So it was with the Adullam-Street household and its surroundings. The storm that had swept through it had been short, sharp, and decisive; but the traces of its wrecking35 power were visible long, long after it had past.
At first it seemed quite impossible for Frank Churchill to understand the extent of the misery which had fallen upon him. However roseate might have been the dreams, in which he had indulged, of the blisses of matrimony, he had lived too long in the world not to know that few indeed were the couples whose lives were not checkered36 by some occasional difference. These, he had been told, generally occurred in the early portion of a matrimonial career, while the two persons were each unaccustomed to the peculiarities37 of the other, and while ignorance was, to a great extent, supported and backed up by obstinacy38 and pride. The unwillingness39 of each to give way would eventually result in a clash, whence would arise one of those domestic differences popularly known as "tiffs," in which the actors, though horribly wretched in themselves and disagreeable to each other, were supremely40 ridiculous to the rest of the world, which either affected41 to be blind or sympathising, and in either case was sniggering in its sleeve at the absurdity42 of the scene. But these little sparring-matches were usually of short duration; and though a constant repetition of them might have a triturating effect upon the original foundation of love and constancy, yet Churchill had noticed that long before such a fatal result occurred, the sharp angles and points had generally become gradually rounded off and rubbed down, and the machine had begun to work harmoniously43 and with regularity44. At all events no open scandal took place. That open scandal, if not an actual healer of wounds, is a rare anodyne45 to impulsive46 spirits and hearts, thumping47 painfully against the tightened49 chain which day by day, with corroding50 teeth, is eating its way into their core. Exposure, publicity51 in the press, Mrs. Grundy--these are the greatest enemies of the Divorce-Court lawyers; heavy though the list of cases standing52 over for hearing may be, it would be fifty times heavier could the proceedings53 be kept secret. Hundreds of couples now living together, hating each other "with the hate of hell;" scowling55, carping, badgering, wearing, maddening, to desperation driving, from the hour they rise till the hour they retire to rest and fall asleep,--the one cursing his life, the other feebly bemoaning56 her fate, or openly defiant12, "each going their own way;" a state of being more horrible, loathsome57, and pitiable even than the other,--would be disunited, were it not for the public scandal. "For the sake of the children," for the scandal which would be entailed58 on their offspring, Mrs. Emilia will not leave Mr. Iago; and so they continue to live together, while the children are daily edified59 spectators of the manner in which their father treats their mother, and listen to the constantly-renewed expression of Mrs. Emilia's wish in reference to the possession of that whip with which to lash21 the rascal60 (their father) naked through the world.
The exposure--the public scandal! To no one had these words more terror in their sound than to Frank Churchill. All his life he had shrunk from every chance of notoriety: had gloried in being able to work anonymously61; not for the sake of shirking any responsibility, not from the slightest doubt of the right and truth and purity of whatever cause he might be advocating: but because, when he had shot his bolt, and hit his mark, as he generally did, he could stand calmly by and mark the result, without being deafened62 by empty pans or sickened by false flattery. His horror of publicity had been extreme; he had invariably refused all details of his history to contemporary biographers, and had never been so deeply disgusted as when he saw some of his work tracked home to its author by the gossipping correspondent of a provincial63 paper. It was good work, too--work creditable to his brain and his heart; yet had it been penny-a-lining written to order, he could not have been more annoyed at being accredited64 with it. And now the full garish65 eye of day was to be let into the inmost recesses66 of his heart's sanctuary67! "Break lock and seal, betray the trust!" let the whole world revel68 in the details. A domestic scandal, and one besmirching69 a man who, despite of himself, had made some name in the world, and a woman whose triumphs had rung through society, was exactly the thing which the "many-headed beast" would most delight in prying70 into and bandying about. The details?--there were no details; none, at least, which the world would ever hear of, or which would give the smallest explanation of the result. There was the fact of the separation, and nothing more; what led to it must be the work of conjecture71, and people would invent all kinds of calumny72 about him; and--great Heaven!--about her. The lying world, with its blistering73 tongue, would be busy with her name, warping74, twisting, inventing every thing--perhaps imputing75 shame to her, to her whose shield he should have been, to her whom he should have protected from every blow.
And here must be exhibited one of the flaws in Frank Churchill's by-no-means-perfect character. His wife had taken a step which nothing could excuse, had given way to her passion; and, in obedience76 to the promptings of rage and jealousy77, had done him an irreparable wrong, and covered them both with a reproach which would cling to them for life,--all this without any thing like adequate provocation78 on his part; so that he had been shamefully79 treated, and, had he been properly heroic, would have a fair claim upon your compassion80, if not your admiration81. But the truth is he was anything but a hero; notwithstanding the manner in which his hopes had been blighted82 and his life wrecked83, notwithstanding his having been deserted84 in that apparently85 heartless way by his wife,--he loved her even then with a passionate86 devotion; and when he thought of her, perhaps vilified87 and calumniated88, without her natural protector, wretched and perhaps solitary89, he had almost determined90 to fling his pride--nay, what he knew to be his duty--to the winds, to rush after her and implore91 her to come back to his home, and to do with him what she would. Of course nothing could have been more degrading to him than such a proceeding54, and it was fortunate that good advice was coming to him in the person of his mother.
Coming in to pay her usual afternoon visit, the old lady walked straight to the study, and after tapping lightly at the door with her parasol-handle, she opened it and went in. She found her son seated at his desk, his head buried in his hands, which were supported by the projecting arms of the chair. His legs were stretched out before him, and he seemed lost in thought. He did not change his position at his mother's entrance, not until she addressed him by name; when, on raising his head, she saw the dull whiteness of his cheeks, and the bistre rings round his eyes. She noticed too that his hands shook, and on touching92 them they were hot and dry.
"My boy," said the old lady, gently, "you're not well, I'm afraid! what's the matter with you? too much of this horrid93 work, or--why, good God, Frank, there are marks of tears on your face! What is the matter,--what has happened?"
"Nothing, mother--nothing to me at least,--don't be alarmed, dearest; I'm all right enough."
"Then Barbara's ill!" said Mrs. Churchill, rising from the seat she had taken. "I'll go to her at once, poor thing--"
"You wouldn't find her, mother!" said Frank, in a very hollow voice. "She's not upstairs; she's gone!"
"Gone! Gone where?" asked the old lady.
"Gone away--left me--gone away for ever!" and as the thought of his desolation broke with renewed force upon him, his voice nearly failed him, and it was with great difficulty that he prevented himself from breaking down.
"Left you--gone away--eloped!" cried the old lady, in whose mind there suddenly arose a vision of a yellow post-chaise, with four horses and two postillions, and Barbara inside, with Captain Lyster looking out of the window.
"No, no; not so bad as that," said Frank; "though horrible enough, in all conscience;" and he gave his mother a description of the scene which had occurred.
As Mrs. Churchill listened, it was plain to see that she was greatly moved; her hands trembled, and tears burst from her eyes and stole down her cheeks. As the story proceeded, two feelings were struggling for the mastery within her--one, pity for her son; the other, indignation at her son's wife. The old lady, although now so quiet and retiring and simple, had lived in the world, and knew the ways and doings, the ins and outs, of its denizens94. She had had tolerable experience of man's inconstancy, of his proneness95 to sin, of his exposure to flattery, and liability to temptation. Had Frank confessed some slight flirtation96 with a pretty girl, some beneficence towards a female acquaintance of bygone times, she would have thought that Barbara had acted with worse than rashness in taking so decided97 a step; but now, when Frank told her that the letter which had provoked the final eruption98 was one which--had he not been pledged by its writer to be silent concerning, pledge given long before he had made Barbara's acquaintance--might have been read before the world, she believed her son fully48, and could form no judgment99 too severe on Barbara's conduct. She was no vain-glorious Pharisee, to tell of the tithes100 she had given, the good she had done; no humbler-minded sinner poured out a nightly tale of shortcomings and omissions101 to the Great Father: but when she thought of her own married life, when she recollected103 all Vance Churchill's frailties104, all his drinking bouts105 and intrigues106, all his carelessness and idleness, his neglect of his wife his pettish107 waywardness, and constant self-indulgence; when she compared all this with Frank's calm, steady, laborious108, good life, and recollected that under all her provocation her husband had scarcely so much as a harsh word from her, she felt that Barbara's conduct had been outrageous110 indeed.
She said nothing at first, though her heart was full. With the tears rolling down her cheeks, she rose from her chair, and, taking up her position by her son, fell to smoothing his hair and passing her hand lightly over his brow, as she had done--oh, how many thousand times!--when he was a child; muttering softly, "My poor boy! oh, my poor boy!" The gentler spirit which had taken possession of Frank just before his mother's entrance grew and expanded under her softening111 touch. He felt like some swimmer who, after a prolonged buffet112 with the angry waves, feels his feet, and knows that a few more strokes will bring him rest and home. There was a chance of nipping this wretched scandal in its bud, which was much; there was a chance of bringing his beloved to his side once more, which was all in all. After a time he broke the silence, cautiously sounding the depths.
"Do you think there's any chance of this horrible business being put straight, mother?" he asked.
"We are in the hands of God, my boy," replied the old lady, fervently113. "Time is the great anodyne. HE may think fit to have it all set right in the course of time."
"Yes; but--I mean--you don't think it could be settled at once--to-night, I mean?"
"If she were to come back to-night, which she will not, and confess that her miserable pride and jealousy had driven her forth in a mad fit, and were to ask pardon, and be as she ought to be--God knows--humble and contrite114, I would say let there be an end of it; forget it all, and strive to live happier for the future. But if she remains115 away to-night--well, I don't know what to say;" and the old lady heaved a very intelligible116 sigh--a sigh which meant that in such an event the worst had arrived.
"Yes," said Frank; his mind still dwelling117 on the little course he had proposed to himself;--"yes, of course, you don't think it would be right, then, to go to her--"
"Go to her!" echoed the old lady.
"Yes, go to her, and tell her how utterly118 wrong she had been--that there was not the slightest foundation for her suspicions; and that she had acted most unjustifiably in quitting her husband's house in the manner she has done; and--"
Old Mrs. Churchill had been sitting as if petrified119, with her lips wide apart, during the delivery of this sentence; at this point she thawed120 into speech.
"Are you mad, Frank? has your misfortune turned your brain? You propose to go to her,--this woman, who has brought contempt on you-- and not only on you, on me and all our name,--and sue to her to come back, and box her ears playfully, and tell her what a naughty girl she has been! Do you imagine that this affair is any longer a secret, that it has not been talked over already between Mrs. Schr?der's maid and your servants, between your servants and the tradespeople? Don't you know that if your wife is absent from your house to-night, the doubt will become a certainty, and that to-morrow the whole neighbourhood will be ringing with it? No!" continued the old lady; "it has come, and we must bear it. If that wicked girl--for I can't help feeling and saying that she is wicked in her present course--sees her error and repents121, it will be your duty to forgive her and to take her back; but as to your humbling122 yourself by going to her and asking her to return, it's not to be thought of for a moment."
"I suppose you're right, mother," was all that Frank said--"I suppose you're right: we'll wait and see whether she comes back to-night."
So they waited, mother and son, through that long evening. The day died out, and the dusk came down, and the lamps were lighted in the streets, and the pattering feet grew fewer and fewer; and still those two sat without speaking, without moving, immersed in their own thoughts; and still no Barbara returned. At length Mrs. Churchill, remembering that her son had had no dinner that day, grew tenderly solicitous123 about his health, and, crossing to him, raised his head and pressed her lips to his, and begged him to rouse himself and eat. And Frank, who felt himself gradually going mad with the one sad strain upon his thoughts, said:
"No, mother--not here, at all events. I must shake this off, if only for a few minutes, or I shall go out of my mind. I'll take a turn in the air; and if I feel faint or to want any thing, I'll go to the Club and get it. You go home and to bed, dearest; for you must be thoroughly124 knocked up with all my worries, which you are compelled to share; she won't come back to-night--it's all over now; and to-morrow we must face the future, and see what we're to do with the rest of our lives."
So they kissed again, and then went out together: Frank with a dead, dull, wearying pain at his heart; and his mother, sad enough to see him so sad, but with some little consolation125 mingled126 with her grief at the feeling that this event was not unlikely to bring her and her son more together again; to give her the chance of being in more frequent and more affectionate communication with that being whom she worshipped next to her Creator; of enjoying that to her inexpressible delight, of having her son "all to herself" again.
Leaving the old lady at the door of her lodgings127, Frank strode on at a rapid pace, neither looking to the right nor to the left, seeing none of the people by whom he passed, thinking of nothing but his lost love. At length the long fasting he had undergone began to tell upon him, he felt sick and faint, and determined to go to his Club to get some refreshment,--not to the Flybynights; he could not have borne the noisy racket, the bewildering chaff128, of that circle of free-lances; so he strode steadily129 down to Pall130 Mall, and turned into the Retrenchment131. Even that solemn temple of gastronomy132 and politics was far too lively for him in his then mood. The coffee-room was filled with a number of men who had dined late, many of whom, just returned from their autumnal expeditions, and not having met for a couple of months, had "joined tables," and were loudly talking over their holiday experiences. All was light and lively and jolly; and Frank felt, as he sat in the midst of them, like the death's-head at the banquet. At one table close by his four men were sitting over their wine, one of the number being rallied by the rest about his approaching marriage. "You're a lucky fellow, by Jove, Hope!" Frank heard one of them say; "I always said Miss Chudleigh was the prettiest girl out since the Lexden's year." "What's become of the Lexden--didn't she get married or something?" asked another. "Oh, yes!" answered the first--"married a man who's a member here. I don't know him; but a cleverish fellow, I believe. No tin--regular case of spoons, they said it was." "Mistake that!" said the fiancé, whose future father-in-law was a wealthy brewer133; "spoons is all very well, but it wants something to back it." "Ah, but it's not every one that has your luck," said old Tommy Orme, who just then joined the party--"nor, I will say, Hope it isn't every one that deserves it, by Jove!" and on the Hope of that speech, old Tommy determined to borrow a ten-pound note from his friend on the first opportunity. Frank shuddered134 as he listened, and bent135 his head over his cutlet. "Was there any thing in what those men had said?" he asked himself, as he walked home. Could it have been that the state of comparative poverty into which he had brought his wife had soured her temper, rendered her jealous and querulous, and so disgusted her as to cause her to avail herself of the first excuse which presented itself for returning to her former life? It might be so, indeed. If a were, Frank was not disposed to think of her very uncharitably: he knew the whole wealth of love which he had bestowed136 upon her; but he thought that her bringing-up might perhaps have rendered her incapable137 of appreciating it; and he went to his solitary bed with a feeling of something more than pity for his absent wife, after imploring138 peace to and pardon for them both in his prayers.
The evening of the next day, however, found him in a very different frame of mind. Not one word had been heard from Barbara; and the fact of her absence, and the manner of her departure, had been thoroughly well discussed throughout the neighbourhood. Early in the morning, Frank, with the conviction that all must eventually be known, had removed the seal from his mother's lips; and the old lady's circumstantial account, softened139 as much as her conscience would allow,--for she felt really more strongly than she had admitted about Barbara's defection,--was detailed140 to various knots of fa-miller friends throughout the day. The astonishment141 of the Mesopotamians was immense; immense their horror, deep the condemnation142 they poured upon the peccant one. The good women of the district could not realise what had occurred. If Barbara had eloped, they would have had some slight glimmering144 of it; though an elopement was a thing which in their idea only occurred in highly aristocratic families. They had heard through the medium of the newspapers, stories of post-chaise followed by post-chaise speeding along the northern road, guilty wife and "gay Lothario" (Mesopotamian phrase for cavalier villany varying from seduction to waltzing) in the one, injured husband in the other. But how a woman could take herself off, leave her home and her husband, and send a servant for her things afterwards, my dear, as cool as if she were going by the railway train,--that beat them altogether. But though they could not understand, they could condemn143, and did, in most unmeasured terms. Whatever the motive145 might have been, and the most energetic among them could not find in what was said any thing particularly damnifying ("in what is said, my dear; but I'm sure there must be something behind all this that we don't know of, but which will come out some day"),--whatever the motive might have been, there was the fact; that could not be got rid of or explained away: Mrs. Frank Churchill had left her home and was not living with her husband. What more or less could you make of that? Some of them had seen it in her from the first.
There was something--one section said, in her eye, another in her manner--which showed discontent, or worse. "Something" in her walk which displeased146 many of them greatly--"as though the ground she trod upon was not good enough for her," they said. And she who had held her head so high, for whom none of them were good enough, had come to this. Well, if being a fine lady and being brought up amongst great people led to that, thank goodness they were as they were.
Mrs. Harding had been one of the earliest to receive old Mrs. Churchill's confidence, and had been so much astonished and impressed by what she heard, that she at once returned home and proceeded to rouse her husband, then peacefully sleeping off his hard night's work. It must have been something quite out of the common to have prompted such a step, as George Harding was never pleased at having his hard-earned rest broken in upon; but on this occasion his wife thought she had a complete justification147. So she went softly into the closed room, undrew the curtains and let in the full morning sun; then she shook the sleeper's shoulder and called "George!" Harding roused himself at once and demanded what was the matter; he always had an idea, when suddenly awakened148 from sleep, that something had happened to the paper, either an Indian mail omitted, or a leader of the wrong politics inserted, or something equally dreadful in its result; and he had scarcely got his eyes fairly open, when his wife said, "Oh, my dear, such a terrible thing for poor Churchill!"
"What do you mean?" asked George, broad-awake in an instant; "nobody ill?"
"Oh, no, my dear; much better if it were. She's gone, my dear!"
"Who's gone; what on earth do you mean?" and then his wife told him the story circumstantially. And after hearing it George Harding dressed himself at once and went out to see his friend.
He found Churchill sitting in his little study, looking vacantly before him. There were no signs of work on the desk, no book near him; he had evidently been sitting for some time in a state of semi-stupor. He was very pale; but he looked up at the opening of the door and smiled faintly when he saw who it was. There was something so cheery in dear old George Harding's presence, that it shed light wherever he went, no matter how dark the surroundings: men who, as they knelt by the coffins149 of their wives, had prayed to God to take them then and there,--men who, contemplating150 the ruin sweeping151 down upon them, had horribly suggestive thoughts of the laudanum-bottle or the pistol-barrel,--had felt the dark clouds pass away at the sound of his genial152 voice and the sight of his hopeful face. But there were tears in George Harding's gray eyes as he took his friend's hand, and his voice shook a little as he said, "My dear old Frank! my poor dear fellow!"
"I'm hard hit, Harding, and that's the truth. You've heard all about it, of course?" Frank asked nervously153, fearing he might have again to recount the miserable history.
"Yes, my wife has told me,--she heard it from your mother, I believe,--and I came on at once. Do you know I'm horribly afraid, Frank, that it was from your taking my advice that this quarrel took place?"
"Your advice?"
"Yes, about tightening154 the curb155. I told you, if you recollect102, that I thought there should be a greater amount of firmness and decision in your manner to Mrs. Churchill, and--"
"Oh, you need not be anxious on that score; it must have come sooner or later; and it's come sooner, that's all!"
"And what are you going to do?"
"Do? what do sensible men do when they have troubles? Grin and bear them, don't they? And so shall I. I can't live alone; so I shall instal my mother here again, and, I suppose, all will--will be pretty much as it was eighteen months ago."
"I was afraid from what my wife said, that I should find you in some such mood as this," said Harding sternly. "One would think you were mad, Frank Churchill, to hear you talk such stuff. Don't you know that Mrs. Churchill is as much your wife before God and man as she ever was? Don't you feel that she has done nothing for which even the wretched laws which we in our mighty156 wisdom have chosen to frame would justify157 you in treating her in this way? I can understand it all; you've been worked upon by the chatter158 and magging of these silly women until you've lost your own calm common-sense. But don't you feel now, Frank, that I'm right? Don't you feel that a fit of rage, a mere159 wretched passing temper, is not the thing to separate those whom--you know I use it in no canting sense--those whom God has joined together? Don't you feel that it is your duty to go to her, or to send--I'll go if you like, though it's not a very pleasant office--to point out to her the miserable folly160 of this course, and to bring her back to her proper place--her home?"
"My dear Harding," said Frank quietly, "I know you are sincere in your advice, but it is impossible for me to take it. My wife has subjected me to a very great outrage109; and until that is explained and atoned161 for, I will never look upon or speak to her."
Harding would have said something more, but Churchill raised his hand in deprecation, and then changed the subject.
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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crests
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onward
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gathering
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avalanche
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seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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lash
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cymbals
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plies
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frantic
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highlander
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discord
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bagpipes
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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thronged
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masonry
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ebb
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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33
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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34
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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35
wrecking
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| 破坏 | |
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36
checkered
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| adj.有方格图案的 | |
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37
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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38
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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39
unwillingness
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| n. 不愿意，不情愿 | |
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40
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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41
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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42
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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43
harmoniously
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| 和谐地，调和地 | |
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44
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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45
anodyne
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| n.解除痛苦的东西，止痛剂 | |
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46
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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47
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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48
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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49
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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50
corroding
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| 使腐蚀，侵蚀( corrode的现在分词 ) | |
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51
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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52
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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53
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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54
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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55
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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56
bemoaning
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| v.为（某人或某事）抱怨( bemoan的现在分词 )；悲悼；为…恸哭；哀叹 | |
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57
loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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58
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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59
edified
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| v.开导，启发( edify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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61
anonymously
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| ad.用匿名的方式 | |
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62
deafened
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| 使聋( deafen的过去式和过去分词 )； 使隔音 | |
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63
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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64
accredited
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| adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于 | |
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65
garish
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| adj.华丽而俗气的，华而不实的 | |
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66
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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67
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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68
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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69
besmirching
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| v.弄脏( besmirch的现在分词 )；玷污；丑化；糟蹋（名誉等） | |
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70
prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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71
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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72
calumny
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| n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤 | |
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73
blistering
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|
| adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡 | |
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74
warping
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|
| n.翘面，扭曲，变形v.弄弯，变歪( warp的现在分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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75
imputing
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的现在分词 ) | |
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76
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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77
jealousy
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|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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78
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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79
shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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80
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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81
admiration
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|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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82
blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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83
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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84
deserted
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|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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85
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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86
passionate
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|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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87
vilified
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|
| v.中伤，诽谤( vilify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
calumniated
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|
| v.诽谤，中伤( calumniate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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89
solitary
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|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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90
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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91
implore
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|
| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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92
touching
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|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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93
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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94
denizens
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| n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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95
proneness
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|
| n.俯伏，倾向 | |
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96
flirtation
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|
| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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97
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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98
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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99
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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100
tithes
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| n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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101
omissions
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| n.省略( omission的名词复数 )；删节；遗漏；略去或漏掉的事（或人） | |
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102
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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103
recollected
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|
| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
frailties
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|
| n.脆弱( frailty的名词复数 )；虚弱；（性格或行为上的）弱点；缺点 | |
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105
bouts
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| n.拳击（或摔跤）比赛( bout的名词复数 )；一段（工作）；（尤指坏事的）一通；（疾病的）发作 | |
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106
intrigues
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|
| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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107
pettish
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|
| adj.易怒的，使性子的 | |
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108
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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109
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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110
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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111
softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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112
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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113
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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114
contrite
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| adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的 | |
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115
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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116
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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117
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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118
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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119
petrified
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|
| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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120
thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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121
repents
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的第三人称单数 ) | |
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122
humbling
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| adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气 | |
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123
solicitous
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| adj.热切的，挂念的 | |
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124
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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125
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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126
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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127
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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128
chaff
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| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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129
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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130
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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131
retrenchment
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| n.节省，删除 | |
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132
gastronomy
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| n.美食法；美食学 | |
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133
brewer
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| n. 啤酒制造者 | |
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134
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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135
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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136
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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137
incapable
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|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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138
imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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139
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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140
detailed
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|
| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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141
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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142
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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143
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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144
glimmering
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|
| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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145
motive
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|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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146
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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147
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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148
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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149
coffins
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| n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物 | |
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150
contemplating
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|
| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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151
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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152
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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153
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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154
tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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155
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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156
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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157
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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158
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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159
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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160
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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161
atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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