There was a sound of scuffling within as Sir John Falstaff—much broken since his loss of the King's favor, and now equally decayed in wit and health and reputation—stood fumbling2 at the door of the Angel room. He was particularly shaky this morning after a night of particularly hard drinking.
But he came into the apartment singing, and, whatever the scuffling had meant, found Bardolph in one corner employed in sorting garments from a clothes-chest, while at the extreme end of the room Mistress Quickly demurely3 stirred the fire; which winked4 at the old knight5 rather knowingly.
"Then came the bold Sir Caradoc," carolled Sir John. "Ah, mistress, what news?—And eke6 Sir Pellinore.—Did I rage last night, Bardolph? Was I a Bedlamite?"
"As mine own bruises7 can testify," Bardolph assented9. "Had each one of them a tongue, they would raise a clamor beside which Babel were as an heir weeping for his rich uncle's death; their testimony10 would qualify you for any mad-house in England. And if their evidence go against the doctor's stomach, the watchman at the corner hath three teeth—or, rather, hath them no longer, since you knocked them out last night—that will, right willingly, aid him to digest it."
"Three, say you?" asked the knight, rather stiffly lowering his great body into his great chair set ready for him beside the fire. "I would have my valor11 in all men's mouths, but not in this fashion, for it is too biting a jest. Three, say you? Well, I am glad it was no worse; I have a tender conscience, and that mad fellow of the north, Hotspur, sits heavily upon it, so that thus this Percy, being slain12 by my valor, is per se avenged13, a plague on him! Three, say you? I would to God my name were not so terrible to the enemy as it is; I would I had 'bated my natural inclination14 somewhat, and had slain less tall fellows by some threescore. I doubt Agamemnon slept not well o' nights. Three, say you? Give the fellow a crown apiece for his mouldy teeth, if thou hast them; if thou hast them not, bid him eschew15 this vice16 of drunkenness, whereby his misfortune hath befallen him, and thus win him heavenly crowns."
"Indeed, sir," began Bardolph, "I doubt—"
"Doubt not, sirrah!" cried Sir John, testily18; and continued, in a virtuous19 manner: "Was not the apostle reproved for that same sin? Thou art a Didymus, Bardolph;—an incredulous paynim, a most unspeculative rogue20! Have I carracks trading in the Indies? Have I robbed the exchequer21 of late? Have I the Golden Fleece for a cloak? Nay22, it is paltry23 gimlet, and that augurs24 badly. Why, does this knavish25 watchman take me for a raven26 to feed him in the wilderness27? Tell him there are no such ravens28 hereabout; else had I ravenously29 limed the house-tops and set springes in the gutters30. Inform him that my purse is no better lined than his own broken skull31: it is void as a beggar's protestations, or a butcher's stall in Lent; light as a famished32 gnat33, or the sighing of a new-made widower34; more empty than a last year's bird-nest, than a madman's eye, or, in fine, than the friendship of a king."
"But you have wealthy friends, Sir John," suggested the hostess of the Boar's Head Tavern35, whose impatience36 had but very hardly waited for this opportunity to join in the talk. "Yes, I warrant you, Sir John. Sir John, you have a many wealthy friends; you cannot deny that, Sir John."
"Friends, dame37?" asked the knight, and cowered38 closer to the fire, as though he were a little cold. "I have no friends since Hal is King. I had, I grant you, a few score of acquaintances whom I taught to play at dice40; paltry young blades of the City, very unfledged juvenals! Setting my knighthood and my valor aside, if I did swear friendship with these, I did swear to a lie. But this is a censorious and muddy-minded world, so that, look you, even these sprouting41 aldermen, these foul42 bacon-fed rogues43, have fled my friendship of late, and my reputation hath grown somewhat more murky44 than Erebus. No matter! I walk alone, as one that hath the pestilence45. No matter! But I grow old; I am not in the vaward of my youth, mistress."
He nodded his head with extreme gravity; then reached for a cup of sack that Bardolph held at the knight's elbow.
"Indeed, I know not what your worship will do," said Mistress Quickly, rather sadly.
"Faith!" answered Sir John, finishing the sack and grinning in a somewhat ghastly fashion; "unless the Providence46 that watches over the fall of a sparrow hath an eye to the career of Sir John Falstaff, Knight, and so comes to my aid shortly, I must needs convert my last doublet into a mask, and turn highwayman in my shirt. I can take purses yet, ye Uzzite comforters, as gaily47 as I did at Gadshill, where that scurvy48 Poins, and he that is now King, and some twoscore other knaves49 did afterward51 assault me in the dark; yet I peppered some of them, I warrant you!"
"You must be rid of me, then, master," Bardolph interpolated. "I for one have no need of a hempen52 collar."
"Ah, well!" said the knight, stretching himself in his chair as the warmth of the liquor coursed through his inert53 blood; "I, too, would be loth to break the gallows54' back! For fear of halters, we must alter our way of living; we must live close, Bardolph, till the wars make us Croesuses or food for crows. And if Hal but hold to his bias55, there will be wars: I will eat a piece of my sword, if he have not need of it shortly. Ah, go thy ways, tall Jack56; there live not three good men unhanged in England, and one of them is fat and grows old. We must live close, Bardolph; we must forswear drinking and wenching! But there is lime in this sack, you rogue; give me another cup."
The old knight drained this second cup, and unctuously57 sucked at and licked his lips. Thereafter,
"I pray you, hostess," he continued, "remember that Doll Tearsheet sups with me to-night; have a capon of the best, and be not sparing of the wine. I will repay you, upon honor, when we young fellows return from France, all laden58 with rings and brooches and such trumperies59 like your Norfolkshire pedlars at Christmas-tide. We will sack a town for you, and bring you back the Lord Mayor's beard to stuff you a cushion; the Dauphin shall be your tapster yet; we will walk on lilies, I warrant you, to the tune17 of Hey, then up go we!"
"Indeed, sir," said Mistress Quickly, in perfect earnest, "your worship is as welcome to my pantry as the mice—a pox on 'em!—think themselves; you are heartily60 welcome. Ah, well, old Puss is dead; I had her of Goodman Quickly these ten years since;—but I had thought you looked for the lady who was here but now;—she was a roaring lion among the mice."
"What lady?" cried Sir John, with great animation61. "Was it Flint the mercer's wife, think you? Ah, she hath a liberal disposition62, and will, without the aid of Prince Houssain's carpet or the horse of Cambuscan, transfer the golden shining pieces from her husband's coffers to mine."
"No mercer's wife, I think," Mistress Quickly answered, after consideration. "She came with two patched footmen, and smacked63 of gentility;—Master Dumbleton's father was a mercer; but he had red hair;—she is old;—and I could never abide65 red hair."
"No matter!" cried the knight. "I can love this lady, be she a very Witch of Endor. Observe, what a thing it is to be a proper man, Bardolph! She hath marked me;—in public, perhaps; on the street, it may be;—and then, I warrant you, made such eyes! and sighed such sighs! and lain awake o' nights, thinking of a pleasing portly gentleman, whom, were I not modesty67's self, I might name;—and I, all this while, not knowing! Fetch me my Book of Riddles68 and my Sonnets69, that I may speak smoothly71. Why was my beard not combed this morning? No matter, it will serve. Have I no better cloak than this?" Sir John was in a tremendous bustle72, all a-beam with pleasurable anticipation73.
But Mistress Quickly, who had been looking out of the window, said,
"Come, but your worship must begin with unwashed hands, for old Madam
Wish-for't and her two country louts are even now at the door."
"Avaunt, minions74!" cried the knight. "Avaunt! Conduct the lady hither, hostess; Bardolph, another cup of sack. We will ruffle75 it, lad, and go to France all gold, like Midas! Are mine eyes too red? I must look sad, you know, and sigh very pitifully. Ah, we will ruffle it! Another cup of sack, Bardolph;—I am a rogue if I have drunk to-day. And avaunt! vanish! for the lady comes."
He threw himself into a gallant76 attitude, suggestive of one suddenly palsied, and with the mien77 of a turkey-cock strutted78 toward the door to greet his unknown visitor.
2. "Then was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a Boy"
The woman who entered was not the jolly City dame one looked for: and, at first sight, you estimated her age as a trifle upon the staider side of sixty. But to this woman the years had shown unwonted kindliness80, as though time touched her less with intent to mar66 than to caress81; her form was still unbent, and her countenance82, bloodless and deep-furrowed, bore the traces of great beauty; and, whatever the nature of her errand, the woman who stood in the doorway83 was unquestionably a person of breeding.
Sir John advanced toward her with as much elegance84 as he might muster85; for gout when coupled with such excessive bulk does not beget86 an overpowering amount of grace.
"See, from the glowing East, Aurora87 comes," he chirped88. "Madam, permit me to welcome you to my poor apartments; they are not worthy—"
"I would see Sir John Falstaff, sir," declared the lady, courteously89, but with some reserve of manner, and looking him full in the face as she said this.
"Indeed, madam," suggested Sir John, "if those bright eyes—whose glances have already cut my poor heart into as many pieces as the man in the front of the almanac—will but desist for a moment from such butcher's work and do their proper duty, you will have little trouble in finding the bluff90 soldier you seek."
"Are you Sir John?" asked the lady, as though suspecting a jest. "The son of old Sir Edward Falstaff, of Norfolk?"
"His wife hath frequently assured me so," Sir John protested, very gravely; "and to confirm her evidence I have about me a certain villainous thirst that did plague Sir Edward sorely in his lifetime, and came to me with his other chattels91. The property I have expended92 long since; but no Jew will advance me a maravedi on the Falstaff thirst. It is a priceless commodity, not to be bought or sold; you might as soon quench93 it."
"I would not have known you," said the lady, wonderingly; "but," she added, "I have not seen you these forty years."
"Faith, madam," grinned the knight, "the great pilferer94 Time hath since then taken away a little from my hair, and added somewhat (saving your presence) to my belly95; and my face hath not been improved by being the grindstone for some hundred swords. But I do not know you."
"I am Sylvia Vernon," said the lady. "And once, a long while ago, I was
Sylvia Darke."
"I remember," said the knight. His voice was altered. Bardolph would hardly have known it; nor, perhaps, would he have recognized his master's manner as he handed Dame Sylvia to the best chair.
"A long while ago," she repeated, sadly, after a pause during which the crackling of the fire was very audible. "Time hath dealt harshly with us both, John;—the name hath a sweet savor96. I am an old woman now. And you—"
"I would not have known you," said Sir John; then asked, almost resentfully, "What do you here?"
"My son goes to the wars," she answered, "and I am come to bid him farewell; yet I should not tarry in London, for my lord is feeble and hath constant need of me. But I, an old woman, am yet vain enough to steal these few moments from him who needs me, to see for the last time, mayhap, him who was once my very dear friend."
"I was never your friend, Sylvia," said Sir John.
"Ah, the old wrangle97!" said the lady, and smiled a little wistfully. "My dear and very honored lover, then; and I am come to see him here."
"Ay!" interrupted Sir John, rather hastily; and he proceeded, glowing with benevolence98: "A quiet, orderly place, where I bestow99 my patronage100; the woman of the house had once a husband in my company. God rest his soul! he bore a good pike. He retired101 in his old age and 'stablished this tavern, where he passed his declining years, till death called him gently away from this naughty world. God rest his soul, say I!"
This was a somewhat euphemistic version of the taking-off of Goodman Quickly, who had been knocked over the head with a joint-stool while rifling the pockets of a drunken guest; but perhaps Sir John wished to speak well of the dead, even at the price of conferring upon the present home of Sir John an idyllic103 atmosphere denied it by the London constabulary.
"And you for old memories' sake yet aid his widow?" the lady murmured.
"That is like you, John."
There was another silence, and the fire crackled more loudly than ever.
"And are you sorry that I come again, in a worse body, John, strange and time-ruined?"
"Sorry?" echoed Sir John; and, ungallant as it was, he hesitated a moment before replying: "No, faith! But there are some ghosts that will not easily bear raising, and you have raised one."
"We have summoned up no very fearful spectre, I think," replied the lady; "at most, no worse than a pallid104, gentle spirit that speaks—to me, at least—of a boy and a girl who loved each other and were very happy a great while ago."
"Are you come hither to seek that boy?" asked the knight, and chuckled105, though not merrily. "The boy that went mad and rhymed of you in those far-off dusty years? He is quite dead, my lady; he was drowned, mayhap, in a cup of wine. Or he was slain, perchance, by a few light women. I know not how he died. But he is quite dead, my lady, and I had not been haunted by his ghost until to-day."
He stared at the floor as he ended; then choked, and broke into a fit of coughing which unromantic chance brought on just now, of all times.
"He was a dear boy," she said, presently; "a boy who loved a young maid very truly; a boy that found the maid's father too strong and shrewd for desperate young lovers—Eh, how long ago it seems, and what a flood of tears the poor maid shed at being parted from that dear boy!"
"Faith!" admitted Sir John, "the rogue had his good points."
"Ah, John, you have not forgotten, I know," the lady said, looking up into his face, "and, you will believe me that I am very heartily sorry for the pain I brought into your life?"
"My wounds heal easily," said Sir John.
"For though my dear dead father was too wise for us, and knew it was for the best that I should not accept your love, believe me, John, I always knew the value of that love, and have held it an honor that any woman must prize."
"Dear lady," the knight suggested, with a slight grimace106, "the world is not altogether of your opinion."
"I know not of the world," she said; "for we live away from it. But we have heard of you ever and anon; I have your life quite letter-perfect for these forty years or more."
"You have heard of me?" asked Sir John; and, for a seasoned knave50, he looked rather uncomfortable.
"As a gallant and brave soldier," she answered; "of how you fought at sea with Mowbray that was afterward Duke of Norfolk; of your knighthood by King Richard; of how you slew107 the Percy at Shrewsbury; and captured Coleville o' late in Yorkshire; and how the Prince, that now is King, did love you above all men; and, in fine, of many splendid doings in the great world."
Sir John raised a protesting hand. He said, with commendable108 modesty: "I have fought somewhat. But we are not Bevis of Southampton; we have slain no giants. Heard you naught102 else?"
"Little else of note," replied the lady; and went on, very quietly: "But we are proud of you at home in Norfolk. And such tales as I have heard I have woven together in one story; and I have told it many times to my children as we sat on the old Chapel109 steps at evening, and the shadows lengthened110 across the lawn, and I bid them emulate111 this, the most perfect knight and gallant gentleman that I have known. And they love you, I think, though but by repute."
Once more silence fell between them; and the fire grinned wickedly at the mimic112 fire reflected by the old chest, as though it knew of a most entertaining secret.
"Do you yet live at Winstead?" asked Sir John, half idly.
"Yes," she answered; "in the old house. It is little changed, but there are many changes about."
"Is Moll yet with you that did once carry our letters?"
"Married to Hodge, the tanner," the lady said; "and dead long since."
"And all our merry company?" Sir John demanded. "Marian? And Tom and little Osric? And Phyllis? And Adelais? Zounds, it is like a breath of country air to speak their names once more."
"All dead," she answered, in a hushed voice, "save Adelais, and even to me poor Adelais seems old and strange. Walter was slain in the French wars, and she hath never married."
"All dead," Sir John informed the fire, as if confidentially113; then he laughed, though his bloodshot eyes were not merry. "This same Death hath a wide maw! It is not long before you and I, my lady, will be at supper with the worms. But you, at least, have had a happy life."
"I have been content enough," she said, "but all that seems run by; for, John, I think that at our age we are not any longer very happy nor very miserable114."
"Faith!" agreed Sir John, "we are both old; and I had not known it, my lady, until to-day."
Again there was silence; and again the fire leapt with delight at the jest.
Sylvia Vernon arose suddenly and cried, "I would I had not come!"
Then said Sir John: "Nay, this is but a feeble grieving you have wakened. For, madam—you whom I loved once!—you are in the right. Our blood runs thinner than of yore; and we may no longer, I think, either sorrow or rejoice very deeply."
"It is true," she said; "but I must go; and, indeed, I would to God I had not come!"
Sir John was silent; he bowed his head, in acquiescence115 perhaps, in meditation116 it may have been; but he stayed silent.
"Yet," said she, "there is something here which I must keep no longer: for here are all the letters you ever writ117 me."
Whereupon she handed Sir John a little packet of very old and very faded papers. He turned them awkwardly in his hand once or twice; then stared at them; then at the lady.
"You have kept them—always?" he cried.
"Yes," she responded, wistfully; "but I must not be guilty of continuing such follies118. It is a villainous example to my grandchildren," Dame Sylvia told him, and smiled. "Farewell."
Sir John drew close to her and took her hands in his. He looked into her eyes for an instant, holding himself very erect,—and it was a rare event when Sir John looked any one squarely in the eyes,—and he said, wonderingly, "How I loved you!"
"I know," she murmured. Sylvia Vernon gazed up into his bloated old face with a proud tenderness that was half-regretful. A quavering came into her gentle voice. "And I thank you for your gift, my lover,—O brave true lover, whose love I was not ever ashamed to own! Farewell, my dear; yet a little while, and I go to seek the boy and girl we know of."
"I shall not be long, madam," said Sir John. "Speak a kind word for me in
Heaven; for I shall have sore need of it."
She had reached the door by this. "You are not sorry that I came?"
Sir John answered, very sadly: "There are many wrinkles now in your dear face, my lady; the great eyes are a little dimmed, and the sweet laughter is a little cracked; but I am not sorry to have seen you thus. For I have loved no woman truly save you alone; and I am not sorry. Farewell." And for a moment he bowed his unreverend gray head over her shrivelled fingers.
"Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to the vice of lying!" chuckled Sir John, and leaned back rheumatically in his chair and mumbled120 over the jest.
"Yet it was not all a lie," he confided121, as if in perplexity, to the fire; "but what a coil over a youthful green-sickness 'twixt a lad and a wench more than forty years syne122!
"I might have had money of her for the asking," he presently went on; "yet I am glad I did not; which is a parlous123 sign and smacks124 of dotage125."
He nodded very gravely over this new and alarming phase of his character.
"Were it not a quaint39 conceit126, a merry tickle-brain of Fate," he asked of the leaping flames, after a still longer pause, "that this mountain of malmsey were once a delicate stripling with apple cheeks and a clean breath, smelling of civet, and as mad for love, I warrant you, as any Amadis of them all? For, if a man were to speak truly, I did love her.
"I had the special marks of the pestilence," he assured a particularly incredulous—and obstinate-looking coal,—a grim, black fellow that, lurking127 in a corner, scowled128 forbiddingly and seemed to defy both the flames and Sir John. "Not all the flagons and apples in the universe might have comforted me; I was wont79 to sigh like a leaky bellows129; to weep like a wench that hath lost her grandam; to lard my speech with the fag-ends of ballads130 like a man milliner; and did, indeed, indite131 sonnets, canzonets, and what not of mine own elaboration.
"And Moll did carry them," he continued; "plump brown-eyed Moll, that hath married Hodge the tanner, and reared her tannerkins, and died long since."
But the coal remained incredulous, and the flames crackled merrily.
"Lord, Lord, what did I not write?" said Sir John, drawing out a paper from the packet, and deciphering by the firelight the faded writing.
Read Sir John:
Now winter chills the world, and no birds sing
In any woods, yet as in wanton Spring
He follows thee; and never will have done,
Though nakedly he die, from following
Whither thou leadest.
"Canst thou look upon
"More strong than Jove, more wise than Solomon,
Have pity, Sylvia! And let Love be one
Among the folk that bear thee company_."
"Is it not the very puling speech of your true lover?" he chuckled; and the flames spluttered assent8. "Among the folk that bear thee company," he repeated, and afterward looked about him with a smack64 of gravity. "Faith, Adam Cupid hath forsworn my fellowship long since; he hath no score chalked up against him at the Boar's Head Tavern; or, if he have, I doubt not the next street-beggar might discharge it."
"And she hath commended me to her children as a very gallant gentleman and a true knight," Sir John went on, reflectively. He cast his eyes toward the ceiling, and grinned at invisible deities139. "Jove that sees all hath a goodly commodity of mirth; I doubt not his sides ache at times, as if they had conceived another wine-god."
"Yet, by my honor," he insisted to the fire; then added, apologetically,—"if I had any, which, to speak plain, I have not,—I am glad; it is a brave jest; and I did love her once."
Then the time-battered, bloat rogue picked out another paper, and read:
"'My dear lady,—That I am not with thee to-night is, indeed, no fault of mine; for Sir Thomas Mowbray hath need of me, he saith. Yet the service that I have rendered him thus far is but to cool my heels in his antechamber and dream of two great eyes and of that net of golden hair wherewith Lord Love hath lately snared140 my poor heart. For it comforts me—' And so on, and so on, the pen trailing most juvenal sugar, like a fly newly crept out of the honey-pot. And ending with a posy, filched141, I warrant you, from some ring.
"I remember when I did write her this," he explained to the fire. "Lord, Lord, if the fire of grace were not quite out of me, now should I be moved. For I did write it; and it was sent with a sonnet70, all of Hell, and Heaven, and your pagan gods, and other tricks of speech. It should be somewhere."
He fumbled142 with uncertain fingers among the papers. "Ah, here it is," he said at last, and he again began to read aloud.
Read Sir John:
"Cupid invaded Hell, and boldly drove
Before him all the hosts of Erebus,
Till he had conquered: and grim Cerberus
Sang madrigals, the Furies rhymed of love,
Old Charon sighed, and sonnets rang above
The gloomy Styx; and even as Tantalus
Was Proserpine discrowned in Tartarus,
And Cupid regnant in the place thereof.
In Heaven we know his power was always great;
When Sylvia came to gladden Earth's estate:—
Thus Hell and Heaven and Earth his rule obey,
"Well, well," sighed Sir John, "it was a goodly rogue that writ it, though the verse runs but lamely146! A goodly rogue!
"He might," Sir John suggested, tentatively, "have lived cleanly, and forsworn sack; he might have been a gallant gentleman, and begotten147 grandchildren, and had a quiet nook at the ingleside to rest his old bones: but he is dead long since. He might have writ himself armigero in many a bill, or obligation, or quittance, or what not; he might have left something behind him save unpaid148 tavern bills; he might have heard cases, harried149 poachers, and quoted old saws; and slept in his own family chapel through sermons yet unwrit, beneath his presentment, done in stone, and a comforting bit of Latin: but he is dead long since."
Sir John sat meditating150 for a while; it had grown quite dark in the room as he muttered to himself. He rose now, rather cumbrously and uncertainly, but with a fine rousing snort of indignation.
God have mercy on us all! And I will read no more of the rubbish."
He cast the packet into the heart of the fire; the yellow papers curled at the edges, rustled152 a little, and blazed; he watched them burn to the last spark.
"A cup of sack to purge153 the brain!" cried Sir John, and filled one to the brim. "And I will go sup with Doll Tearsheet."
* * * * *
SEPTEMBER 29, 1422
"Anoon her herte hath pitee of his wo, And with that pitee, love com in also; Thus is this quene in pleasaunce and in loye."
_Meanwhile had old Dome154 Sylvia returned contentedly155 to the helpmate whom she had accepted under compulsion, and who had made her a fair husband, as husbands go. It is duly recorded, indeed, on their shared tomb, that their forty years of married life were of continuous felicity, and set a pattern to all Norfolk. The more prosaic156 verbal tradition is that Lady Vernon retained Sir Robert well in hand by pointing out, at judicious157 intervals158, that she had only herself to blame for having married such a selfish person in preference to a hero of the age and an ornament159 of the loftiest circles.
I find, on consultation160 of the Allonby records, that Sylvia Vernon died of a quinsy, in 1419, surviving Sir Robert by some three months. She had borne him four sons and four daughters: of these there remained at Winstead in 1422 only Sir Hugh Vernon, the oldest son, knighted by Henry V at Agincourt, where Vernon had fought with distinction; and Adelais Vernon, the youngest daughter, with whom the following has to do.
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1
iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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2
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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3
demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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4
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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5
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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6
eke
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| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
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bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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8
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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11
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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14
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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15
eschew
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| v.避开，戒绝 | |
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16
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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17
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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18
testily
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| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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19
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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20
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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21
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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22
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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23
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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24
augurs
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| n.（古罗马的）占兆官( augur的名词复数 )；占卜师，预言者v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的第三人称单数 )；成为预兆；占卜 | |
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25
knavish
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| adj.无赖（似）的，不正的；刁诈 | |
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26
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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27
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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28
ravens
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| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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29
ravenously
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| adv.大嚼地，饥饿地 | |
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30
gutters
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| （路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地 | |
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31
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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32
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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33
gnat
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| v.对小事斤斤计较，琐事 | |
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34
widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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35
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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36
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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37
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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38
cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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39
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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40
dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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41
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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42
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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43
rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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44
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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45
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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46
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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47
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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48
scurvy
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| adj.下流的，卑鄙的，无礼的；n.坏血病 | |
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49
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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50
knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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51
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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52
hempen
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| adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的 | |
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53
inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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54
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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55
bias
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| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
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56
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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57
unctuously
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| adv.油腻地，油腔滑调地；假惺惺 | |
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58
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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59
trumperies
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| n.中看不中用的东西( trumpery的名词复数 )；徒有其表的东西；胡言乱语；废话 | |
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60
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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61
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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62
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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63
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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65
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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66
mar
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| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
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67
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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68
riddles
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| n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜 | |
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69
sonnets
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| n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 ) | |
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70
sonnet
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| n.十四行诗 | |
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71
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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72
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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73
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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74
minions
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| n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者 | |
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75
ruffle
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| v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边 | |
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76
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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77
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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78
strutted
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| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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80
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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81
caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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82
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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83
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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84
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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85
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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86
beget
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| v.引起；产生 | |
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87
aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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88
chirped
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 ) | |
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89
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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90
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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91
chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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92
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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93
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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94
pilferer
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| n.小偷 | |
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95
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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96
savor
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| vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味 | |
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97
wrangle
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| vi.争吵 | |
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98
benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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99
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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100
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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101
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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102
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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103
idyllic
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| adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的 | |
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104
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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105
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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107
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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108
commendable
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| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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109
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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110
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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111
emulate
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| v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿 | |
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112
mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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113
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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114
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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115
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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116
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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117
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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118
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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119
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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120
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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122
syne
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| adv.自彼时至此时，曾经 | |
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123
parlous
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| adj.危险的，不确定的，难对付的 | |
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124
smacks
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| 掌掴（声）( smack的名词复数 )； 海洛因； （打的）一拳； 打巴掌 | |
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125
dotage
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| n.年老体衰；年老昏聩 | |
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126
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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127
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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128
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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129
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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130
ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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131
indite
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| v.写（文章，信等）创作 | |
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132
cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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133
entreats
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的第三人称单数 ) | |
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134
dolorous
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| adj.悲伤的；忧愁的 | |
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135
mendicant
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| n.乞丐；adj.行乞的 | |
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136
woes
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| 困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉 | |
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137
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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138
inept
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| adj.不恰当的，荒谬的，拙劣的 | |
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139
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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140
snared
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| v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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141
filched
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| v.偷（尤指小的或不贵重的物品）( filch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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142
fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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143
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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144
acclaimed
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| adj.受人欢迎的 | |
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145
obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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146
lamely
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| 一瘸一拐地，不完全地 | |
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147
begotten
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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148
unpaid
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| adj.未付款的，无报酬的 | |
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149
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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150
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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151
prate
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| v.瞎扯，胡说 | |
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152
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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153
purge
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| n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁 | |
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154
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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155
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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156
prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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157
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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158
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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159
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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