Princess Sophia was far too well entertained by the farcical absurdity1 of the conspiracy2 to be really angry at present with her husband. Malakopf, however, less simple-witted and much older, was not so lightly dismissed. She knew the man to be cunning, and one whose investments might be considered{136} safe, and she fumed3 at the idea of a centipede conspiring4 against her.
‘But there is one point which perplexes me,’ she said to Blanche. ‘Petros and that creature are in league together, that is certain, and Petros, poor dear, I have no doubt whatever, thrones himself prospectively5 over Rhodopé. Really, I married a fool after all, and one of my requirements was that my husband should not be that. I shall get quite indignant with him if he does not drop this nonsense. But then where does Malakopf come in? It is quite certain that it is not worth his while to overturn me in order to set up Petros. Without doubt he means to step in himself; but where? He has mounted as high in Rhodopé as a subject can; he would not take so much trouble if he was to be nothing more.’
‘You must remember you have ever treated him like an insect, Princess,’ said Blanche. ‘Would not it be sufficient reward for him to overturn you?’
‘No, I think not,’ said Sophia. ‘The man loathes6 me, of course, and no doubt revenge would be an incentive7. But I doubt revenge being his goal. Perhaps there are wheels within wheels. Petros is to overturn me, and he is to overturn Petros. The House of ?gina is to be a set of ninepins for a centipede!’
‘The worst of it is that it is almost impossible to find out more,’ said Blanche. ‘It was a lapful of luck that we know at all.’
‘It was clever of you, Blanche,’ said Sophia, ‘and{137} clever people are always lucky. About Petros—I shall give him one chance. I shall let fall a word which should be a warning to him, something very plain, yet meaningless to a good conscience, and then I shall have another talk with you, Blanche.’
Sophia glanced at the ormolu clock on the mantelpiece, which had just jarred as a warning of its striking.
‘Good gracious! it is nearly twelve,’ she said. ‘I shall take a stroll in the direction—in the direction of the club. Thank you again, Blanche; how earnestly you know. You have been instructive as well as amusing. Really, Petros is very impertinent, now I think it over. I shall ask you to come here again in a day or two—or, stay, I am dining at the Legation on Friday; we will talk then, after dinner.’
The opportunity of giving a word of warning to Petros occurred that very evening. They had dined alone, which was unusual; and after dinner, which was still more unusual, the Prince had proposed a game of bezique. Sophia had intended to go to the club, but she changed her mind, and counter-ordered her carriage; for during dinner her husband had interested her, and this proposal of his was now become remarkable8.
Never in his life had the Prince been more desirous to please, but never in his life, had he known all, had his efforts been more wildly misdirected and futile9, for during the day Sophia’s amusement had given place to anger. In a conversation he had held with Malakopf that morning, that sagacious Minister,{138} conscious of a slight want of caution the night before, had laid great stress on two points.
‘I need not tell you, my dear Prince,’ he said, ‘how essential it is that the Princess should remain entirely10 unsuspicious. We have seen a great deal of each other lately, and I reluctantly propose that we do not meet quite so often for the future. Our intimacy11 might put someone on the look-out, and if you throw a bomb where people are looking, they will run away. That is my first point. The second point contains good news. Already there is a widely-spread discontent in the State at the unedifying conduct of your wife, or so it seems to people, and a large sympathy with your untiring exertion12 in the Assembly. Also, I know for certain that at present Princess Sophia reposes13 entire confidence in you. Let it be your business to maintain that unabated—more, to increase it.’
‘Who told you this?’ asked Petros.
‘One who knows her well—Lady Blanche Amesbury.’
‘Lady Blanche said she put entire confidence in me?’
‘I have the honour of telling you so,’ said Malakopf with impatience14.
‘You seem to have had an intimate talk with Lady Blanche. She is a clever woman.’
‘And I am not without wits,’ said Malakopf, chuckling15, ‘and our talk was more intimate than she knew. Indeed, she gave me all I wanted to know with the charming na?veté of a child.{139}’
Prince Petros was silent a moment; he did not feel entirely at ease about this interview, but his habit of obedience16 to Malakopf’s orders would not let him speak. At length, dismissing the subject, ‘Tell me how to maintain my wife’s confidence,’ he said.
‘A little bezique in the evening would do wonders with her,’ said Malakopf sententiously.
Thus it was that Prince Petros had proposed a game that evening, and Sophia accepted from curiosity. During dinner he had talked charmingly, and had related a number of amusing experiences shortly and with point. At each Sophia’s contempt rose bitter as bile in her throat. Behind her back he planned a revolution; before her face he paid court to the amenities17 of social life, he behaved with a studied naturalness and kindness. Knowing all she knew, these miserable18 little attentions seemed to her the very acme19 of meanness, and it was the desire of studying him further which made her counter-order the carriage that should have taken her to the club. This argued a very strong desire.
They stood by the open window drinking their coffee, while the groom20 of the chambers21 put out the table and packs of cards, and when the man had left the room, Petros gently thrust his arm through hers.
‘It seems so long since we have spent an evening quietly together, Sophia,’ he said. ‘To me, at least, it seems long. Sometimes I almost wish you had been a poor girl, not the Princess of Rhodopé, that{140} we had been able to live quietly together up in some little mountain home.’
Sophia for the moment was struck dumb. Surely there was never so immeasurable a hypocrite as this man! She could not answer, but since she wished him to continue, she gently pressed his arm with hers.
‘You have felt that too, dearest?’ he continued softly. ‘Sometimes, Sophia, I have thought you were a little weary of me. Now your sweet silence makes me know I was wrong; so forgive me, darling. Look at that lovely wash of moonlight over the town. It lies like a benediction23 over your land. It was just such a night—was it not?—when I first came here. I bless that day—I bless it every hour of my life.’
Sophia turned from him; the man produced in her a sense of physical sickness. She, who with all her faults had never lied—she, to whom falsehood was a dirty thing, as inconceivable as not washing, felt ill at his duplicity. She was angry at herself for letting him speak, and for a moment she was on the point of telling him she knew all. But her anger surged up again, she could not forgive him; he had chosen to act a crooked24 part, he must reap as he had sown. But she had promised herself to give him a word of warning; that he should have.
‘Come, Petros,’ she said at length, with an assumed lightness of manner, ‘bezique, bezique. Really, I don’t know that a cottage on the mountains would have suited me well, though it is charm{141}ing of you to suggest it; you would not have loved to find me thumbing a dirty pack of cards when I should have been mending your stockings. There is a great deal to be said for the position of the Princess of Rhodopé.’
He took her hand with charming courtesy and kissed it.
‘And who can say enough for the position of her husband?’ he asked.
They played a hand or two with the luck fairly divided, and Petros, who seemed to Sophia to have recaptured his skill, was a considerable winner at the end of an hour. But shortly after that he held a hand for which, as Sophia declared, the world was made. He had early in the game declared sequence six times, and then abandoned it; he had three beziques on the table and the fourth knave25 of diamonds. This card he drew in some eight tricks before the end, and still Sophia had not seen the corresponding queen. But Petros’s heart failed him; he scored the three beziques again with his extra knave, and immediately afterwards drew in the missing queen.
Sophia was aghast.
‘Four thousand five hundred gone to the dogs!’ she exclaimed, with contempt. ‘Really, Petros, you are beside yourself.’
‘It was a fault of generalship, I admit,’ said he.
Sophia looked at him very steadily26. This was a good opening for what she had to say.
‘Indeed, Petros, you are no Napoleon,’ she said.{142} ‘You could never, never carve a kingdom for yourself.’
So Petros had his warning, and Sophia hardened her heart against him.
As Malakopf had suggested, the two conspirators27 saw somewhat less of each other for the next week or two, and more than once Sophia thought—and, to do her justice, hoped—that Petros must have taken her word of warning to heart. But his nauseating28 little tendernesses and solicitudes29 for her were not diminished, and she found him infinitely30 disgusting. He was acting31 a part, of that she was well assured, for he was not, she knew, a man to whom caresses32 are habitual33, and their day had long since been over between them. What, then, could this recrudescence of an exhibition which had never been natural to him mean but that he wished to keep her ever surrounded with a tinsel counterfeit34 of love? And for what reason could he coin its tokens in such profusion35, except that he wished her to rest assured of his unalterable devotion? The man was putrid36.
Two days after this the Princess and her husband dined together at the English Legation. Lord Abbotsworthy, of course, took the Princess in, and on her other side sat Malakopf. As usual, he, figuratively speaking, licked the ground she trod on, and, as usual, she walked with her tip-tilted nose in the air, as if he had been a disagreeable smell. But during the course of dinner she let fall a few words which interested him, though she spoke37 to the{143} Minister, and not to him, but she intended the words for his ear, and he sucked them greedily in.
‘I shall not leave Rhodopé till October this year,’ so Malakopf heard her say, ‘but when I do go, I shall be away three months at the least. Petros is so admirable, he manages affairs much better than I do, and it really gives him something to do. Moreover, I have the completest confidence in him, and his speeches, I believe, are considered most sensible. I shall spend Christmas in England, I think, with my cousin. England is often delightful38 at Christmas, and I don’t suppose I shall be back here till half-way through January. The yacht? Oh yes; I love the sea, as you know. I shall go in the yacht. Poor Petros is sea-sick—think how absurd!’
Malakopf found much to interest him in this speech. The Princess’s long absence was ideal to his wishes; even to the most loyal of her subjects a three months’ sojourn39 abroad would appear protracted40, a trial to their belief in her unwavering devotion to their welfare. And never before, in his recollection, had the monarch41 been absent on the occasion of the great royal fête on New Year’s Day, when the Princess always gave an immense dance to all those who had signed their names in her book, and a great banquet in the Guildhall to the humbler citizens of Rhodopé. There, just before midnight, she went with all her guests, and took her stand in silence under the clock, while the great assemblage waited, finger on lip and glass in hand, for the New Year to strike. As soon as the twelve{144} great shocks had proclaimed another year, she drank prosperity to them all, and broke her glass, so that no one again might drink from it. She herself then mingled42 with the crowd, and spoke a few words to everyone she came across. Her wonderful memory made it easy for her to recognise hundreds whom she had never consciously seen except on this night, and a word of inquiry43 after son or daughter made many hearts beat proudly.
Likewise, if the Princess was away for December, the duty of proroguing44 Parliament would fall on Petros. The Assembly always rose from its autumn Session the week before Christmas, but it was not formally prorogued45 till the afternoon of the last day of December. On that day all Members attended in Court dress, and from the throne the Princess made a speech, thanking them for their labours in the past year. As representative of her, Petros would speak from her seat, and Malakopf made a mental note that a somewhat telling scene might be planned for this occasion, and that Petros also would see a great opportunity.
They left the dining-room, foreign fashion, all together, each man giving his arm to the woman he had taken in, and as the Princess no longer objected even to the taste of smoke, there was no segregation46 of men when they reached the drawing-room. But after a few words with one and another of the guests, she beckoned47 to Lady Blanche, and the two sat down in a corner of the drawing-room somewhat apart from the others.{145}
Malakopf had an uneasy moment when he saw this, but already in his own mind he had advanced matters so far that it did not matter much what the Princess did, and running rapidly over his conversation with Lady Blanche, he found no tangible48 cause for disquietude.
‘Blanche,’ said Sophia, speaking in English, ‘I have made my plans. You have to help me, so please be very intelligent.’
‘What has happened?’ asked Blanche.
‘I have given Petros his warning, and that is over. His silence made me sure that he knew what I meant. I told him he was no Napoleon, to carve himself a kingdom. But his odious49 little attentions to me, which I imagine are performed at Malakopf’s bidding, continue, and I think he has made up his mind not to take warning. Tant pis, for I do not give him another chance. You will hardly believe it, but the other night, only, he made crawly little sentimental50 speeches to me, though we have done with that sort of thing long ago. He said he wished we had been a poor couple in a cottage, and he kissed my hand. The flesh of me crept.’
‘That looks like Malakopf,’ said Blanche.
‘Well, enough of Petros,’ went on Sophia. ‘To-night I talked rather loud to your father, so that Malakopf could hear. I told him I should leave Rhodopé in October, and not come back till the middle of January.’
‘But the New Year fête?’ asked Blanche.
‘Well, I deceived your father. I expect I shall{146} be in Amandos before then; to speak more exactly, I expect to be back on December the thirty-first. However, that shall be seen. Now, before I go, I shall give you the cipher52 which I use with Petros, and I want to be accurately53 informed day by day how things are going. I will tell your father that I shall be in correspondence with you, and ask him to send off your telegrams direct from the Legation, for Malakopf is cunning enough to suspect something if he finds you constantly sending despatches to me. Indeed, he looked a little suspicious just now, when he saw me sit down and talk to you.’
‘It is too dangerous,’ said Blanche. ‘Dear Sophia, don’t go away for so long; anything may happen in so long an absence.’
‘It will be your business to warn me,’ said the Princess. ‘I have laid my plan carefully. You must learn as much as you can about the Prince’s and Malakopf’s little schemes, and I will return at a word from you. I shall not go to England for Christmas, as I told your father, but be much nearer home. By Christmas, indeed, I think I shall be at Corfu, so that I can get back here in a few hours. Conveniently enough, the Empress has asked me to stay with her there, and she will be incognito54, and so, of course, shall I. The sailors of the Felatrune alone will know I am here, and I can rely on absolute silence. Oh, it will be as exciting as a run of luck!’ she cried.
‘Ah, I see,’ said Blanche, ‘you mean that you{147} expect Malakopf will make the scene on the day the Assembly is prorogued?’
‘That seems to me a Heaven-sent opportunity for him,’ remarked Sophia. ‘Yet perhaps Satan were the more appropriate derivative55.’
Blanche burst out laughing—every now and then Sophia, in spite of her great knowledge of English, would use a sentence of a style hopelessly pompous56, thinking to utter a crowning colloquialism—and her laugh closed the conversation. Sophia rose, and, with mock resentment57 in her voice, ‘I had more to say to you,’ she remarked, ‘but I will not be laughed at. But I have told you all that is really important, and with you it is not necessary to say things twice. Dear Blanche, is it true that Lord Abbotsworthy has hired Pierre and a roulette-board for this evening? How touching58 an attention! A mark of true hospitality.’
‘Pierre is waiting for your Highness,’ said Blanche, seeing that Malakopf had drawn59 near them. ‘Will you go to the card-room?’
Thus it came about that Sophia was not unaware60 of the conspiracy which was on foot against her. She had given her husband fair warning, and since he persisted in his childish policy of surrounding her with a hundred lover-like attentions, she thought it excusable and wise to have a policy too. Sometimes she was almost stirred to pity at the futility61 of his efforts to blind her, while her own seeming security was so illegible62 to him. She accentuated63, if possible, her distaste of State affairs. Half of the{148} twenty-four hours she spent at the tables of club; she yawned behind her hand at the most important and confidential64 communications of her Ministers; she was even less civil than usual (and her civility to Malakopf was never remarkable) to her Prime Minister. It is true that she had the easier part to play, for while Petros fished up little attentions and an affectionate demeanour to her, as a man draws water from a deep well, with an effort, she had but to let her natural inclinations65, her distaste of Malakopf, her taste for play, her ennui66 at infinitesimal State concerns go unreined.
The effect of all this was that the conferences between her husband and the Prime Minister lapsed67 into their former frequency, and not a day passed but they were closeted together. Even the astuter Malakopf, lulled68 into security by the Princess’s negligence69 of State matters, no longer went through the formality of asking for her when he wished to confer with the Crown. Yet the situation was more critical than she knew. Already there was a party in the House almost hostile to her, for the sedulity70 with which she kept her seat in the club, when should have been in the Council Chamber22, though successful in its object, namely, that of giving increased confidence to the two main actors in the conspiracy, had had a certain effect in alienating71 from her many of her more sober-minded deputies. They saw with pain her unreasonable72 passion for the cards and her total neglect of the duties of a reigning73 monarch. They saw with silent sympathy{149} the heroic efforts of the Prince to cover the deficiencies of his wife. Himself well equipped as a debater, he was primed and loaded by Malakopf, and his contributions to the debates were an edification. Yet the Princess played her part with consummate74 skill, and she trusted to the loyalty75 of the people to back her up when the great scene came. Her yawns were the picture of realistic art, her intolerance of Malakopf a triumph of sincerity76. Thereby77 the caution of the Prime Minister was slowly and insidiously78 relaxed, and the four years he had originally given to the dynasty were much abbreviated79 in his mind; for in its sinister80 depths he was revolving81 a new and startling idea, suggested to him by the Princess’s absence. In itself it was so simple that he almost distrusted it; but as the days went on it grew more and more seductive.
August cooled into September, and the day of the Princess’s departure for her necessary holiday was fixed82 for October 7. It was tacitly understood between her and Petros that the Prince would not accompany her, and such had been the success of his Regency the year before that now Sophia begged him never to send her anything referring, however remotely, to State matters.
‘I am sick of the sceptre!’ she said to him the day before she left; ‘and you, Petros, are still rather fond of it. Oh, you remind me so much of a child dressing83 up in Court finery; when it comes to put the finery on in earnest, how bored it is! And you, Petros, if ever you held the sceptre in your{150} own name, you would find it a bad companion of your days and nights. Sometimes I am almost tempted84 to abdicate85 this throne of Rhodopé, yet what sort of private person should I make? I am a Princess of royal blood; I cannot help it; and the burden will be with me always.’
‘How can you say such things, dearest!’ said Petros, with well-simulated warmth. ‘It is an idle modesty86 that makes you seem to be ignorant of the adoration87 with which your subjects—I the humblest—regard you. Which of them, think you, would not willingly die for you? True, you could never be a private person, any more than a farmer’s wife could be a queen, though she thinks she could.’
‘Well, therein I am better than the farmer’s wife,’ sighed Sophia. ‘She thinks she could be me; I know I could not be her. But let me have a good holiday, Petros; don’t send me anything to sign or to consider. Consider everything yourself, and sign what you please; and get through all the business you possibly can, so that there will not be so much next Session.’
‘You must give me more explicit88 instructions, dear,’ said the Prince. ‘It is not likely that any measure of great importance will come before the House, but what am I to do about proroguing it? You will hardly wish me to deliver the Speech from the Throne?’
‘And why not, dear Petros?’ said she.
She was sitting in a deep armchair in shadow, fanning herself slowly, he under the full light of a{151} lamp, and as she spoke she leaned back and watched his face intently. She saw his eye brighten, a flush steal over his face, and his right hand clenched89, as if it already held the sceptre.
‘Why not, Petros?’ she repeated.
‘Because that is so essentially90 the prerogative91 of the Crown,’ he said. ‘How am I to thank your Ministers for their labours? In whose name?’
‘In your own name,’ she said; ‘for, indeed’—and she laughed quietly to herself—‘you have had far more to thank them for, or curse them for, this last year than I. It is far more suitable that you should do it. I am sure you will do it admirably.’
Again his hand clenched, and again Sophia observed his face light up. She rose with bitter aversion in her heart.
‘Thus no long explanations are necessary,’ she said. ‘Act as if you were me. I shall be back before the end of January. And now, Petros, you must leave me; I have some little affairs to settle before I dress for dinner. Kindly92 ring the bell for me.’
He rang, and, advancing to her, bowed and kissed her hand.
‘My Queen,’ he murmured.
Sophia stood silent, and watched his graceful94 exit; then she took her handkerchief, and rubbed the place where his lips had touched. Next moment the groom of the chamber entered.
‘Go to the English Legation,’ she said, ‘and tell Lady Blanche that I shall come to see her to-night{152} after dinner. Leave the message with her; see her yourself.’
The Princess left Mavromáti next day on the Felatrune. With her went the little Prince Leonard, and Petros saw them off. He went on board with his wife, but parted from her as soon as they gained the ship, for she was to start at once. Once more pity for this treacherous95 man, for so she certainly regarded him, touched her.
‘I leave you with the fullest confidence,’ she said. ‘I feel sure you will be a faithful steward96 for me and my child.’
But Petros’s hypocrisy97 was not finished enough to suggest a reply, and he left her in silence.
That night, while the Felatrune ploughed her moonlit way southwards over the dim waters of the sleeping Adriatic, Malakopf dined at the Palace. Indeed, the two conspirators, to the best of their knowledge, had solid ground for self-congratulation. From their point of view, the Princess’s conduct had been impeccable, and the precision with which she had played into their hands was admirable. The hours of her attendance at the Assembly during the past summer could almost be reckoned on the fingers of a one-armed man; the hours of her presence at the club were more like in number to the stars of heaven. To crown all this, she had now left the kingdom at a time when its affairs were in the full bustle98 of transaction, and, what would tell against her even more in the eyes of the public, she had decided99 to be absent on the great festal{153} day of the year. Malakopf had had the wit to see how skilful100 was the bait she had prepared, how admirable its convenience to their plans; he only failed to grasp the little fact that it was bait.
The club which the Princess had inaugurated with such brilliance101 in May had thrived in a way that even she could scarce have anticipated. Originally the playing-rooms had been open only from three in the afternoon till three in the morning; but a few months afterwards its session never rose. The gambling102 instinct in the people, for so many years void of fruition, shot up like the aloe flower; already to tamper103 with the inalienable right of the people of Rhodopé to gamble in public rooms would have been more dangerous than to attempt to make penal104 in England cold baths or the game of golf; and it was the most skilful stroke that the ingenuity105 of the devil could have devised when Malakopf attempted by this very means to dethrone Sophia from her popularity.
‘It has occurred to you,’ said the Prime Minister that evening, when he and Petros were smoking, ‘that the Princess will be absent from Rhodopé on the day that the Assembly is prorogued?’
‘I have talked to her about that,’ said Petros. ‘It seemed to me very irregular; but she told me how to act.’
‘Indeed! May I have the benefit of your conversation?’
‘She wished me to take her place absolutely,{154}’ said Petros; ‘to speak from the throne not in her name, but in my own.’
‘Admirable!—nothing could be better,’ said Malakopf. ‘It did not occur to you, I am afraid, to get that in black and white?’
‘The Princess does not go back on her word,’ said Petros rather stiffly.
‘True; but I should have preferred black and white. Prudence106 can never be at fault. But we have our hands full.’
He paused, and decided to tell the Prince of the plan that he had been maturing.
‘By the thirty-first of December the fruit must be ripe for the plucking,’ he said. ‘I shall introduce a Bill next month to shut up all gambling-houses in Rhodopé, and to make even betting an offence. What do you think of that?’
Again he looked at the Prince to see what he would make of this. Petros fairly recoiled107.
‘It is impossible,’ he said; ‘there will be a revolution.’
‘True, there will be a revolution; but I thought we were working to bring that about.’
‘But it is insane, this idea of yours,’ said Petros. ‘What line am I to take, for instance? Am I to oppose you? for if I do not, my chances are gone. Unless I speak against your Bill, the people will have none of me; and if I speak for it, where is our combination?’
Malakopf smiled grimly.
‘I thought you did not see how valuable was the{155} Princess’s command to you to act absolutely in her name, or why I should have preferred it in black and white. That command is simply the coping-stone of my structure. You will vote for the Bill, of course; but you will speak against it. Heaven! is it possible you are so slow? Oh, do you not see? Reluctantly, regretfully, but with unimpeachable108 loyalty, you will find yourself obliged to act in her absence, as she would have you act, as she told you to act. She could not face the situation herself; she has run away, and she has left you behind to face the odium of her deed. All will vote against the Prince, as the representative of his unworthy wife; but what sympathy there will be for Petros! As for your wife, she will at once become the most unpopular woman in Rhodopé. The people like their gambling, and they will not have that stopped, you may be sure; but they are brave, and they do not like running away. Why, man, it is the very opportunity for the speech you planned so long ago!’
Prince Petros had risen from his seat, and was pacing up and down the room excitedly.
‘I see—I see,’ he cried. ‘Yes, it is a splendid idea; it is of the best. I stand corrected; but would it not be even more telling if I introduced the Bill myself in her name? As you know, any Bill introduced by the Crown is carried.’
‘But we do not want the Bill to be carried,’ said Malakopf. ‘We want it thrown out by an immense majority. The minority, in fact, I expect will consist of yourself.{156}’
But the Prince’s suggestion had more in it than Malakopf perceived at once, and than the Prince perceived at all. Any Bill—such was the autocratic law of Rhodopé—introduced by the Crown passed into law. The privilege had rarely been used, and this prerogative was practically obsolete109; but there could be no doubt, as the Prince said, that the Crown was constitutionally within its rights in so acting. Thus, if Prince Petros introduced the Bill in the Princess’s name, and stuck to it, it could only fail to become law by a reconstitution of the power of the Crown—in other words, by a revolution. In this way Malakopf would be rid not only of the Princess, but also of the Prince, who, despite his speech against it, would have voted for it. This formed part of his original, but at present undetailed, programme, and he was fairly astounded110 at the fitness of his opportunity. He could kill both with one stone. So, after a moment, he corrected himself.
‘But I am not sure,’ he said, ‘that you are not right after all. Perhaps yours is the simpler plan, for it makes a revolution inevitable111. I will think it over. Meanwhile, may I ask for a whisky-and-soda? The night is hot for this time of the year.’
The two were sitting on the great north veranda112 of the Palace. The air was exquisitely113 fresh, with an easterly breeze, though still, as Malakopf had said, warm for October. But a divine mellowness114 is over October in Rhodopé, the sky is a perfect turquoise115 from sunrise to sunset, and to sunrise{157} again an inimitable sapphire116. The French season at its height, and a band from the Casino gardens close by made the night an echo of the brain of Weber. The moon, swung full south, cast a great square of shadow from the Palace over the garden, and the metallic117 tinkle118 of the water from the bronze Triton fountain falling into its basin came from the darkness. Beyond, a balustrade of Pentelic marble bounded the headlong cliff below, and in the hollow beneath the lamps of Amandos twinkled innumerably. On the great range of Balkan peaks to the north the earliest snow of the year had already fallen, and the giants of the range were silver spearheads charging the sky. To the west, twelve miles away, the lights of Mavromáti, low on the horizon and small as a glow-worm, were more like a reflection of stars than an authentic119 constellation120. But from minute to minute a luminous121 pencil of colour, now scarlet122, now red, now yellow, shot with penetrating123 clearness across the land, and even dyed the white Palace walls for a moment in its passage, marking the rotation124 of the harbour lights. The murmur93 of busy folk buzzed like the swarming125 of bees from the town, and now and again a sudden shriller note betokened126 some infinitesimal excitement of the street.
But the perfection of the Southern night roused no echo in the heart of Petros; his thoughts were intent on himself. Little he recked of the ebony shadows, the white fields of moonshine, the beauty of the muffled127 sounds of the night, and in so far{158} as they reached him, they reached him only by the sense of lordship. Soon, he thought, would the polychrome light from Mavromáti be his; his, too, would be the cicala that sang in the bushes; his the luminous evidence of mankind that shone from the lights of Amandos. For his outlook was but puny128; nothing was great if it was not his, nothing was beautiful unless it owned his supremacy129. Nor was Malakopf more poetically-minded: the spearheads of the Balkan were only interesting because the map of Europe traced across that untracked whiteness the boundaries of Rhodopé; the strains of Weber that came from the club gardens were only beautiful because he had invested a large sum of money in the Casino, and music was an attraction to the visitors. Once President of this Republic of Rhodopé, he would have willingly driven the snow-plough across the Balkans to mark the limits of his Presidency130, if thereby he could add an acre to its mileage131, and painted the country magenta132 to correspond with the latest map.
But though the glory of the Southern night gave him no food for admiration133, the last suggestion of the Prince was worth the expenditure134 of brain tissue, and the more he considered it, the more suitable did the Prince’s unwitting scheme appear. It would be necessary, it is true, to alter the proposed chronology of events, and reserve for the last meeting of the Assembly before the Christmas holiday the introduction of the new Bill. The House should not be asked to vote on that day; the Bill alone{159} should be read, and notice given that the voting would take place immediately before the prorogation135 on December 31.
The thought of the scene which would take place on that day almost dazzled him. The Assembly at Rhodopé had never been, since he had known it first, a House of melodrama136. But on December 31 the scene would surely beggar the Adelphi Theatre, London. From the throne the Prince would make a regretful, and no doubt a very foolish, speech on this Bill for abolishing all gambling within the principality, and since he, as Sophia’s representative, introduced the Bill, the Assembly would, on precedent137 and constitution, record indeed their votes, but, however the voting went, would be compelled to accept it. But he knew them very little if such was the event. In his speech the Prince would, as Malakopf had planned the scene, be forced to support the wishes and the commands of his wife. She, so he would say, had intended to introduce the Bill herself, but had been unable to face the situation, and had left the doing of it to him. All her subjects knew that she had opened the club herself, knew also the assiduity with which she attended its sessions. With what face now was she to order its abolition138, when the institution had taken such deep hold on her people? But her purpose was irrevocably fixed. Abolished it should be, and she claimed (through her husband) the ancient right of the Crown. For a week past there would have been but one subject for talk in the{160} principality; indignation would have flared139 like a bonfire since the Bill had been introduced. Half Rhodopé spent rapturous evenings in the Casino; they would not lightly give them up. But the Prince, as primed by Malakopf, would speak with strength and conviction. He would commit himself hopelessly to a policy of loyalty to his wife. His position (he would say) was most trying, but he was bound by every code of honour to support without reservation her whom he represented. Such were her commands. The Bill was introduced by the Crown; let them vote if they pleased; the measure became law.
Malakopf’s eye glowed. He saw himself rise before the assembled House, and to the Prince’s dumb and infinite dismay, oppose the Bill. Such a course, he knew, was without shadow of precedent. He would adopt it without attempt at excuse. He would denounce the Princess. As they all knew, she spent her holidays at Monte Carlo—much needed holidays, indeed! She was worn out, was she not, with the prosecution140 of State affairs! His brother ministers knew how wide and numerous were the yawns with which she honoured their audiences. The Bill could not become law; simply it was one of the things that did not happen. Yet it must become law unless they took a line of their own. On his part, he begged to move that the question of the Bill before the House be postponed141 a moment, for he had another proposal to make. The House (so he{161} told himself in these imaginings) would vote on the postponement142 of the Bill for the abolition of gambling; the House would carry it. Then he would propose nothing short of a revolution, the dethronement of the line of ?gina, who, in the person of the Princess, sought to curtail143 the inalienable right of gambling inaugurated by herself. In this, and in no other way, could liberty be secured them.
But it was far better that the Bill, if such was to be his policy, should be introduced just before the Christmas vacation, and that no voting should take place till the last day of December, to give a whole week for the fermentation of righteous wrath144 to come to a head. And it would not be a bad thing to let a hint of what was coming be in the air, to let the free spirit of the citizens chafe145 at the thought of so grievous a curtailment146 of their liberties, to let Distrust flap its obscene wings about the streets. Again his own investment in the club itself had turned out most profitable, for the half-year’s dividend147 had been declared at 20 per cent. This, too, he had no mind to lose.
By the beginning of December it was already a matter for street-corner gossip as to whether there was any truth in this extraordinary report that the Princess Sophia would introduce by the mouth of her husband a Bill for the abolition of gambling. To most the thing seemed scarcely credible148, and the more loyal of her subjects flatly refused to entertain so preposterous149 a suggestion. It was inconceivable{162} that the queen of gamblers should attempt to deprive her subjects of the right to indulge in her own favourite pursuit, and it was bitter to contemplate150 her at Monte Carlo directing from the St. Peter’s of the goddess the closing of this remote little chapel151. Others, who pretended to more authentic information, declared that she was acting under the persuasion152 of the Prince, who, as it was well known, did not frequent the club, and though he had invested in it, rather disapproved153 of it than otherwise. By degrees this view of the question obtained a following, and as it grew by so much the popularity of the Prince waned154 and the delight of Malakopf waxed. Petros had never been seen at the club since his wife’s departure, and this alone was sufficient to raise a prejudice against him. The air was full of disquietude, which increased as the days went on.
This disquietude was only not shared by Malakopf; indeed, the Fates seemed to be propitious155 for him. Sophia away, the odium of the proposed change gradually attaching to the Prince—no combination of circumstances could have been luckier. The exact execution of his great stroke must be largely left for the future to decide, but at present things were working out just as he desired. He was studious to keep the Prince unaware, as far as might be, of the growing feeling against him, for fear he might turn craven at the end, and not give him his full opportunity.
Meantime Lady Blanche kept an eager eye on the{163} development of the situation, and noted156 every chop and change of popular feeling. She had already telegraphed to Sophia the rumour157 of the Bill, advising her to leave Monte Carlo instantly, so as to be nearer at hand, in case of any precipitation of events. The Princess had telegraphed back that she was on the point of leaving, and said that her next address would be at the Empress’ Villa158 in Corfu, where she would be known to the postal159 authorities as the Countess of ?gina. As there was plenty of time for a letter to reach her before her arrival, Lady Blanche wrote to her at length, describing the exact condition of affairs, and recommending her to keep steam up on her yacht, since there was no knowing when the crisis would come. It seemed probable, however, as it was now definitely announced that the Bill would be introduced on the day before the Christmas vacation, but that no voting would take place then, nor any speech from Prince Petros, that the last day of December was the date determined160 by the two conspirators for their grand coup51.
The Bill was to be read, so Malakopf and Prince Petros had planned it, immediately before the adjournment161 of the House for the Christmas vacation. After reading it, the Prince would simply give notice that the voting on the Bill would take place on December 31, after which the House would rise. He would then return straight to the Palace, and as far as possible, so Malakopf advised, keep there till the day for the debate came on. There was sure{164} to be a considerable public excitement, and the Prince’s speech, in which he would tell them that his wife had strictly162 laid on him the communication of this calamitous163 and regrettable resolution, would come with redoubled force if he had been known to have shut himself up under the painful stress of his feelings.
The day for the reading of the Bill arrived, and the House was packed. The business of the day was transacted164 with immense indifference165 and rapidity, and when it was finished a dead dense166 silence fell on the Assembly. Then Prince Petros rose from the throne, and stepped forward to the edge of the little platform, where sat the monarch and the Ministers.
‘Gentlemen,’ he said, ‘Her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia has bid me read to you the text of a Bill she introduces through me. On this Bill I shall myself speak on December the thirty-first, immediately before the rising of the House. To-day I shall simply read the text of it to you, and the House will then, without comment or debate, rise for the Christmas vacation. How much I regret——’ he began, then stopped, and read the following:
‘“That all gambling-houses in the realm of Rhodopé of every sort and degree, private or public, be closed, and that no game of hazard be henceforward played therein.
‘“That to play any such game in public, or to bet in public, be a felony.{165}
‘“That licenses167 shall be withdrawn168 from every licensed169 gambling-house in the aforementioned realm of Rhodopé.
‘“That the building known as the club be converted into an asylum170 for decayed and idiotic171 old gentlemen, the purpose for which the ground was originally intended.
‘“That the person known as Pierre be sent back to Monte Carlo, his passage (second-class) paid.
‘“That these regulations come into effect on the first day of January (new style), 1857.
‘“Sophia,
‘“Hereditary Princess of Rhodopé.”’
Dead silence followed; and the Prince, commanding his voice with difficulty, adjourned172 the House, bowed to the deputies, and retired173 through the private door which led to the steps communicating with the Palace gardens.
Copies of the Bill were laid on the table in the House, and each Member took one (these papers now fetch a high price among collectors of curios); one also was brought to the British Legation, and Lady Blanche, coming in from her ride just before dinner, saw and read it. The next moment a frenzied174 Amazon figure sped up the stairs, and ten minutes afterwards a telegram in cipher was handed to the Secretary, who was writing in the Chancery. It was addressed to the Countess of ?gina, care of the Empress of Austria, Corfu. Blanche had grasped the situation in its completeness. She saw{166} that the grand coup was to be played on December 31, and that till then it was better that Princess Sophia should not be in Rhodopé. In a talk the two had had together, they had decided that the Princess’s appearance had best be sudden, like a lightning stroke, that in the very moment of the crisis she should again be with them, not to nip the bud, but to cull175 the flower of full-blown conspiracy.
Consequently her telegram ran:
‘Be in Amandos secretly on the afternoon of the thirty-first; the House assembles at half-past three. I will meet you at Mavromáti. For safety change the name of the Felatrune. Telegraph to me the changed name.’
Late that night a telegram was handed in at the Legation, addressed to Lady Blanche. It contained one word:
‘Revenge.’
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收听单词发音
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1
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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2
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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3
fumed
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| 愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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conspiring
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| 密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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5
prospectively
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| adv.预期； 前瞻性； 潜在； 可能 | |
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6
loathes
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的第三人称单数 )；极不喜欢 | |
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7
incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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8
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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9
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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10
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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11
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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12
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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13
reposes
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的第三人称单数 ) | |
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14
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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15
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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16
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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17
amenities
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| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
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18
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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acme
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| n.顶点，极点 | |
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20
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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21
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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22
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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23
benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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24
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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25
knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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26
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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27
conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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28
nauseating
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| adj.令人恶心的，使人厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的现在分词 ) | |
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29
solicitudes
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| n.关心，挂念，渴望( solicitude的名词复数 ) | |
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30
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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31
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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32
caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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33
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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34
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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35
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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36
putrid
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| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
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37
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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38
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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39
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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40
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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41
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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42
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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43
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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44
proroguing
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| v.使（议会）休会( prorogue的现在分词 ) | |
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45
prorogued
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| v.使（议会）休会( prorogue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
segregation
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| n.隔离，种族隔离 | |
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47
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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49
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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50
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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51
coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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52
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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53
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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54
incognito
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| adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的 | |
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55
derivative
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| n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的 | |
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56
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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57
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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58
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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59
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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60
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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61
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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62
illegible
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| adj.难以辨认的，字迹模糊的 | |
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63
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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64
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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65
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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66
ennui
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| n.怠倦，无聊 | |
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67
lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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68
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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69
negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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70
sedulity
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| n.勤勉，勤奋 | |
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71
alienating
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| v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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72
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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73
reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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74
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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75
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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76
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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77
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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78
insidiously
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| 潜在地，隐伏地，阴险地 | |
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79
abbreviated
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| adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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80
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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81
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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82
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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83
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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84
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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85
abdicate
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| v.让位，辞职，放弃 | |
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86
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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87
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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88
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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89
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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91
prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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92
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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93
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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94
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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95
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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96
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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97
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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98
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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99
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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100
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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101
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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102
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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103
tamper
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| v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害 | |
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104
penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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105
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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106
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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107
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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108
unimpeachable
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| adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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109
obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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110
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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111
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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112
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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113
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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114
mellowness
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| 成熟； 芳醇； 肥沃； 怡然 | |
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115
turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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116
sapphire
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| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
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117
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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118
tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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119
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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120
constellation
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| n.星座n.灿烂的一群 | |
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121
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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122
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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123
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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124
rotation
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| n.旋转；循环，轮流 | |
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125
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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126
betokened
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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128
puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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129
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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130
presidency
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| n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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131
mileage
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| n.里程，英里数；好处，利润 | |
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132
magenta
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| n..紫红色（的染料）；adj.紫红色的 | |
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133
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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134
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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135
prorogation
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| n.休会，闭会 | |
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136
melodrama
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| n.音乐剧；情节剧 | |
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137
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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138
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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139
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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140
prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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141
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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142
postponement
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| n.推迟 | |
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143
curtail
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| vt.截短，缩短；削减 | |
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144
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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145
chafe
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| v.擦伤；冲洗；惹怒 | |
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146
curtailment
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| n.缩减，缩短 | |
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147
dividend
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| n.红利，股息；回报，效益 | |
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148
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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149
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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150
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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151
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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152
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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153
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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154
waned
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| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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155
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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156
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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157
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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158
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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159
postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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160
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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161
adjournment
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| 休会； 延期； 休会期； 休庭期 | |
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162
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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163
calamitous
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| adj.灾难的，悲惨的；多灾多难；惨重 | |
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164
transacted
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的过去式和过去分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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165
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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166
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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167
licenses
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| n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 ) | |
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168
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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169
licensed
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| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
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170
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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171
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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172
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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173
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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174
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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175
cull
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| v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除 | |
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