The priest had snatched a day from his business at Glasgow to meet his friend Flambeau, the amateur detective, who was at Glengyle Castle with another more formal officer investigating the life and death of the late Earl of Glengyle. That mysterious person was the last representative of a race whose valour, insanity13, and violent cunning had made them terrible even among the sinister nobility of their nation in the sixteenth century. None were deeper in that labyrinthine14 ambition, in chamber15 within chamber of that palace of lies that was built up around Mary Queen of Scots.
The rhyme in the country-side attested16 the motive17 and the result of their machinations candidly18:
As green sap to the simmer trees
Is red gold to the Ogilvies.
For many centuries there had never been a decent lord in Glengyle Castle; and with the Victorian era one would have thought that all eccentricities19 were exhausted20. The last Glengyle, however, satisfied his tribal21 tradition by doing the only thing that was left for him to do; he disappeared. I do not mean that he went abroad; by all accounts he was still in the castle, if he was anywhere. But though his name was in the church register and the big red Peerage, nobody ever saw him under the sun.
If anyone saw him it was a solitary22 man-servant, something between a groom23 and a gardener. He was so deaf that the more business-like assumed him to be dumb; while the more penetrating24 declared him to be half-witted. A gaunt, red-haired labourer, with a dogged jaw25 and chin, but quite blank blue eyes, he went by the name of Israel Gow, and was the one silent servant on that deserted26 estate. But the energy with which he dug potatoes, and the regularity27 with which he disappeared into the kitchen gave people an impression that he was providing for the meals of a superior, and that the strange earl was still concealed28 in the castle. If society needed any further proof that he was there, the servant persistently29 asserted that he was not at home. One morning the provost and the minister (for the Glengyles were Presbyterian) were summoned to the castle. There they found that the gardener, groom and cook had added to his many professions that of an undertaker, and had nailed up his noble master in a coffin30. With how much or how little further inquiry31 this odd fact was passed, did not as yet very plainly appear; for the thing had never been legally investigated till Flambeau had gone north two or three days before. By then the body of Lord Glengyle (if it was the body) had lain for some time in the little churchyard on the hill.
As Father Brown passed through the dim garden and came under the shadow of the chateau6, the clouds were thick and the whole air damp and thundery. Against the last stripe of the green-gold sunset he saw a black human silhouette32; a man in a chimney-pot hat, with a big spade over his shoulder. The combination was queerly suggestive of a sexton; but when Brown remembered the deaf servant who dug potatoes, he thought it natural enough. He knew something of the Scotch peasant; he knew the respectability which might well feel it necessary to wear “blacks” for an official inquiry; he knew also the economy that would not lose an hour’s digging for that. Even the man’s start and suspicious stare as the priest went by were consonant33 enough with the vigilance and jealousy34 of such a type.
The great door was opened by Flambeau himself, who had with him a lean man with iron-grey hair and papers in his hand: Inspector35 Craven from Scotland Yard. The entrance hall was mostly stripped and empty; but the pale, sneering36 faces of one or two of the wicked Ogilvies looked down out of black periwigs and blackening canvas.
Following them into an inner room, Father Brown found that the allies had been seated at a long oak table, of which their end was covered with scribbled37 papers, flanked with whisky and cigars. Through the whole of its remaining length it was occupied by detached objects arranged at intervals38; objects about as inexplicable39 as any objects could be. One looked like a small heap of glittering broken glass. Another looked like a high heap of brown dust. A third appeared to be a plain stick of wood.
“You seem to have a sort of geological museum here,” he said, as he sat down, jerking his head briefly41 in the direction of the brown dust and the crystalline fragments.
“Not a geological museum,” replied Flambeau; “say a psychological museum.”
“Oh, for the Lord’s sake,” cried the police detective laughing, “don’t let’s begin with such long words.”
“Don’t you know what psychology42 means?” asked Flambeau with friendly surprise. “Psychology means being off your chump.”
“Still I hardly follow,” replied the official.
“Well,” said Flambeau, with decision, “I mean that we’ve only found out one thing about Lord Glengyle. He was a maniac43.”
The black silhouette of Gow with his top hat and spade passed the window, dimly outlined against the darkening sky. Father Brown stared passively at it and answered:
“I can understand there must have been something odd about the man, or he wouldn’t have buried himself alive—nor been in such a hurry to bury himself dead. But what makes you think it was lunacy?”
“Well,” said Flambeau, “you just listen to the list of things Mr. Craven has found in the house.”
“We must get a candle,” said Craven, suddenly. “A storm is getting up, and it’s too dark to read.”
“Have you found any candles,” asked Brown smiling, “among your oddities?”
“That is curious, too,” he said. “Twenty-five candles, and not a trace of a candlestick.”
In the rapidly darkening room and rapidly rising wind, Brown went along the table to where a bundle of wax candles lay among the other scrappy exhibits. As he did so he bent46 accidentally over the heap of red-brown dust; and a sharp sneeze cracked the silence.
“Hullo!” he said, “snuff!”
He took one of the candles, lit it carefully, came back and stuck it in the neck of the whisky bottle. The unrestful night air, blowing through the crazy window, waved the long flame like a banner. And on every side of the castle they could hear the miles and miles of black pine wood seething48 like a black sea around a rock.
“I will read the inventory49,” began Craven gravely, picking up one of the papers, “the inventory of what we found loose and unexplained in the castle. You are to understand that the place generally was dismantled51 and neglected; but one or two rooms had plainly been inhabited in a simple but not squalid style by somebody; somebody who was not the servant Gow. The list is as follows:
“First item. A very considerable hoard52 of precious stones, nearly all diamonds, and all of them loose, without any setting whatever. Of course, it is natural that the Ogilvies should have family jewels; but those are exactly the jewels that are almost always set in particular articles of ornament53. The Ogilvies would seem to have kept theirs loose in their pockets, like coppers54.
“Second item. Heaps and heaps of loose snuff, not kept in a horn, or even a pouch55, but lying in heaps on the mantelpieces, on the sideboard, on the piano, anywhere. It looks as if the old gentleman would not take the trouble to look in a pocket or lift a lid.
“Third item. Here and there about the house curious little heaps of minute pieces of metal, some like steel springs and some in the form of microscopic56 wheels. As if they had gutted57 some mechanical toy.
“Fourth item. The wax candles, which have to be stuck in bottle necks because there is nothing else to stick them in. Now I wish you to note how very much queerer all this is than anything we anticipated. For the central riddle58 we are prepared; we have all seen at a glance that there was something wrong about the last earl. We have come here to find out whether he really lived here, whether he really died here, whether that red-haired scarecrow who did his burying had anything to do with his dying. But suppose the worst in all this, the most lurid59 or melodramatic solution you like. Suppose the servant really killed the master, or suppose the master isn’t really dead, or suppose the master is dressed up as the servant, or suppose the servant is buried for the master; invent what Wilkie Collins’ tragedy you like, and you still have not explained a candle without a candlestick, or why an elderly gentleman of good family should habitually60 spill snuff on the piano. The core of the tale we could imagine; it is the fringes that are mysterious. By no stretch of fancy can the human mind connect together snuff and diamonds and wax and loose clockwork.”
“I think I see the connection,” said the priest. “This Glengyle was mad against the French Revolution. He was an enthusiast61 for the ancien regime, and was trying to re-enact literally62 the family life of the last Bourbons. He had snuff because it was the eighteenth century luxury; wax candles, because they were the eighteenth century lighting63; the mechanical bits of iron represent the locksmith hobby of Louis XVI; the diamonds are for the Diamond Necklace of Marie Antoinette.”
Both the other men were staring at him with round eyes. “What a perfectly64 extraordinary notion!” cried Flambeau. “Do you really think that is the truth?”
“I am perfectly sure it isn’t,” answered Father Brown, “only you said that nobody could connect snuff and diamonds and clockwork and candles. I give you that connection off-hand. The real truth, I am very sure, lies deeper.”
He paused a moment and listened to the wailing65 of the wind in the turrets. Then he said, “The late Earl of Glengyle was a thief. He lived a second and darker life as a desperate housebreaker. He did not have any candlesticks because he only used these candles cut short in the little lantern he carried. The snuff he employed as the fiercest French criminals have used pepper: to fling it suddenly in dense66 masses in the face of a captor or pursuer. But the final proof is in the curious coincidence of the diamonds and the small steel wheels. Surely that makes everything plain to you? Diamonds and small steel wheels are the only two instruments with which you can cut out a pane67 of glass.”
The bough68 of a broken pine tree lashed69 heavily in the blast against the windowpane behind them, as if in parody70 of a burglar, but they did not turn round. Their eyes were fastened on Father Brown.
“Diamonds and small wheels,” repeated Craven ruminating71. “Is that all that makes you think it the true explanation?”
“I don’t think it the true explanation,” replied the priest placidly72; “but you said that nobody could connect the four things. The true tale, of course, is something much more humdrum73. Glengyle had found, or thought he had found, precious stones on his estate. Somebody had bamboozled74 him with those loose brilliants, saying they were found in the castle caverns75. The little wheels are some diamond-cutting affair. He had to do the thing very roughly and in a small way, with the help of a few shepherds or rude fellows on these hills. Snuff is the one great luxury of such Scotch shepherds; it’s the one thing with which you can bribe76 them. They didn’t have candlesticks because they didn’t want them; they held the candles in their hands when they explored the caves.”
“Is that all?” asked Flambeau after a long pause. “Have we got to the dull truth at last?”
“Oh, no,” said Father Brown.
As the wind died in the most distant pine woods with a long hoot77 as of mockery Father Brown, with an utterly78 impassive face, went on:
“I only suggested that because you said one could not plausibly79 connect snuff with clockwork or candles with bright stones. Ten false philosophies will fit the universe; ten false theories will fit Glengyle Castle. But we want the real explanation of the castle and the universe. But are there no other exhibits?”
Craven laughed, and Flambeau rose smiling to his feet and strolled down the long table.
“Items five, six, seven, etc.,” he said, “and certainly more varied80 than instructive. A curious collection, not of lead pencils, but of the lead out of lead pencils. A senseless stick of bamboo, with the top rather splintered. It might be the instrument of the crime. Only, there isn’t any crime. The only other things are a few old missals and little Catholic pictures, which the Ogilvies kept, I suppose, from the Middle Ages—their family pride being stronger than their Puritanism. We only put them in the museum because they seem curiously81 cut about and defaced.”
The heady tempest without drove a dreadful wrack82 of clouds across Glengyle and threw the long room into darkness as Father Brown picked up the little illuminated83 pages to examine them. He spoke84 before the drift of darkness had passed; but it was the voice of an utterly new man.
“Mr. Craven,” said he, talking like a man ten years younger, “you have got a legal warrant, haven’t you, to go up and examine that grave? The sooner we do it the better, and get to the bottom of this horrible affair. If I were you I should start now.”
“Now,” repeated the astonished detective, “and why now?”
“Because this is serious,” answered Brown; “this is not spilt snuff or loose pebbles85, that might be there for a hundred reasons. There is only one reason I know of for this being done; and the reason goes down to the roots of the world. These religious pictures are not just dirtied or torn or scrawled86 over, which might be done in idleness or bigotry87, by children or by Protestants. These have been treated very carefully—and very queerly. In every place where the great ornamented88 name of God comes in the old illuminations it has been elaborately taken out. The only other thing that has been removed is the halo round the head of the Child Jesus. Therefore, I say, let us get our warrant and our spade and our hatchet89, and go up and break open that coffin.”
“What do you mean?” demanded the London officer.
“I mean,” answered the little priest, and his voice seemed to rise slightly in the roar of the gale90. “I mean that the great devil of the universe may be sitting on the top tower of this castle at this moment, as big as a hundred elephants, and roaring like the Apocalypse. There is black magic somewhere at the bottom of this.”
“Black magic,” repeated Flambeau in a low voice, for he was too enlightened a man not to know of such things; “but what can these other things mean?”
“Oh, something damnable, I suppose,” replied Brown impatiently. “How should I know? How can I guess all their mazes91 down below? Perhaps you can make a torture out of snuff and bamboo. Perhaps lunatics lust92 after wax and steel filings. Perhaps there is a maddening drug made of lead pencils! Our shortest cut to the mystery is up the hill to the grave.”
His comrades hardly knew that they had obeyed and followed him till a blast of the night wind nearly flung them on their faces in the garden. Nevertheless they had obeyed him like automata; for Craven found a hatchet in his hand, and the warrant in his pocket; Flambeau was carrying the heavy spade of the strange gardener; Father Brown was carrying the little gilt93 book from which had been torn the name of God.
The path up the hill to the churchyard was crooked94 but short; only under that stress of wind it seemed laborious95 and long. Far as the eye could see, farther and farther as they mounted the slope, were seas beyond seas of pines, now all aslope one way under the wind. And that universal gesture seemed as vain as it was vast, as vain as if that wind were whistling about some unpeopled and purposeless planet. Through all that infinite growth of grey-blue forests sang, shrill96 and high, that ancient sorrow that is in the heart of all heathen things. One could fancy that the voices from the under world of unfathomable foliage97 were cries of the lost and wandering pagan gods: gods who had gone roaming in that irrational98 forest, and who will never find their way back to heaven.
“You see,” said Father Brown in low but easy tone, “Scotch people before Scotland existed were a curious lot. In fact, they’re a curious lot still. But in the prehistoric99 times I fancy they really worshipped demons100. That,” he added genially101, “is why they jumped at the Puritan theology.”
“My friend,” said Flambeau, turning in a kind of fury, “what does all that snuff mean?”
“My friend,” replied Brown, with equal seriousness, “there is one mark of all genuine religions: materialism102. Now, devil-worship is a perfectly genuine religion.”
They had come up on the grassy103 scalp of the hill, one of the few bald spots that stood clear of the crashing and roaring pine forest. A mean enclosure, partly timber and partly wire, rattled104 in the tempest to tell them the border of the graveyard105. But by the time Inspector Craven had come to the corner of the grave, and Flambeau had planted his spade point downwards106 and leaned on it, they were both almost as shaken as the shaky wood and wire. At the foot of the grave grew great tall thistles, grey and silver in their decay. Once or twice, when a ball of thistledown broke under the breeze and flew past him, Craven jumped slightly as if it had been an arrow.
Flambeau drove the blade of his spade through the whistling grass into the wet clay below. Then he seemed to stop and lean on it as on a staff.
“Go on,” said the priest very gently. “We are only trying to find the truth. What are you afraid of?”
“I am afraid of finding it,” said Flambeau.
The London detective spoke suddenly in a high crowing voice that was meant to be conversational107 and cheery. “I wonder why he really did hide himself like that. Something nasty, I suppose; was he a leper?”
“Something worse than that,” said Flambeau.
“And what do you imagine,” asked the other, “would be worse than a leper?”
“I don’t imagine it,” said Flambeau.
He dug for some dreadful minutes in silence, and then said in a choked voice, “I’m afraid of his not being the right shape.”
“Nor was that piece of paper, you know,” said Father Brown quietly, “and we survived even that piece of paper.”
Flambeau dug on with a blind energy. But the tempest had shouldered away the choking grey clouds that clung to the hills like smoke and revealed grey fields of faint starlight before he cleared the shape of a rude timber coffin, and somehow tipped it up upon the turf. Craven stepped forward with his axe108; a thistle-top touched him, and he flinched109. Then he took a firmer stride, and hacked110 and wrenched111 with an energy like Flambeau’s till the lid was torn off, and all that was there lay glimmering112 in the grey starlight.
“Bones,” said Craven; and then he added, “but it is a man,” as if that were something unexpected.
“Is he,” asked Flambeau in a voice that went oddly up and down, “is he all right?”
“Seems so,” said the officer huskily, bending over the obscure and decaying skeleton in the box. “Wait a minute.”
A vast heave went over Flambeau’s huge figure. “And now I come to think of it,” he cried, “why in the name of madness shouldn’t he be all right? What is it gets hold of a man on these cursed cold mountains? I think it’s the black, brainless repetition; all these forests, and over all an ancient horror of unconsciousness. It’s like the dream of an atheist113. Pine-trees and more pine-trees and millions more pine-trees—”
“God!” cried the man by the coffin, “but he hasn’t got a head.”
“No head!” he repeated. “No head?” as if he had almost expected some other deficiency.
Half-witted visions of a headless baby born to Glengyle, of a headless youth hiding himself in the castle, of a headless man pacing those ancient halls or that gorgeous garden, passed in panorama115 through their minds. But even in that stiffened116 instant the tale took no root in them and seemed to have no reason in it. They stood listening to the loud woods and the shrieking117 sky quite foolishly, like exhausted animals. Thought seemed to be something enormous that had suddenly slipped out of their grasp.
“There are three headless men,” said Father Brown, “standing round this open grave.”
The pale detective from London opened his mouth to speak, and left it open like a yokel118, while a long scream of wind tore the sky; then he looked at the axe in his hands as if it did not belong to him, and dropped it.
“Father,” said Flambeau in that infantile and heavy voice he used very seldom, “what are we to do?”
His friend’s reply came with the pent promptitude of a gun going off.
“Sleep!” cried Father Brown. “Sleep. We have come to the end of the ways. Do you know what sleep is? Do you know that every man who sleeps believes in God? It is a sacrament; for it is an act of faith and it is a food. And we need a sacrament, if only a natural one. Something has fallen on us that falls very seldom on men; perhaps the worst thing that can fall on them.”
Craven’s parted lips came together to say, “What do you mean?”
The priest had turned his face to the castle as he answered: “We have found the truth; and the truth makes no sense.”
He went down the path in front of them with a plunging119 and reckless step very rare with him, and when they reached the castle again he threw himself upon sleep with the simplicity120 of a dog.
Despite his mystic praise of slumber121, Father Brown was up earlier than anyone else except the silent gardener; and was found smoking a big pipe and watching that expert at his speechless labours in the kitchen garden. Towards daybreak the rocking storm had ended in roaring rains, and the day came with a curious freshness. The gardener seemed even to have been conversing122, but at sight of the detectives he planted his spade sullenly123 in a bed and, saying something about his breakfast, shifted along the lines of cabbages and shut himself in the kitchen. “He’s a valuable man, that,” said Father Brown. “He does the potatoes amazingly. Still,” he added, with a dispassionate charity, “he has his faults; which of us hasn’t? He doesn’t dig this bank quite regularly. There, for instance,” and he stamped suddenly on one spot. “I’m really very doubtful about that potato.”
“And why?” asked Craven, amused with the little man’s hobby.
“I’m doubtful about it,” said the other, “because old Gow was doubtful about it himself. He put his spade in methodically in every place but just this. There must be a mighty124 fine potato just here.”
Flambeau pulled up the spade and impetuously drove it into the place. He turned up, under a load of soil, something that did not look like a potato, but rather like a monstrous125, over-domed mushroom. But it struck the spade with a cold click; it rolled over like a ball, and grinned up at them.
Then, after a momentary127 meditation128, he plucked the spade from Flambeau, and, saying “We must hide it again,” clamped the skull down in the earth. Then he leaned his little body and huge head on the great handle of the spade, that stood up stiffly in the earth, and his eyes were empty and his forehead full of wrinkles. “If one could only conceive,” he muttered, “the meaning of this last monstrosity.” And leaning on the large spade handle, he buried his brows in his hands, as men do in church.
All the corners of the sky were brightening into blue and silver; the birds were chattering129 in the tiny garden trees; so loud it seemed as if the trees themselves were talking. But the three men were silent enough.
“Well, I give it all up,” said Flambeau at last boisterously130. “My brain and this world don’t fit each other; and there’s an end of it. Snuff, spoilt Prayer Books, and the insides of musical boxes—what—”
Brown threw up his bothered brow and rapped on the spade handle with an intolerance quite unusual with him. “Oh, tut, tut, tut, tut!” he cried. “All that is as plain as a pikestaff. I understood the snuff and clockwork, and so on, when I first opened my eyes this morning. And since then I’ve had it out with old Gow, the gardener, who is neither so deaf nor so stupid as he pretends. There’s nothing amiss about the loose items. I was wrong about the torn mass-book, too; there’s no harm in that. But it’s this last business. Desecrating131 graves and stealing dead men’s heads—surely there’s harm in that? Surely there’s black magic still in that? That doesn’t fit in to the quite simple story of the snuff and the candles.” And, striding about again, he smoked moodily132.
“My friend,” said Flambeau, with a grim humour, “you must be careful with me and remember I was once a criminal. The great advantage of that estate was that I always made up the story myself, and acted it as quick as I chose. This detective business of waiting about is too much for my French impatience133. All my life, for good or evil, I have done things at the instant; I always fought duels134 the next morning; I always paid bills on the nail; I never even put off a visit to the dentist—”
Father Brown’s pipe fell out of his mouth and broke into three pieces on the gravel50 path. He stood rolling his eyes, the exact picture of an idiot. “Lord, what a turnip135 I am!” he kept saying. “Lord, what a turnip!” Then, in a somewhat groggy136 kind of way, he began to laugh.
“The dentist!” he repeated. “Six hours in the spiritual abyss, and all because I never thought of the dentist! Such a simple, such a beautiful and peaceful thought! Friends, we have passed a night in hell; but now the sun is risen, the birds are singing, and the radiant form of the dentist consoles the world.”
“I will get some sense out of this,” cried Flambeau, striding forward, “if I use the tortures of the Inquisition.”
Father Brown repressed what appeared to be a momentary disposition137 to dance on the now sunlit lawn and cried quite piteously, like a child, “Oh, let me be silly a little. You don’t know how unhappy I have been. And now I know that there has been no deep sin in this business at all. Only a little lunacy, perhaps—and who minds that?”
“This is not a story of crime,” he said; “rather it is the story of a strange and crooked honesty. We are dealing139 with the one man on earth, perhaps, who has taken no more than his due. It is a study in the savage140 living logic40 that has been the religion of this race.
“That old local rhyme about the house of Glengyle—
As green sap to the simmer trees
Is red gold to the Ogilvies—
was literal as well as metaphorical141. It did not merely mean that the Glengyles sought for wealth; it was also true that they literally gathered gold; they had a huge collection of ornaments142 and utensils143 in that metal. They were, in fact, misers144 whose mania44 took that turn. In the light of that fact, run through all the things we found in the castle. Diamonds without their gold rings; candles without their gold candlesticks; snuff without the gold snuff-boxes; pencil-leads without the gold pencil-cases; a walking stick without its gold top; clockwork without the gold clocks—or rather watches. And, mad as it sounds, because the halos and the name of God in the old missals were of real gold; these also were taken away.”
The garden seemed to brighten, the grass to grow gayer in the strengthening sun, as the crazy truth was told. Flambeau lit a cigarette as his friend went on.
“Were taken away,” continued Father Brown; “were taken away—but not stolen. Thieves would never have left this mystery. Thieves would have taken the gold snuff-boxes, snuff and all; the gold pencil-cases, lead and all. We have to deal with a man with a peculiar146 conscience, but certainly a conscience. I found that mad moralist this morning in the kitchen garden yonder, and I heard the whole story.
“The late Archibald Ogilvie was the nearest approach to a good man ever born at Glengyle. But his bitter virtue147 took the turn of the misanthrope148; he moped over the dishonesty of his ancestors, from which, somehow, he generalised a dishonesty of all men. More especially he distrusted philanthropy or free-giving; and he swore if he could find one man who took his exact rights he should have all the gold of Glengyle. Having delivered this defiance149 to humanity he shut himself up, without the smallest expectation of its being answered. One day, however, a deaf and seemingly senseless lad from a distant village brought him a belated telegram; and Glengyle, in his acrid150 pleasantry, gave him a new farthing. At least he thought he had done so, but when he turned over his change he found the new farthing still there and a sovereign gone. The accident offered him vistas151 of sneering speculation152. Either way, the boy would show the greasy153 greed of the species. Either he would vanish, a thief stealing a coin; or he would sneak154 back with it virtuously155, a snob156 seeking a reward. In the middle of that night Lord Glengyle was knocked up out of his bed—for he lived alone—and forced to open the door to the deaf idiot. The idiot brought with him, not the sovereign, but exactly nineteen shillings and eleven-pence three-farthings in change.
“Then the wild exactitude of this action took hold of the mad lord’s brain like fire. He swore he was Diogenes, that had long sought an honest man, and at last had found one. He made a new will, which I have seen. He took the literal youth into his huge, neglected house, and trained him up as his solitary servant and—after an odd manner—his heir. And whatever that queer creature understands, he understood absolutely his lord’s two fixed ideas: first, that the letter of right is everything; and second, that he himself was to have the gold of Glengyle. So far, that is all; and that is simple. He has stripped the house of gold, and taken not a grain that was not gold; not so much as a grain of snuff. He lifted the gold leaf off an old illumination, fully47 satisfied that he left the rest unspoilt. All that I understood; but I could not understand this skull business. I was really uneasy about that human head buried among the potatoes. It distressed157 me—till Flambeau said the word.
“It will be all right. He will put the skull back in the grave, when he has taken the gold out of the tooth.”
And, indeed, when Flambeau crossed the hill that morning, he saw that strange being, the just miser145, digging at the desecrated158 grave, the plaid round his throat thrashing out in the mountain wind; the sober top hat on his head.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
scotch
|
|
| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
alley
|
|
| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
spires
|
|
| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
slate
|
|
| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
chateau
|
|
| n.城堡，别墅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
turrets
|
|
| （六角）转台( turret的名词复数 )； （战舰和坦克等上的）转动炮塔； （摄影机等上的）镜头转台； （旧时攻城用的）塔车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ravens
|
|
| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
aristocrat
|
|
| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
insanity
|
|
| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
labyrinthine
|
|
| adj.如迷宫的；复杂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
attested
|
|
| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
candidly
|
|
| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
eccentricities
|
|
| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
tribal
|
|
| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
groom
|
|
| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
penetrating
|
|
| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
jaw
|
|
| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
regularity
|
|
| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
persistently
|
|
| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
coffin
|
|
| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
silhouette
|
|
| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
consonant
|
|
| n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
jealousy
|
|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
inspector
|
|
| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
sneering
|
|
| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
scribbled
|
|
| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
intervals
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
logic
|
|
| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
briefly
|
|
| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
psychology
|
|
| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
maniac
|
|
| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
mania
|
|
| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
seething
|
|
| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
inventory
|
|
| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
gravel
|
|
| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
dismantled
|
|
| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
hoard
|
|
| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
ornament
|
|
| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
coppers
|
|
| 铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
pouch
|
|
| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
microscopic
|
|
| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
gutted
|
|
| adj.容易消化的v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的过去式和过去分词 )；取出…的内脏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
riddle
|
|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
lurid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
habitually
|
|
| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
enthusiast
|
|
| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
literally
|
|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
wailing
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
dense
|
|
| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
pane
|
|
| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
bough
|
|
| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
lashed
|
|
| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
parody
|
|
| n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
ruminating
|
|
| v.沉思( ruminate的现在分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
placidly
|
|
| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
humdrum
|
|
| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
bamboozled
|
|
| v.欺骗，使迷惑( bamboozle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
caverns
|
|
| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
bribe
|
|
| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
hoot
|
|
| n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
plausibly
|
|
| 似真地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
wrack
|
|
| v.折磨；n.海草 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
pebbles
|
|
| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
scrawled
|
|
| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
bigotry
|
|
| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
ornamented
|
|
| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
hatchet
|
|
| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
gale
|
|
| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
mazes
|
|
| 迷宫( maze的名词复数 )； 纷繁复杂的规则； 复杂难懂的细节； 迷宫图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
lust
|
|
| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
gilt
|
|
| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
crooked
|
|
| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
laborious
|
|
| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
shrill
|
|
| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
foliage
|
|
| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
irrational
|
|
| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
prehistoric
|
|
| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
demons
|
|
| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
genially
|
|
| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
materialism
|
|
| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
grassy
|
|
| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
graveyard
|
|
| n.坟场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
downwards
|
|
| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
conversational
|
|
| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
axe
|
|
| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
flinched
|
|
| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
hacked
|
|
| 生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
wrenched
|
|
| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
glimmering
|
|
| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
atheist
|
|
| n.无神论者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
panorama
|
|
| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
stiffened
|
|
| 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
shrieking
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
yokel
|
|
| n.乡下人；农夫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
plunging
|
|
| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
slumber
|
|
| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
conversing
|
|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
meditation
|
|
| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
boisterously
|
|
| adv.喧闹地，吵闹地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
desecrating
|
|
| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
moodily
|
|
| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
duels
|
|
| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
turnip
|
|
| n.萝卜，芜菁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
groggy
|
|
| adj.体弱的；不稳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
spun
|
|
| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
metaphorical
|
|
| a.隐喻的，比喻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
ornaments
|
|
| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
utensils
|
|
| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
misers
|
|
| 守财奴，吝啬鬼( miser的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
miser
|
|
| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
misanthrope
|
|
| n.恨人类的人；厌世者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
acrid
|
|
| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
vistas
|
|
| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
speculation
|
|
| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
greasy
|
|
| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
sneak
|
|
| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
virtuously
|
|
| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
snob
|
|
| n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
desecrated
|
|
| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |