CHAPTER VI

A black malignity¹ dominated the beaten man after his reverse; and, inasmuch as Jane Stanberry, now at the cross ways of her life, fell from honour and played a base part out of fear, her lover continued to believe that his enemy alone was responsible for Jane’s weakness.  He blamed the girl, but his love did not diminish, and he still supposed that Anthony Maybridge once removed, she would return to him with eyes that again saw clearly.  He attributed his conqueror’s conduct to a tremendous strength of purpose, whereas mere² feebleness and an amorous³ nature were responsible for it.  The woman was at least as guilty as the man; and now an added blame belonged to her, for while Anthony henceforth openly declared himself the rival of Richard, she held the balance a little longer between them—chiefly from fear of Mrs. Daccombe.  Her decision was made, yet very carefully she concealed⁴ it, and Richard continued in error.

From his mistaken conclusion, and smarting still with venom⁵ bred of the wounds Anthony had inflicted⁶, the keeper proceeded to a criminal deed.  p. 244Such active hatred⁷ as he now felt stuck at nothing, and within a fortnight of his reverse came the evil inspiration that he waited for.

A veiled antagonism⁸ reigned⁹ between the men after their battle; then matters seemed to sink into customary course.  Richard absented himself from home more than usual; Anthony abandoned shooting, and took to hunting instead.

Once more it happened that the warrener saw a light burning in No. 4 Case House by night, and, passing by, heard Maybridge within, whistling to pass the time until Jane’s arrival.  Richard slunk by awhile, and presently, like a ghost, Jane flitted past him.  A flash of light fell upon the waste as she opened the door; then all grew dark again.  Still the wronged lover remained within earshot, and accident killed his sudden gust¹⁰ of passion against the girl, for he heard a sob¹¹ and listened to a weak, vain protest from her against the double part she was constrained¹² to play.  She accused Anthony of drawing her to him against all honour and right feeling; whereupon the listener departed, not desirous to hear more, and confirmed in his belief.

He visited the old Case House in the middle of the next day, and ground his teeth at sight of a rough carving—two hearts with familiar initials beneath them.  Then he examined the concealed p. 245blasting powder, and surveyed its position with respect to the main walls of the building.  Satisfied of this, he proceeded into the air, took a heavy clasp knife, dug down a foot beneath the grass and turf and removed two bricks from the foundation of the Case House.  Within them was a thin layer of concrete; the matchboarding followed; and then came the gunpowder¹³.  Calculating the exact spot of his excavation¹⁴, Richard entered the hut and pursued his work from inside, after carefully moving the powder beyond reach of any spark that might be struck from his attack on the concrete.  With light, numerous blows he gained his end, and soon had a clean hole running from beneath the magazine to the ground outside.  This he filled with gunpowder, replaced the mass of the explosive above it, returned the bricks to their original positions, and covered up the space outside with turf and dry fern.

A scrap¹⁵ of touchwood and a match would do all the rest.

Richard Daccombe completed his preparations just in time, for as he moved away to the Moor¹⁶, he saw his brother Davey in the valley.  Thereupon Dick hid behind a rock to surprise the youngster unpleasantly should his goal be the Case House.  But Davey had either seen his brother, or knew that he was not far distant.  At least, he showed p. 246himself too wary¹⁷ to run any risk, and pursued an innocent matter of climbing a pine tree for a wood-pigeon’s nest.  Nor did he come down again until Richard had gone upon his way to the warren.

1 malignity   

n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性

参考例句：

• The little witch put a mock malignity into her beautiful eyes, and Joseph, trembling with sincere horror, hurried out praying and ejaculating "wicked" as he went. 这个小女巫那双美丽的眼睛里添上一种嘲弄的恶毒神气。约瑟夫真的吓得直抖，赶紧跑出去，一边跑一边祷告，还嚷着“恶毒！” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Outside, the pitiless rain fell, fell steadily, with a fierce malignity that was all too human. 外面下着无情的雨，不断地下着，简直跟通人性那样凶狠而恶毒。 来自辞典例句

2 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

3 amorous   

adj.多情的；有关爱情的

参考例句：

• They exchanged amorous glances and clearly made known their passions.二人眉来眼去，以目传情。
• She gave him an amorous look.她脉脉含情的看他一眼。

4 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

5 venom   

n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨

参考例句：

• The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
• In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上，毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。

6 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

7 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

8 antagonism   

n.对抗，敌对，对立

参考例句：

• People did not feel a strong antagonism for established policy.人们没有对既定方针产生强烈反应。
• There is still much antagonism between trades unions and the oil companies.工会和石油公司之间仍然存在着相当大的敌意。

9 reigned   

vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式）

参考例句：

• Silence reigned in the hall. 全场肃静。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Night was deep and dead silence reigned everywhere. 夜深人静，一片死寂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

11 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

12 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

13 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

14 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。

15 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

16 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

17 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。