It was pretty late in the autumn of the year, when the declining sun struggling through the mist which had obscured it all day, looked brightly down upon a little Wiltshire village, within an easy journey of the fair old town of Salisbury.
Like a sudden flash of memory or spirit kindling1 up the mind of an old man, it shed a glory upon the scene, in which its departed youth and freshness seemed to live again. The wet grass sparkled in the light; the scanty2 patches of verdure in the hedges—where a few green twigs3 yet stood together bravely, resisting to the last the tyranny of nipping winds and early frosts—took heart and brightened up; the stream which had been dull and sullen4 all day long, broke out into a cheerful smile; the birds began to chirp5 and twitter on the naked boughs6, as though the hopeful creatures half believed that winter had gone by, and spring had come already. The vane upon the tapering7 spire8 of the old church glistened9 from its lofty station in sympathy with the general gladness; and from the ivy-shaded windows such gleams of light shone back upon the glowing sky, that it seemed as if the quiet buildings were the hoarding-place of twenty summers, and all their ruddiness and warmth were stored within.
Even those tokens of the season which emphatically whispered of the coming winter, graced the landscape, and, for the moment, tinged10 its livelier features with no oppressive air of sadness. The fallen leaves, with which the ground was strewn, gave forth12 a pleasant fragrance13, and subduing14 all harsh sounds of distant feet and wheels created a repose15 in gentle unison16 with the light scattering18 of seed hither and thither19 by the distant husbandman, and with the noiseless passage of the plough as it turned up the rich brown earth, and wrought20 a graceful21 pattern in the stubbled fields. On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads22, as in those fabled23 orchards24 where the fruits were jewels; others stripped of all their garniture, stood, each the centre of its little heap of bright red leaves, watching their slow decay; others again, still wearing theirs, had them all crunched25 and crackled up, as though they had been burnt; about the stems of some were piled, in ruddy mounds26, the apples they had borne that year; while others (hardy evergreens27 this class) showed somewhat stern and gloomy in their vigour28, as charged by nature with the admonition that it is not to her more sensitive and joyous29 favourites she grants the longest term of life. Still athwart their darker boughs, the sunbeams struck out paths of deeper gold; and the red light, mantling30 in among their swarthy branches, used them as foils to set its brightness off, and aid the lustre31 of the dying day.
A moment, and its glory was no more. The sun went down beneath the long dark lines of hill and cloud which piled up in the west an airy city, wall heaped on wall, and battlement on battlement; the light was all withdrawn32; the shining church turned cold and dark; the stream forgot to smile; the birds were silent; and the gloom of winter dwelt on everything.
An evening wind uprose too, and the slighter branches cracked and rattled33 as they moved, in skeleton dances, to its moaning music. The withering34 leaves no longer quiet, hurried to and fro in search of shelter from its chill pursuit; the labourer unyoked his horses, and with head bent35 down, trudged36 briskly home beside them; and from the cottage windows lights began to glance and wink37 upon the darkening fields.
Then the village forge came out in all its bright importance. The lusty bellows38 roared Ha ha! to the clear fire, which roared in turn, and bade the shining sparks dance gayly to the merry clinking of the hammers on the anvil39. The gleaming iron, in its emulation40, sparkled too, and shed its red-hot gems41 around profusely42. The strong smith and his men dealt such strokes upon their work, as made even the melancholy43 night rejoice, and brought a glow into its dark face as it hovered44 about the door and windows, peeping curiously45 in above the shoulders of a dozen loungers. As to this idle company, there they stood, spellbound by the place, and, casting now and then a glance upon the darkness in their rear, settled their lazy elbows more at ease upon the sill, and leaned a little further in: no more disposed to tear themselves away than if they had been born to cluster round the blazing hearth46 like so many crickets.
Out upon the angry wind! how from sighing, it began to bluster47 round the merry forge, banging at the wicket, and grumbling48 in the chimney, as if it bullied49 the jolly bellows for doing anything to order. And what an impotent swaggerer it was too, for all its noise; for if it had any influence on that hoarse50 companion, it was but to make him roar his cheerful song the louder, and by consequence to make the fire burn the brighter, and the sparks to dance more gayly yet; at length, they whizzed so madly round and round, that it was too much for such a surly wind to bear; so off it flew with a howl giving the old sign before the ale-house door such a cuff51 as it went, that the Blue Dragon was more rampant52 than usual ever afterwards, and indeed, before Christmas, reared clean out of its crazy frame.
It was small tyranny for a respectable wind to go wreaking53 its vengeance54 on such poor creatures as the fallen leaves, but this wind happening to come up with a great heap of them just after venting55 its humour on the insulted Dragon, did so disperse56 and scatter17 them that they fled away, pell-mell, some here, some there, rolling over each other, whirling round and round upon their thin edges, taking frantic57 flights into the air, and playing all manner of extraordinary gambols58 in the extremity59 of their distress60. Nor was this enough for its malicious61 fury; for not content with driving them abroad, it charged small parties of them and hunted them into the wheel wright’s saw-pit, and below the planks62 and timbers in the yard, and, scattering the sawdust in the air, it looked for them underneath63, and when it did meet with any, whew! how it drove them on and followed at their heels!
The scared leaves only flew the faster for all this, and a giddy chase it was; for they got into unfrequented places, where there was no outlet64, and where their pursuer kept them eddying65 round and round at his pleasure; and they crept under the eaves of houses, and clung tightly to the sides of hay-ricks, like bats; and tore in at open chamber66 windows, and cowered67 close to hedges; and, in short, went anywhere for safety. But the oddest feat11 they achieved was, to take advantage of the sudden opening of Mr Pecksniff’s front-door, to dash wildly into his passage; whither the wind following close upon them, and finding the back-door open, incontinently blew out the lighted candle held by Miss Pecksniff, and slammed the front-door against Mr Pecksniff who was at that moment entering, with such violence, that in the twinkling of an eye he lay on his back at the bottom of the steps. Being by this time weary of such trifling68 performances, the boisterous69 rover hurried away rejoicing, roaring over moor70 and meadow, hill and flat, until it got out to sea, where it met with other winds similarly disposed, and made a night of it.
In the meantime Mr Pecksniff, having received from a sharp angle in the bottom step but one, that sort of knock on the head which lights up, for the patient’s entertainment, an imaginary general illumination of very bright short-sixes, lay placidly71 staring at his own street door. And it would seem to have been more suggestive in its aspect than street doors usually are; for he continued to lie there, rather a lengthy72 and unreasonable73 time, without so much as wondering whether he was hurt or no; neither, when Miss Pecksniff inquired through the key-hole in a shrill74 voice, which might have belonged to a wind in its teens, ‘Who’s there’ did he make any reply; nor, when Miss Pecksniff opened the door again, and shading the candle with her hand, peered out, and looked provokingly round him, and about him, and over him, and everywhere but at him, did he offer any remark, or indicate in any manner the least hint of a desire to be picked up.
‘I see you,’ cried Miss Pecksniff, to the ideal inflicter75 of a runaway76 knock. ‘You’ll catch it, sir!’
Still Mr Pecksniff, perhaps from having caught it already, said nothing.
‘You’re round the corner now,’ cried Miss Pecksniff. She said it at a venture, but there was appropriate matter in it too; for Mr Pecksniff, being in the act of extinguishing the candles before mentioned pretty rapidly, and of reducing the number of brass77 knobs on his street door from four or five hundred (which had previously78 been juggling79 of their own accord before his eyes in a very novel manner) to a dozen or so, might in one sense have been said to be coming round the corner, and just turning it.
With a sharply delivered warning relative to the cage and the constable80, and the stocks and the gallows81, Miss Pecksniff was about to close the door again, when Mr Pecksniff (being still at the bottom of the steps) raised himself on one elbow, and sneezed.
‘That voice!’ cried Miss Pecksniff. ‘My parent!’
At this exclamation82, another Miss Pecksniff bounced out of the parlour; and the two Miss Pecksniffs, with many incoherent expressions, dragged Mr Pecksniff into an upright posture83.
‘Pa!’ they cried in concert. ‘Pa! Speak, Pa! Do not look so wild my dearest Pa!’
But as a gentleman’s looks, in such a case of all others, are by no means under his own control, Mr Pecksniff continued to keep his mouth and his eyes very wide open, and to drop his lower jaw84, somewhat after the manner of a toy nut-cracker; and as his hat had fallen off, and his face was pale, and his hair erect85, and his coat muddy, the spectacle he presented was so very doleful, that neither of the Miss Pecksniffs could repress an involuntary screech86.
‘That’ll do,’ said Mr Pecksniff. ‘I’m better.’
‘He’s come to himself!’ cried the youngest Miss Pecksniff.
With these joyful88 words they kissed Mr Pecksniff on either cheek; and bore him into the house. Presently, the youngest Miss Pecksniff ran out again to pick up his hat, his brown paper parcel, his umbrella, his gloves, and other small articles; and that done, and the door closed, both young ladies applied89 themselves to tending Mr Pecksniff’s wounds in the back parlour.
They were not very serious in their nature; being limited to abrasions90 on what the eldest Miss Pecksniff called ‘the knobby parts’ of her parent’s anatomy91, such as his knees and elbows, and to the development of an entirely92 new organ, unknown to phrenologists, on the back of his head. These injuries having been comforted externally, with patches of pickled brown paper, and Mr Pecksniff having been comforted internally, with some stiff brandy-and-water, the eldest Miss Pecksniff sat down to make the tea, which was all ready. In the meantime the youngest Miss Pecksniff brought from the kitchen a smoking dish of ham and eggs, and, setting the same before her father, took up her station on a low stool at his feet; thereby93 bringing her eyes on a level with the teaboard.
It must not be inferred from this position of humility94, that the youngest Miss Pecksniff was so young as to be, as one may say, forced to sit upon a stool, by reason of the shortness of her legs. Miss Pecksniff sat upon a stool because of her simplicity95 and innocence96, which were very great, very great. Miss Pecksniff sat upon a stool because she was all girlishness, and playfulness, and wildness, and kittenish buoyancy. She was the most arch and at the same time the most artless creature, was the youngest Miss Pecksniff, that you can possibly imagine. It was her great charm. She was too fresh and guileless, and too full of child-like vivacity97, was the youngest Miss Pecksniff, to wear combs in her hair, or to turn it up, or to frizzle it, or braid it. She wore it in a crop, a loosely flowing crop, which had so many rows of curls in it, that the top row was only one curl. Moderately buxom98 was her shape, and quite womanly too; but sometimes—yes, sometimes—she even wore a pinafore; and how charming that was! Oh! she was indeed ‘a gushing99 thing’ (as a young gentleman had observed in verse, in the Poet’s Corner of a provincial100 newspaper), was the youngest Miss Pecksniff!
Mr Pecksniff was a moral man—a grave man, a man of noble sentiments and speech—and he had had her christened Mercy. Mercy! oh, what a charming name for such a pure-souled Being as the youngest Miss Pecksniff! Her sister’s name was Charity. There was a good thing! Mercy and Charity! And Charity, with her fine strong sense and her mild, yet not reproachful gravity, was so well named, and did so well set off and illustrate101 her sister! What a pleasant sight was that the contrast they presented; to see each loved and loving one sympathizing with, and devoted102 to, and leaning on, and yet correcting and counter-checking, and, as it were, antidoting, the other! To behold103 each damsel in her very admiration104 of her sister, setting up in business for herself on an entirely different principle, and announcing no connection with over-the-way, and if the quality of goods at that establishment don’t please you, you are respectfully invited to favour me with a call! And the crowning circumstance of the whole delightful105 catalogue was, that both the fair creatures were so utterly106 unconscious of all this! They had no idea of it. They no more thought or dreamed of it than Mr Pecksniff did. Nature played them off against each other; they had no hand in it, the two Miss Pecksniffs.
It has been remarked that Mr Pecksniff was a moral man. So he was. Perhaps there never was a more moral man than Mr Pecksniff, especially in his conversation and correspondence. It was once said of him by a homely107 admirer, that he had a Fortunatus’s purse of good sentiments in his inside. In this particular he was like the girl in the fairy tale, except that if they were not actual diamonds which fell from his lips, they were the very brightest paste, and shone prodigiously108. He was a most exemplary man; fuller of virtuous109 precept110 than a copy book. Some people likened him to a direction-post, which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there; but these were his enemies, the shadows cast by his brightness; that was all. His very throat was moral. You saw a good deal of it. You looked over a very low fence of white cravat111 (whereof no man had ever beheld112 the tie for he fastened it behind), and there it lay, a valley between two jutting113 heights of collar, serene114 and whiskerless before you. It seemed to say, on the part of Mr Pecksniff, ‘There is no deception115, ladies and gentlemen, all is peace, a holy calm pervades116 me.’ So did his hair, just grizzled with an iron-grey which was all brushed off his forehead, and stood bolt upright, or slightly drooped117 in kindred action with his heavy eyelids118. So did his person, which was sleek119 though free from corpulency. So did his manner, which was soft and oily. In a word, even his plain black suit, and state of widower120 and dangling121 double eye-glass, all tended to the same purpose, and cried aloud, ‘Behold the moral Pecksniff!’
The brazen122 plate upon the door (which being Mr Pecksniff’s, could not lie) bore this inscription123, ‘PECKSNIFF, ARCHITECT,’ to which Mr Pecksniff, on his cards of business, added, AND LAND SURVEYOR.’ In one sense, and only one, he may be said to have been a Land Surveyor on a pretty large scale, as an extensive prospect124 lay stretched out before the windows of his house. Of his architectural doings, nothing was clearly known, except that he had never designed or built anything; but it was generally understood that his knowledge of the science was almost awful in its profundity125.
Mr Pecksniff’s professional engagements, indeed, were almost, if not entirely, confined to the reception of pupils; for the collection of rents, with which pursuit he occasionally varied126 and relieved his graver toils127, can hardly be said to be a strictly128 architectural employment. His genius lay in ensnaring parents and guardians129, and pocketing premiums130. A young gentleman’s premium131 being paid, and the young gentleman come to Mr Pecksniff’s house, Mr Pecksniff borrowed his case of mathematical instruments (if silver-mounted or otherwise valuable); entreated132 him, from that moment, to consider himself one of the family; complimented him highly on his parents or guardians, as the case might be; and turned him loose in a spacious133 room on the two-pair front; where, in the company of certain drawing-boards, parallel rulers, very stiff-legged compasses, and two, or perhaps three, other young gentlemen, he improved himself, for three or five years, according to his articles, in making elevations134 of Salisbury Cathedral from every possible point of sight; and in constructing in the air a vast quantity of Castles, Houses of Parliament, and other Public Buildings. Perhaps in no place in the world were so many gorgeous edifices135 of this class erected136 as under Mr Pecksniff’s auspices137; and if but one-twentieth part of the churches which were built in that front room, with one or other of the Miss Pecksniffs at the altar in the act of marrying the architect, could only be made available by the parliamentary commissioners138, no more churches would be wanted for at least five centuries.
‘Even the worldly goods of which we have just disposed,’ said Mr Pecksniff, glancing round the table when he had finished, ‘even cream, sugar, tea, toast, ham—’
‘And eggs,’ suggested Charity in a low voice.
‘And eggs,’ said Mr Pecksniff, ‘even they have their moral. See how they come and go! Every pleasure is transitory. We can’t even eat, long. If we indulge in harmless fluids, we get the dropsy; if in exciting liquids, we get drunk. What a soothing139 reflection is that!’
‘Don’t say we get drunk, Pa,’ urged the eldest Miss Pecksniff.
‘When I say we, my dear,’ returned her father, ‘I mean mankind in general; the human race, considered as a body, and not as individuals. There is nothing personal in morality, my love. Even such a thing as this,’ said Mr Pecksniff, laying the fore-finger of his left hand upon the brown paper patch on the top of his head, ‘slight casual baldness though it be, reminds us that we are but’—he was going to say ‘worms,’ but recollecting140 that worms were not remarkable141 for heads of hair, he substituted ‘flesh and blood.’
‘Which,’ cried Mr Pecksniff after a pause, during which he seemed to have been casting about for a new moral, and not quite successfully, ‘which is also very soothing. Mercy, my dear, stir the fire and throw up the cinders142.’
The young lady obeyed, and having done so, resumed her stool, reposed143 one arm upon her father’s knee, and laid her blooming cheek upon it. Miss Charity drew her chair nearer the fire, as one prepared for conversation, and looked towards her father.
‘Yes,’ said Mr Pecksniff, after a short pause, during which he had been silently smiling, and shaking his head at the fire—‘I have again been fortunate in the attainment144 of my object. A new inmate145 will very shortly come among us.’
‘A youth, papa?’ asked Charity.
‘Ye-es, a youth,’ said Mr Pecksniff. ‘He will avail himself of the eligible146 opportunity which now offers, for uniting the advantages of the best practical architectural education with the comforts of a home, and the constant association with some who (however humble147 their sphere, and limited their capacity) are not unmindful of their moral responsibilities.’
‘Oh Pa!’ cried Mercy, holding up her finger archly. ‘See advertisement!’
‘Playful—playful warbler,’ said Mr Pecksniff. It may be observed in connection with his calling his daughter a ‘warbler,’ that she was not at all vocal148, but that Mr Pecksniff was in the frequent habit of using any word that occurred to him as having a good sound, and rounding a sentence well without much care for its meaning. And he did this so boldly, and in such an imposing149 manner, that he would sometimes stagger the wisest people with his eloquence150, and make them gasp151 again.
His enemies asserted, by the way, that a strong trustfulness in sounds and forms was the master-key to Mr Pecksniff’s character.
‘Is he handsome, Pa?’ inquired the younger daughter.
‘Silly Merry!’ said the eldest: Merry being fond for Mercy. ‘What is the premium, Pa? tell us that.’
‘Oh, good gracious, Cherry!’ cried Miss Mercy, holding up her hands with the most winning giggle152 in the world, ‘what a mercenary girl you are! oh you naughty, thoughtful, prudent153 thing!’
It was perfectly154 charming, and worthy155 of the Pastoral age, to see how the two Miss Pecksniffs slapped each other after this, and then subsided156 into an embrace expressive157 of their different dispositions158.
‘He is well looking,’ said Mr Pecksniff, slowly and distinctly; ‘well looking enough. I do not positively159 expect any immediate160 premium with him.’
Notwithstanding their different natures, both Charity and Mercy concurred162 in opening their eyes uncommonly163 wide at this announcement, and in looking for the moment as blank as if their thoughts had actually had a direct bearing on the main chance.
‘But what of that!’ said Mr Pecksniff, still smiling at the fire. ‘There is disinterestedness164 in the world, I hope? We are not all arrayed in two opposite ranks; the offensive and the defensive165. Some few there are who walk between; who help the needy166 as they go; and take no part with either side. Umph!’
There was something in these morsels167 of philanthropy which reassured168 the sisters. They exchanged glances, and brightened very much.
‘Oh! let us not be for ever calculating, devising, and plotting for the future,’ said Mr Pecksniff, smiling more and more, and looking at the fire as a man might, who was cracking a joke with it: ‘I am weary of such arts. If our inclinations169 are but good and open-hearted, let us gratify them boldly, though they bring upon us Loss instead of Profit. Eh, Charity?’
Glancing towards his daughters for the first time since he had begun these reflections, and seeing that they both smiled, Mr Pecksniff eyed them for an instant so jocosely170 (though still with a kind of saintly waggishness) that the younger one was moved to sit upon his knee forthwith, put her fair arms round his neck, and kiss him twenty times. During the whole of this affectionate display she laughed to a most immoderate extent: in which hilarious171 indulgence even the prudent Cherry joined.
‘Tut, tut,’ said Mr Pecksniff, pushing his latest-born away and running his fingers through his hair, as he resumed his tranquil172 face. ‘What folly173 is this! Let us take heed174 how we laugh without reason lest we cry with it. What is the domestic news since yesterday? John Westlock is gone, I hope?’
‘Indeed, no,’ said Charity.
‘And why not?’ returned her father. ‘His term expired yesterday. And his box was packed, I know; for I saw it, in the morning, standing161 in the hall.’
‘He slept last night at the Dragon,’ returned the young lady, ‘and had Mr Pinch to dine with him. They spent the evening together, and Mr Pinch was not home till very late.’
‘And when I saw him on the stairs this morning, Pa,’ said Mercy with her usual sprightliness175, ‘he looked, oh goodness, such a monster! with his face all manner of colours, and his eyes as dull as if they had been boiled, and his head aching dreadfully, I am sure from the look of it, and his clothes smelling, oh it’s impossible to say how strong, oh’—here the young lady shuddered—‘of smoke and punch.’
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‘Now I think,’ said Mr Pecksniff with his accustomed gentleness, though still with the air of one who suffered under injury without complaint, ‘I think Mr Pinch might have done better than choose for his companion one who, at the close of a long intercourse176, had endeavoured, as he knew, to wound my feelings. I am not quite sure that this was delicate in Mr Pinch. I am not quite sure that this was kind in Mr Pinch. I will go further and say, I am not quite sure that this was even ordinarily grateful in Mr Pinch.’
‘But what can anyone expect from Mr Pinch!’ cried Charity, with as strong and scornful an emphasis on the name as if it would have given her unspeakable pleasure to express it, in an acted charade177, on the calf178 of that gentleman’s leg.
‘Aye, aye,’ returned her father, raising his hand mildly: ‘it is very well to say what can we expect from Mr Pinch, but Mr Pinch is a fellow-creature, my dear; Mr Pinch is an item in the vast total of humanity, my love; and we have a right, it is our duty, to expect in Mr Pinch some development of those better qualities, the possession of which in our own persons inspires our humble self-respect. No,’ continued Mr Pecksniff. ‘No! Heaven forbid that I should say, nothing can be expected from Mr Pinch; or that I should say, nothing can be expected from any man alive (even the most degraded, which Mr Pinch is not, no, really); but Mr Pinch has disappointed me; he has hurt me; I think a little the worse of him on this account, but not if human nature. Oh, no, no!’
‘Hark!’ said Miss Charity, holding up her finger, as a gentle rap was heard at the street door. ‘There is the creature! Now mark my words, he has come back with John Westlock for his box, and is going to help him to take it to the mail. Only mark my words, if that isn’t his intention!’
Even as she spoke179, the box appeared to be in progress of conveyance180 from the house, but after a brief murmuring of question and answer, it was put down again, and somebody knocked at the parlour door.
An ungainly, awkward-looking man, extremely short-sighted, and prematurely183 bald, availed himself of this permission; and seeing that Mr Pecksniff sat with his back towards him, gazing at the fire, stood hesitating, with the door in his hand. He was far from handsome certainly; and was drest in a snuff-coloured suit, of an uncouth184 make at the best, which, being shrunk with long wear, was twisted and tortured into all kinds of odd shapes; but notwithstanding his attire185, and his clumsy figure, which a great stoop in his shoulders, and a ludicrous habit he had of thrusting his head forward, by no means redeemed186, one would not have been disposed (unless Mr Pecksniff said so) to consider him a bad fellow by any means. He was perhaps about thirty, but he might have been almost any age between sixteen and sixty; being one of those strange creatures who never decline into an ancient appearance, but look their oldest when they are very young, and get it over at once.
Keeping his hand upon the lock of the door, he glanced from Mr Pecksniff to Mercy, from Mercy to Charity, and from Charity to Mr Pecksniff again, several times; but the young ladies being as intent upon the fire as their father was, and neither of the three taking any notice of him, he was fain to say, at last,
‘No intrusion, Mr Pinch,’ said that gentleman very sweetly, but without looking round. ‘Pray be seated, Mr Pinch. Have the goodness to shut the door, Mr Pinch, if you please.’
‘Certainly, sir,’ said Pinch; not doing so, however, but holding it rather wider open than before, and beckoning188 nervously189 to somebody without: ‘Mr Westlock, sir, hearing that you were come home—’
‘Mr Pinch, Mr Pinch!’ said Pecksniff, wheeling his chair about, and looking at him with an aspect of the deepest melancholy, ‘I did not expect this from you. I have not deserved this from you!’
‘No, but upon my word, sir—’ urged Pinch.
‘The less you say, Mr Pinch,’ interposed the other, ‘the better. I utter no complaint. Make no defence.’
‘No, but do have the goodness, sir,’ cried Pinch, with great earnestness, ‘if you please. Mr Westlock, sir, going away for good and all, wishes to leave none but friends behind him. Mr Westlock and you, sir, had a little difference the other day; you have had many little differences.’
‘Little differences!’ cried Charity.
‘Little differences!’ echoed Mercy.
‘My loves!’ said Mr Pecksniff, with the same serene upraising of his hand; ‘My dears!’ After a solemn pause he meekly190 bowed to Mr Pinch, as who should say, ‘Proceed;’ but Mr Pinch was so very much at a loss how to resume, and looked so helplessly at the two Miss Pecksniffs, that the conversation would most probably have terminated there, if a good-looking youth, newly arrived at man’s estate, had not stepped forward from the doorway191 and taken up the thread of the discourse192.
‘Come, Mr Pecksniff,’ he said, with a smile, ‘don’t let there be any ill-blood between us, pray. I am sorry we have ever differed, and extremely sorry I have ever given you offence. Bear me no ill-will at parting, sir.’
‘I bear,’ answered Mr Pecksniff, mildly, ‘no ill-will to any man on earth.’
‘I told you he didn’t,’ said Pinch, in an undertone; ‘I knew he didn’t! He always says he don’t.’
‘Then you will shake hands, sir?’ cried Westlock, advancing a step or two, and bespeaking193 Mr Pinch’s close attention by a glance.
‘Umph!’ said Mr Pecksniff, in his most winning tone.
‘You will shake hands, sir.’
‘No, John,’ said Mr Pecksniff, with a calmness quite ethereal; ‘no, I will not shake hands, John. I have forgiven you. I had already forgiven you, even before you ceased to reproach and taunt194 me. I have embraced you in the spirit, John, which is better than shaking hands.’
‘Pinch,’ said the youth, turning towards him, with a hearty195 disgust of his late master, ‘what did I tell you?’
Poor Pinch looked down uneasily at Mr Pecksniff, whose eye was fixed196 upon him as it had been from the first; and looking up at the ceiling again, made no reply.
‘As to your forgiveness, Mr Pecksniff,’ said the youth, ‘I’ll not have it upon such terms. I won’t be forgiven.’
‘Won’t you, John?’ retorted Mr Pecksniff, with a smile. ‘You must. You can’t help it. Forgiveness is a high quality; an exalted197 virtue198; far above your control or influence, John. I will forgive you. You cannot move me to remember any wrong you have ever done me, John.’
‘Wrong!’ cried the other, with all the heat and impetuosity of his age. ‘Here’s a pretty fellow! Wrong! Wrong I have done him! He’ll not even remember the five hundred pounds he had with me under false pretences199; or the seventy pounds a year for board and lodging200 that would have been dear at seventeen! Here’s a martyr201!’
‘Money, John,’ said Mr Pecksniff, ‘is the root of all evil. I grieve to see that it is already bearing evil fruit in you. But I will not remember its existence. I will not even remember the conduct of that misguided person’—and here, although he spoke like one at peace with all the world, he used an emphasis that plainly said “I have my eye upon the rascal202 now”—‘that misguided person who has brought you here to-night, seeking to disturb (it is a happiness to say, in vain) the heart’s repose and peace of one who would have shed his dearest blood to serve him.’
The voice of Mr Pecksniff trembled as he spoke, and sobs203 were heard from his daughters. Sounds floated on the air, moreover, as if two spirit voices had exclaimed: one, ‘Beast!’ the other, ‘Savage!’
‘Forgiveness,’ said Mr Pecksniff, ‘entire and pure forgiveness is not incompatible204 with a wounded heart; perchance when the heart is wounded, it becomes a greater virtue. With my breast still wrung205 and grieved to its inmost core by the ingratitude206 of that person, I am proud and glad to say that I forgive him. Nay207! I beg,’ cried Mr Pecksniff, raising his voice, as Pinch appeared about to speak, ‘I beg that individual not to offer a remark; he will truly oblige me by not uttering one word, just now. I am not sure that I am equal to the trial. In a very short space of time, I shall have sufficient fortitude208, I trust to converse209 with him as if these events had never happened. But not,’ said Mr Pecksniff, turning round again towards the fire, and waving his hand in the direction of the door, ‘not now.’
‘Bah!’ cried John Westlock, with the utmost disgust and disdain210 the monosyllable is capable of expressing. ‘Ladies, good evening. Come, Pinch, it’s not worth thinking of. I was right and you were wrong. That’s small matter; you’ll be wiser another time.’
So saying, he clapped that dejected companion on the shoulder, turned upon his heel, and walked out into the passage, whither poor Mr Pinch, after lingering irresolutely211 in the parlour for a few seconds, expressing in his countenance212 the deepest mental misery213 and gloom followed him. Then they took up the box between them, and sallied out to meet the mail.
That fleet conveyance passed, every night, the corner of a lane at some distance; towards which point they bent their steps. For some minutes they walked along in silence, until at length young Westlock burst into a loud laugh, and at intervals214 into another, and another. Still there was no response from his companion.
‘I’ll tell you what, Pinch!’ he said abruptly215, after another lengthened216 silence—‘You haven’t half enough of the devil in you. Half enough! You haven’t any.’
‘Well!’ said Pinch with a sigh, ‘I don’t know, I’m sure. It’s compliment to say so. If I haven’t, I suppose, I’m all the better for it.’
‘And yet,’ said Pinch, pursuing his own thoughts and not this last remark on the part of his friend, ‘I must have a good deal of what you call the devil in me, too, or how could I make Pecksniff so uncomfortable? I wouldn’t have occasioned him so much distress—don’t laugh, please—for a mine of money; and Heaven knows I could find good use for it too, John. How grieved he was!’
‘He grieved!’ returned the other.
‘Why didn’t you observe that the tears were almost starting out of his eyes!’ cried Pinch. ‘Bless my soul, John, is it nothing to see a man moved to that extent and know one’s self to be the cause! And did you hear him say that he could have shed his blood for me?’
‘Do you want any blood shed for you?’ returned his friend, with considerable irritation218. ‘Does he shed anything for you that you do want? Does he shed employment for you, instruction for you, pocket money for you? Does he shed even legs of mutton for you in any decent proportion to potatoes and garden stuff?’
‘I am afraid,’ said Pinch, sighing again, ‘that I am a great eater; I can’t disguise from myself that I’m a great eater. Now, you know that, John.’
‘You a great eater!’ retorted his companion, with no less indignation than before. ‘How do you know you are?’
There appeared to be forcible matter in this inquiry219, for Mr Pinch only repeated in an undertone that he had a strong misgiving220 on the subject, and that he greatly feared he was.
‘Besides, whether I am or no,’ he added, ‘that has little or nothing to do with his thinking me ungrateful. John, there is scarcely a sin in the world that is in my eyes such a crying one as ingratitude; and when he taxes me with that, and believes me to be guilty of it, he makes me miserable221 and wretched.’
‘Do you think he don’t know that?’ returned the other scornfully. ‘But come, Pinch, before I say anything more to you, just run over the reasons you have for being grateful to him at all, will you? Change hands first, for the box is heavy. That’ll do. Now, go on.’
‘In the first place,’ said Pinch, ‘he took me as his pupil for much less than he asked.’
‘Well,’ rejoined his friend, perfectly unmoved by this instance of generosity222. ‘What in the second place?’
‘What in the second place?’ cried Pinch, in a sort of desperation, ‘why, everything in the second place. My poor old grandmother died happy to think that she had put me with such an excellent man. I have grown up in his house, I am in his confidence, I am his assistant, he allows me a salary; when his business improves, my prospects223 are to improve too. All this, and a great deal more, is in the second place. And in the very prologue224 and preface to the first place, John, you must consider this, which nobody knows better than I: that I was born for much plainer and poorer things, that I am not a good hand for his kind of business, and have no talent for it, or indeed for anything else but odds225 and ends that are of no use or service to anybody.’
He said this with so much earnestness, and in a tone so full of feeling, that his companion instinctively226 changed his manner as he sat down on the box (they had by this time reached the finger-post at the end of the lane); motioned him to sit down beside him; and laid his hand upon his shoulder.
‘I believe you are one of the best fellows in the world,’ he said, ‘Tom Pinch.’
‘Not at all,’ rejoined Tom. ‘If you only knew Pecksniff as well as I do, you might say it of him, indeed, and say it truly.’
‘I’ll say anything of him, you like,’ returned the other, ‘and not another word to his disparagement227.’
‘It’s for my sake, then; not his, I am afraid,’ said Pinch, shaking his head gravely.
‘For whose you please, Tom, so that it does please you. Oh! He’s a famous fellow! he never scraped and clawed into his pouch228 all your poor grandmother’s hard savings229—she was a housekeeper230, wasn’t she, Tom?’
‘Yes,’ said Mr Pinch, nursing one of his large knees, and nodding his head; ‘a gentleman’s housekeeper.’
‘He never scraped and clawed into his pouch all her hard savings; dazzling her with prospects of your happiness and advancement231, which he knew (and no man better) never would be realised! He never speculated and traded on her pride in you, and her having educated you, and on her desire that you at least should live to be a gentleman. Not he, Tom!’
‘No,’ said Tom, looking into his friend’s face, as if he were a little doubtful of his meaning. ‘Of course not.’
‘So I say,’ returned the youth, ‘of course he never did. He didn’t take less than he had asked, because that less was all she had, and more than he expected; not he, Tom! He doesn’t keep you as his assistant because you are of any use to him; because your wonderful faith in his pretensions232 is of inestimable service in all his mean disputes; because your honesty reflects honesty on him; because your wandering about this little place all your spare hours, reading in ancient books and foreign tongues, gets noised abroad, even as far as Salisbury, making of him, Pecksniff the master, a man of learning and of vast importance. He gets no credit from you, Tom, not he.’
‘Why, of course he don’t,’ said Pinch, gazing at his friend with a more troubled aspect than before. ‘Pecksniff get credit from me! Well!’
‘Don’t I say that it’s ridiculous,’ rejoined the other, ‘even to think of such a thing?’
‘Why, it’s madness,’ said Tom.
‘Madness!’ returned young Westlock. ‘Certainly it’s madness. Who but a madman would suppose he cares to hear it said on Sundays, that the volunteer who plays the organ in the church, and practises on summer evenings in the dark, is Mr Pecksniff’s young man, eh, Tom? Who but a madman would suppose it is the game of such a man as he, to have his name in everybody’s mouth, connected with the thousand useless odds and ends you do (and which, of course, he taught you), eh, Tom? Who but a madman would suppose you advertised him hereabouts, much cheaper and much better than a chalker on the walls could, eh, Tom? As well might one suppose that he doesn’t on all occasions pour out his whole heart and soul to you; that he doesn’t make you a very liberal and indeed rather an extravagant233 allowance; or, to be more wild and monstrous234 still, if that be possible, as well might one suppose,’ and here, at every word, he struck him lightly on the breast, ‘that Pecksniff traded in your nature, and that your nature was to be timid and distrustful of yourself, and trustful of all other men, but most of all, of him who least deserves it. There would be madness, Tom!’
Mr Pinch had listened to all this with looks of bewilderment, which seemed to be in part occasioned by the matter of his companion’s speech, and in part by his rapid and vehement235 manner. Now that he had come to a close, he drew a very long breath; and gazing wistfully in his face as if he were unable to settle in his own mind what expression it wore, and were desirous to draw from it as good a clue to his real meaning as it was possible to obtain in the dark, was about to answer, when the sound of the mail guard’s horn came cheerily upon their ears, putting an immediate end to the conference; greatly as it seemed to the satisfaction of the younger man, who jumped up briskly, and gave his hand to his companion.
‘Both hands, Tom. I shall write to you from London, mind!’
‘Yes,’ said Pinch. ‘Yes. Do, please. Good-bye. Good-bye. I can hardly believe you’re going. It seems, now, but yesterday that you came. Good-bye! my dear old fellow!’
John Westlock returned his parting words with no less heartiness236 of manner, and sprung up to his seat upon the roof. Off went the mail at a canter down the dark road; the lamps gleaming brightly, and the horn awakening237 all the echoes, far and wide.
‘Go your ways,’ said Pinch, apostrophizing the coach; ‘I can hardly persuade myself but you’re alive, and are some great monster who visits this place at certain intervals, to bear my friends away into the world. You’re more exulting238 and rampant than usual tonight, I think; and you may well crow over your prize; for he is a fine lad, an ingenuous239 lad, and has but one fault that I know of; he don’t mean it, but he is most cruelly unjust to Pecksniff!’
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1
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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2
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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3
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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chirp
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| v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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tapering
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| adj.尖端细的 | |
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spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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14
subduing
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| 征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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18
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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19
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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fabled
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| adj.寓言中的，虚构的 | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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crunched
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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26
mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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evergreens
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| n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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mantling
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| 覆巾 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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32
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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38
bellows
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| n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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anvil
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| n.铁钻 | |
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40
emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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41
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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42
profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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43
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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44
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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45
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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46
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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47
bluster
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| v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声 | |
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48
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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49
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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51
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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52
rampant
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| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
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53
wreaking
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| 诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的现在分词 ) | |
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54
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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55
venting
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| 消除； 泄去； 排去； 通风 | |
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56
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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57
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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58
gambols
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| v.蹦跳，跳跃，嬉戏( gambol的第三人称单数 ) | |
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59
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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60
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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61
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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62
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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63
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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64
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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eddying
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| 涡流，涡流的形成 | |
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66
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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67
cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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68
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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70
moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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71
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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72
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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73
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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74
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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75
inflicter
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| 加害者，惩罚者 | |
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76
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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77
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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78
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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79
juggling
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| n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词 | |
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80
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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81
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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82
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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83
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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84
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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85
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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86
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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87
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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88
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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89
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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90
abrasions
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| n.磨损( abrasion的名词复数 )；擦伤处；摩擦；磨蚀（作用） | |
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91
anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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92
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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93
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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94
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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95
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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96
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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97
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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98
buxom
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| adj.（妇女）丰满的，有健康美的 | |
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99
gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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100
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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101
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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102
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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103
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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104
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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105
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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106
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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107
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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108
prodigiously
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| adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地 | |
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109
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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110
precept
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| n.戒律；格言 | |
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111
cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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112
beheld
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| 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 | |
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113
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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114
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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115
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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116
pervades
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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117
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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119
sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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120
widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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121
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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122
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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123
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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124
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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125
profundity
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| n.渊博；深奥，深刻 | |
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126
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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127
toils
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| 网 | |
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128
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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129
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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130
premiums
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| n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价 | |
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131
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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132
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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134
elevations
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| （水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升 | |
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135
edifices
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|
| n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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136
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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137
auspices
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|
| n.资助，赞助 | |
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138
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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139
soothing
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|
| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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140
recollecting
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|
| v.记起，想起( recollect的现在分词 ) | |
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141
remarkable
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|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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142
cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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143
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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144
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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145
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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146
eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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147
humble
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|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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148
vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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149
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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150
eloquence
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|
| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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151
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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152
giggle
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| n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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153
prudent
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|
| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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154
perfectly
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|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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155
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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156
subsided
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|
| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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157
expressive
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|
| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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158
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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159
positively
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|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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160
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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161
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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162
concurred
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| 同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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163
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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164
disinterestedness
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165
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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166
needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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167
morsels
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| n.一口( morsel的名词复数 )；（尤指食物）小块，碎屑 | |
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168
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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169
inclinations
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|
| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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170
jocosely
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| adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地 | |
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171
hilarious
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|
| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
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172
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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173
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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174
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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175
sprightliness
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| n.愉快，快活 | |
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176
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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177
charade
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| n.用动作等表演文字意义的字谜游戏 | |
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178
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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179
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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180
conveyance
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|
| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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181
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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182
virtuously
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| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
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183
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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184
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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185
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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186
redeemed
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| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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187
intruding
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| v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的现在分词)；把…强加于 | |
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188
beckoning
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|
| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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189
nervously
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|
| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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190
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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191
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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192
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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193
bespeaking
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| v.预定( bespeak的现在分词 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
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194
taunt
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| n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄 | |
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195
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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196
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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197
exalted
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|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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198
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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199
pretences
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| n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称 | |
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200
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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201
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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202
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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203
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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204
incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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205
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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206
ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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207
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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208
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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209
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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210
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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211
irresolutely
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| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
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212
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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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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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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217
tartly
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| adv.辛辣地，刻薄地 | |
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218
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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219
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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220
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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221
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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223
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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prologue
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| n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕 | |
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225
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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226
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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227
disparagement
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| n.轻视，轻蔑 | |
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228
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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229
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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230
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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231
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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232
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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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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234
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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235
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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236
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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237
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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238
exulting
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| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
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ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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