He contented5 himself with a word of disgust, therefore, chucked the rein6 impatiently--since justice has its limits--and began to lead the horse down the descent, which a short sward rendered slippery. But he had not gone many paces before he halted. The horse's painful limp and the sweat that broke out on its shoulders indicated that two broken knees were not the worst of the damage. The man let the rein go, resigned himself to the position, and, shrugging his shoulders, scanned the scene before him.
The accident had happened on the south side of the long swell7 of chalk hills which the traveller had been mounting for an hour past; and scarcely a stone's-throw below the ruined wind-mill that had been his landmark8 for leagues. To right and left of him, under a pale-blue sky, the breezy, open down, carpeted with wild thyme and vetches, and alive with the hum of bees, stretched in long soft undulations, marred9 by no sign of man save a second and a third wind-mill ranged in line on the highest breasts. Below him the slope of sward and fern, broken here by a solitary10 blackthorn, there by a clump11 of whin and briars, swept gently down to a shallow wide valley--almost a plain--green and thickly wooded, beyond which the landscape rose again slowly and imperceptibly into uplands. Through this wide valley flowed from left to right a silvery river, its meandering12 course marked by the lighter13 foliage14 of willows15 and poplars; and immediately below the traveller a cluster of roofless hovels on the bank seemed to mark a ford16.
On all the hill about him, on the slopes of thyme, and heather, and yellow gorse, the low sun was shining--from his right, and from a little behind him, so that his shadow stretched far across the sward. But in the valley about the river and the ford evening was beginning to fall, grey, peaceful, silent. For a time his eyes roved hither and thither17, seeking a halting-place of more promise than the ruined cots; and at length they found what they sought. He marked, rising from a mass of trees a little beyond the ford, a thin curl of smoke, so light, so grey, as to be undiscoverable by any but the sharpest eyes--but his were of the sharpest. The outline of the woods at the same point indicated a clearing within a wide loop of the river; and putting the one with the other, des Ageaux--for it was he--came to a fair certainty that a house of some magnitude lay hidden there.
At any rate he saw no better chance of shelter. It was that of the ruined hovels and the roadside, and taking the rein once more, he led the horse down the hill, and in the first dusk of the evening crossed the pale clear water on stepping-stones. He suffered the horse to stand awhile in the stream and drink and cool its legs amid the dark, waving masses of weed. Then he urged it up the bank, and led it along the track, that was fast growing dim, and grey, and lonesome.
The horse moved painfully, knuckling18 over at every step. Yet night had not quite fallen when the traveller, plodding19 along beside it, saw two stone pillars standing20 gaunt and phantom-like on the left of the path. Each bore aloft a carved escutcheon, and in that weird21 half-light and with a backing of dark forest trees the two might have been taken for ghosts. Their purpose, however, was plain, for they flanked the opening, at right angles to his path, of a rough road, at the end of which, at a distance of some ten score paces from the pillars, appeared an open gateway22 framed in a dim wall. No more than that, for above was the pale sky, and on either hand the black line of trees hedged the narrow picture.
The traveller peered awhile at the escutcheons. But gathering23 darkness and the lichens24 which covered the stone foiled him, and he was little the wiser when he turned down the avenue. When he had traversed a half of its length the trees fell back on either hand, and revealed the sullen26 length of a courtyard wall, and rising within it, a little on his right, a dark mass of building, compact in the main of two round towers, of the date of Philip Augustus, with some additions of more modern times. The effect of the pile, viewed in that half-light, was gloomy if not forbidding; but the open gateway, the sled-marks that led to it, and the wisps of hay which strewed27 the road, no less than the broken yoke28 that hung in the old elm beside the entrance--all these, which the Lieutenant29's eyes were quick to discern, seemed to offer a more homely30 and more simple welcome.
A silent welcome, nevertheless, borne on the scent4 of new-mown, half-gathered hay; a scent which des Ageaux was destined31 to associate ever after with this beginning of an episode, and with his entrance in the gloaming, amid quiet things. Slowly he passed under the gateway, leading the halting horse. Fallen hay, swept from the cart by the brow of the arch, deadened his footfalls, and before he was discovered he was able to appreciate the enclosure, half courtyard, half fold-yard, sloping downward from the house and shut in on the other sides by a tile-roofed wall. At the lower end on his left were stalls, and sheds, and stables, and a vague, mysterious huddle32 of ploughs and gear, and feeding beasts, and farm refuse. Between this mass--to which the night began to lend strange forms--and the great, towered house which loomed33 black against the sky, lay the slope of the court, broken midway by the walled marge of a swell something Italian in fashion, and speaking of more prosperous days. On this there sat, as the traveller saw, two figures.
And then one only. For as he looked, uncertain whether to betake himself first to the stables of the house, one of the two figures sprang from the wall-edge, and came bounding to him with hands upraised, flying skirts, a sharp cry of warning.
"Oh, take care, Charles!" it cried. "Go back before M. le Vicomte comes!"
Then, at six paces from him, she knew him for a stranger, and the last word fell scarcely breathed from her lips; while he, knowing her for a girl, and young by her voice, uncovered. "I seek only a night's shelter," he said stiffly. "Pardon me, mademoiselle, the alarm I fear I have caused you. My horse slipped on the hill, and is unable to travel farther."
She stood staring at him in astonishment34, and until her companion at the well came forward made no reply. Something in the movements of this second figure as it crossed the court struck the eye as abnormal, but it was only when it came quite close that the stranger discovered that the lad before him was slightly hump-backed.
"You have met with a mischance," the youth said with awkward diffidence.
"Yes."
"Whatever the cause, you are welcome. Go, Bonne," the young man continued, addressing the girl, "it is better you went--and tell my father that a gentleman is here craving35 shelter. When I have stabled his horse I will bring him in. This way, if you please!" the lad continued, turning to lead the way to the stables, but casting from moment to moment timid looks at his guest. "The place is rough, but such as it is, it is at your service. Have you ridden far to-day, if it please you?"
"From Rochechouart."
"It is well we had not closed the gates," the youth answered shyly; "we close them an hour after sunset by rule. But to-day the men have been making hay, and we sup late."
The stranger expressed his obligation, and, following his guide, led his horse through one of the doors of a long range of stabling built against the western wall of the courtyard. Within all was dark, and he waited while his companion fetched a lanthorn. The light, when it came, disclosed a sad show of empty mangers, broken racks, and roof beams hung with cobwebs. Rain and sunshine, it was evident, entered through more holes than one, and round the men's heads a couple of bats, startled by the lanthorn-light, flitted noiselessly to and fro.
At the farther end of the place, the roof above three or four stalls showed signs of recent repair; and here the young man invited his guest to place his beast.
"But I shall be turning out your horses," the stranger objected.
The youth laughed a little awry36. "There's but my father's gelding," he said, "and old Panza the pony37. And they are in the ox-stable where they have company. This," he added, pointing to the roof, "was made good for my sister the Abbess's horses."
The guest nodded, and, after examining his beast's injuries, bathed its knees with fresh water; then producing a bandage from his saddle-bag he soaked it in the water and skilfully38 wound it round the strained fetlock. The lad held the lanthorn, envy, mingled39 with admiration40, growing in his eyes as he watched the other's skilled hands and method.
"You are well used to horses?" he said.
"Tolerably," des Ageaux answered, looking up. "Are not you?" For in those days it was an essential part of a gentleman's education.
The lad sighed. "Not to horses of this sort," he said, shrugging his shoulders. And des Ageaux took note of the sigh and the words, but said nothing. Instead he removed his sword and pistols from his saddle, and would have taken up his bags also, but the young man interposed and took possession of them. A moment and the two were crossing the darkened courtyard. The light of the lanthorn made it difficult to see aught beyond the circle of its rays, but the stranger noticed that the chateau41 consisted half of a steep-roofed house, and half of the two round towers he had seen; house and towers standing in one long line. Two rickety wooden bridges led across a moat to two doors, the one set in the inner of the two towers--probably this was the ancient entrance--the other in the more modern part.
On the bridge leading to the latter two serving-men with lights were awaiting them. The nearer domestic advanced, bowing. "M. le Vicomte will descend42 if"--and then, after a pause, speaking more stiffly, "M. le Vicomte has not yet heard whom he has the honour of entertaining."
"I have no pretensions43 to put him to the trouble of descending," the traveller answered politely. "Say if you please that a gentleman of Brittany seeks shelter for the night, and would fain pay his respects to M. le Vicomte at his convenience."
The servant bowed, and turning with ceremony, led the way into a bare, dimly-lit hall open to its steep oaken roof, and not measurably more comfortable or less draughty than the stable. Here and there dusty blazonings looked down out of the darkness, or rusty45 weapons left solitary in racks too large for them gave back gleams of light. In the middle of the stone floor a trestle table such as might have borne the weight of huge sirloins and great bustards, and feasted two score men-at-arms in the days of the great Francis, supported a litter of shabby odds46 and ends; old black-jacks jostling riding-spurs, and a leaping-pole lying hard by a drenching-horn. An open door on the tower side of the hall presented the one point of warmth in the apartment, for through it entered a stream of ruddy light and an odour that announced where the kitchen lay.
But if this were the dining-hall? If the guest felt alarm on this point he was soon reassured47. The servant conducted him up a short flight of six steps which rose in one corner. The hall, in truth, huge as it seemed in its dreary48 emptiness, was but one half of the original hall. The leftward half had been partitioned off and converted into two storeys--the lower story raised a little from the ground for the sake of dryness--of more modern chambers49. More modern; but if that into which the guest was ushered51, a square room not unhandsome in its proportions, stood for sample, scarcely more cheerful. The hangings on the walls were of old Sarazinois, but worn and faded to the colour of dust. Carpets of leather covered the floor, but they were in holes and of a like hue52; while the square stools clad in velvet53 and gilt-nailed, which stood against the walls, were threadbare of stuff and tarnished54 of nails. In winter, warmed by the ruddy blaze of a generous fire, and well sconced, and filled with pleasant company seated about a well-spread board, the room might have passed muster55 and even conduced to ease. But as the dusky frame of a table, lighted by four poor candles--that strove in vain with the vast obscurity--and set with no great, store of provision, it wore an air of meagreness not a whit56 removed from poverty.
The man who stood beside the table in the light of the candles, and formed the life of the picture, blended well with the furnishings. He was tall and thin, with stooping shoulders and a high-nosed face, that in youth had been masterful and now was peevish57 and weary. He wore a sword and much faded lace, and on the appearance of his guest moved forward a pace and halted, with the precision and stiffness of clockwork. "I have the honour," he began, "to welcome, I believe----"
"A gentleman of Brittany," des Ageaux answered, bowing low. It by no means suited his plans to be recognised. "And one, M. le Vicomte, who respectfully craves58 a night's hospitality."
"Which the chateau of Villeneuve-l'Abbesse," the Vicomte replied with grandeur59, "has often granted to the greatest, nor"--he waved his hand with formal grace--"ever refused to the meanest. They have attended, I trust," he continued with the air of one who, at the head of a great household, knows, none the less, how to think for his guests, "to your people, sir?"
"Alas60, M. le Vicomte," des Ageaux answered, a faint twinkle in his eyes belying61 the humility62 of his tone, "I have none; I am travelling alone."
"Alone?" The Vicomte repeated the word in a tone of wonder. "You have no servants with you--at all?"
"Alas--no."
"Is it possible?"
The Vicomte seemed by the droop64 of his shoulders to admit the plea; perhaps because the other's eyes strayed involuntarily to the shabby furniture. He shook his head gloomily. "Since Coutras----" he began, and then, considering that he was unbending too soon, he broke off. "You met with some accident, I believe, sir?" he said. "But first, I did not catch your name?"
"Des Voeux," the Lieutenant answered, adopting on the spur of the moment one somewhat like his own. "My horse fell and cut its knees on the hill about a mile beyond the ford. I much fear it has also strained a fetlock."
"It will not be fit to travel to-morrow, I doubt?"
The guest spread out his hands, intimating that time and the morrow must take care of themselves; or that it was no use to fight against fate.
"I must lend you something from the stables, then," the Vicomte answered; as if at least a score of horses stood at rack and manger in his stalls. "But I am forgetting your own needs, sir. Circumstances have thrown my household out of gear, and we sup late tonight. But we shall not need to wait long."
He had barely spoken when the two serving-men who had met the Lieutenant on the bridge entered, one behind the other, bearing with some pomp of circumstance a couple of dishes. They set these on the board, and withdrawing--not without leaving behind them a pleasant scent of new-mown hay--returned quickly bearing two more. Then falling back they announced by the mouth of the least meagre that my lord was served.
The meal which they announced, though home-grown and of the plainest, was sufficient, and des Ageaux, on the Vicomte's invitation, took his seat upon a stool at a nicely regulated distance below his host. As he did so the girl he had seen in the courtyard glided66 in by a side door and silently took her seat on the farther side of the table. Apparently67 the Vicomte thought his guest below the honour of an introduction, for he said nothing. And the girl only acknowledged the Lieutenant's respectful salutation by a bow.
The four candles shed a feeble light on the table, and left the greater part of the room in darkness. Des Ageaux could not see the girl well, and he got little more than an impression of a figure moderately tall and somewhat plump, and of a gentle, downcast face. Form and face owned, certainly, the charm of youth and freshness. But to eyes versed25 in the brilliance68 of a Court and the magnificence of grandes dames69 they lacked the more striking characteristics of beauty.
He gave her a thought, however, pondering while he gave ear to the Vicomte's querulous condescensions how so gentle a creature--for her gentleness and placidity70 struck him--came of so stiff and peevish a father. But that was all. Or it might have been all if as the thought passed through his mind his host had not abruptly71 changed the conversation and disclosed another side of his character.
"Where is Roger?" he asked, addressing the girl with sharpness.
"I do not know, sir," she murmured.
A retort seemed hovering72 on the Vicomte's lips, when the youth who had taken the guest to the stable, and had stayed without, perhaps to make some change in his rustic73 clothes, entered and slid timidly into his place beside his sister. He hoped, probably, to pass unseen, but the Vicomte, his great high nose twitching74, fixed75 him with his eyes and pointed76 inexorably at him, with a spoon held delicately between thumb and finger. "You would not think," he said with grim abruptness77, "that that--that, M. des Voeux, was son of mine?"
Des Ageaux started. "I fear," he said hastily, "that it was I, sir, who made him late. He was good enough to receive me."
"I can only assure you," the Vicomte replied with cruel wit, "that whoever made him late, it was not I who made him--as he is! The Villeneuves, till his day, I'd have you know, sir, have been straight and tall, and men of their hands, as ready with a blow as a word! Men to make their way in the world. But you see him! You see him! Can you," he continued, his eyes half-closed, dwelling78 on the lad, whose suffering was evident, "at Court? Or courting? Or stepping a pavanne? Or----"
"Father!"
The word burst from the girl's lips, drawn79 from her by sheer pain. The Vicomte turned to her with icy courtesy. "You spoke65, I think?" he said in a tone which rebuked80 her for the freedom on which she had ventured. "Just so. I was forgetting. We live so quietly here, we use so little ceremony with one another, that even I forget at times that family matters are not interesting to a stranger. Were my elder daughter here, M. des--ah, des Voeux, yes--my daughter the Abbess, who knows the world, and has some tincture of manners, and is not taken commonly for a waiting-woman, she would be able to entertain you better. But you see what we are. For," with a smirk81, "it were rude not to include myself with my family."
No wonder, the guest thought, as he listened, full of pity--no wonder the lad had spoken timidly and shyly, if this were the daily treatment he received! If poverty, working on pride, had brought the last of a great family to this--to repaying on the innocents who shared his decay the slings82 and arrows of unkind fortune! The girl's exclamation83, wrung84 from her by her brother's suffering, had gone to the Lieutenant's heart, though that heart was not of the softest. He would have given something to silence the bitter old tyrant85. But experience told him that he might make matters worse. He was no knight-errant, no rescuer of dames; and, after all, the Vicomte was their father. So while he hesitated, seeking in vain a safe subject, the sharp tongue was at work again.
"I would like you to see my elder daughter," the Vicomte resumed with treacherous86 blandness87. "She has neither a ploughboy's figure, nor," slowly, "a dairymaid's speech. Her manners are quite like those of the world. She might go anywhere, even to Court, where she has been, without rendering88 herself the subject of ridicule89 and contempt. It is truly unfortunate for us"--with a bow--"that you cannot see her."
"She is not at home?" the Lieutenant said for the sake of saying something. He was full of pity for the girl whose face, now red, now pale, betrayed how she suffered under the discipline.
"She does not live at home," the Vicomte answered. And then--with curious inconsistency he now hid and now declared his poverty--"We have not much left of which we can be proud," he continued, "since the battle of Coutras seven years back took from the late King's friends all they had. But the Abbey of Vlaye is still our appanage. My elder daughter is the Abbess."
"It lies, I think, near Vlaye?"
"Yes, some half-league from Vlaye and three leagues from here. You have heard of Vlaye, then, Monsieur--Monsieur des Voeux?"
"Without doubt, M. le Vicomte."
"At Rochechouart I was told that the roads in that direction were not over safe."
The Vicomte laughed in his sardonic91 fashion. "They begin to cry out, do they?" he said. "The fat burgesses who fleece us? Not very safe, ha, ha! The roads! Not so safe as their back-shops where they lend to us at cent per cent!"--with bitterness. "It is well that there is some one to fleece them in their turn!"
"They told me as much as that," des Ageaux replied with gravity. "So much, indeed, that I was surprised to find your gates still open! They gave me to understand that no man slept without a guard within four leagues of Vlaye."
"They told you that, did they?" the Vicomte answered. And he chuckled92, well satisfied. It pleased him to think that if he and his could no longer keep Jacques Bonhomme in order, there were others who could. "They told you not far from the truth. A little later, and you had been barred out even here. Not that I fear the Captain of Vlaye. Hawks93 pike not out hawks' eyes," with a lifting of the head, and an odd show of arrogance94. "We are good friends, M. de Vlaye and I."
"Still you bar your gates, soon or late?" the Lieutenant replied with a smile.
A shadow fell across the Vicomte's face. "Not against him," he said shortly.
"No, of course not," des Voeux replied. "I had forgotten. You have the Crocans also at no great distance. I was forgetting them."
The sudden rigidity95 of his younger listeners, and the silence which fell on all, warned him, as soon as he had spoken, that he had said something amiss. Nor was the silence all. When his host next spoke--after an interval--it was with a passion as far removed from the cynical96 rudeness to which he had treated his children as are the poles apart. "That name is not named in this house!" he cried, his voice thin and tremulous. "By no one!" he struck the table with a shaking hand. "Understand me, sir, by no one! God's curse on them! Ay, and on all who----"
"No, sir, no!" The cry came from the girl. "Do not curse him!"
She was on her feet. For an instant the Lieutenant, seeing her father's distorted face, feared that he would strike her. But the result was different. The opposition97 that might have maddened the angry man, had the effect of sobering him. "Sit down!" he muttered, passing his napkin over his face. "Sit down, fool! Sit down! And you"--he paused a moment, striving to regain98 the gibing99 tone that was habitual100 to him--"you, sir, may now see how it is. I told you we had no manners. You have now the proof of it. I doubt I must keep you, until the Abbess, my daughter, pays her next visit, that you may see at least one Villeneuve who is neither clown nor dotard!"
Man of the world as he was, the King's Lieutenant knew not what to say to this outburst. He murmured a vague apology, and thought how different all was from the anticipations101 which the scent of hay and the farmyard peace had raised in him on his arrival. This old man, rotting in the husk of his former greatness, girding at his helpless children, gnawing102, in the decay of his family's grandeur, on his heart and theirs, returning scorn for scorn, and spite for spite, but on those who were innocent of either, ignorant of either--this was a picture to the painting of which the most fanciful must have brought some imagination. Under the surface lay something more; something that had to do with the Crocans. He fancied that he could make a guess at the secret; and that it had to do with the girl's lover. But the meal was closing, the Vicomte's rising interrupted his thoughts, and whatever interest the question had for him, he was forced to put it away for the time.
The Vicomte bowed a stiff good-night. "Boor103 as he is, I fear that you must now put up with my son," he said, smiling awry. "He has the Tower Room, where, in my time, I have known the best company in the province lie, when good company was; it has been scarce," he continued bitterly, "since Coutras. He will find you a lodging104 there, and if the accommodation be rough, and your room-fellow what you see him," shrugging his shoulders, "at least you will have space enough and follow good gentry105. I have known the Governor of Poitou and the Lieutenant of Périgord, with two of the Vicomtes of the Limousin, lie there--and fourteen truckle-beds about them. In those days was little need to bar our gates at night. Solomon! The lanthorn, fool! I bid you good-night, sir!"
Des Ageaux bowed his acknowledgements, and following in the train of an older serving-man than he had yet seen; who, bearing a lanthorn, led him up a small staircase. Roger the hapless followed. On the first floor the guest noted106 the doors of four rooms, two on either side of a middle passage, that got its light from a window at the end of the house. Such rooms--or rooms opening one through the other--were at that date reserved for the master and mistress of the chateau, and their daughters, maiden107 or married. For something of the old system which secluded108 women, and a century before had forbidden their appearance at Court, still prevailed; nor was the Lieutenant at all surprised when his guide, turning from these privileged apartments, led him up a flight of four or five steps at the hither end of the passage. And so through a low doorway109.
He passed the door, and was surprised to find himself in the open air on the roof of the hall, the stars above him, and the night breeze cooling his brow. The steeply-pitched lead ended in a broad, flat gutter110, fenced by a rail fixed in the parapet. The servant led him along the path which this gutter provided to a door in the wall of the great round tower that rose twenty feet above the house. This gave entrance to a small chamber50--one of those commonly found between the two skins of such old buildings--which served both for landing and ante-room. From it the dark opening of a winding111 staircase led upwards112 on one hand; on the other a low-browed door masked the course of the downward flight.
Across this closet--bare as bare walls could make it--the grey-bearded servant led him in two strides, and opening a farther door introduced him into the chamber which had seen so much good company. It was a gloomy, octagonal room of great size, lighted in the daytime by four deep-sunk windows, and occupying--save for such narrow closets as that through which they entered--a whole storey of the tower. The lanthorn did but make darkness visible, but Solomon proceeded to light two rushlights that stood in iron sconces on the wall, and by their light the Lieutenant discerned three truckle-beds laid between two of the windows. He could well believe, so vast was the apartment, that fourteen had not cumbered its bareness. At this date a couple of chests, as many stools, a bundle of old spears and a heavy three-legged table made up, with some dingy113, tattered114 hangings, the whole furniture of the chamber.
The old serving-man set down the lanthorn and looked about him sorrowfully.
"Thirty-four I've seen sleep here," he said. "The Governor of Poitou, and the Governor of Périgord, and the four Vicomtes of the Limousin, and twenty-eight gentles in truckles."
"Twenty-eight?" the Lieutenant questioned, measuring in some astonishment the space with his eye. "But your master said----"
"Twenty-eight, by your leave," the man answered obstinately115. "And every man his dog! A gentleman was a gentleman then, and a Vicomte a Vicomte. But since that cursed battle at Coutras set us down and put these Huguenots up, there is an end of gentry almost. Ay, thirty--was it thirty, I said?"
"Four, you said. Thirty-four," des Ageaux answered, smiling. "Good-night."
The man shook his head sombrely, bade them goodnight, and closed the door on them.
An instant later he could be heard groping his way back through the closet and over the roof. The Lieutenant, as soon as the sound ceased, looked round and thought that he had seldom lain in a gloomier place. The windows were but wooden lattices innocent of glass, and through the slats of the nearest a strong shoot of ivy116 grew into the room. The night air entered with it and stirred the ragged117 hangings that covered a part of the walls; hangings that to add to the general melancholy118 had once been black, a remnant, it is possible, of the funeral trappings of some dead Vicomte. Frogs croaked119 in a puddle120 without; one of the lattices creaked open at intervals121, only to close again with a hollow report; the rushlights flared122 sideways in the draught44. Des Ageaux had read of such a room in the old romances, in Bevis of Hampton, or the History of Armida; a room of shadows and gloom, owl-flittings and dead furnishings. But he smiled at the thoughts it called up. He had often lain in his cloak under the sky amid dead men. Nevertheless, "Do you sleep here alone?" he asked, turning to his companion, who had seated himself despondently123 on one of the beds.
The lad, oppressed by what had gone forward downstairs, barely looked up. "Yes," he began, "since"--and then, breaking off, he added sullenly124, "Yes, I do."
"Then you don't lack courage!" des Ageaux replied.
"People sleep well when they are tired," the youth returned, "as I am to-night."
The Lieutenant accepted the hint, and postponed125 until the morrow the questions he had it in his mind to ask. Nodding a good-humoured assent126 he proceeded to his simple arrangements for the night, placed his sword and pistols beside the truckle-bed, and in a few minutes was sleeping as soundly on his thin palliasse as if he had been in truth the poverty-stricken gentleman of Brittany he once had been and still might be again.
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oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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abraded
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| adj.[医]刮擦的v.刮擦( abrade的过去式和过去分词 )；（在精神方面）折磨（人）；消磨（意志、精神等）；使精疲力尽 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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11
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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12
meandering
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| 蜿蜒的河流，漫步，聊天 | |
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13
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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14
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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15
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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16
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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17
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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18
knuckling
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| n.突球v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的现在分词 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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19
plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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20
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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21
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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22
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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23
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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24
lichens
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| n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
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25
versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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26
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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27
strewed
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| v.撒在…上( strew的过去式和过去分词 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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28
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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29
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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30
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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31
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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32
huddle
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| vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人 | |
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33
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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34
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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35
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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36
awry
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| adj.扭曲的，错的 | |
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37
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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38
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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39
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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40
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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41
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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42
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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43
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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44
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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45
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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46
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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47
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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48
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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49
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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50
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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51
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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53
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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54
tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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55
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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56
whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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57
peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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58
craves
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| 渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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59
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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60
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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61
belying
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| v.掩饰，与…不符，使…失望；掩饰( belie的现在分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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62
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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63
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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64
droop
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| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
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65
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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66
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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67
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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68
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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69
dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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70
placidity
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| n.平静，安静，温和 | |
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71
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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72
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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73
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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74
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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75
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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76
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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77
abruptness
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| n. 突然，唐突 | |
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78
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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79
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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80
rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
smirk
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| n.得意地笑；v.傻笑；假笑着说 | |
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82
slings
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| 抛( sling的第三人称单数 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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83
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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84
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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85
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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86
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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87
blandness
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| n.温柔，爽快 | |
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88
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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89
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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90
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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91
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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92
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93
hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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94
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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95
rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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96
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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97
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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98
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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99
gibing
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| adj.讥刺的，嘲弄的v.嘲笑，嘲弄( gibe的现在分词 ) | |
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100
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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101
anticipations
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| 预期( anticipation的名词复数 )； 预测； （信托财产收益的）预支； 预期的事物 | |
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102
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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103
boor
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| n.举止粗野的人；乡下佬 | |
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104
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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105
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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106
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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107
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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108
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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109
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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110
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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111
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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112
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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113
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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114
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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115
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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116
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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117
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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118
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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119
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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120
puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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121
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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122
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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123
despondently
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| adv.沮丧地，意志消沉地 | |
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124
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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125
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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126
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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