter; and as usual several people tried, and as usual failed, to solve the problem of how it is that an ethereal-looking and fragile slip of a girl, wholly incapable147 of carrying a scuttle148 of coals upstairs or of walking five miles without collapsing149, can go through an arduous150 night's exercise, waltzing strong men into a state of coma151, without turning a hair.
Pip did his duty manfully, though his glimpses of Elsie were few and far between. That young lady, whether by accident or design, had filled her card rather fully31 before Pip reached her side. Consequently it was something like midnight when the piano and violin struck up the waltz that she had promised him, and Pip, hastily returning the eldest152 Miss Calthrop to her base of operations, braced153 himself for the moment of the evening.
He waited for some time at the door of the dancing-room scanning the returning couples, but Elsie did not come; and Pip, who was preeminently [Pg 206] a man of action, set out to look for her.
He came upon the truant154 rather suddenly, round a screen at the end of a passage. She was sitting on a settee with Cullyngham, who, with his head close to hers, was talking softly and rather too earnestly Pip thought. On seeing Pip, Cullyngham began to smile at once, but Elsie looked a little confused.
"My dance, I think," said Pip gruffly.
Cullyngham rose to his feet.
"A thousand apologies, old boy," he said easily. "I had no idea the music had started again. So sorry! I surrender Miss Innes forthwith. Au revoir, partner, and thank you."
He swung gracefully155 down the passage and was gone.
Elsie felt a little uncomfortable. The woman never yet lived who did not enjoy playing two fish simultaneously, and under ordinary circumstances Elsie would have handled her line with all the pleasure and finesse156 of an expert. But somehow Pip was different. He was not the sort of person who shared a hook gracefully. He was perfectly157 capable of disregarding the rules of the game and making a fuss and breaking the line, unless treated with special and separate consideration.
She rose lightly.
[Pg 207] "So sorry, Pip," she said, taking his arm almost caressingly158. "I didn't mean to keep you waiting. Shall we go and dance?"
"No," said Pip. "Sit down a minute, please."
Elsie obeyed.
"It's only this," said Pip bluntly. "I can't help it if I offend you. Have as little to do with that chap as you can."
A brief silence, and these two young people surveyed each other. There was no flinching159 on either side. Then Elsie's eyes blazed.
"How paltry160! How mean!" she said hotly. "Fancy trying to do it that way!"
"What do you mean by 'it'?" said Pip.
Elsie bit her lip. She had given herself away.
"You mean," went on Pip, "that I say this because I am jealous."
That was exactly what Elsie had meant, and she knew in her heart now that she had been wrong: Pip was not that sort. Still, she was young and independent. Pip was young and tactless. An older and more experienced girl would have seen that Pip's warning was well worth listening to. An older and more experienced man would have delivered it in a different way. Neither of them being possessed161 of these advantages, the net result of Pip's impromptu effort was to invest Cullyngham with a halo of romantic mystery in the eyes of Elsie, who, after [Pg 208] all, was only nineteen, and a daughter of Eve at that. Here were the elements of a pretty quarrel.
Five minutes later, after a hot altercation162, Elsie sailed into the ballroom163 alone, with her small and admirably formed nose slightly in the air, leaving Pip, tardily164 recalling Raven's advice, to curse his tactless tongue on the settee behind the screen.
To him entered young Gresley. He dropped listlessly on to the settee.
"Pip," he said, "I'm in a devil of a hole."
"What's the matter?"
"I'm dipped—badly."
"Oh—money?"
"Yes."
Pip's eyes suddenly gleamed.
"Cullyngham?"
Gresley nodded.
Pip rose and pulled the screen completely across the passage.
"They'll think we're a spooning couple," he said. "Go on."
Gresley told his story. Flattered by Cullyngham's invitation, he had agreed to play picquet—a game with which he enjoyed only what may be called a domestic acquaintance—in the pavilion before lunch.
"I suppose we will play the usual club points?" Cullyngham had said.
[Pg 209] "And like a blamed fool," continued Gresley, "I didn't like to let on that I didn't know what the usual club points were, but just nodded. I lost all the time, and when he added up at one o'clock I owed him five hundred points. He said I must have my revenge in the afternoon if it went on raining. Well, as you know, it did go on raining, and by the end of the day I was fifteen hundred points down. Then he told me, what I hadn't had the pluck to ask him, what we were playing for. He said that the ordinary club points were a fiver a hundred, and that I owed him seventy-five pounds."
"The d——d swine!" said Pip through his teeth.
"Are they the ordinary club points, Pip?" said Gresley anxiously.
"Ordinary club grandmother! It's a swindle. He probably cheated in the actual play, too. What are you going to do?"
"I shall pay."
"Quite right," said Pip approvingly. "Pay first, and then we can go for him without prejudice. Have you got the money?"
The boy shook his head dismally166. "About ten pounds," he said.
"I could raise a couple of fivers, perhaps," said Pip. "But in any case your best plan is to go straight and make a clean breast of it to your Governor."
[Pg 210] "Pip, I couldn't! He's fearfully simple and straight in these things. It would break him up."
"I know him well enough," said Pip, "to be quite certain that you ought to tell him. He can't eat you, and he'll respect your pluck in being frank about it. If he finds out by accident, though—"
"You are right, Pip. I'll do it."
"Good! If you'll do that, I'll promise you something in return. I'll give Master Cullyngham such a quarter of an hour of his own previous history that he'll leave the place to-morrow morning and never darken its doors, or any other doors I care to specify167, again. Now, you write straight off to your Governor; or, better still, make an excuse and run up to town and see him to-morrow, and leave me to tackle friend Cullyngham. I think I shall enjoy my interview more than you will."
Mr. Rupert Cullyngham had divested168 himself of his dress-coat, and was engaged in unfastening a neatly169 tied white tie, when his bedroom door opened and Pip came in.
"Cullyngham," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone, "you must leave this house to-morrow morning."
Cullyngham turned and surveyed his visitor [Pg 211] for a moment with some amusement. Then he said,—
"Certainly! No idea you had bought the place. Can I have a trap, or must I walk?"
Pip did not rise to the level of this airy badinage170. On the contrary, he was brusque and rude.
"You will get your cheque all right," he continued. "It will reach you on Sunday morning, so there's no need to hang on here for it."
"May I inquire—what cheque?"
"The money young Gresley owes you."
Cullyngham whistled softly.
"So it's to that young fool that I owe the honour of this visit," he said. "Look here, old chap—"
Pip broke in.
"Thanks, I can do without that. Let us have no rotten pretence171 on the subject. To be quite frank, I was rather surprised to find you in this house at all—so was Raven Innes. However, we decided not to make any remark—"
"That was decent of you!"
Pip continued, meditatively—
"Chell had probably asked you here on your cricket reputation. However, as I find you can't refrain from behaving like the cad you are, even when asked down to a house like this, I have decided to take things in hand myself. You will [Pg 212] make an excuse to the Chells in the morning, and go straight away back—"
Cullyngham, who had been restraining himself with difficulty, turned suddenly round and advanced upon him.
"Get out!" he said, his eyes blazing.
Pip, who was lounging on the arm of a chair, never stirred.
"If you will sit down for five minutes," he observed steadily172, "I'll give you a few reasons for my assurance in this matter. The fact is, Cullyngham, you aren't in a position to retaliate173. To-day, for instance, you were wearing the colours of your old school club. You are not a member. They don't elect people who have been—sacked. Also, I came across a friend of yours not long ago. She wanted your address, or rather her daughter did. Her name was—"
Cullyngham, whose face had been gradually changing from a lowering red to a delicate green, suddenly noticed that the door was standing ajar. He hurried across the room, shut it, and turned the key.
Ten minutes later the door opened again, and Pip stepped out into the dark passage. An item in his host's valedictory174 remarks took him back into the room again, and he stood holding the door-handle as he spoke175.
"Cullyngham, you certainly owe me one for [Pg 213] this, so you can blackguard me to your heart's content. Also, you may interpret my motives as you like; but—we will leave ladies' names out of this question, please. Remember that!"
V
At breakfast next morning, amid much masculine concern and feminine lamentation176, Cullyngham announced that unexpected and urgent family business called him away to town.
The Squire expostulated.
"My dear fellow, this is simply outrageous177! What are we to do? The Gentlemen have whipped up the hottest side I have ever seen on this ground, and first of all young Gresley slips off before breakfast, and now you want to go. We shall get simply trampled178 on!"
Cullyngham, his smile once again in full working order, confessed himself utterly179 desolated180; but the business was of a pressing, and, he hinted, rather painful, nature, and go he must.
Accordingly a trap was ordered round for the twelve o'clock train, and the depleted181 Eleven, together with the greater part of the house-party, strolled down to the ground to face the redoubtable182 Gentlemen of the County.
Pip had been promised an hour's golf with Elsie after breakfast. He was at the tee at the appointed hour of ten, but was not in the least [Pg 214] surprised when his teacher failed to put in an appearance. After smoking patiently upon the sand-box for a quarter of an hour, the unconscious target of a good many curious eyes on the terrace above, he sadly knocked the ashes out of his pipe and returned to the house, to prepare himself for the labours of the day.
This was to be no picnic match. The County Club had no other fixture that day, so could put its full amateur strength into the field. With Gresley and Cullyngham playing the sides would have been about equally balanced, but now it was odds on the visitors.
However, the men of Rustleford, fortifying183 themselves with the comforting reflection that cricket, like most other departments of life, is a game of surprises, enrolled184 two substitutes for their absent warriors185, and took the field with a stout186 heart, having lost the toss as a preliminary.
There had been more rain during the night, and the wicket, though sodden187, was easy. The Gentlemen opened nicely, scoring forty-five runs by pretty cricket before a wicket fell. After that two more wickets fell rather easily, and then came another stand, during which the score rose from forty-five to eighty, at which point the more passive of the two resisters was given out leg-before-wicket. Then came a débacle, absolute and complete, but not altogether inexplicable188. [Pg 215] The clouds were dispersing189 rapidly, and, once free of their nebulous embraces, the July sun began to beat down fiercely, "queering the patch" in the most literal sense of the word, and thus enabling Pip and the village prodigy to dismiss an undeniably strong batting side for a hundred and eight.
Loud were the congratulations of the spectators. The ladies especially were jubilant, the flapper going so far as to ask her two admirers for a quotation190 of odds—in the current coin of flapperdom, chocolates—against Rustleford's chances of an innings victory. But the Squire looked up at the blazing sun and down at the rapidly drying pitch, and glanced inquiringly at Pip.
Pip removed his pipe from his mouth, and grunted,—
"Lucky if we get half the runs."
As it turned out, this was an overestimate191. The Rustleford Manor Eleven went in to bat at one o'clock precisely, and were all dismissed in the space of forty-five minutes for forty-nine runs. The pitch was almost unplayable; each bowler found a "spot"; and it was only some berserk slogging by Pip, who went in last and refused to allow any ball to alight on the treacherous192 turf at all, that this insignificant193 total was not halved194.
The Elevens lunched together in the pavilion, [Pg 216] but the rest of the party returned to the house. Here Elsie, who had spent a not altogether comfortable night and morning, was somewhat surprised to find herself seated next to Cullyngham.
"I thought you had gone," she said.
"Unfortunately," he replied, "I came down at twelve to drive to the station, to find that I had misunderstood Mrs. Chell and kept the trap too late to have any chance of catching the train."
"Never mind," said Elsie. "You'll be able to come and see the match now. It is going to be tremendously exciting."
Cullyngham lowered his head in her direction, and said,—
"Will you let me have that round of golf this afternoon—the one I should have had next Monday?"
Elsie surveyed him doubtfully. Under ordinary circumstances she would have preferred to see the cricket, but she was not insensible to Cullyngham's charms, and she liked the flattering way in which he had couched his request.
"But the cricket?" she said. "Surely you—"
"Some things are worth many cricket-matches," said Cullyngham sententiously.
Elsie gasped195 a little, and Cullyngham continued,—
"You will come? Leave the cricketers to [Pg 217] themselves this time. They'll get too conceited196 with so much attention."
Now, whether Cullyngham meant this remark to have a particular significance, or to be merely of general application, one cannot say, but its effect was to suggest to Elsie a most appropriate punishment for Pip. Instead of sitting on the pavilion lawn applauding his performance, she would stay at home and play golf with his rival. Little boys must be taught not to be jealous.
"Very well," she said.
Cullyngham called for more whiskey-and-soda.
The Gentlemen of the County began their second innings after lunch. News of the exciting state of the game had spread abroad, and the Manor ground was rapidly being encircled by a ring of carriages and motors, tenanted by masses of white fluff, which at intervals198 disintegrated199 itself into its component200 elements for purposes of promenade201, dress-reviewing, and refreshment.
It was quite plain that runs would be hard to get on that wicket. There was a crust of dried mud on the top and a quagmire202 below. The sun still beat down strongly, the birds were celebrating the termination of twenty-four hours' rain in every tree, and everybody was alert and excited at the prospect of an open game and a close finish.
Their expectations were fully realised. The [Pg 218] Gentlemen of the County, either through anxiety to eclipse their rivals' sensational breakdown203, or through excess of confidence, or simply because they could not help it, scored exactly thirty-five runs. Pip took eight wickets for sixteen. He was always a bowler of moods, and his work in the morning, though good enough, had not been particularly brilliant. A man can no more take a wicket than he can take a city unless he gives his mind to it, and it must be confessed that up to the luncheon204 interval197 Pip had been wool-gathering. His interview with Cullyngham, his rather brief night's rest, and his tiff205 with Elsie had kept his wits wandering. Now, braced by the knowledge that Cullyngham was speeding on his way south, that Elsie was sitting safely on the pavilion lawn, and that—most blessed of rest cures!—there was work, hard work, before him, Pip rolled up his sleeves, set his field, and bowled. He made no fuss about it; he merely rose to the top of his form and stayed there. The wickets fell like ninepins, the crowd shouted itself hoarse206, and when it was all over, Pip, walking soberly in with the rest, found himself punched, slapped, and otherwise embraced by various frantic207 people in the pavilion.
Among the forest of hands, each containing a sizzling tumbler, that were extended towards him, Pip observed one containing a telegram. [Pg 219] Mechanically he took the orange-coloured envelope with one hand and a tall tumbler with the other, and, thrusting the former safe out of harm's way in his pocket, devoted his attention to the latter.
This done, he put on his blazer, lit his pipe, and took up his favourite position on the railing of the pavilion veranda, what time the two chief batsmen of his side buckled208 on their pads. There were ninety-five runs to make, and they had to be made on a wicket in the last stages of decomposition209. The two heroes, nervous but resolute210, took the field for the last time, and, with nearly three hours before them, set to work, slowly and cautiously, to make the runs.
But Pip was not watching the cricket. His eye was travelling steadily round the pavilion lawn, dodging211 pink frocks and skipping over blue frocks in its search for the white piqué costume that Elsie had worn that morning. It was not there.
Mindful that the female sex, not content with having once successfully surmounted212 that most monumental nuisance of civilisation213, the daily toilet, is addicted214 to inexplicable and apparently enjoyable repetitions of the same, Pip tried again, and scrutinised the pink frocks and the blue frocks. Elsie was not in any of them. Pip felt vaguely215 uneasy. Of course Cullyngham was [Pg 220] almost back in town by this time. Still—The two batsmen were making a respectable show. Pip was to go in last. The greatest possible series of catastrophes216 could not bring his services into requisition for another twenty minutes at any rate. He would run up to the house and see. See what? He did not know, but he would go and see it.
He vaulted217 over a fence, slipped through a plantation218, and tramped under the hot afternoon sun across the meadow which separated the Manor from the cricket-ground. Suddenly, in his pocket, his hand encountered the telegram that had been handed to him after the innings: it had gone right out of his memory.
"Wonder if it's an abusive message from Cully," he said to himself.
No, it was from Pipette, and Pip sat down on a hurdle219 and steadied himself after reading it. Presently, after a stunned220 interval, he continued mechanically on his way.
"Let me see," he found himself saying,—"I had better pack up my things, get a trap at the stables, and catch the five-thirty train. I'll leave a note for the Chells, and then I shan't have to face the whole crowd again. If there's no trap to be had I'll leave my bag and leg it. Only a mile or so,—I wish it was more,—got an hour and a half to fill in."
By this time he had reached the house. The [Pg 221] place was deserted221, for the butler and, indeed, most of the establishment were down at the cricket-ground. Pip went rather heavily upstairs and packed his portmanteau, which he presently brought down to the hall door. After that he went to the library and wrote a brief letter.
"Now to find some one to leave this with," he said to himself. "The maids can't all be out. After that I'll go to the stables. Hallo! That sounded like a voice. There it is again! A sort of shriek222! It comes from the conservatory223. My God! it's—"
He hurried into the drawing-room and darted224 across to the large French windows that opened into the conservatory. Then, stepping out and passing round a great orange tree in a green tub, he came suddenly on a sight that caused something inside him to gather into a sickening knot and sink down, down, down, dragging his very heart with it.
Elsie and Cullyngham, the latter with his back to Pip, were standing face to face in the middle of the conservatory. They were pressed close together, and both Elsie's arms were round Cullyngham's neck.
VI
Somehow the golf-match was not quite as amusing as Elsie had expected. Cullyngham was [Pg 222] all deference225 and vivacity226, and played like the stylist he was. Still, Elsie could not help wondering how the cricket-match was getting on; and when at half-past three the round of nine holes was completed, she announced her intention of going down to the ground to see the finish.
"What, and desert me?" inquired her opponent pathetically.
"You can come too, if you like."
"Hardly worth while, I'm afraid. I have to pack my bag and get some tea, and then I shall be due at the station."
"I thought your bag was packed already. You were to have gone by the twelve train, you know," said Elsie rather doubtfully.
"Yes," said Cullyngham easily, "but you forgot I had to unpack227 again to get out my golfing shoes. Now, I'll tell you what," he continued rapidly. "They are going to give me tea in the conservatory before I go: won't you stay and pour it out for me? Just five minutes—please!"
Elsie felt that she could hardly in decency228 refuse, and accompanied Cullyngham to the house and thence to the conservatory, where the maid who brought the tea informed them of the glorious downfall of the County Eleven and of Pip's share therein.
This decided Elsie. She had no desire to appear in any scene where Pip was the central [Pg 223] figure, so she accepted Cullyngham's pressing invitation to share his tea, and, sinking into a large armchair, prepared to spend an idle half-hour until popular enthusiasm on the cricket-ground should have abated229. Pip was unconsciously proving the profound wisdom of the maxim230 which warns us to beware when all men speak well of us. He was paying the penalty of success. If he had been bowled first ball, or had missed three easy catches, Elsie, being a woman, would probably have melted and been kind to him. But to unbend to him now would savour of opportunism, hero-worship, and other disagreeable things. Elsie set her small white teeth, frowned at an orange tree in a green tub, and prepared for a tête-à-tête. The house seemed deserted.
"Penny for your thoughts!" said Cullyngham.
Elsie smiled composedly.
"If they were only worth that I would make you a present of them," she said. "If they were worth more they would not be for sale."
"Are they worth more?"
"I don't know, really. Anyhow, they are not on the market." She drank some tea with a prim231 air, uncomfortably conscious that she was blushing.
There was a short pause, and Cullyngham spoke again.
[Pg 224] "I hope I'm not boring you," he said, with a smile which took for granted the impossibility of the idea.
"Oh, dear, no. I'm seldom bored at meals." Elsie took a bite out of a bun.
"Very well. Till you have finished tea I will keep quiet; after that I will endeavour to amuse you."
The meal continued solemnly. Once or twice Elsie directed a furtive232 glance at the man beside her, and detected him eyeing her in a manner which made her feel hot and cold by turns. It was not that he was rude or objectionable, but Elsie suddenly felt conscious that Pip's open stare of honest admiration233 was infinitely234 less embarrassing than this.
Cullyngham, as a matter of fact, was in a dangerous mood. His was not a pride that took a fall easily, and the fact that he had been compelled to submit to Pip's unconditional235 ultimatum236 was goading237 him to madness. No man is altogether bad, but we are all possessed of our own particular devils, and Cullyngham accommodated more than his fair share of them. He had never denied himself the gratification of any passion, however unworthy, and at that moment his one consuming desire was to retaliate upon the man who had humiliated238 him. He looked around the empty conservatory, and then again [Pg 225] at the girl in the basket-chair beside him. He could punish Pip now in a most exquisite239 manner.
Elsie caught the glance, and for a moment was suddenly conscious of an emotion hitherto unknown to her—acute physical fear. But Cullyngham said lightly—
"Enjoyed your tea?"
"Yes, thanks," she replied rather tremulously, putting down her cup.
"Then may I smoke?"
"Certainly. But I am going now."
"Right, if you must. I'll just light my cigarette and see you to the end of the drive."
Cullyngham produced a box of matches, and, with the paternal240 air of one endeavouring to amuse a child, performed various tricks with them. Then he lit a cigarette, and showed Elsie how, by doubling up your tongue, it is possible to grip the cigarette in the fold and draw it into your mouth, reproducing it, still lighted and glowing, a minute later.
"Quite a little exhibition!" said Elsie, at her ease again. "You ought to set up as a conjurer. Now I must be off."
"There is one other little trick with a match that might amuse you," said Cullyngham. "It was taught me by a girl I know. She made me go down on my hands and knees—"
[Pg 226] "I refuse to go down on my knees for anybody," said Elsie, with spirit.
"Never mind. I will do that part. I go on my hands and knees on the floor, like this, with a match lying on my back between my shoulder-blades. Then the other person—you—has his hands tied together with a handkerchief, and tries to brush the match off the other person's back. It's extraordinary how difficult it is to do it with one's hands tied and the other person bobbing and dodging to get away from you."
"It sounds absolutely idiotic241," said Elsie coldly.
"It isn't, though. Of course it would be idiotic for you and me to play it now by ourselves; but I'll just show you the trick of it, and you will be able to have some sport with them in the billiard-room to-night. Shall I show you?"
Elsie agreed, without enthusiasm. It seemed churlish to refuse such a trifling242 request to a man who was making laborious efforts to amuse her; but, for all that, this tête-à-tête had lasted long enough. However, she would be on the cricket-ground in a few minutes.
Her doubts were in a measure revived when Cullyngham tied her two wrists together with a silk handkerchief. He performed the operation very quickly, and then dropped on to his hands and knees on the floor and carefully balanced a match on the broad of his back.
[Pg 227] "Now," he said, looking up at her, "just try to knock that match off my back. Of course I shall dodge243 all I can. I bet you won't be able to do it."
Elsie, feeling uncommonly244 foolish, made one or two perfunctory dabs245 at the match with her bound hands. Once she nearly succeeded, but Cullyngham backed away just in time. Piqued246 by his derisive247 little laugh, she took a quick step forward, and leaning over him, was on the point of brushing the match on to the floor, when suddenly Cullyngham slewed248 round in her direction, and, thrusting his head into the enclosure of her arms, scrambled249 to his feet. Next moment Elsie, dazed, numbed250, terrified, found herself on tiptoe, hanging round a man's neck, while the man's arms were round her and his hateful smiling face was drawing nearer, nearer, nearer to her own.
Never was a girl in more deadly peril251. Elsie uttered a choking scream.
"It's no good, little girl," said Cullyngham. "I've got you fast, and there's not a soul in the house. A kiss, please!" He spoke thickly: the man was dead within him.
Elsie, inert252 and drooping253, shrank back as far as her manacled wrists would allow her, and struggled frantically254 to free herself. But Cullyngham's arms brought her towards him again. [Pg 228] And then, paralysed with terror, with eyes wide open, she found herself staring right over Cullyngham's shoulder at—Pip!—Pip, sprung from the earth, and standing only five yards away.
"Pip!" she moaned; "Pip, save me!"
Almost simultaneously Cullyngham became conscious of something that gripped him by the nape of his neck, just below Elsie's fettered255 wrists—something that felt like a steel vice165. Tighter and tighter grew the grip. The veins256 began to stand out on Cullyngham's forehead, and he gurgled for breath. Down he went, till his head was once more on a level with the floor and his aristocratic nose was rubbed into the matting. In a moment the girl had slipped her wrists over his head and stood free—pale, shaken, but free!
"Run into the house," said Pip. "I will come in a minute."
Elsie tottered257 through the French window and disappeared, with her hands still bound before her, and the two men were left alone.
Finding himself in a favourable258 geographical259 position, Pip kicked Cullyngham till his toes ached inside his boots. Then he thrust him away on to the floor. Cullyngham, free at last and white with passion, was up in a moment and rushed at Pip. He was met by a crashing blow in the face and went down again.
If Pip had been himself he would have desisted [Pg 229] there and then, for he had his enemy heavily punished already. But he was in a raging passion. He knew now that Elsie was more to him than all the world together, and his sudden realisation of the fact came at an inopportune moment for Cullyngham. Pip drove him round the conservatory, storming, raging, blaring like an angry bull, getting in blow upon blow with blind, relentless260 fury. Cullyngham was no weakling and no coward. Again and again he stood up to Pip, only to go down again under a smash like the kick of a horse. Finally, in a culminating paroxysm of frenzy261, Pip took his battered262 opponent in his arms and hurled263 him into the green tub containing the orange tree.
Then he went into the house, locking the French window behind him. The fit had passed.
Five minutes devoted to a wash, and a slight readjustment of his collar and tie, and Pip was himself again. Presently he went to seek Elsie. The girl had succeeded in freeing her hands from the handkerchief, and was sitting, badly shaken, a poor little "figure of interment," as the French say, on a sofa in the library. She looked up eagerly at his approach.
"Oh, Pip, did you hurt him?"
"I hope so," said Pip simply. "Will you tell how it happened? At least—don't, if you'd rather not."
[Pg 230] But she told him all. "You were just in time, Pip," she concluded. "I was just going to faint, I think."
She looked up at him with shining eyes. Pip saw them, and permitted himself one brief gaze. This was no time for tender passages. He put his hand in his pocket and produced a rather crumpled264 envelope.
"Would you mind giving that to the Squire for me?" he said. "I have to go away."
"Go away? Oh, Pip! Now?"
"Yes, you see, I have just—"
"But are you going to leave me in the house with that man?" cried Elsie, with a sudden access of her old terror.
"If I am any judge of human nature," said Pip, "he is out of the house by this time. I don't think he will even wait for his luggage. He—he's not very presentable. I see the trap has come round for him. It can take me instead, and I'll cart his luggage up to town and leave it at his club. I owe him some consideration," he added, surveying his knuckles thoughtfully.
Elsie acquiesced265.
"Yes, that will be best," she said. "The Chells will think he went off in the ordinary way, and nobody will ever know—Pip, it was awful."
[Pg 231] She broke off, and shuddered266 again and again.
"I should go and lie down till dinner if I were you," said Pip gently. "All over now: forget it. Good-bye."
They shook hands and walked to the door together.
"Why are you going away like this?" said Elsie, as the groom267 piled the luggage into the trap.
Pip's face clouded.
"I'm ashamed to say that what has happened made me forget for a bit," he said. "I have just had a wire from Pipette—I say, here is the whole cricket-party coming across the lawn! I simply can't face them now. I could have told you about it, but not them. Good-bye, and—good-bye. I shall see you again soon, I hope."
He jumped into the cart, and was rattling268 down the drive by the time that the cricketers and their attendant throng269, hot, noisy, and jubilant, burst like a wave into the hall. Elsie turned hastily from a window as they entered.
"Hallo, Elsie," cried Raven Innes, "what are you doing here?"
"Rather a headache, Raven. I have stayed in since tea," said Elsie.
"You certainly don't look very well, dear," said Mrs. Chell.
"You missed a great finish," said Cockles.
[Pg 232] "Only two wickets," shrieked270 the flapper.
"Yes," added the Squire, "and if one of them had gone down we should have been dished. Pip deserted. Where was the ruffian? Have you seen anything of him, my dear?"
"Yes," said Elsie; "he was here just now."
One or two knowing smiles illuminated271 the honest faces of the cricketers.
"He came up," she continued composedly, "about four, and hurried away to catch the five-thirty train. He has just gone. He gave me this note for you, Mr. Chell."
The Squire took the note and read it, and his jolly face grew grave.
"Poor fellow!" he said soberly.
"What is it?" said everybody.
"Pip has had a wire from his sister to say that his father died suddenly this morning—heart failure. Pip has slipped away by the afternoon train: he did not want to spoil our fun. He asks me to say good-bye to all of you from him."
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considerably
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sensational
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3
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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4
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
inflate
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| vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价） | |
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6
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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7
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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8
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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9
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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10
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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12
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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13
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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14
consultations
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| n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找 | |
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15
fixture
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| n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款 | |
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16
impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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17
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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18
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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19
jingles
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| 叮当声( jingle的名词复数 )； 节拍十分规则的简单诗歌 | |
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20
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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21
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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22
anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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23
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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24
utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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25
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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26
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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27
maternally
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28
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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29
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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30
dividend
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|
| n.红利，股息；回报，效益 | |
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31
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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32
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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33
pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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34
reassured
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| 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) | |
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35
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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36
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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37
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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39
hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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40
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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41
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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42
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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43
bowler
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| n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手 | |
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44
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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45
oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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46
devotedly
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| 专心地； 恩爱地； 忠实地； 一心一意地 | |
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47
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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48
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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49
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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50
lamely
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| 一瘸一拐地，不完全地 | |
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51
reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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52
apprised
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| v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价 | |
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53
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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54
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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55
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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56
decadence
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| n.衰落，颓废 | |
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57
maidens
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|
| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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58
babbled
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|
| 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 | |
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59
flirted
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|
| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
beheld
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|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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61
knuckles
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|
| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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62
falcons
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| n.猎鹰( falcon的名词复数 ) | |
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63
expeditious
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|
| adj.迅速的，敏捷的 | |
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64
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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65
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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66
tact
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|
| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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67
boisterous
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|
| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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68
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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69
scented
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|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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70
stentorian
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|
| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
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71
apparently
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|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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72
patrician
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|
| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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73
parable
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|
| n.寓言，比喻 | |
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74
billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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75
crab
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|
| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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76
rattled
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|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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77
odds
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|
| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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78
smacking
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| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
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79
receded
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|
| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；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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80
chuckle
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|
| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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81
protracted
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|
| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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82
thoroughly
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|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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83
wriggled
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|
| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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84
publicity
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|
| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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85
nonchalance
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|
| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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86
detailed
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|
| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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87
flannels
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| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
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88
entrusted
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|
| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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89
appalling
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|
| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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90
restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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91
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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92
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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93
upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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94
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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95
rebounding
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| 蹦跳运动 | |
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96
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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97
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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98
prodigy
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| n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆 | |
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99
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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100
insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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101
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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102
mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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103
facetious
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| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
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104
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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105
appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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106
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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107
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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108
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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109
bails
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| （法庭命令缴付的）保释金( bail的名词复数 )； 三柱门上的横木 | |
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110
precluding
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| v.阻止( preclude的现在分词 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通 | |
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111
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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112
agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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113
bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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114
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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115
endorsed
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| vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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116
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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117
erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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118
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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119
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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120
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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121
espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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123
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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124
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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125
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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126
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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127
rosily
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| adv.带玫瑰色地，乐观地 | |
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128
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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129
hewing
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的现在分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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130
appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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131
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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132
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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133
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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134
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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135
exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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136
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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137
optimists
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| n.乐观主义者( optimist的名词复数 ) | |
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138
firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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139
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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140
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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141
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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142
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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143
caustic
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| adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的 | |
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144
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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145
impromptu
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| adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地) | |
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146
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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147
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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148
scuttle
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| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
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149
collapsing
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| 压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂 | |
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150
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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151
coma
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| n.昏迷，昏迷状态 | |
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152
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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153
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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154
truant
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| n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课 | |
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155
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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156
finesse
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| n.精密技巧，灵巧，手腕 | |
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157
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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158
caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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159
flinching
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的现在分词 ) | |
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160
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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161
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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162
altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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163
ballroom
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| n.舞厅 | |
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164
tardily
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| adv.缓慢 | |
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165
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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166
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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167
specify
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| vt.指定，详细说明 | |
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168
divested
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| v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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169
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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170
badinage
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| n.开玩笑，打趣 | |
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171
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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172
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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173
retaliate
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| v.报复，反击 | |
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174
valedictory
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| adj.告别的；n.告别演说 | |
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175
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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176
lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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177
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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178
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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179
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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180
desolated
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| adj.荒凉的，荒废的 | |
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181
depleted
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| adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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182
redoubtable
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| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
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183
fortifying
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的现在分词 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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184
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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185
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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187
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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188
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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189
dispersing
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| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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190
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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191
overestimate
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| v.估计过高，过高评价 | |
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192
treacherous
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|
| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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193
insignificant
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|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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194
halved
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| v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊 | |
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195
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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196
conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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197
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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198
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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199
disintegrated
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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200
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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201
promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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202
quagmire
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| n.沼地 | |
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203
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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204
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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205
tiff
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| n.小争吵，生气 | |
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206
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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207
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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208
buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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209
decomposition
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| n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃 | |
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210
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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211
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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212
surmounted
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|
| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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213
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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214
addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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215
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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216
catastrophes
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| n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难 | |
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217
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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218
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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219
hurdle
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| n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛 | |
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220
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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221
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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222
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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223
conservatory
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| n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的 | |
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224
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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225
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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226
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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227
unpack
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| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
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228
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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229
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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230
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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231
prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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232
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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233
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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234
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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235
unconditional
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| adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的 | |
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236
ultimatum
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| n.最后通牒 | |
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237
goading
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| v.刺激( goad的现在分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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238
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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239
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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240
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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241
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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242
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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243
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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244
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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245
dabs
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| 少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练 | |
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246
piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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247
derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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248
slewed
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| adj.喝醉的v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去式 )( slew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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249
scrambled
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| 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 | |
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250
numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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251
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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252
inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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253
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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254
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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255
fettered
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| v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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256
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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257
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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258
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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259
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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260
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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261
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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262
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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263
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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264
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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265
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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266
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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267
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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268
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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269
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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270
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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271
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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