On the 4th of August, 1901, she married me, and set sail for Europe in a great gale8 of wind—the gale that affected9 her heart. And no doubt there, again, she was offering herself a birthday gift—the birthday gift of my miserable10 life. It occurs to me that I have never told you anything about my marriage. That was like this: I have told you, as I think, that I first met Florence at the Stuyvesants', in Fourteenth Street. And, from that moment, I determined11 with all the obstinacy12 of a possibly weak nature, if not to make her mine, at least to marry her. I had no occupation—I had no business affairs. I simply camped down there in Stamford, in a vile13 hotel, and just passed my days in the house, or on the verandah of the Misses Hurlbird. The Misses Hurlbird, in an odd, obstinate14 way, did not like my presence. But they were hampered15 by the national manners of these occasions. Florence had her own sitting-room16. She could ask to it whom she liked, and I simply walked into that apartment. I was as timid as you will, but in that matter I was like a chicken that is determined to get across the road in front of an automobile17. I would walk into Florence's pretty, little, old-fashioned room, take off my hat, and sit down.
Florence had, of course, several other fellows, too—strapping young New Englanders, who worked during the day in New York and spent only the evenings in the village of their birth. And, in the evenings, they would march in on Florence with almost as much determination as I myself showed. And I am bound to say that they were received with as much disfavour as was my portion—from the Misses Hurlbird....
They were curious old creatures, those two. It was almost as if they were members of an ancient family under some curse—they were so gentlewomanly, so proper, and they sighed so. Sometimes I would see tears in their eyes. I do not know that my courtship of Florence made much progress at first. Perhaps that was because it took place almost entirely19 during the daytime, on hot afternoons, when the clouds of dust hung like fog, right up as high as the tops of the thin-leaved elms. The night, I believe, is the proper season for the gentle feats20 of love, not a Connecticut July afternoon, when any sort of proximity21 is an almost appalling22 thought. But, if I never so much as kissed Florence, she let me discover very easily, in the course of a fortnight, her simple wants. And I could supply those wants....
She wanted to marry a gentleman of leisure; she wanted a European establishment. She wanted her husband to have an English accent, an income of fifty thousand dollars a year from real estate and no ambitions to increase that income. And—she faintly hinted—she did not want much physical passion in the affair. Americans, you know, can envisage23 such unions without blinking.
She gave out this information in floods of bright talk—she would pop a little bit of it into comments over a view of the Rialto, Venice, and, whilst she was brightly describing Balmoral Castle, she would say that her ideal husband would be one who could get her received at the British Court. She had spent, it seemed, two months in Great Britain—seven weeks in touring from Stratford to Strathpeffer, and one as paying guest in an old English family near Ledbury, an impoverished24, but still stately family, called Bagshawe. They were to have spent two months more in that tranquil25 bosom26, but inopportune events, apparently27 in her uncle's business, had caused their rather hurried return to Stamford. The young man called Jimmy had remained in Europe to perfect his knowledge of that continent. He certainly did: he was most useful to us afterwards.
But the point that came out—that there was no mistaking—was that Florence was coldly and calmly determined to take no look at any man who could not give her a European settlement. Her glimpse of English home life had effected this. She meant, on her marriage, to have a year in Paris, and then to have her husband buy some real estate in the neighbourhood of Fordingbridge, from which place the Hurlbirds had come in the year 1688. On the strength of that she was going to take her place in the ranks of English county society. That was fixed29.
I used to feel mightily30 elevated when I considered these details, for I could not figure out that amongst her acquaintances in Stamford there was any fellow that would fill the bill. The most of them were not as wealthy as I, and those that were were not the type to give up the fascinations31 of Wall Street even for the protracted32 companionship of Florence. But nothing really happened during the month of July. On the 1st of August Florence apparently told her aunts that she intended to marry me.
She had not told me so, but there was no doubt about the aunts, for, on that afternoon, Miss Florence Hurlbird, Senior, stopped me on my way to Florence's sitting-room and took me, agitatedly33, into the parlour. It was a singular interview, in that old-fashioned colonial room, with the spindle-legged furniture, the silhouettes35, the miniatures, the portrait of General Braddock, and the smell of lavender. You see, the two poor maiden36 ladies were in agonies—and they could not say one single thing direct. They would almost wring37 their hands and ask if I had considered such a thing as different temperaments38. I assure you they were almost affectionate, concerned for me even, as if Florence were too bright for my solid and serious virtues39.
For they had discovered in me solid and serious virtues. That might have been because I had once dropped the remark that I preferred General Braddock to General Washington. For the Hurlbirds had backed the losing side in the War of Independence, and had been seriously impoverished and quite efficiently41 oppressed for that reason. The Misses Hurlbird could never forget it.
Nevertheless they shuddered42 at the thought of a European career for myself and Florence. Each of them really wailed43 when they heard that that was what I hoped to give their niece. That may have been partly because they regarded Europe as a sink of iniquity44, where strange laxities prevailed. They thought the Mother Country as Erastian as any other. And they carried their protests to extraordinary lengths, for them....
They even, almost, said that marriage was a sacrament; but neither Miss Florence nor Miss Emily could quite bring herself to utter the word. And they almost brought themselves to say that Florence's early life had been characterized by flirtations—something of that sort.
I know I ended the interview by saying:
"I don't care. If Florence has robbed a bank I am going to marry her and take her to Europe."
And at that Miss Emily wailed and fainted. But Miss Florence, in spite of the state of her sister, threw herself on my neck and cried out:
"Don't do it, John. Don't do it. You're a good young man," and she added, whilst I was getting out of the room to send Florence to her aunt's rescue:
"We ought to tell you more. But she's our dear sister's child."
Florence, I remember, received me with a chalk-pale face and the exclamation45:
"Have those old cats been saying anything against me?" But I assured her that they had not and hurried her into the room of her strangely afflicted46 relatives. I had really forgotten all about that exclamation of Florence's until this moment. She treated me so very well—with such tact—that, if I ever thought of it afterwards I put it down to her deep affection for me.
And that evening, when I went to fetch her for a buggy-ride, she had disappeared. I did not lose any time. I went into New York and engaged berths47 on the "Pocahontas", that was to sail on the evening of the fourth of the month, and then, returning to Stamford, I tracked out, in the course of the day, that Florence had been driven to Rye Station. And there I found that she had taken the cars to Waterbury. She had, of course, gone to her uncle's. The old man received me with a stony48, husky face. I was not to see Florence; she was ill; she was keeping her room. And, from something that he let drop—an odd Biblical phrase that I have forgotten—I gathered that all that family simply did not intend her to marry ever in her life.
I procured49 at once the name of the nearest minister and a rope ladder—you have no idea how primitively50 these matters were arranged in those days in the United States. I daresay that may be so still. And at one o'clock in the morning of the 4th of August I was standing51 in Florence's bedroom. I was so one-minded in my purpose that it never struck me there was anything improper52 in being, at one o'clock in the morning, in Florence's bedroom. I just wanted to wake her up. She was not, however, asleep. She expected me, and her relatives had only just left her. She received me with an embrace of a warmth.... Well, it was the first time I had ever been embraced by a woman—and it was the last when a woman's embrace has had in it any warmth for me....
I suppose it was my own fault, what followed. At any rate, I was in such a hurry to get the wedding over, and was so afraid of her relatives finding me there, that I must have received her advances with a certain amount of absence of mind. I was out of that room and down the ladder in under half a minute. She kept me waiting at the foot an unconscionable time—it was certainly three in the morning before we knocked up that minister. And I think that that wait was the only sign Florence ever showed of having a conscience as far as I was concerned, unless her lying for some moments in my arms was also a sign of conscience. I fancy that, if I had shown warmth then, she would have acted the proper wife to me, or would have put me back again. But, because I acted like a Philadelphia gentleman, she made me, I suppose, go through with the part of a male nurse. Perhaps she thought that I should not mind.
After that, as I gather, she had not any more remorse53. She was only anxious to carry out her plans. For, just before she came down the ladder, she called me to the top of that grotesque54 implement55 that I went up and down like a tranquil jumping-jack. I was perfectly56 collected. She said to me with a certain fierceness:
"It is determined that we sail at four this afternoon? You are not lying about having taken berths?"
I understood that she would naturally be anxious to get away from the neighbourhood of her apparently insane relatives, so that I readily excused her for thinking that I should be capable of lying about such a thing. I made it, therefore, plain to her that it was my fixed determination to sail by the "Pocahontas". She said then—it was a moonlit morning, and she was whispering in my ear whilst I stood on the ladder. The hills that surround Waterbury showed, extraordinarily57 tranquil, around the villa18. She said, almost coldly:
"I wanted to know, so as to pack my trunks." And she added: "I may be ill, you know. I guess my heart is a little like Uncle Hurlbird's. It runs in families."
I whispered that the "Pocahontas" was an extraordinarily steady boat....
Now I wonder what had passed through Florence's mind during the two hours that she had kept me waiting at the foot of the ladder. I would give not a little to know. Till then, I fancy she had had no settled plan in her mind. She certainly never mentioned her heart till that time. Perhaps the renewed sight of her Uncle Hurlbird had given her the idea. Certainly her Aunt Emily, who had come over with her to Waterbury, would have rubbed into her, for hours and hours, the idea that any accentuated58 discussions would kill the old gentleman. That would recall to her mind all the safeguards against excitement with which the poor silly old gentleman had been hedged in during their trip round the world. That, perhaps, put it into her head. Still, I believe there was some remorse on my account, too. Leonora told me that Florence said there was—for Leonora knew all about it, and once went so far as to ask her how she could do a thing so infamous59. She excused herself on the score of an overmastering passion. Well, I always say that an overmastering passion is a good excuse for feelings. You cannot help them. And it is a good excuse for straight actions—she might have bolted with the fellow, before or after she married me. And, if they had not enough money to get along with, they might have cut their throats, or sponged on her family, though, of course, Florence wanted such a lot that it would have suited her very badly to have for a husband a clerk in a dry-goods store, which was what old Hurlbird would have made of that fellow. He hated him. No, I do not think that there is much excuse for Florence.
God knows. She was a frightened fool, and she was fantastic, and I suppose that, at that time, she really cared for that imbecile. He certainly didn't care for her. Poor thing.... At any rate, after I had assured her that the "Pocahontas" was a steady ship, she just said:
"You'll have to look after me in certain ways—like Uncle Hurlbird is looked after. I will tell you how to do it." And then she stepped over the sill, as if she were stepping on board a boat. I suppose she had burnt hers!
I had, no doubt, eye-openers enough. When we re-entered the Hurlbird mansion60 at eight o'clock the Hurlbirds were just exhausted61. Florence had a hard, triumphant62 air. We had got married about four in the morning and had sat about in the woods above the town till then, listening to a mocking-bird imitate an old tom-cat. So I guess Florence had not found getting married to me a very stimulating63 process. I had not found anything much more inspiring to say than how glad I was, with variations. I think I was too dazed. Well, the Hurlbirds were too dazed to say much. We had breakfast together, and then Florence went to pack her grips and things. Old Hurlbird took the opportunity to read me a full-blooded lecture, in the style of an American oration64, as to the perils65 for young American girlhood lurking66 in the European jungle. He said that Paris was full of snakes in the grass, of which he had had bitter experience. He concluded, as they always do, poor, dear old things, with the aspiration67 that all American women should one day be sexless—though that is not the way they put it.. ..
Well, we made the ship all right by one-thirty—and there was a tempest blowing. That helped Florence a good deal. For we were not ten minutes out from Sandy Hook before Florence went down into her cabin and her heart took her. An agitated34 stewardess68 came running up to me, and I went running down. I got my directions how to behave to my wife. Most of them came from her, though it was the ship doctor who discreetly69 suggested to me that I had better refrain from manifestations70 of affection. I was ready enough.
I was, of course, full of remorse. It occurred to me that her heart was the reason for the Hurlbirds' mysterious desire to keep their youngest and dearest unmarried. Of course, they would be too refined to put the motive71 into words. They were old stock New Englanders. They would not want to have to suggest that a husband must not kiss the back of his wife's neck. They would not like to suggest that he might, for the matter of that. I wonder, though, how Florence got the doctor to enter the conspiracy72—the several doctors.
Of course her heart squeaked73 a bit—she had the same configuration74 of the lungs as her Uncle Hurlbird. And, in his company, she must have heard a great deal of heart talk from specialists. Anyhow, she and they tied me pretty well down—and Jimmy, of course, that dreary75 boy—what in the world did she see in him? He was lugubrious76, silent, morose77. He had no talent as a painter. He was very sallow and dark, and he never shaved sufficiently78. He met us at Havre, and he proceeded to make himself useful for the next two years, during which he lived in our flat in Paris, whether we were there or not. He studied painting at Julien's, or some such place....
That fellow had his hands always in the pockets of his odious79, square-shouldered, broad-hipped, American coats, and his dark eyes were always full of ominous80 appearances. He was, besides, too fat. Why, I was much the better man....
And I daresay Florence would have given me the better. She showed signs of it. I think, perhaps, the enigmatic smile with which she used to look back at me over her shoulder when she went into the bathing place was a sort of invitation. I have mentioned that. It was as if she were saying: "I am going in here. I am going to stand so stripped and white and straight—and you are a man...." Perhaps it was that....
No, she cannot have liked that fellow long. He looked like sallow putty. I understand that he had been slim and dark and very graceful81 at the time of her first disgrace. But, loafing about in Paris, on her pocket-money and on the allowance that old Hurlbird made him to keep out of the United States, had given him a stomach like a man of forty, and dyspeptic irritation82 on top of it.
God, how they worked me! It was those two between them who really elaborated the rules. I have told you something about them—how I had to head conversations, for all those eleven years, off such topics as love, poverty, crime, and so on. But, looking over what I have written, I see that I have unintentionally misled you when I said that Florence was never out of my sight. Yet that was the impression that I really had until just now. When I come to think of it she was out of my sight most of the time.
You see, that fellow impressed upon me that what Florence needed most of all were sleep and privacy. I must never enter her room without knocking, or her poor little heart might flutter away to its doom83. He said these things with his lugubrious croak84, and his black eyes like a crow's, so that I seemed to see poor Florence die ten times a day—a little, pale, frail85 corpse86. Why, I would as soon have thought of entering her room without her permission as of burgling a church. I would sooner have committed that crime. I would certainly have done it if I had thought the state of her heart demanded the sacrilege. So at ten o'clock at night the door closed upon Florence, who had gently, and, as if reluctantly, backed up that fellow's recommendations; and she would wish me good night as if she were a cinquecento Italian lady saying good-bye to her lover. And at ten o'clock of the next morning there she would come out the door of her room as fresh as Venus rising from any of the couches that are mentioned in Greek legends.
Her room door was locked because she was nervous about thieves; but an electric contrivance on a cord was understood to be attached to her little wrist. She had only to press a bulb to raise the house. And I was provided with an axe87—an axe!—great gods, with which to break down her door in case she ever failed to answer my knock, after I knocked really loud several times. It was pretty well thought out, you see.
What wasn't so well thought out were the ultimate consequences—our being tied to Europe. For that young man rubbed it so well into me that Florence would die if she crossed the Channel—he impressed it so fully88 on my mind that, when later Florence wanted to go to Fordingbridge, I cut the proposal short—absolutely short, with a curt89 no. It fixed her and it frightened her. I was even backed up by all the doctors. I seemed to have had endless interviews with doctor after doctor, cool, quiet men, who would ask, in reasonable tones, whether there was any reason for our going to England—any special reason. And since I could not see any special reason, they would give the verdict: "Better not, then." I daresay they were honest enough, as things go. They probably imagined that the mere6 associations of the steamer might have effects on Florence's nerves. That would be enough, that and a conscientious90 desire to keep our money on the Continent.
It must have rattled91 poor Florence pretty considerably92, for you see, the main idea—the only main idea of her heart, that was otherwise cold—was to get to Fordingbridge and be a county lady in the home of her ancestors. But Jimmy got her, there: he shut on her the door of the Channel; even on the fairest day of blue sky, with the cliffs of England shining like mother of pearl in full view of Calais, I would not have let her cross the steamer gangway to save her life. I tell you it fixed her.
It fixed her beautifully, because she could not announce herself as cured, since that would have put an end to the locked bedroom arrangements. And, by the time she was sick of Jimmy—which happened in the year 1903—she had taken on Edward Ashburnham. Yes, it was a bad fix for her, because Edward could have taken her to Fordingbridge, and, though he could not give her Branshaw Manor93, that home of her ancestors being settled on his wife, she could at least have pretty considerably queened it there or thereabouts, what with our money and the support of the Ashburnhams. Her uncle, as soon as he considered that she had really settled down with me—and I sent him only the most glowing accounts of her virtue40 and constancy—made over to her a very considerable part of his fortune for which he had no use. I suppose that we had, between us, fifteen thousand a year in English money, though I never quite knew how much of hers went to Jimmy. At any rate, we could have shone in Fordingbridge.
I never quite knew, either, how she and Edward got rid of Jimmy. I fancy that fat and disreputable raven94 must have had his six golden front teeth knocked down his throat by Edward one morning whilst I had gone out to buy some flowers in the Rue3 de la Paix, leaving Florence and the flat in charge of those two. And serve him very right, is all that I can say. He was a bad sort of blackmailer95; I hope Florence does not have his company in the next world.
As God is my Judge, I do not believe that I would have separated those two if I had known that they really and passionately96 loved each other. I do not know where the public morality of the case comes in, and, of course, no man really knows what he would have done in any given case. But I truly believe that I would have united them, observing ways and means as decent as I could. I believe that I should have given them money to live upon and that I should have consoled myself somehow. At that date I might have found some young thing, like Maisie Maidan, or the poor girl, and I might have had some peace. For peace I never had with Florence, and hardly believe that I cared for her in the way of love after a year or two of it. She became for me a rare and fragile object, something burdensome, but very frail. Why it was as if I had been given a thin-shelled pullet's egg to carry on my palm from Equatorial Africa to Hoboken. Yes, she became for me, as it were, the subject of a bet—the trophy97 of an athlete's achievement, a parsley crown that is the symbol of his chastity, his soberness, his abstentions, and of his inflexible98 will. Of intrinsic value as a wife, I think she had none at all for me. I fancy I was not even proud of the way she dressed.
But her passion for Jimmy was not even a passion, and, mad as the suggestion may appear, she was frightened for her life. Yes, she was afraid of me. I will tell you how that happened.
I had, in the old days, a darky servant, called Julius, who valeted me, and waited on me, and loved me, like the crown of his head. Now, when we left Waterbury to go to the "Pocahontas", Florence entrusted99 to me one very special and very precious leather grip. She told me that her life might depend on that grip, which contained her drugs against heart attacks. And, since I was never much of a hand at carrying things, I entrusted this, in turn, to Julius, who was a grey-haired chap of sixty or so, and very picturesque100 at that. He made so much impression on Florence that she regarded him as a sort of father, and absolutely refused to let me take him to Paris. He would have inconvenienced her.
Well, Julius was so overcome with grief at being left behind that he must needs go and drop the precious grip. I saw red, I saw purple. I flew at Julius. On the ferry, it was, I filled up one of his eyes; I threatened to strangle him. And, since an unresisting negro can make a deplorable noise and a deplorable spectacle, and, since that was Florence's first adventure in the married state, she got a pretty idea of my character. It affirmed in her the desperate resolve to conceal101 from me the fact that she was not what she would have called "a pure woman". For that was really the mainspring of her fantastic actions. She was afraid that I should murder her....
So she got up the heart attack, at the earliest possible opportunity, on board the liner. Perhaps she was not so very much to be blamed. You must remember that she was a New Englander, and that New England had not yet come to loathe102 darkies as it does now. Whereas, if she had come from even so little south as Philadelphia, and had been an oldish family, she would have seen that for me to kick Julius was not so outrageous103 an act as for her cousin, Reggie Hurlbird, to say—as I have heard him say to his English butler—that for two cents he would bat him on the pants. Besides, the medicine-grip did not bulk as largely in her eyes as it did in mine, where it was the symbol of the existence of an adored wife of a day. To her it was just a useful lie....
Well, there you have the position, as clear as I can make it—the husband an ignorant fool, the wife a cold sensualist with imbecile fears—for I was such a fool that I should never have known what she was or was not—and the blackmailing104 lover. And then the other lover came along....
Well, Edward Ashburnham was worth having. Have I conveyed to you the splendid fellow that he was—the fine soldier, the excellent landlord, the extraordinarily kind, careful and industrious105 magistrate106, the upright, honest, fair-dealing, fair-thinking, public character? I suppose I have not conveyed it to you. The truth is, that I never knew it until the poor girl came along—the poor girl who was just as straight, as splendid and as upright as he. I swear she was. I suppose I ought to have known. I suppose that was, really, why I liked him so much—so infinitely107 much. Come to think of it, I can remember a thousand little acts of kindliness108, of thoughtfulness for his inferiors, even on the Continent. Look here, I know of two families of dirty, unpicturesque, Hessian paupers109 that that fellow, with an infinite patience, rooted up, got their police reports, set on their feet, or exported to my patient land. And he would do it quite inarticulately, set in motion by seeing a child crying in the street. He would wrestle110 with dictionaries, in that unfamiliar111 tongue.... Well, he could not bear to see a child cry. Perhaps he could not bear to see a woman and not give her the comfort of his physical attractions.
But, although I liked him so intensely, I was rather apt to take these things for granted. They made me feel comfortable with him, good towards him; they made me trust him. But I guess I thought it was part of the character of any English gentleman. Why, one day he got it into his head that the head waiter at the Excelsior had been crying—the fellow with the grey face and grey whiskers. And then he spent the best part of a week, in correspondence and up at the British consul's, in getting the fellow's wife to come back from London and bring back his girl baby. She had bolted with a Swiss scullion. If she had not come inside the week he would have gone to London himself to fetch her. He was like that.
Edward Ashburnham was like that, and I thought it was only the duty of his rank and station. Perhaps that was all that it was—but I pray God to make me discharge mine as well. And, but for the poor girl, I daresay that I should never have seen it, however much the feeling might have been over me. She had for him such enthusiasm that, although even now I do not understand the technicalities of English life, I can gather enough. She was with them during the whole of our last stay at Nauheim.
Nancy Rufford was her name; she was Leonora's only friend's only child, and Leonora was her guardian112, if that is the correct term. She had lived with the Ashburnhams ever since she had been of the age of thirteen, when her mother was said to have committed suicide owing to the brutalities of her father. Yes, it is a cheerful story....
Edward always called her "the girl", and it was very pretty, the evident affection he had for her and she for him. And Leonora's feet she would have kissed—those two were for her the best man and the best woman on earth—and in heaven. I think that she had not a thought of evil in her head—the poor girl....
Well, anyhow, she chanted Edward's praises to me for the hour together, but, as I have said, I could not make much of it. It appeared that he had the D.S.O., and that his troop loved him beyond the love of men. You never saw such a troop as his. And he had the Royal Humane113 Society's medal with a clasp. That meant, apparently, that he had twice jumped off the deck of a troopship to rescue what the girl called "Tommies", who had fallen overboard in the Red Sea and such places. He had been twice recommended for the V.C., whatever that might mean, and, although owing to some technicalities he had never received that apparently coveted114 order, he had some special place about his sovereign at the coronation. Or perhaps it was some post in the Beefeaters'. She made him out like a cross between Lohengrin and the Chevalier Bayard. Perhaps he was.... But he was too silent a fellow to make that side of him really decorative115. I remember going to him at about that time and asking him what the D.S.O. was, and he grunted116 out:
"It's a sort of a thing they give grocers who've honourably117 supplied the troops with adulterated coffee in war-time"—something of that sort. He did not quite carry conviction to me, so, in the end, I put it directly to Leonora. I asked her fully and squarely—prefacing the question with some remarks, such as those that I have already given you, as to the difficulty one has in really getting to know people when one's intimacy118 is conducted as an English acquaintanceship—I asked her whether her husband was not really a splendid fellow—along at least the lines of his public functions. She looked at me with a slightly awakened119 air—with an air that would have been almost startled if Leonora could ever have been startled.
"Didn't you know?" she asked. "If I come to think of it there is not a more splendid fellow in any three counties, pick them where you will—along those lines." And she added, after she had looked at me reflectively for what seemed a long time:
"To do my husband justice there could not be a better man on the earth. There would not be room for it—along those lines."
"Well," I said, "then he must really be Lohengrin and the Cid in one body. For there are not any other lines that count."
Again she looked at me for a long time.
"It's your opinion that there are no other lines that count?" she asked slowly.
"Well," I answered gaily120, "you're not going to accuse him of not being a good husband, or of not being a good guardian to your ward28?"
She spoke121 then, slowly, like a person who is listening to the sounds in a sea-shell held to her ear—and, would you believe it?—she told me afterwards that, at that speech of mine, for the first time she had a vague inkling of the tragedy that was to follow so soon—although the girl had lived with them for eight years or so:
"Oh, I'm not thinking of saying that he is not the best of husbands, or that he is not very fond of the girl."
And then I said something like:
"Well, Leonora, a man sees more of these things than even a wife. And, let me tell you, that in all the years I've known Edward he has never, in your absence, paid a moment's attention to any other woman—not by the quivering of an eyelash. I should have noticed. And he talks of you as if you were one of the angels of God."
"Oh," she came up to the scratch, as you could be sure Leonora would always come up to the scratch, "I am perfectly sure that he always speaks nicely of me."
I daresay she had practice in that sort of scene—people must have been always complimenting her on her husband's fidelity122 and adoration123. For half the world—the whole of the world that knew Edward and Leonora believed that his conviction in the Kilsyte affair had been a miscarriage124 of justice—a conspiracy of false evidence, got together by Nonconformist adversaries125. But think of the fool that I was....
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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8
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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9
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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10
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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11
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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12
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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13
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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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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hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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17
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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18
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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19
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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20
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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21
proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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22
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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23
envisage
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| v.想象，设想，展望，正视 | |
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24
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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25
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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26
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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27
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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28
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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29
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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30
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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31
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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32
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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33
agitatedly
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| 动摇，兴奋； 勃然 | |
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34
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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35
silhouettes
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| 轮廓( silhouette的名词复数 )； （人的）体形； （事物的）形状； 剪影 | |
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36
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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37
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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38
temperaments
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| 性格( temperament的名词复数 )； （人或动物的）气质； 易冲动； （性情）暴躁 | |
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39
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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40
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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41
efficiently
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| adv.高效率地，有能力地 | |
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42
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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43
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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45
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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46
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
berths
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| n.（船、列车等的）卧铺( berth的名词复数 )；（船舶的）停泊位或锚位；差事；船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 )；占铺位 | |
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48
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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49
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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50
primitively
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| 最初地，自学而成地 | |
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51
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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52
improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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53
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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54
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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55
implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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56
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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57
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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58
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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59
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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60
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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61
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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62
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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63
stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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64
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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65
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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66
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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67
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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68
stewardess
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| n.空中小姐，女乘务员 | |
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69
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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70
manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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71
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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72
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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73
squeaked
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| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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74
configuration
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| n.结构，布局，形态，(计算机)配置 | |
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75
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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76
lugubrious
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| adj.悲哀的，忧郁的 | |
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77
morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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78
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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79
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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80
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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81
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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82
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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83
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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84
croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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85
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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86
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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87
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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88
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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89
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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90
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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91
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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92
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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93
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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94
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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95
blackmailer
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| 敲诈者，勒索者 | |
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96
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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97
trophy
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| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
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98
inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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99
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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100
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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101
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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102
loathe
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| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
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103
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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104
blackmailing
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| 胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的现在分词 ) | |
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105
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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106
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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107
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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108
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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109
paupers
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| n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷 | |
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110
wrestle
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| vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付 | |
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111
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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112
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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113
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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114
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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115
decorative
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| adj.装饰的，可作装饰的 | |
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116
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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117
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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118
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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119
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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120
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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121
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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122
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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123
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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124
miscarriage
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| n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产 | |
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125
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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