So, thinking over these things, Gilbert Lloyd took his cold sea-water bath, which got rid of most of the ill effects of the previous night, and having leisurely10 dressed himself, descended11 to the room where breakfast was laid. He was the first; Lord Ticehurst had not yet appeared. So Gilbert took up the newspaper, and after glancing at the state of the odds12 and the sporting-intelligence generally, remained expectant. He had not to wait very long. In a few minutes Lord Ticehurst, looking very white and seedy, and with his small eyes more tightly screwed up and sunk more deeply into his head than usual, entered the room. Gilbert bade him "good-morning," which his lordship, walking round the table and flinging himself into an easy-chair, only answered by a short nod. He then rang the bell, and, on the waiter's appearing, ordered brandy and soda-water. This, Lloyd argued to himself, was merely the effect of the "morning after," the result of too much indulgence in Stackborough's wines. His lordship's digestion14 was impaired15 and consequently his temper suffered: both would improve simultaneously16. But after his brandy and soda-water, Lord Ticehurst pulled his chair to the table, and commenced and proceeded with a very excellent breakfast, during the discussion of which he said never a word to his anxiously-expectant confederate, while, at its finish, he lit a big cigar, and, still mute, armed himself with a telescope, flung open the window, and stepped into the balcony to inspect the exhibition of the naiads bathing in the foreground.
For once in his life Gilbert Lloyd was nonplused. He had made perfectly17 certain that Etchingham would have cried peccavi, would have come to him begging to have their relations replaced on the old footing; and here was the recalcitrant19 apparently20 quite at ease, not taking the least notice of him, and obviously rather enjoying himself than otherwise. Had he been blind, or had Etchingham's character suddenly changed? One thing was quite certain, that all was going wrong, and that he must take prompt measures to set himself right. Gilbert Lloyd was not an adept21 at leek-swallowing. He had played his cards so well during the latter portion at least of his life that he had seldom been required to perform that humiliating feat22, but he saw that he must do it now. Lord Ticehurst was, like most good-natured men, intensely obstinate23 and sulky when affronted24, and though Lloyd had had no experience of this state of his pupil's mood so far as he was regarded, he had seen it evidenced against others. It was perfectly plain that one of these fits, and a very strong one, was on Lord Ticehurst at present, and Lloyd was compelled to acknowledge to himself that if he wanted to retain his position in the future he must knuckle25 under unreservedly and at once.
He laid down the newspaper which he had made a pretence26 of reading, and looked towards the window. There, in the balcony, sat his lordship, the light-blue smoke from his cigar curling round his head, and his eye fixed27 at the telescope which he held in his hand Gilbert rose and went behind him, but Lord Ticehurst, although he must have heard the footstep, never moved. Then Gilbert laid his hand on his pupil's shoulder, and said, "Etchingham!"
His lordship moved his eye from the telescope, and looked quietly at Lloyd. "Well?" said he, in a sufficiently28 sulky manner.
"I have come to ask your pardon. I--"
"O, there, that's all right," said his lordship, preparing to recommence his performance with the telescope.
"No, it is not all right. You and I have been intimate allies for a very long time. Until last night there has never been a word of difference between us. Nor would there have been then but for the infernal meddling29 of people who--"
"O, just look here! I didn't name any names, remember. It was you who said you knew Bobby Maitland had been making mischief30."
"It was I; I acknowledge it. You are quite right. You are far too good a fellow to say a word against even such a bad lot as that. I lost my temper, and I spoke31 out. But why? Because I was in a tremendous rage at the impudence32 of that fellow Maitland daring to put his own words and his own sentiments into my mouth, and to pretend that I had said them. His own words and sentiments, I say, and no one else's."
"What! Do you mean to say that you never said--all that confounded stuff about the 'nurse,' and all that?"
"I pledge you my word of honour I never said anything of the kind."
Lord Ticehurst looked straight at him as he said these words, but Gilbert Lloyd met the look firmly, without the smallest increase of colour, without the movement of a muscle in his face.
"Well," said his lordship, after a momentary33 pause, "of course after that I cannot say any more. I was most infernally riled when I heard you'd been chaffing about me, I'll allow; because, after all, don't you know, when you and a fellow have lived together, and been regular pals34, and that kind of thing--"
"And you thought I could have been such a scoundrel as to do that? No, Etchingham, I don't pretend to be strait-laced, and I don't go in to be demonstrative and gushing35 in my affection for you, like those duffers who are always hanging about you in town, and whose game you see through perfectly, I know. My regard for you I endeavour to show in another way, in devoting myself heart and soul to the management of your affairs; and if you look into them I think you'll find that I am faithful and true to you."
Into his voice, as he uttered these last words, Gilbert Lloyd threw a little tremulous touch of sentiment, which gave evidence of a hitherto undeveloped histrionic ability, and which was really excellent of its kind. It was so close an imitation of the genuine article that most people would have been taken in by it, and Lloyd looked to see a responsive twinkle in his pupil's eyes; but clever and telling as it was it failed to touch Lord Ticehurst. He said, "All right, Gilbert, old fellow; of course I know that. Here, there's an end of it!" and he stretched out his hand; but there was no heartiness36, no enthusiasm in his tone, no warmth in the grasp he gave, and Gilbert Lloyd recognised all this, and began to feel a dim prescience that his hold on his lordship was beginning to wax faint, and that his position as chief manager of Lord Ticehurst's affairs was manifestly insecure.
Was Gilbert Lloyd's luck really beginning to fail him? Had the devil, who had stood his friend so long, and aided him in his advancement37 so wonderfully, grown tired of and forsaken38 him? It seemed like it, he was forced to confess to himself. By nature cool, crafty39, and clear-headed, and from long practice in matters in which the exercise of those qualities is constantly required, Lloyd was by no means a man to suffer himself to remain blind to any danger which might threaten him. There are men amongst us passing for sane40, nay41, even reputed to be clever, who obstinately42 shut their eyes against the sight of the chasm43 towards which they are pressing forward, who are obstinately deaf to the roar of the avalanche44 which in a few seconds must overwhelm them, when by merely striking out into a new path--not so pleasant indeed, and that is mostly what they look at--they might avoid their fate. These are the men who, Micawber-like, are always expecting something to turn up, who refuse to see the plainest portents45, to listen to the most obvious warnings, who think that bills disregarded are payments indefinitely deferred46, and who put away unpleasant-looking letters unopened with the idea that the bad news they bring will thereby47 be staved off, who go on quo Fata ducunt, and who are astonished when they find themselves involved in misery48 and ruin. Gilbert Lloyd was very different from this. Let a cloud, even though it were "no bigger than a man's hand," appear above the horizon, and he took note of it instantly. He was specially49 observant of the slightest change in the character or demeanour of those with whom he was brought in contact, even of persons of inferior grade. In fact, although for a long time past his life had been one of comparative ease and undoubted luxury, he had never forgotten the habits acquired in the early days of poverty and shifting and scheming, when his hand was against every man and every man's hand against him, and he was prepared to go to the end of the world, or out of it altogether for the matter of that, if he saw plainly the necessity of absconding50, or felt that his Fate had arrived.
Was his luck going? Was his game nearly played out? There had been a great change lately, without a doubt; he must not shut his eyes to that. Etchingham was certainly changed. Very civil and acquiescent51 in all that was suggested to him, never referring to their dispute on that unlucky night, but still without a particle of the heartiness which formerly52 characterised him, and which was the salt of his otherwise unpleasant disposition53. There had been a turn of luck, too, in turf-matters. Some of his own private speculations54 (for Gilbert had a book of his own in addition to the "operations" in which he had a joint55 interest with Lord Ticehurst, and was said also to do a great deal by anonymous56 commission) had been very unfortunate during the past season, and so far as he could see he was not likely to recoup himself by any success at Doncaster, where one of Lord Ticehurst's cracks had been disgracefully beaten for the Cup, while another, which had been one of the leading favourites for the Leger, had run down the scale in the most alarming manner, and was now, on the eve of the race, scarcely mentioned in the betting.
Was his luck going? was his game nearly played out? Venit summa dies et ineluctabile fatum!Where had he heard that, Gilbert Lloyd wondered as he sat on the edge of his bed at the Angel Inn at Doncaster, turning all these things in his mind. Ineluctabile fatum.. He gave a half-shudder as he repeated the words, and he gulped57 down half the tumbler of brandy standing58 on the table by his side. He felt a frissonrun through him--that kind of creeping feeling which silly old women ascribe to the fact of someone "walking over your grave"--on which the brandy had no effect, and he stamped his foot in rage at his weakness. He was all wrong somehow; out of health, perhaps? But his clear sense refused to be deluded59 by that excuse. Ineluctabile fatum!that was it, the summa diesfor him was at hand; he felt it, he knew it, and found it in vain to struggle, impossible to make head against it. The roar of the crowd in the street came through the open window of the room in which he sat, that hideous60 roar which fills the streets of every country town at race-time, and which he knew so well, with its component61 parts of ribaldry, blasphemy62, bestiality, and idiotcy. The day was bright and hot and clear--what did the noise outside and the bright day remind him of? Something unpleasant, he felt, but he could not exactly fix it in his memory. He rose, and his eyes fell on the big, heavy, old-fashioned four-post bedstead on which he had been seated, and on the table with the glass and bottles standing by it. And then in an instant what had been dimly haunting his memory flashed all bright across his brain: Brighton, the crowd of racing-men on the cliff in the hot, bright weather, and the lodging63, with Harvey Gore64 dying on the bed! Gilbert Lloyd swallowed the remainder of the brandy, and hurried downstairs into the street. Immediately opposite the inn-door, and surrounded by a little crowd, a preacher--as is often to be seen on such occasions--was holding forth65. The crowd mocked and jeered66, but the preacher, secure in the stentorian67 powers of his lungs, never stopped in his attacks on the wickedness going on around him; and the first words which Lloyd heard as he issued from the inn were, "Prepare to meet thy God!"
The gentlemen who had "operated" against Lord Ticehurst's horse in the betting-ring were, on the succeeding day, proved to be perfectly correct in their prognostications; that eminent68 animal being as far behind the winner of the Leger as his stable-companion had been in the race for the Cup. This result did not affect Lord Ticehurst much, so far as his betting losses were concerned; he had so much money that it mattered little to him whether he won or lost; but he did not like losing the prestigewhich had attached to his stable ever since Lloyd had succeeded poor old Dobbs and taken the stud in hand And he particularly disliked the half-pitying, half-chaffing way in which several men condoled69 with him about it.
"What's come to you, dear old Etchingham?" said Bobby Maitland, who had been unable to withstand the fascinations70 of the Doncaster Meeting, and had accordingly persuaded Mr. Stackborough to leave the yacht at anchor off Dover while they came north; "what's come to you, old man? The white jacket and cherry spots seem now always to be where the little boat was--all behind!"
"We have not been very lucky lately, have we?" replied his lordship, with an attempt at a grin--he writhed72 under Bobby's compassionate73 familiarity; "but we did very well early in the year; and you can't have it always, don't you know."
"Ah yes, to be sure, you had some little things, I recollect," said Bobby Maitland more furtively74 than ever.
"Don't know what you call 'little things,' Maitland," said Lord Ticehurst, twitted out of his usual reticence75; "the One Thousand, and the Ascot Cup, with two of the best things at Stockbridge. That seems pretty good to me; but I suppose it's nothing to you. You never even won a donkey-race that I heard of."
"O yes, he did," said Gilbert Lloyd, who had come up to them unseen, and overheard the last remark; "O yes; Bobby won a donkey-race once, and he was so proud of it, he always takes the animal about with him. He's somewhere in the neighbourhood now, I'll swear!"
There was a shout of laughter at this remark from all the men standing round, which was increased to a roar as Mr. Stackborough, dressed most elaborately, was seen approaching the group. It was always said that Bobby Maitland had never been seen to lose his temper. At that instant he was within an ace18 of it; but he controlled himself with an effort, and said, "That's not bad, Lloyd; not at all bad, for you. When you order Lloyd's man's new livery, Etchingham, you must have a cap and bells added to it. 'Gad76, you're like one of those great swells77 in the olden time, who used to keep a fool to amuse their friends!"
"Haw, haw! Maitland had him there!" shouted "Barrel" Moss79, a fat, handsome Israelite, ex-gambling-house-keeper, now racehorse-proprietor and betting-man, admitted into the society of the highest patrons of the turf.
"What are you grinning at, Barrel?" retorted Gilbert. "You may thank your stars you did not live in the days of those 'great swells of the olden time.' Why, when Jews wouldn't pay, they used to pull their teeth out; and what would have become of you when you were posted in Teddington's year? Why you wouldn't have had a single grinder left!"
Once more the laugh was on Lloyd's side, and taking advantage of his triumph he pushed through the knot gathered round him, and, taking Lord Ticehurst by the arm, moved off towards the hotel. The colloquy80 between the two, as they walked along, was brief. His lordship was more than a little "out of sorts." His rejection81 by Miss Lambert yet rankled82 in his mind; his recent want of success on the turf upset and annoyed him. He was fidgety and fretful, and when Gilbert asked him what they should do, and where they should go to next, he confessed as much, and said that he did not care so long as he was "out of the whole d--d thing!" Such a state of mind rather coinciding with Gilbert Lloyd's own feelings at the time, that astute83 counsellor, instead of opposing his patron's unmistakable though oddly expressed views, fell in with them at once; declared that everything from British Dan to British Beersheba was barren, and suggested that they should go abroad for a month or two, lie fallow, and pick up health. Lord Ticehurst fully9 agreed with the idea of going abroad, but "would not have any of your touring;" he had had enough of Switzerland, thank you; and as for any of those dead-alive old cribs where fellows poked84 about among pictures and those kind of things, well, he would as soon cut his throat offhand85! He did not mind going to Hombourg or Baden, or one of those places where there was something to be done, and plenty of people to be seen.
It was Gilbert's policy just at that time to keep his pupil in good-humour if possible, so that even if the notion of a visit to Baden had not happened to be agreeable to him, he would doubtless have suppressed his own feelings and assented86 with a good grace. But situated87 as he was, wanting a thorough change, and yet so ill at ease as to fear being left alone to his own resources in a dull place, the gaiety of a foreign watering-place was exactly what he would have chosen. So, two days after, the Morning Postrecorded that "the Earl of Ticehurst and Mr. Gilbert Lloyd passed through town yesterday en routefor Baden."
Men of middle age, who recollect Baden before the fatal facility of travel, or the invention of Mr. Cook and his excursionists, must look back with deep regret upon the pleasant days when comparatively few English people found their way along the newly-opened railway that crept along the bank of the Oos. The place was known, of course; but the difference between the visitors then and nowadays was as great as between the visitors to the gardens of Hampton Court on any ordinary fine day in early spring or on Easter Monday. The style of the company, despite the importing of many of the great British aristocracy who in former years never visited the place, but now find it much cheaper and more amusing than "entertaining" for partridge-shooting at home, has gradually been decaying; but since the establishment of the races it has received a large proportion of that very worst ingredient, the sporting-cad. When Lord Ticehurst and Lloyd arrived, the races were just about to take place, and there was a strong muster88 of the "professionals" of high and middle grade, the worst being kept away by the difficulty of obtaining means of transport from England, which is a mercy of which the Germans are not sufficiently aware to be properly thankful for. The lowest order of sporting-man is the lowest order of anything. If anyone wishes to be impressed with the depth of degradation89 to which the human species can be successfully reduced, he has only to go into the Strand90 on a day when some great "event" is coming off, and observe the persons gathered round the office of the great sporting-newspaper about four in the afternoon. He will see a crowd of men of all ages--wizened old creatures, big burly roughs, shambling knock-kneed hobbledehoys, in battered91 hats, in greasy92, close-fitting caps, most of them shirt-collarless, but with belcher handkerchiefs twisted round their thick throats; many of them have the long, flat thieves' curl on the side of the face; nearly all have the hair cut close round the nape of the neck: costermongers, butchers, the scum and refuse of the population; dirty, half-starved, in clothes whose looped and windowed raggedness93 would be dear at half-a-crown for the whole lot. These be the gallant94 sporting-men, without the slightest knowledge of or care for sport, who, in order to enable them to bet their half-crowns on a race, empty tradesmen's tills, burst into our houses, and "put the hug" on us in the open street.
Of course this class was unrepresented in the great gathering95 at Baden; but there was a large influx96 of people who had never been seen there before. They filled the hotels and lodging-houses; they swaggered over the promenades97; they lounged about the Kursaal, outraging99 the dignity of the officials by talking and laughing loudly; and they played at the tables, slapping their coins down with a ring, or motioning and calling to the grave croupiers "just to hook 'em that louy they'd left behind." They were a cause of great offence to Tommy Toshington, on whom Gilbert lighted on the morning after his arrival at the springs, where the old gentleman was holding a tumbler of very nasty water with a very shaky hand, and, in default of having anyone to talk to, was vainly endeavouring for the five-hundredth time to find out the meaning of some very tremendous frescoes100 in front of him.
"I've been in the habit of comin' to this place for an immense number of years, and thought I could go on till I died. Devilish comfortable quarters I've got at the Roossy, and nice amusin' place I've always found it; but I must give it up, by George! I can't stand the set of racin'-fellows that come here now, 'pon my soul I can't! God knows who they are, my good fellow. You, who go about to all these what-do-you-call-'em meetings, you may know some of 'em; but I, who only toddle101 down to the Derby and Ascot on Sumphington's drag, and get over to Goodwood when the Dook's good enough to ask me--I've never set eyes on any of 'em before."
"Well, but how do they annoy you, Toshington?" asked Gilbert, who was rather amused at this outbreak on the old gentleman's part.
"They don't actually annoy me, except by bein' such a dam low-bred lot, yahooin' all over the place. And to think of 'em comin' just now, when we were so pleasant. It's rather late in the season, to be sure; but there's a very nice set of people here. My Lady Carabas is here, but that youknew, of course; and the Dook and Duchess of Winchester, and the Dashwoods, and the Grevilles, and the Alsagers, and Tom Gregory and half the First. It's monstrous102 pleasant, you can't think!"
"It must be," said Gilbert quietly. "So new and fresh and charming. Such a change, too, for you all, not to see anybody you are accustomed to meet in London,--it must be delightful103. Goodbye, Toshington; I'm going in for rusticity104, and intend to have a turn before breakfast."
Although Mr. Toshington's sense of humour was very slight, and although he took most things au pied de la letter, he detected some sarcasm105 in Gilbert's remarks, and looked after him from under scowling106 brows. "That's another of 'em," he muttered; "another of your horse-racin' customers, though he is in society, and all that. Damme if I know how they let 'em in; I don't, by George! They'd as soon have thought of lettin' a fiddler, or a painter, or a fellow of that sort into society when I was a young man. But it's best to keep in with this one; he has the orderin' of everything at Etchingham's, and might leave me out of many a good thing if he chose to be disagreeable." So saying, the old worldling finished his second glass of Brunnenwasser, paid his kreutzers, audibly cursed the coinage of the country in a select mixture of the English and German languages prepared expressly by him for his own use, and departed.
Mr. Toshington was perfectly right in stating that the Marchioness of Carabas was enthroned in great state at Baden, but wrong in imagining that Gilbert Lloyd was aware of that fact. Truth to tell, there had been a slight misunderstanding, what is vulgarly but intelligibly107 called a "tiff," between her ladyship and Lloyd, and for a few weeks past he had not been enlightened as to her movements. The fact was, that when Lloyd had sufficiently used the grand dameas a means to various business ends, as a stepping-stone to certain objects which without her aid he would have been unable to reach, he began to find his position rather a wearying one. It was pleasant to be the custodian108 and hierophant of the Soul while it served his purpose, but it was dreary109 work when that purpose was achieved, and his interest in the Soul's owner was consequently gone. He attended at the shrine110 as regularly as ever for reasons of policy, but his policy was not sufficiently strong to keep him from occasionally gaping111 and betraying other signs of weariness. Lady Carabas was too observant a woman not to mark this immediately on its first occurrence, but she thought it might be accidental, and determined to wait a repetition of it before speaking. The repetition very shortly afterwards took place, and even then her ladyship did not speak. After a little reflection she determined on adopting another plan. She resolved upon taking to herself someone else who should be admitted into the mysteries of the Soul. This, she thought, would capitally answer a double purpose; it would tend to her amusement--and she was beginning to feel the want of a little novelty, she confessed to herself--and would probably have the effect of rendering112 Gilbert Lloyd jealous. A little time showed the result. In the turf-idiom which she had learned of Lloyd, and which she sometimes used in self-communion, she acknowledged that "while the first event had come off all right, the second had gone to grief;" which, being interpreted, meant that while she (Lady Carabas) was thoroughly113 amused, and indeed at the height of one of her Platonic114 flirtations with the new possessor of the Soul (a young man in the Foreign Office, with lovely hair parted in the middle, charming whiskers, and brilliant teeth), he (Gilbert Lloyd) had not shown the smallest symptom of jealousy116. On the contrary, Gilbert Lloyd was unfeignedly glad to find that his place had been satisfactorily filled up, and that he would no longer be constantly required to be on escort-duty. And when Lady Carabas found that this was the case--and she discovered it very quickly, being a woman of great worldly penetration117 and tact--she made up her mind that the best thing for her to do was to accept the position at once, and give Lloyd his liberty. This accordingly she did; and when they met at Baden,
as Lord Houghton says in a very charming little poem, though there was an echo of bygone tenderness, of the voice of the Soul, in fact, pervading118 her ladyship's tones for many a day after. Meantime she was the queen of a very pleasant little coterie119. Half the frequenters of Carabas House did a little passing homage120 at her ladyship's temporary court at Baden on their way to and from the other watering-places. The promenade98 contained types of all the people usually seen seated on the Hyde-Park chairs, with a large sprinkling of others never seen in that aristocratic locality. For though H.R.H. the Duke of Brentford, the captains and commanders and mighty121 men of valour, the senators, the clerks in the government offices, and the nothing-doers have plenty of time to lounge about in London, the working-bees--the judges and barristers, the doctors, the civil-engineers, the cunning workers in ink and pigment122, all of whom grind their brains to make their bread--have no such opportunity when in town, and are only seen idling in daylight during their brief autumn holiday. "Society"--except that Carabas-House set, which knew them very well--stared very much at most of these people, and called Jack71 Hawkes of the F. O. to its aid to explain who they were; and Jack Hawkes, who was only too delighted to act as cicerone to society when it had a handle to its name, explained, "Tall man with the round high shoulders and the long gray hair is great lady's doctor, don't you know? uses up three pair of horses a-day whippin' about town; that's his wife and daughter with him--think her pretty, the daughter? nice-lookin' they call her. The man with the red face, not him in the white hat--that's Kollum the portrait-painter; that one in the wideawake is Sir Blewson Bagge, one of the judges--say he knows more law than any other three men in England The fat man with the cigar is Protheroe, and the man talkin' to him dressed all in black is Tuberville; they're great engineers--one laid out the John o' Groat's and Land's End Extension Line, and the other designed the Channel-Islands Submarine Railway. Wonderful how they stick together, those railway fellows; if one knows a good thing he tells the other of it, and they hunt in couples to keep other fellows off the game. Tuberville's son has married Protheroe's daughter; and the money that's there passes all count. There are two writin' chaps comin' this way; they belong to the Kresse, that blackguard paper that attacks everybody, don't you know? Don't look bad fellows, do they? and they're always laughin' and keepin' it up at the Badischer. Who's the little round fat fellow they've stopped and are talkin' to?--that's Bellows123 of the Old-Bailey Bar; first-rate in his business, and such good company; and the man with him of course you know? No! Why that's Finchington, the light comedian124 of the Minerva. Yes, he does look different in the daylight, as you say. These? No, these are people who have come over for the races, and I don't know anything about them. We must get Lloyd to give us that information.--Here, Lloyd, come and tell her grace who are these odd people who are coming this way; they're turf-people, I suppose, so you'll know all about them."
But Gilbert Lloyd, objecting very much to be patronised either by Mr. Hawkes or the great people to whom that social barnacle had temporarily attached himself, declared his inability to perform the duties assigned to him, and took himself off with a bow. It was the night before the first race-day, and all the Baden world was enjoying itself on the promenade in front of the Kursaal. There had been a grand excursion-party that day to the Favourite, a party of which Lady Carabas had been the reigning125 star, and after a delightful outing they had returned, and were now formed into a large group, laughing and talking loudly. Gilbert Lloyd carefully avoided these people, and steered126 equally clear of another group in the midst of which the Duchess of Winchester was enthroned. These two great ladies had never much liked each other, and when they met at Baden their antagonism127 was patent, and their rivalry128 openly declared. Each had her circle of admirers, and whatever one did the other tried to outdo. The Winchester faction129 having heard that the Carabas people were going that day to the Favourite, had themselves had a picnic at Eberstein Schloss, and both were now planning their next day's diversion at the races.
Gilbert Lloyd was in no humour to join either of these parties at that moment, though each would have been glad to have secured him as an adherent130. He was in a bad temper, having just had some sharp words with Lord Ticehurst on a question on which that young nobleman a few weeks since would not have dared to offer an opinion. Just before they left town for Doncaster, Lloyd had dismissed a groom131; the man appealed to Lord Ticehurst in a letter. This letter Lloyd opened, read, and contemptuously threw into the fire. The man heard of this, and made a fresh appeal to his lordship, setting forth the treatment his former letter had received, and defying Lloyd to deny it. This letter was forwarded to Lord Ticehurst at Baden, and made him exceedingly angry. He went at once to Lloyd, and spoke very plainly, said that he would not be treated like a child, that all letters addressed to him--no matter on what subject--should be brought to him, and even hinted that on their return to England Lloyd's position and responsibility must be more exactly defined.
"It was that infernal Maitland's hint that he can't swallow," said Lloyd, as he seated himself at an empty table on the verge132 of the crowd and ordered some brandy. "He referred to it just now when he said he wouldn't be treated like a child. O he's never spoken to me like that since we've been together.--Here!" to the waiter who brought the brandy, "encore; another of these carafons.. What's the good of a drop like that to a man!--He's never been the same since that night he dined with those fellows, after he had been over to that place to-- Lord! I forgot--to propose to her!Of course shemust be mixed up in everything that's unlucky for me! How I wish I'd never set eyes on her! how I wish--What the devil does this fellow want!"
"This fellow" was a short, square-built man of about fifty years of age, with sunken eyes, a sharp-pointed133 nose, and a close-cut beard, the original red colour of which was fast fading into gray. His seedy clothes were of a foreign and fantastic cut, and round his neck he wore a long, dirty-white cravat134, folded quite flat, and wonderfully neatly135 tied, and fastened in front with a flashy mock pin. "This fellow" had been hanging round the table for some time, dodging136 in and out so as to get a better view of its occupant in the dim light. At length, when Gilbert Lloyd raised his head and looked up at the strange figure, "this fellow" seemed to be satisfied, and shambling up to the table, placed his hands upon it, leaned over, and said in a thick, husky voice,
"Gilbert Lloyd!"
"I thought you would not know me," said the stranger with a laugh, "none of my old pals do; at least, most don't, and some won't, so it don't make much--"
"Stay," interrupted Lloyd; "I know you now; knew you directly you threw your head back and I saw your cravat. There's only one man in the world can tie a neckerchief like that, or get its folds to lie as flat. You're Foxey Walker."
"I am that same," said the stranger; "at least, I was when I was alive, for I'm nothing but a blessed old ghost now, I verily believe.--Here, you fellow, bring some brandy; Cognac, you know!--I ain't of much 'count now, Lloyd, and that's a fact." He was shabby and bloated and shaky, altogether very different from the tight, trim little Foxey, who was found leaning over the rails on Brighton Esplanade at the commencement of this story.
"Ah, I remember," said Lloyd; "you came to grief the Derby before last, in the Prior's year?"
"I did so. Went a regular mucker. That was a bad business, sir; a regular bad business. I could show you my book now. There were men that I dropped my money to over that Epsom Meetin' that had owed me hundreds--ay, hundreds on other events. I'd always given them time, much as they wanted, I had; but when I asked 'em for it then--for I had a rattlin' good book for Ascot, and some good things later on in the season--O no, not a bit of it! 'Pay up,' they says, 'pay up!' All devilish fine; I couldn't pay up--so I bolted."
"Ah, recollect perfectly your being proclaimed a defaulter," said Lloyd pleasantly. "It made rather a talk at the time, you were so well known. What have you been doing since?"
"Well, I've been cadgin' about on the Continent, doin' what I could to keep body and soul together.--You're goin' to pay for this brandy, you know? I suppose you don't mind standin' another go? all right.--But there's little enough to be done. I ain't much good at cards; and, besides, there's nothing to be done with them unless you get among the swells in the clubs and that, and that's not likely; and there's not much to be picked up off the foreigners at billiards138, let alone their not playing our game. I've won a little on the red and black here and there, and I've come across an old friend now and again who's helped me with a fiver or so."
"You don't speak in riddles139, Foxey," said Lloyd with a half-laugh. "You make your meaning tolerably clear. I must not be worse than the others, I suppose; so here, catch hold;" and he took a couple of bank-notes from his pocket-book and handed them to his companion.
"Thank'ee, Lloyd," said Foxey, pocketing the money. "I ain't proud, and hadn't need to be. Besides, you've become a tremendous swell78 since you got hold of young Ticehurst, eh? I see your name regular in Bell amongst the nobs. Rather different from what we reck'lect in the old days: 'Ten to one, bar one!'--don't you remember?" and Foxey put his hand to the side of his mouth and shouted loudly in imitation of the worthies140 of the outer ring.
"Ye-es," said Lloyd, who did not at all relish141 being told that he had "got hold of" anybody, and who was much disgusted by Foxey's recollections and performance. "Yes," said he, rising from his chair as he spoke; "I think I must go now."
"Must you?" said Foxey, who had become very much flushed and invigorated by the brandy; "must you? That's a bore, that is, for I had somethin' very particular to say to you; somethin' that concerns you much more than it does me; somethin'," added Foxey, looking hazily142 at his companion, "that would be d--d awkward for you if it got blown. Don't you fear for me! I'm as close as wax, I am; only--however, I'll see you about it to-morrow or next day. Good-night, old fellow; compliments to my lord."
"Something that concerns me more than it does him? That would be awkward for me if it got blown? What the devil does he mean?" said Lloyd to himself, as he walked down the allée.. "Awkward for me?--the old brute143 was drunk, and did not know what he said. Probably a plant to get more money out of me. He couldknow nothing that would have the slightest bearing on me or my affairs. I daresay he'll try it on again when I see him next; but he'll find it difficult to draw me of any more money, more especially if he attempts to bounce me out of it."
The next day was bright and cheerful, and the little racecourse, though much sneered144 at by the "talent," served its purpose very well, and was thronged146 with a merry, animated147 crowd. The natives, to be sure, did not understand very much what it was all about. The women cried, "Ach, Herr Je!" at the sight of the tight little English jocks stripping off their outer coats and appearing in all the glory of flashing silk; and the men took their pipes from their mouths and swore "Donnerwetter!" as the horses went thundering by. The Winchester and Carabas faction had each one side of the little stand, the leaders exchanged sweet hand-kissings, the followers148 bowed and grinned and nodded with all the warmth and sincerity149 which form the basis of our social relations. Lady Carabas, as usual, wore pink; the Duchess of Winchester, who was very fair and petite, wore blue; and the retainers followed suit. Mr. Toshington was as much divided in his allegiance and as much perplexed150 to know which colour to sport as a London cabman on the morning of the University boat-race. He had enjoyed the hospitality of both houses, and indeed had earned many a good dinner by carrying tattle from one to the other; but up to this time he had never been called upon to make his election, to say "under which queen;" and those who were in the secret, in which category was included everyone present, were greatly amused to see the difficulty which the old gentleman had in trimming his sails and steering151 his course in safety. There were some who, unlike Tommy Toshington, were independent, who sided with neither party, but were friendly and familiar with both. Among those were Lord Ticehurst--who, though bound by family ties to Lady Carabas, never allowed his clanship to "mix him up in any of her ladyship's rum starts," as he phrased it--and Gilbert Lloyd, whose worn and haggard appearance was the cause of much solicitude152 and anxious inquiry153 from Lady Carabas. Lloyd appeared rather annoyed at the prononcémanner which her ladyship adopted towards him, and at which some of the most daring followers smiled, more especially when the reigning favourite, the gentleman in the Foreign Office, looked very much displeased154. He seemed very much happier when at a later period in the day he found himself seated by the Duchess of Winchester, who rallied him with much piquancy155 on his defection.
"I am astonished at you, Mr. Lloyd, quite astonished," she said laughingly. "Do you know we used to call you the Undying One!"
"Well, you could not call Toshington that, could you, Duchess?" said Gilbert; "look how very purple his whiskers are in the sunlight."
"No, no, of course I don't mean that; how can you be so absurd? You know our dear friend opposite is like somebody in old time I read of once, who used to kill her admirers regularly at the end of a certain time. It's a notorious fact that--over there--no flirtation115 lasts longer than twelve months, and we call you the Undying One because you have held undisputed sway over that Soul for--O, it must be years! And now, after all this, you have the baseness to shut your ears to the voice of the charmer--we saw the spell tried on an hour ago--and to come over here!"
"I don't think there's much harm done, Duchess, even if all were as you say, which I am very far from admitting. Calypso is the only instance on record of a woman who 'ne pouvait se consoler après le depart' of anyone she liked. I am certain that no lady of modern days would be so weak."
"Ah, I know what you mean; you mean Mr. Pennington. Well, he's very good-looking, certainly, in his own red-and-white way, but he's insufferably stupid; and a stupid man, however handsome he may be, always bores me to death. I-- Who is this dreadful man down here? Is it to you or to me he's making those horrible grimaces156?"
Lloyd looked over in the direction in which the Duchess pointed, and to his horror saw Mr. Foxey Walker, who apparently had had a great deal too much to drink, whose fantastic clothes looked infinitely157 shabbier and seedier in the daylight than they had on the previous evening, and who was throwing up his arms, endeavouring to attract the attention of someone in the stand. Foxey no sooner saw that Gilbert Lloyd had recognised him than he approached the stand, and called out, "Hi, Lloyd! hollo there, Lloyd! Just come and pass me up there, will you? I want to speak to you."
"It's to you he's calling, Mr. Lloyd!" said the Duchess, arching her pretty eyebrows158 and making a little moueof astonishment159.
"What a strange-looking creature! who in the world is he?"
"He's a poor half-witted fellow, an old friend of mine, Duchess," said Lloyd with the utmost calmness. "He is a man of family, and once had a large fortune; but he lost every sixpence on the turf, and that quite turned his brain. He's eccentric, as you see, but perfectly harmless; a few of us make him a little allowance, on which he lives, and he thinks this gives him a claim upon us, poor fellow! I--Yes, yes; I'm coming!" he called to Mr. Foxey, for that gentleman had recommenced bellowing160, "Hi, Lloyd!" with redoubled vehemence161; "I'm coming!--I think I had better go down and calm him, Duchess, if you will excuse me." And with a bow Gilbert Lloyd leisurely retreated from the stand.
He smiled so pleasantly--he knew he was still under observation--at Mr. Foxey, who was waiting for him in front, that that worthy162, who had been somewhat doubtful of the wisdom of the course he had pursued, felt perfectly reassured163 and said, "Hallo, Gil., my boy! sorry to call you away from such stunnin' company; but I want a word with you." It was not until they had walked a few paces and were well out of sight of the people in the stand that Lloyd caught his companion tightly by the arm, and said, "You infernal drunken old idiot, how dare you come and annoy me when you saw me with my friends?"
"Come, I say, drop that," said Foxey, "you're pullin' my arm off; don't you hear?"
"You scoundrel, I'll have your head off if you don't take care! What fool's game is up now? What do you want with me? Have you anything really to say, or is it only to repeat the rubbish of last night?"
"What rubbish? what did I say last night? I didn't--no, of course I didn't; I recollect now. I know what I'm doin' fast enough, and what I can do."
"And I know what I can do, and what I will do too, if you interrupt me again when I'm talking with friends, and that is, have you moved off the course by the gend'armes as a drunken nuisance."
"O, that's it, is it?" said Foxey, glowering164 at him, and speaking in a dull thick voice. "Moved off the course! a drunken nuisance, eh? You'll sing a very different toon to this, Master Lloyd, before I've done with you. O, you can't come the high jeff over me," he continued, raising his tone; "for all your standin' in with big swells now; we know what you were once; we know--"
"Will you be quiet, you old fool, and say what you want?" said Gilbert, turning fiercely upon him.
"What I want? Ah, that's more like it! What I want? Well, that's easily told, and that's more than most people can say. What I want is money."
"I gave you money last night--more than you can have spent, or ought to have spent."
"Ah, that's more like it: what I canspend--Well, no matter. However, that's not the way I mean in which I want money. Look here, Gilbert Lloyd; I'm tired of this cadging165 life; I'm sick of hikin' up and down from one gamblin'-place to another; I'm disgusted with the Continent, and the foreigners, all the lot of 'em."
"Yes," replied Foxey, in perfect good faith, "I am thoroughly. What I long for is to get back to England, to see my old pals, to lead my old life."
"Indeed," sneered Gilbert again; "but from what I understand from you there would be some difficulty in carrying out that pleasant little arrangement."
"None that you couldn't help me to settle at once. They all think their money's clean gone; but if I'm to come on the turf again, it would never do for me to come out as a welsher, so I must pay 'em something; but ever so little would square it. Then, if I just had a little trifle in hand to start with, and you gave me the office when you knew of a good thing--and you must hear lots, havin' the management of that young swell's stable--well, I should do as right as ninepence."
There was a minute's pause, and then Lloyd said:
"You are a great creature, Mr. Walker, a very great creature, and your power of sketching166 out a happy future is something wonderful. But to my great astonishment I find that I play a part in this notable scheme of your life, and that its being carried out successfully wholly depends upon me. Now, we may as well understand each other clearly, and at once. From me you'll never get another sixpence."
Foxey started, looked hard at his companion, and said, "You mean that?"
"No," said Lloyd, "I don't mean it literally167; I'll give you another ten pounds on the day I leave this place."
It was Foxey's turn to sneer now. "That's generous of you," he said, "regular generous; but you always were a free-handed fellow with your money, Lloyd. I reck'lect we used to say in the old days how pleased you always were to have to part. Now look here," he cried, changing his tone; "I will have all I've asked from you: the money to square it with those fellows, the sum to start fresh with the straight tips from young Ticehurst's stable; I'll have this, or else--"
"Or what else?" asked Gilbert Lloyd, without any alteration168 in his usual calm manner.
"Or else I'll ruin you, root and branch; horse and foot; stock, lock, and barrel! You laugh and sneer; you think I can't do it? I tell you I can."
"You tell me a pack of lies and blather. You begun last night, and you've done nothing else for the last half-hour. How can you do it?"
"By blowing the gaff on you; by telling something I know which would make all these swells cut you and hunt you out of society; which would--"
"There, there's enough of this!" cried Lloyd, interrupting him; "my time's too valuable to waste over such trash. It's the old game of hush-money for a secret, after all. I should have thought you would have known some better dodge169 than that, Master Foxey, after all the life you've seen. If you were going in for the extortion-of-money business in your old age, you might have learned something fresher than that very stale device. Now, be off, and give me a wider berth170 for the future, if you're wise. Your drunken stupidity--for I suppose you would not have acted thus if you had not taken to drink--has lost you ten pounds. Take care it does not get you a horsewhipping." As he said these words he turned shortly on his heel and strode away.
Foxey looked after him, his face lit up with rage and disappointment. "All right, my fine-fellow," he muttered, shaking his fist at the fast-receding figure; "all right; you will have it, and you shall. It will be quite enough to cook your goose as it is; but if I'd only had time to learn a little more, I think I could have hanged you."
There was a little extra excitement in the rooms that night. Count Nicolaeff, a Russian nobleman who had on two previous occasions broken the bank, had returned to Baden, and was playing with a boldness and success which augured171 the repetition of the feat. A crowd was gathered round him as he sat, calm and composed, quietly gathering the rouleauxwhich the croupiers pushed across to him. In this crowd was Lloyd; the qualities which the Russian was displaying were just those to excite his admiration172, and he was watching every movement and trying to account for each calculation of the gambler, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked round and saw Dolly Clarke, the sporting-lawyer, who beckoned173 him away.
Gilbert was annoyed at the interruption. "Not just now," he said impatiently; "I'll come to you later."
"Come this instant," said Dolly Clarke; and there was something in his tone that made Gilbert Lloyd leave the table and follow him into the open space outside. By the lamp-light Lloyd saw that Clarke was very pale; noticed also that he stood back as if avoiding contact with him.
"What is it?" asked Lloyd. "It should be something special by your tone and manner, Clarke?"
"It is something special," replied Clarke; "it is a matter of life or death for you. Do you know a man called Foxey Walker?"
"Pshaw! is that all?" said Lloyd, whose heart had failed him at the solemnity of his companion's manner, and whose courage now as suddenly revived. "Is that all? Yes, I know him; a defaulting ring-man, a mere common 'welsher.' I saw him on the course to-day, and he threatened me that if I did not give him money he would expose something in my past life--some trick or dodge I practised, I suppose, when I was in the ring, and had to be a sharp practitioner174 to hold my own with my fellows. That's all, eh?"
"No," said Clarke earnestly, "nothing of the sort; the man has made a revelation, but not of the kind you imagine--a thousand times more serious. There's never been much love lost between you and me, Lloyd, and you may wonder why I'm here to counsel and help you; so understand at once, it's for Ticehurst's sake; you're so mixed up with him that any public exposéwould be the deuce and all for him."
"What do you mean by public exposé, Mr. Clarke? what do you--"
"Stop; don't bounce--it won't do. Do you remember when we dined at Richmond six weeks ago, you answered me very sharply because I asked why you never went to Brighton now? I've always had my own opinion on that matter; but I don't chatter175, and I kept it to myself. This man Walker stopped Ticehurst and me as we were coming from the course, and begged so earnestly for an interview that Ticehurst listened to him. I need not go into all he said; it appears he had his suspicions too, and determined to trade on them; went the next year to your old lodgings176, pumped the landlady177; saw the doctor who attended Harvey Gore; has been working it since he left England through friends; and has made up a case which, if not positive, is at all events infernally suspicious."
"What--what did Etchingham say about it?" asked Lloyd.
"I never saw a fellow so completely knocked over in all my life. You know he is not strong-minded, and he--well, he funks death, and that kind of thing, and--"
"Does he believe it? what does he say about me?"
"He does believe it fully, and he says he will never set eyes on you again. I see--your eyes are blazing--you see there's nothing proved, and your place is too good a one to give up on mere suspicion? You'll say you'll have the matter sifted178, and all that. Don't; take my advice--given as a lawyer who sees queer things in his practice--drop it, clear out of this at once, get over to England, make up Ticehurst's accounts, and then get away to Australia, America--anywhere!"
"Thank you; and leave my 'place,' as you call it, to you, eh?" It was the last remaining touch of bravado179 in his voice, bravado belied180 by the ashy paleness of his face, and the set rigidity181 of his mouth.
"To me! I'm a lawyer, not a turfite. Pshaw! don't try to humbug182 any longer--you're too clever a man. You can post over to Carlsruhe to-night, and get straight through to-morrow. I'll come with you to the hotel; I promised Ticehurst I'd see you off. Come."
Gilbert Lloyd saw that there was no use in fighting the question any longer. He felt as though his career was at its close, as though he should drop as rapidly as he had risen. He turned on his heel and walked towards the hotel, Dolly Clarke walking by his side. It was all over, then? The position he had gained for himself amid the envy and hatred183 of all his compeers was shattered at its base, and--
No! Before he reached the hotel-door, he had carefully searched his hand, and found in it one last trump-card, which he determined on playing directly he arrived in England.
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1
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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retrospect
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| n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯 | |
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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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supplant
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| vt.排挤；取代 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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ace
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| n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的 | |
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recalcitrant
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| adj.倔强的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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adept
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| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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affronted
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| adj.被侮辱的，被冒犯的v.勇敢地面对( affront的过去式和过去分词 )；相遇 | |
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knuckle
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| n.指节；vi.开始努力工作；屈服，认输 | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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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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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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meddling
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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pals
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| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
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gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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portents
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| n.预兆( portent的名词复数 )；征兆；怪事；奇物 | |
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deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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48
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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49
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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50
absconding
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| v.（尤指逃避逮捕）潜逃，逃跑( abscond的现在分词 ) | |
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51
acquiescent
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| adj.默许的，默认的 | |
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52
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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53
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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54
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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55
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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56
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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57
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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58
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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59
deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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61
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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62
blasphemy
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| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
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63
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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64
gore
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| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
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65
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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66
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
stentorian
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| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
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68
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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69
condoled
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| v.表示同情，吊唁( condole的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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71
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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72
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
compassionate
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| adj.有同情心的，表示同情的 | |
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74
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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75
reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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76
gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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77
swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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78
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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79
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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80
colloquy
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| n.谈话，自由讨论 | |
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81
rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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82
rankled
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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84
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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85
offhand
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| adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的 | |
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86
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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88
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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89
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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90
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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91
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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92
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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93
raggedness
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| 破烂，粗糙 | |
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94
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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95
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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96
influx
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| n.流入，注入 | |
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97
promenades
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| n.人行道( promenade的名词复数 )；散步场所；闲逛v.兜风( promenade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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98
promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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99
outraging
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的现在分词 ) | |
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100
frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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101
toddle
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| v.（如小孩）蹒跚学步 | |
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102
monstrous
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|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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103
delightful
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|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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104
rusticity
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| n.乡村的特点、风格或气息 | |
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105
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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106
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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107
intelligibly
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| adv.可理解地，明了地，清晰地 | |
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108
custodian
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| n.保管人，监护人；公共建筑看守 | |
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109
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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110
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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111
gaping
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|
| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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112
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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113
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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114
platonic
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| adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的 | |
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115
flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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116
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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117
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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118
pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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119
coterie
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| n.(有共同兴趣的)小团体，小圈子 | |
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120
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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121
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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122
pigment
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| n.天然色素，干粉颜料 | |
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123
bellows
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| n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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124
comedian
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| n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员 | |
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125
reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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126
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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127
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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128
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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129
faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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130
adherent
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| n.信徒，追随者，拥护者 | |
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131
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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132
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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133
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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134
cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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135
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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136
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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137
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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138
billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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139
riddles
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| n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜 | |
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140
worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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141
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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142
hazily
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| ad. vaguely, not clear | |
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143
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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144
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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145
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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146
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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147
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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148
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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149
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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150
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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151
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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152
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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153
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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154
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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155
piquancy
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| n.辛辣，辣味，痛快 | |
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156
grimaces
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| n.（表蔑视、厌恶等）面部扭曲，鬼脸( grimace的名词复数 )v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的第三人称单数 ) | |
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157
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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158
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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159
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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160
bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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161
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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162
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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163
reassured
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|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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164
glowering
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| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
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165
cadging
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| v.乞讨，乞得，索取( cadge的现在分词 ) | |
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166
sketching
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| n.草图 | |
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167
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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168
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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169
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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170
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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171
augured
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| v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的过去式和过去分词 )；成为预兆；占卜 | |
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172
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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173
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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174
practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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175
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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176
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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177
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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178
sifted
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| v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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179
bravado
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| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
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180
belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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181
rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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182
humbug
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| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
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183
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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