Not much was said. Claire, who had been fitfully gay all afternoon, grew still as a church mouse now as they paced back and forth2 in the shadows, stealing a slant3 glance from time to time at Billy's set and silent face. She wondered a little at his absorption. But chiefly she was thinking that she had never seen him look so handsome ... with his brows knitted and his clear-cut lips pressed sharply together ... but the boy of him somehow kept by that wilful5 lock of black hair over his forehead.
To Billy it seemed that the bitterest drop of the cup was at his lips. Those two—upon the pylon6—were they never coming down? He was waiting for them in every nerve, and yet he shrank from the look he might read upon their faces. He thought, very grimly, that this could mean but one thing, and that thing was the end forever and ever, for him.... His heart was sick in him and he longed most desperately7 to break away from these other women and the sham8 of talk and dash off to dark solitude9 where the primitive10 man could have his way, could tramp and fight and curse and sob11 and break his heart in decent privacy. He faced with loathing12 the refinements13 of torture which civilization imposes.
But the game had to be played. He was no quitter, he told himself fiercely; he could stand up and take his punishment like a man. She was not for him. He had loved her from the first, he had loved her so that he had been clairvoyant14 to her peril15, he had risked his neck for her a dozen times and snatched her from a life that was a death-in-life—and yet she was not for him. She was for a man who had not believed in her danger, had not bestirred himself.... Black, seething16 bitterness was boiling in Billy B. Hill. Darkly, through a fog, he heard the outer man replying to some speech from the girl beside him.
He understood, he told himself in a burst of despairing anguish17, how Kerissen could have plotted for her. Almost he longed to be a scrupleless Oriental and carry her off across his saddle bow.... And then he brought himself up short.
Was that all she meant to him, he asked himself with the sweat of pain on his forehead beneath that black lock which was finding such favor in Lady Claire's eyes—was that all she meant to him?—a prize to be won? One man had tried to steal her; he had wished to earn her—but she was a gift beyond all price and the giving lay in her own heart alone.... And if Falconer was the man for her, then at least he, Billy B. Hill, was man enough to stand up and be glad for her and be humbly18 grateful to the end of his days that he had been able to save her ... and give her her happiness. For it was really he who had given it to her. And in that thought Billy Hill's young heart expanded, and his soul stretched itself to such unwonted heights that it seemed to push among the stars.
"It is an unforgettable night," said the girl in the rose cloak.
He thought that was just the word for it, and a wryly19 humorous glint was in the look he gave her. And he thought that she, too, was playing the game mighty20 stanchly, and had been playing it bravely these three days, since her conquering little rival had made her reappearance. His heart warmed toward her in understanding and compassion22. They were comrades in affliction. He was not the only one in the world who was not getting the heart's desire.
Aloud he answered, "And the last night for me."
Lady Claire looked up quickly. Her voice showed her struck with sudden surprise. "You are going—so soon?"
"To-morrow."
"To Assouan?" Odd sharpness edged the question.
He waited a perceptible moment, though his resolution had been taken. "Back to Cairo."
"Oh ... How long shall you be there?"
"Just till I get sailings. It's time for me to be off. I'm really a working person, you know, not a playing one."
"You make bridges—and dams—and things, don't you?" she questioned vaguely23.
"Bridges—and dams—and things."
"Why don't you wait here for your sailings?" she asked impersonally24 after another pause. "It's so much more attractive here than Cairo."
"I'd like to." He thought of next Friday—and Arlee's return—and the masked ball. For a moment temptation urged. Then he threw back his head with a gesture of decision. "But I can't. It's impossible."
Now Lady Claire did not know that he was thinking of next Friday—and Arlee's return—and the masked ball. She only knew that he spoke25 with a curious fierceness, and that his eyes were very bright. And something in the girl, something strange and acknowledged that had been so fitfully gay and light these three days, quickened in mysterious excitement.
"Nothing is impossible," she gave back, "to a man!"
Billy thought she was resenting the conventions of the restricted sex. She could not make any open advance toward Falconer while he, as man, could make all the open advances to Arlee he was willing to—but in this case his hands were tied. A man cannot inflict26 himself upon a girl who may not feel herself free to reject him. He laughed, with sorry ruefulness.
"There's a whole lot," he observed, "that is impossible to a man who tries to be one," and then, oblivious27 of any construction she might choose to put upon this cryptic28 utterance29, he strolled moodily30 on, in brooding silence.
After a pause, "Of course," said Lady Claire in so gentle a little voice that it seemed to glide31 undisturbingly among his silent meditations32, "of course, a man has his—pride."
"I hope so," said the young man briefly33. He understood her to be probing for his reason for abandoning the chase; he understood that for her own sake she would like to see him successful with Arlee, and he was queerly sorry to be failing to help her there. But he had done all that he could....
The girl spoke again, her face straight ahead, her shadowy eyes staring out into the moonlight. "Is it—money?" she said in the same little breath of a voice.
"Money!" Billy threw back the words in surprise, half contemptuous, "Oh, Lord, no, it's not money! I haven't much of it now, but I'm going to make a bunch of the stuff—if I want to." He spoke with na?ve and amazing confidence which somehow struck astounded34 belief into the listener. "There's enough of it there, waiting to be made—no, it's not money—though perhaps one might well think it ought to be. I suppose my work might strike a girl as hard for her," he went on, considering aloud these problems of existence, "for it's here to-day and there to-morrow—now doing a building in a roaring city and now damming up some reservoir deep in the mountains—but it always seemed to me that the girl who would like me would like that, too. It's seeing so much of life—and such real life! Oh, no," he said, and though a trace of doubt had struck into his voice, "that in itself wouldn't be what I'd call impossible—not for the right girl."
"But your work—would it always be in America?" said Lady Claire.
"Oh, always. It has to be, of course."
"Oh.... And—and—you—have to have—that work?"
"Why, of course, I have to have it!" Billy was bewildered, but entirely35 positive. "That's my work—the thing I'm made to do. I couldn't earn my salt selling apartment houses."
"Oh, no, no," the girl hurriedly agreed.
A long, long silence followed, a silence in which he was entirely oblivious to her imaginings. The moonlight lay heavy as dreams about them; her thoughts went darting36 to and fro like fluttering swallows.... She felt herself a stranger to herself.... She looked up at him with a sudden deer-like lift of her head, and then looked swiftly away.
"Don't go," she said in a quick, low voice. "Don't go—yet. Even things that look impossible—can be made to come right."
He understood that she was pleading with him, partly for the sake of her own chance with Falconer, but the sympathy flicked37 him on the raw. He was sorry for her, sorry for the queer, strained look in her face, sorry for the voice so full of feeling, but he couldn't do anything to help her.
In silence he shook his head and was astounded at the look of sudden proud anger she darted38 at him.
"You're a mighty real friend to take such an interest in my luck," he said quickly, with warm liking39 in his voice, "and I only wish you could play fairy godmother and give me my wish—but you can't, Lady Claire, and apparently40 she won't, and that is the end of the matter. I have to take off my hat to the Better Man."
Lady Claire did not gasp41 or stammer42 or question. She did none of the dismayedly enlightening things into which a lesser43 poise44 might have tottered45. After an inconsiderable moment of silence she merely uttered her familiar, "Oh!" and uttered it in a voice in which so many things were blended that their elements could hardly be perceived.
She added hurriedly, "I'm sorry if I've seemed to—to intrude46 into your affairs."
"My affairs are on my sleeve," answered Billy and wondered at the quick look she gave him.
"Oh, no—not at all," she answered a little breathlessly. "I'm sure they haven't seemed so to me—but then I'm stupid." She stopped for a moment of hot wonder at that stupidity. She had not believed Miss Falconer—had thought her prejudiced ... maneuvering47.... Like lightning she reviewed the baffling interchange of sentences, then glanced up at Billy's silent absorption. She felt queerly grateful for his innocent density48. "And perhaps she's stupid, too," she told him. "You'd better make sure. You'd better make absolutely sure."
He looked down on her with sorry humor in his face. "Do I need to make surer?" He nodded in the direction of the giant gateway49. "They've had time to settle the divisions of the Balkans up there."
"Oh, yes, they've had time!" She seemed speaking at sudden laughing random50. "But we've had the same time and you see we haven't settled anything with it—not even that you're to stay. Yes, you'd better make sure, Mr. Hill."
Billy was hardly heeding51. A laugh had caught his ears, a light high laugh like the tinkle52 of a little silver bell through the darkness. In the shadows behind them he made out a man and a woman arm in arm.
"Just a moment," he begged of Lady Claire. "May I leave you here a moment? I must see those—I think I know——" Without listening to her automatic permission he was gone.
The next moment he had laid his hand on the arm of the man with the woman. Both spun53 quickly about. A babble54 of explanation broke out.
"Ach, mein freund, mein freund——"
"Oh, it is Billy——"
"How gut55 to find you here——"
"Our American Billy."
The last voice, piquantly56 foreign, was the voice of Fritzi Baroff. And the first voice gutterally foreign was the voice of Frederick von Deigen. Arm in arm, flushed, happy, sentimental57, the two began talking in a breath, thanking Billy for the letter he had sent von Deigen which had brought them together, and apologizing for their hasty flight—"a honeymoon58 upon the Nile," the German joyfully59 explained.
Discreetly60 Billy forbore to make any discoveries as to the exact status of their "honeymoon." The German's face was very honestly happy, and the little dancer was brimming with restless life and vivacity61.
"It was the picture in my watch—hein? The picture I carry night and day," Frederick repeated in needless explanation, and was about to draw out the picture when Billy restrained him.
He had a favor to ask. The American girl of Kerissen's palace had escaped unharmed and returned to her friends who were ignorant of all. She was this moment in the ruins. It would be a great shock to her to meet Fritzi, to have Fritzi recognize her. On the morning she would be gone. Would Fritzi——"
"Fritzi must disappear—for the night?" said the little Viennese smiling wisely, but with a trace of cynicism. "The little American must not be reminded—h'm? We will go.... For you have done so much for me, you big, strange, platonic62 Mr. Billy!" Dazzlingly she smiled on him, her dark eyes quizzically provocative63.
"You're not at the Grand?"
"No, not that." She named another. "You come see me, when that girl goes—h'm?"
Billy caught the German's eyes upon him, in their depths a faint trouble, a vague appeal. He comprehended that the infatuated young man had engaged in the tortuous64 business of keeping sparks from tinder.
"I'm gone to-morrow," he replied.
"Maybe in Vienna?" went on the dancer. "We go soon—another day or so maybe—and then back over the water to that life I left! Oh, my God, how happy I am to go back to it all—to dance, to sing—Oh, I could kiss you, Mr. Billy, if it would not make you so shock!" she added with a malicious65 little laugh. "You know the news—about him—h'm?"
"Him?"
"Kerissen—that devil fellow. He is in Cairo with a fever—in the hospital there. A man who come from that hospital just tells us—just by accident he tell us. A bad fever, too!" She laughed in satisfaction. "I hope he burn good and hard up," she added, with energetic spite, "and teach him not to act like a wild man. That man say he got a bad hand," she added, with a shrewd glance at Billy.
The young man merely grunted66. "I hope he has," he replied. "It matches the rest of him. Good night."
"Good night—for the now—h'm, Mr. Billy?" and with a quick little clasp of his big hand and a gay little backward look the girl was gone into the shadows upon the arm of her jealous cavalier.
Three people were waiting at the statue foot where he had left the English girl.
"They've come at last, Mr. Hill," Lady Claire's voice struck very gaily67 upon him, "and Miss Falconer has just come to tell us we must see the colored lights in the great court—and then go home. So hurry!"
She turned as she spoke and put her arm suddenly through Falconer's who was standing21 next her. "Come on," she lightly commanded, and promptly68 led the way.
That was something like a fairy godmother! Into Billy's eyes flashed a warm light of gladness. Some moments out of that wretched evening should yet be his own, bitter-sweet as they were in their sharp finality.
He turned to the blue-cloaked figure at his side. "Do you like colored fire?" he demanded. "Won't you come and see something else—something I've wanted to see and to have you see with me? It's near the way out. We can meet them at the pylon."
Of course she acquiesced69. That was part of the cursed restraint between them, he was reminded, to have her accept so obediently any point-blank request of his. But for the nonce he was glad. He wanted those few minutes desperately.
"What is it?" she murmured.
"I'll show you," and then, as he turned from the way they had come and followed a winding70 path that dipped lower and lower between the dune-like piles of sand, "It's the Sacred Lake," he explained. "Perhaps you've seen it in the daytime—but I've been wanting to see it at night."
"I think I just caught the glint of it from the pylon," she observed.
"You had time to," said Billy, trying to twinkle down at her in friendly fashion.
She did not twinkle back. She looked as suddenly guilty as a kitten in the cream, and Billy's heart smote71 him heavily. He did not speak again till they had rounded a corner and their path had brought them out upon the shore of the Sacred Lake.
Like a little horseshoe it circled about three sides of the ruined temple of the goddess Mut, inky-black and motionless with the stars looking up uncannily like drowned lights from its still waters, and inky-black and motionless, like guardian72 spirits about it, sat a hundred cat-headed women of grim granite73. It was a spot of stark74 loneliness and utter silence, of ancient terror and desolate75 abandonment; the solitude and the blackness and the aching age smote upon the imagination like a heavy hand upon harp4 strings76.
"Who are—they?" Arlee spoke in a hushed voice, as if the cat-headed women were straining their ears.
"They're mysteries," said Billy, speaking in the same low tone. "Generally they're said to be statues of the Goddess Pasht or Sehket—but it's a riddle77 why the Amen-hotep person who built this temple to the goddess Mut should have put Sehket here. Sehket is in the trinity of Memphis—and Mut in that of Thebes. And so some people say that this is not Pasht at all, but Mut herself, who was sometimes represented as lion-headed. Between a giant cat and a lion, you know, there's not much of difference."
"I like Pasht better than Mut," said Arlee decidedly.
"There you agree with Baedecker."
"What did Pasht do?"
"She was goddess of girls," said Billy, "and young wives. She got the girls husbands and the wives—er—their requests. Girls used to come down here at night and make a prayer to her and cast an offering into the waters."
"And then they had their prayer?"
"Infallibly."
"I'd like a guardian like that," said Arlee, with a sudden mischievous78 wistfulness that played the dickens with Billy's forces of reserve. "Do you think she'd grant my prayer?"
"Have you one to make?" said Billy, staring very hard for safety at the monstrous79 images.
"They look as if they were coming alive," he added.
The moon had come up over an obstructing80 roof and now flashed down upon them; a ripple81 of light began to swim across the star-eyes in the inky waters; a finger of quicksilver seemed to be playing over the scarred faces of the granite goddesses.
"They never died," said Arlee positively82. "They're just waiting their time. Can't you see they know all about us?... They particularly know that you are the most deceiving young man they ever saw! Why didn't you tell me you were shot in the arm?" she finished rapidly.
"What?... Where did you hear that?"
"Mr. Falconer enlightened me."
"I wish Falconer would keep his stories to himself," said Billy ungratefully. "It's just a——"
"Scratch," said Arlee promptly. "That's always a hero's word for it."
Billy turned scarlet83. He felt hot back to his ears.
"And why did you tell me that you happened to be painting outside the palace?" went on the unsparing voice. "You let me think it was all accident—and it was all you, just you!"
"Good Lord," groaned84 Billy, effecting merriment over his discomfiture85, "Is there anything else he told you?... Look here, you shouldn't have been talking about it," he said with sudden anxiety.
Arlee smiled. "It's all over," she said. "I told him everything."
Billy's heart missed a beat, and then hurried painfully to make up for it. He felt a curious constriction86 in his throat. He tried to think of something congratulatory to say and was lamentably87 silent.
"Why did you deceive me so?" she continued mercilessly. "Because my gratitude88 was so obnoxious89 to you? Were you so afraid I would insist upon flinging more upon you?"
"That's a horrid90 word, obnoxious," said Billy painfully.
"I thought so," thrust in a pointed91 voice.
"I only meant," he slowly made out, "that a sense of—of obligation is a stupid burden—and I didn't want you to feel you had to be any more friendly to me than your heart dictated92. That is all. It was enough for me to remember that I had once been privileged to help you."
"You—funny—Billy B. Hill person," said the voice in a very serious tone. Billy continued staring at the unwinking old goddess ahead of him. "You take it all so for granted," laughed Arlee softly, "As if it were part of any day's work! I go about like a girl in a dream—or a girl with a dream ... a dream of fear, of old palaces and painted women and darkened windows. It comes over me at night sometimes. And then I wake and could go down on my knees to you.... I suppose there isn't any more danger from him?" she broke off to half-whisper quickly.
"He's sick in the Cairo hospital," Billy made haste to inform her. "I found out by accident. I understand he has a bad fever. So I think he'll be up to no more tricks—and I'm out the satisfaction of a little heart-to-heart talk."
"Oh, I told you you couldn't," she cried quickly. "You would make him too angry. He isn't just—sane."
"Then all I have to do in Egypt is to hunt up my little Imp," said Billy. "I must see the little chap again—before I go."
He waited—uselessly as he had foretold93. She said nothing, and if the glance he felt upon him was of inquiry94 he did not look about to meet it. He was still staring a saturnine95 Pasht out of countenance96. There was a pause.
Then, "However were you able to think of it all?" said Arlee in slow wonder. "However were you able to think such an impossible thought as my imprisonment97?"
"Because I was thinking about you," said Billy. Suddenly his tongue ran away with him. "Incessantly," he added.
She looked up at him. Unguardedly he looked down at her. No one but a blind girl or a goose could have mistaken that look upon Billy B. Hill's young face, the frustrate98 longing99 of it, the deep desire. The heart beneath the sky-blue cloak cast off a most monstrous accumulation of doubts and fears and began suddenly to beat like mad.
Totally unexpectedly, startlingly amazing, she flung out at him, "Then what made you stop?"
"Stop?" he echoed. "Stop? I've never stopped! There hasn't been a moment——"
"There have been three days. Three—horrible—days!"
"Arlee!"
"Do you think I like being snubbed and ignored and—and—obliterated?" she brought indignantly out. "Do you think I call that—being friends?"
"I—I wanted to leave you free—not to force your friendship——" he stammered100 wildly.
"You couldn't force mine," said Arlee Beecher.
"But—but there was Falconer," he protested. "You had to be free to—to have a choice——"
"A choice? Do you call that a choice?"
"I thought you were making it. That first night——"
"I stayed up to dance with you," she cried hotly. "You never came back!"
"But the next day——"
"I wanted to go. But I couldn't keep up any more. I had to rest.... And you went with Lady Claire!"
"Why, I had to! We'd planned. But when we came back, he was on deck with you——"
"Yes, and I was waiting up—to see you. And you only took two dances that night——"
"You didn't seem to want me to——"
"I never guessed you wanted them! I had my pride, too. I wasn't going to be in the way—because you'd rescued me. I thought you didn't want me in the way!"
"Arlee—my girl—my precious girl——"
"No, I'm not. I'm not."
"Yes, you are," he said fiercely. "I don't care if you are engaged to Falconer or not, I'm going to tell you so."
"I'm not engaged to Falconer," she protested.
He blurted101 in bewilderment. "Then what in the world were you doing up there on that pylon?"
Her elfish laughter disconcerted him. "Do you think one has to get engaged if she stays on a pylon?... We were getting not engaged."
"I thought—I thought you liked him," he said bewilderedly.
"I did. I do, I mean—but not that way. He—he—Oh, I really like him," she cried tremulously, "but not—we've had it all out and everything's all over. I'm sorry—sorry—but he'll be really glad bye and bye. For my story shocked him terribly.... And then there's Lady Claire. He didn't like to have her down with you even when he was up with me." She laughed softly. "Oh, I shouldn't have let him be so friendly here but I did like him and you—you were so—so hateful."
The moon and stars whirled giddily around him as he put his arms about her. Like a man in a dream he drew her to him.
"I love you—love you," he said huskily over the bright maze102 of hair.
"You don't!" came with muffled103 intensity104 from the hidden lips. "You said to that man—when I was in that cave—'Nothing doing!'"
"It wasn't his affair—I hadn't a hope.... Oh, my dear, my dear, I've been breaking my heart——"
"And I've had such a perfectly105 h-hateful three days," sobbed106 the voice.
His arms closed tighter about her, incredible of their happiness.
"Oh, Arlee, I can't tell you—I haven't words——"
"I've had deeds!" she whispered.
Through his rocking mind darted a memory of her earlier speech to him. "You said you didn't want words. Arlee—will you?"
She flung back her head and looked up at him, her face a flower, her eyes like stars tangled107 in the bright mist of her hair.
"Billy, what's your middle name?"
"Bunker.... I can't help it, dear. They wished it on me and asked me not to let it go. But Bunker Hill——!"
"It's a wonderful name, Billy! A perfectly irresistible108 name!" Her eyes laughed up at him through a dazzle of tears, and prankishly over her curving lips hovered109 a mischievous dimple. "It's a name—that—I—simply—can't—do—without—Billy Bunker Hill!"
The dimple deepened then fled before its just deserts. For if ever a dimple deserved to be caught and kissed that was the one.
The End
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opportune
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| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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slant
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harp
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wilful
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pylon
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| n.高压电线架，桥塔 | |
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desperately
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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primitive
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sob
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loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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refinements
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clairvoyant
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peril
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seething
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anguish
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humbly
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wryly
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mighty
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standing
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compassion
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vaguely
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impersonally
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spoke
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inflict
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oblivious
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cryptic
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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30
moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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31
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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32
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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33
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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34
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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35
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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36
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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37
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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38
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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39
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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40
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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41
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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42
stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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43
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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44
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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45
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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46
intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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47
maneuvering
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵 | |
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48
density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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49
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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50
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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51
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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52
tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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53
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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54
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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55
gut
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| n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏 | |
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56
piquantly
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57
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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58
honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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59
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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60
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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61
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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62
platonic
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| adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的 | |
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63
provocative
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| adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的 | |
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tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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66
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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67
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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68
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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69
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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71
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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72
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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73
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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74
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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75
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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76
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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77
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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78
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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79
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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80
obstructing
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| 阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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81
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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82
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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83
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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84
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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85
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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86
constriction
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| 压缩； 紧压的感觉； 束紧； 压缩物 | |
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87
lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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88
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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89
obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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90
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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91
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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92
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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93
foretold
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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95
saturnine
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| adj.忧郁的，沉默寡言的，阴沉的，感染铅毒的 | |
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96
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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97
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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98
frustrate
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| v.使失望；使沮丧；使厌烦 | |
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99
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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100
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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101
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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103
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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104
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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105
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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106
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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107
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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108
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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109
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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