When they met the old General taking his stroll too, before dinner, that leathern old Indian was dazzled by the bright creature, who walked along between them, almost as tall as the two men, with her graceful10 careless step and independent ways, not deferring11 to them as the other ladies did, but leading the conversation. Even General Gaunt began{v1-255} to think whether there was any one whom he could speak of, any one he had known, whom perhaps this young exponent12 of Society might know. She knew everybody. Even princes and princesses had no mystery for her. She told them what everybody said, with an air of knowing better, which in her meant no conceit13 or presumption14, as in other young persons. Constance was quite unconscious of the possibility of being thus judged. She was not self-conscious at all. She was pleased to bring out her news for the advantage of the seniors. Frances was none the wiser when her sister told her the change that had come over the Grandmaisons, or how Lord Sunbury’s marriage had been brought about, and why people now had altered their hours for the Row. Frances listened; but she had never heard about Lord Sunbury’s marriage, nor why it should shock the elegant public. But the gentleman remembered his father, or they knew how young men commit themselves without intending it. It is not to be supposed that there was anything at all risqué in Constanc{v1-256}e’s talk. She touched, indeed, upon the edge of scandals which had been in the newspapers, and therefore were known even to people in the Riviera; but she did it with the most absolute innocence15, either not knowing or not understanding the evil. “I believe there was something wrong, but I don’t know what—mamma would never tell me,” she said. Her conversation was like a very light graceful edition of a Society paper—not then begun to be—with all the nastiness and almost all the malice17 left out. But not quite all; there was enough to be piquant18. “I am afraid I am a little ill-natured; but I don’t like that man,” she would say now and then. When she said, “I don’t like that woman,” the gentlemen laughed. She was conscious of having a little success, and she was pleased too. Frances perhaps might be a better housekeeper19, but Constance could not but think that in the equally important work of amusing papa she would be more successful than Frances. It was not much of a triumph, perhaps, for a girl who had known so many; but yet it was the only one as{v1-257} yet possible in the position in which she now was.
“I suppose it is settled that Frances is to go?” she said, as General Gaunt took the way to his bungalow20, and she and her father turned towards home.
“She seems to have settled it for herself,” he said.
“I am always repeating she is so like mamma—that is exactly what mamma would have done. They are very positive. You and I, papa, are not positive at all.”
“I think, my dear, that coming off as you did by yourself, was very positive indeed—and the first step in the universal turning upside-down which has ensued.”
“I hope you are not sorry I came?”
“No, Constance; I am very glad to have you;” and this was quite true, although he had said to Frances something that sounded very different. Both things were true—both that he wished she had never left her mother; that he wished she might return to her mother, and leave Frances with him as of old; and that he was very glad to have her here.{v1-258}
“If I were to go back, would not everything settle down just as it was before?”
Then he thought of what Frances, taught by the keenness of a personal experience, had said to him a few hours ago. “No,” he said; “nothing can ever be as it was before. We never can go back to what has been, whether the event that has changed it has been happy or sad.”
“Oh, surely sometimes,” said Constance. “That is a dreadful way to talk of anything so trifling as my visit. It could not make any real difference, because all the facts are just the same as they were before.”
To this he made no reply. She had no way, thanks to Frances, of finding out how different the position was. And she went on, after a pause—“Have you settled how she is to go?”
“I have not even thought of that.”
“But, papa, you must think of it. She cannot go unless you manage it for her. Markham heard of those people coming, and that made it quite easy for me. If Markham were here{v1-259}——”
“Heaven forbid!”
“I have always heard you were prejudiced about Markham. I don’t think he is very safe myself. I have warned Frances, whatever she does, not to let herself get into his hands.”
“Frances in Markham’s hands! That is a thing I could not permit for a moment. Your mother may have a right to Frances’ society, but none to throw her into the companionship of——”
“Her brother, papa.”
“Her brother! Her step-brother, if you please—which I think scarcely a relationship at all.”
Waring’s prejudices, when they were roused, were strong. His daughter looked up in amazement21 at his sudden passion, the frown on his face, and the fire in his eye.
“You forget that I have been brought up with Markham,” she said. “He is my brother; and he is a very good brother. There is nothing he will not do for me. I only warned Frances because—because she is different; because——”
“Because—she is a girl who ought not to{v1-260} breathe the same air with a young reprobate22—a young——”
“Papa! you are mistaken. I don’t know what Markham may have been; but he is not a reprobate. It was because Frances does not understand chaff23, you know. She would think he was in earnest, and he is never in earnest. She would take him seriously, and nobody takes him seriously. But if you think he is bad, there is nobody who thinks that. He is not bad; he only has ways of thinking——”
“Which I hope my daughters will never share,” said Waring, with a little formality.
Constance raised her head as if to speak, but then stopped, giving him a look which said more than words, and added no more.
In the meantime, Frances had been left alone. She had directed her letter, and left it to be posted. That step was taken, and could no more be thought over. She was glad to have a little of her time to herself, which once had been all to herself. She did not like as yet to broach24 the subject of her departure to Mariuccia; but she thought it all over very anxiously, trying to find some way which{v1-261} would take the burden of the household off the shoulders of Constance, who was not used to it. She thought the best thing to do would be to write out a series of menus, which Mariuccia might suggest to Constance, or carry out upon her own responsibility, whichever was most practicable; and she resolved that various little offices, which she had herself fulfilled, might be transferred to Domenico without interfering25 with her father’s comfort. All these arrangements, though she turned them over very soberly in her mind, had a bewildering, dizzying effect upon her. She thought that it was as if she were going to die. When she went away out of the narrow enclosure of this world, which she knew, it would be to something so entirely26 strange to her that it would feel like another life. It would be as if she had died. She would not know anything; the surroundings, the companions, the habits, all would be strange. She would have to leave utterly27 behind her everything she had ever known. The thought was not melancholy28, as is in almost all cases the thought of leaving “the warm precincts of the cheerful day”; it made her heart{v1-262} swell29 and rise with an anticipation30 which was full of excitement and pleasure, but which at the same time had the effect of making her brain swim.
She could not make to herself any picture of the world to which she was going. It would be softer, finer, more luxurious31 than anything she knew; but that was all. Of her mother, she did try to form some idea. She was acquainted only with mothers who were old. Mrs Durant, who wore a cap, encircling her face, and tied under her chin; and Mrs Gaunt, who had grandchildren who were as old as Frances. Her own mother could not be like either of these; but still she would be old, more or less—would wrap herself up when she went out, would have grey, or even perhaps white hair (which Frances liked in an old lady: Mrs Durant wore a front, and Mrs Gaunt was suspected of dyeing her hair), and would not care to move about more than she could help. She would go out “into Society” beautifully dressed with lace and jewels; and Frances grew more dizzy than ever, trying to imagine herself standing16 behind this magnificent old figure, like a maid of hon{v1-263}our behind a queen. But it was difficult to imagine the details of a picture so completely vague. There was a general sense of splendour and novelty, a vague expectation of something delightful32, which it was beyond her power to realise, but no more.
She had roused herself from the vague excitement of these dreams, which were very absorbing, though there was so little solidity in them, with a sudden fear that she was losing all the afternoon, and that it was time to prepare for dinner. She went to the corner of the loggia which commanded the road, to look out for Constance and her father. The road swept along below the Punto, leading to the town; and a smaller path traversing the little height, climbed upward to the platform on which the Palazzo stood. Frances did not at first remark, as in general every villager does, an unfamiliar33 figure making its way up this path. Her father and sister were not visible, and it was for them she was looking. Presently, however, her eye was caught by the stranger, no doubt an English tourist, with a glass in his eye—a little man, with a soft grey felt hat, which, when he{v1-264} lifted his head to inspect the irregular structure of the old town, gave him something the air of a moving mushroom. His movements were somewhat irregular, as his eyes were fixed34 upon the walls, and did not serve to guide his feet, which stumbled continually on the inequalities of the path. His progress began to amuse her, as he came nearer, his head raised, his eyes fixed upon the buildings before him, his person executing a series of undulations like a ship in a storm. He climbed up at last to the height, and coming up to some women who were seated on the stone bench opposite to Frances on the loggia, began to ask them for instructions as to how he was to go.
The little scene amused Frances. The women were knitting, with a little cluster of children about them, scrambling35 upon the bench or on the dusty pathway at their feet. The stranger took off his big hat and addressed them with few words and many gestures. She heard casa and Inglese, but nothing else that was comprehensible. The women did their best to understand, and replied volubly. But here the little tourist evidently could not follow. He was{v1-265} like so many tourist visitors, capable of asking his question, but incapable36 of understanding the answer given him. Then there arose a shrill37 little tempest of laughter, in which he joined, and of which Frances herself could not resist the contagion38. Perhaps a faint echo from the loggia caught the ear of one of the women, who knew her well, and who immediately pointed her out to the stranger. The little man turned round and made a few steps towards the Palazzo. He took off the mushroom-top of grey felt, and presented to her an ugly, little, vivacious39 countenance40. “I beg you ten thousand pardons,” he said; “but if you speak English, as I understand them to say, will you be so very kind as to direct me to the house of Mr Waring? Ah, I am sure you are both English and kind! They tell me he lives near here.”
Frances looked down from her height demurely41, suppressing the too ready laugh, to listen to this queer little man; but his question took her very much by surprise. Another stranger asking for Mr Waring! But oh, so very different a one from Constance—an odd,{v1-266} little, ugly man, looking up at her in a curious one-sided attitude, with his glass in his eye. “He lives here,” she said.
“What? Where?” He had replaced his mushroom on his head, and he cocked up towards her one ear, the ear upon the opposite side to the eye which wore the glass.
“Here!” cried Frances, pointing to the house, with a laugh which she could not restrain.
The stranger raised his eyebrows42 so much and so suddenly that his glass fell. “Oh!” he cried—but the biggest O, round as the O of Giotto, as the Italians say. He paused there some time, looking at her, his mouth retaining the shape of that exclamation43; and then he cast an investigating glance along the wall, and asked, “How am I to get in?”
“Nunziata, show the gentleman the door,” cried Frances to one of the women on the bench. She lingered a moment, to look again down the road for her father. It was true that nothing could be so wonderful as what had already happened; but it seemed that surprises were not yet over. Would this be some{v1-267} one else who had known him, who was arriving full of the tale that had been told, and was a mystery no longer—some “old friend” like Mr Mannering, who would not be satisfied without betraying the harmless hermit44, whom some chance had led him to discover? There was some bitterness in Frances’ thoughts. She had not remembered the Mannerings before, in the rush of other things to think of. The fat ruddy couple, so commonplace and so comfortable! Was it all their doing? Were they to blame for everything? for the conclusion of one existence, and the beginning of another? She went in to the drawing-room and sat down there, to be ready to receive the visitor. He could not be so important—that was impossible; there could be no new mystery to record.
When the door opened and Domenico solemnly ushered45 in the stranger, Frances, although her thoughts were not gay, could scarcely help laughing again. He carried his big grey mushroom-top now in his hand; and the little round head which had been covered with it seemed incomplete without that thatch46. Frances felt herself looking from the head to{v1-268} the hat with a ludicrous sense of this incompleteness. He had a small head, thinly covered with light hair, which seemed to grow in tufts like grass. His eyes twinkled keen, two very bright grey eyes, from the puckers47 of eyelids48 which looked old, as if he had got them second-hand49. There was a worn and wrinkled look about him altogether, carried out in his dress, and even in his boots, which suggested the same idea. An old man who looked young, or a young man who looked old. She could not make out which he was. He did not bow and hesitate, and announce himself as a friend of her father’s, as she expected him to do, but came up to her briskly with a quick step, but a shuffle50 in his gait.
“I suppose I must introduce myself,” he said; “though it is odd that we should need an introduction to each other, you and I. After the first moment, I should have known you anywhere. You are quite like my mother. Frances, isn’t it? And I’m Markham, of course, you know.”
“Markham!” cried Frances. She had thought she could never be surprised again, after all{v1-269} that had happened. But she felt herself more astonished than ever now.
“Yes, Markham. You think I am not much to look at, I can see. I am not generally admired at the first glance. Shake hands, Frances. You don’t quite feel like giving me a kiss, I suppose, at the first offset51? Never mind. We shall be very good friends, after a while.”
He sat down, drawing a chair close to her. “I am very glad to find you by yourself. I like the looks of you. Where is Con1? Taken possession of the governor, and left you alone to keep house, I should suppose?”
“Constance has gone out to walk with papa. I had several things to do.”
“I have not the least doubt of it. That would be the usual distribution of labour, if you remained together. Fan, my mother has sent me to fetch you home.”
Frances drew a little farther away. She gave him a look of vague alarm. The familiarity of the address troubled her. But when she looked at him again, her gravity gave way. He was such a queer, such a very queer little man.{v1-270}
“You may laugh if you like, my dear,” he said. “I am used to it. Providence—always the best judge, no doubt—has not given me an awe-inspiring countenance. It is hard upon my mother, who is a pretty woman. But I accept the position, for my part. This is a charming place. You have got a number of nice things. And those little sketches52 are very tolerable. Who did them? You? Waring, so far as I remember, used to draw very well himself. I am glad you draw; it will give you a little occupation. I like the looks of you, though I don’t think you admire me.”
“Indeed,” said Frances, troubled, “it is because I am so much surprised. Are you really—are you sure you are——”
He gave a little chuckle53, which made her start—an odd, comical, single note of laughter, very cordial and very droll54, like the little man himself.
“I’ve got a servant with me,” he said, “down at the hotel, who knows that I go by the name of Markham when I’m at home. I don’t know if that will satisfy you. But Con, to be sure, knows me, which will be better.{v1-271} You don’t hear any voice of nature saying within your breast, ‘This is my long-lost brother?’ That’s a pity. But by-and-by, you’ll see, we’ll be very good friends.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean that I had any doubt. It is so great a surprise—one thing after another.”
“Now, answer me one question: Did you know anything about your family before Con came? Ah,” he said, catching55 her alarmed and wondering glance, “I thought not. I have always said so:—he never told you. And it has all burst upon you in a moment, you poor little thing. But you needn’t be afraid of us. My mother has her faults; but she is a nice woman. You will like her. And I am very queer to look at, and many people think I have a screw loose. But I’m not bad to live with. Have you settled it with the governor? Has he made many objections? He and I never drew well together. Perhaps you know?”
“He does not speak as if—he liked you. But I don’t know anything. I have not been told—much. Please don’t ask me things,” Frances cried.
“No, I will not. On the contrary, I’ll tell{v1-272} you everything. Con probably would put a spoke56 in my wheel too. My dear little Fan, don’t mind any of them. Give me your little hand. I am neither bad nor good. I am very much what people make me. I am nasty with the nasty sometimes—more shame to me: and disagreeable with the disagreeable. But I am innocent with the innocent,” he said with some earnestness; “and that is what you are, unless my eyes deceive me. You need not be afraid of me.”
“I am not afraid,” said Frances, looking at him. Then she added, after a pause, “Not of you, nor of any one. I have never met any bad people. I don’t believe any one would do me harm.”
“Nor I,” he said with a little fervour, patting her hand with his own. “All the same,” he added, after a moment, “it is perhaps wise not to give them the chance. So I’ve come to fetch you home.”
Frances, as she became accustomed to this remarkable57 new member of her family, began immediately, after her fashion, to think of the material necessities of the case. She could not{v1-273} start with him at once on the journey; and in the meantime where should she put him? The most natural thing seemed to be to withdraw again from the blue room, and take the little one behind, which looked out on the court. That would do, and no one need be any the wiser. She said, with a little hesitation58, “I must go now and see about your room.”
“Room!” he cried. “Oh no; there’s no occasion for a room. I wouldn’t trouble you for the world. I have got rooms at the hotel. I’ll not stay even, since daddy’s out, to meet him. You can tell him I’m here, and what I came for. If he wants to see me, he can look me up. I am very glad I have seen you. I’ll write to the mother to-night to say you’re quite satisfactory, and a credit to all your belongings59; and I’ll come to-morrow to see Con; and in the meantime, Fan, you must settle when you are to come; for it is an awkward time for a man to be loafing about here.”
He got up as he spoke, and stooping, gave her a serious brotherly kiss upon her forehead. “I hope you and I will be very great friends,” he said.{v1-274}
And then he was gone! Was he a dream only, an imagination? But he was not the sort of figure that imagination produces. No dream-man could ever be so comical to behold60, could ever wear a coat so curiously wrinkled, or those boots, in the curves of which the dust lay as in the inequalities of the dry and much-frequented road.
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1
con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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3
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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4
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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5
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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6
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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8
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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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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11
deferring
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| v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的现在分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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exponent
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| n.倡导者，拥护者；代表人物；指数，幂 | |
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conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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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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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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reprobate
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| n.无赖汉；堕落的人 | |
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chaff
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| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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broach
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| v.开瓶，提出(题目) | |
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interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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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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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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42
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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43
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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44
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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45
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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47
puckers
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的第三人称单数 ) | |
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48
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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49
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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50
shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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51
offset
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| n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿 | |
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52
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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53
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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54
droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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55
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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56
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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57
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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58
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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59
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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60
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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