It had all happened so suddenly that one or two minutes passed before Edward Lynde took in the full enormity of Mary's desertion. A dim smile was still hovering2 about his lips when the yellow speck3 that was Mary faded into the gray distance; then his countenance4 fell. There was no sign of mortal habitation visible from the hillside where he stood; the farm at which he had spent the night was five miles away; his stiff riding-boots were ill-adapted to pedestrianism. The idea of lugging5 that heavy saddle five miles over a mountain road caused him to knit his brows and look very serious indeed. As he gave the saddle an impatient kick, his eyes rested on the Bologna sausage, one end of which protruded6 from the holster; then there came over him a poignant7 recollection of his Lenten supper of the night before and his no breakfast at all of that morning. He seated himself on the saddle, unwrapped the sausage, and proceeded to cut from it two or three thin slices.
"It might have been much worse," he reflected, as he picked off with his penknife the bits of silver foil which adhered to the skin of the sausage; "if Mary had decamped with the commissary stores, that would have been awkward." Lynde devoured8 the small pieces of pressed meat with an appetite born of his long fast and the bracing9 upland air.
"Talk about pate10 de foie gras!" he exclaimed, with a sweep of his arm, as if he were disdainfully waving back a menial bearing a tray of Strasbourg pates12; "if I live to return to Rivermouth I will have Bologna sausage three times a day for the rest of my life."
A cup of the ice-cold water which bubbled up from a boss of cresses by the roadside completed his Spartan13 breakfast. His next step was to examine his surroundings. "From the top of this hill," said Lynde, "I shall probably be able to see where I am, if that will be any comfort to me."
It was only fifty or sixty rods to the crown of the hill, where the road, viewed from below, seemed abruptly14 to come to an end against the sky. On gaining the summit, Lynde gave an involuntary exclamation15 of surprise and delight. At his feet in the valley below, in a fertile plain walled in on all sides by the emerald slopes, lay the loveliest village that ever was seen. Though the road by which he had approached the eminence16 had been narrow and steep, here it widened and descended17 by gentle gradations into the valley, where it became the main street of the village--a congregation of two or possibly three hundred houses, mostly cottages with gambrel and lean-to roofs. At the left of the village, and about an eighth of a mile distant, was an imposing18 red brick building with wings and a pair of octagon towers. It stood in a forest of pines and maples19, and appeared to be enclosed by a high wall of masonry20. It was too pretentious21 for an almshouse, too elegant for a prison; it was as evidently not a school-house, and it could not be an arsenal22. Lynde puzzled over it a moment, and then returned for his saddle, which he slung23 across his back, holding it by a stirrup-strap brought over either shoulder.
"If Mary has got a conscience," muttered Lynde, "it would prick24 her if she could see me now. I must be an affecting spectacle. In the village they won't know whether I am the upper or the lower half of a centaur25. They won't know whether to rub me down and give me a measure of oats, or to ask me in to breakfast."
The saddle with its trappings probably weighed forty pounds, and Lynde was glad before he had accomplished26 a third of the way to the village to set down his burden and rest awhile. On each side of him now were cornfields, and sloping orchards27 peopled with those grotesque28, human- like apple-trees which seem twisted and cramped29 by a pain possibly caught from their own acidulous30 fruit. The cultivated land terminated only where the village began. It was not so much a village as a garden-- a garden crowded with flowers of that bright metallic31 tint32 which distinguishes the flora33 of northern climes. Through the centre of this Eden ran the wide main street, fringed with poplars and elms and chestnuts34. No polluting brewery35 or smoky factory, with its hideous36 architecture, marred37 the idyllic38 beauty of the miniature town--for everything which is not a city is a town in New England. The population obviously consisted of well-to-do persons, with outlying stock-farms or cranberry39 meadows, and funds snugly41 invested in ships and railroads.
In out-of-the-way places like this is preserved the greater part of what we have left of the hard shrewd sense and the simpler manner of those homespun old worthies43 who planted the seed of the Republic. In our great cities we are cosmopolitans44; but here we are Americans of the primitive45 type, or as nearly as may be. It was unimportant settlements like the one we are describing that sent their quota46 of stout47 hearts and flintlock muskets48 to the trenches49 on Bunker Hill. Here, too, the valorous spirit which had been slumbering50 on its arm for half a century started up at the first shot fired against Fort Sumter. Over the chimney-place of more than one cottage in such secluded51 villages hangs an infantry52 or a cavalry53 sword in its dinted sheath, looked at to-day by wife or mother with the tenderly proud smile that has mercifully taken the place of tears.
Beyond the town, on the hillside which Edward Lynde had just got within the focus of his field-glass, was the inevitable54 cemetery55. On a grave here and there a tiny flag waved in the indolent June breeze. If Lynde had been standing56 by the head-stones, he could have read among the inscriptions57 such unlocal words as Malvern Hill, Andersonville, Ball's Bluff58, and Gettysburg, and might have seen the withered59 Decoration Day wreaths which had been fresh the month before.
Lynde brought his glass to bear on the red brick edifice60 mentioned, and fell to pondering it again.
"I'll be hanged if I don't think it's a nunnery," he said. By and by he let his gaze wander back to the town, in which he detected an appearance of liveliness and bustle61 not usual in New England villages, large or small. The main street was dotted with groups of men and women; and isolated62 figures, to which perhaps the distance lent a kind of uncanny aspect, were to be seen hurrying hither and thither63.
"It must be some local celebration," thought Lynde. "Rural oratory64 and all that sort of thing. That will be capital!"
He had returned the glass to its leather case, and was settling it well on his hip42, when he saw a man approaching. It was a heavily built old gentleman in a suit of black alpaca, somewhat frayed65 and baggy66 at the knees, but still respectable. He carried his hat in his hand, fanning himself with it from time to time, as if overcome by heat and the fatigue67 of walking. A profusion68 of snow-white hair, parted in the middle, swept down on either side of a face remarkable69--if it was remarkable for anything--for its benign70 and simple expression. There was a far-off, indescribable something about this person, as though he had existed long ago and once had a meaning, but was now become an obsolete71 word in the human dictionary. His wide placid72 brows and the double chin which asserted itself above his high neckcloth gave him a curious resemblance to portraits of Dr. Franklin.
"The country parson," said Lynde to himself. "Venerable and lovely old character. I'll speak to him."
The old gentleman, with his head slightly thrown back, had his eyes fixed73 intently on some object in the sky, and was on the point of passing Lynde without observing him, when the young man politely lifted his hat, and said, "I beg your pardon, sir, but will you be kind enough to tell me the name of the town yonder?"
The old gentleman slowly brought his eyes down from the sky, fixed them vacantly upon Lynde, and made no response. Presuming him to be deaf, Lynde repeated his question in a key adapted to the exigency74. Without a change in his mild, benevolent75 expression, and in a voice whose modulations were singularly musical, the old gentleman exclaimed, "Go to the devil!" and passed on.
The rejoinder was so unexpected, the words themselves were so brusque, while the utterance76 was so gentle and melodious77, that Lynde refused to credit his ears. Could he have heard aright? Before he recovered from his surprise the gentleman in black was far up the slope, his gaze again riveted78 on some remote point in the zenith.
"It wasn't the country parson after all," said Lynde, with a laugh; "it was the village toper. He's an early bird--I'll say that for him--to have secured his intoxicating79 worm at this hour of the morning."
Lynde picked up the saddle and resumed his march on the town in the happy valley. He had proceeded only a little way when he perceived another figure advancing towards him--a figure not less striking than that of the archaic80 gentleman, but quite different. This was a young girl, of perhaps seventeen, in a flowing dress of some soft white stuff, gathered at the waist by a broad red ribbon. She was without hat or shawl, and wore her hair, which was very long and very black, hanging loosely down her shoulders, in exaggeration of a style of coiffure that afterwards came into fashion. She was moving slowly and in the manner of a person not accustomed to walking. She was a lady--Lynde saw that at a glance--probably some city-bred bird of passage, resting for the summer in this vale of health. His youthful vanity took alarm as he reflected what a comical picture he must present with that old saddle on his back. He would have dumped it into the barberry-bushes if he could have done so unobserved; but it was now too late.
On perceiving Lynde, the girl arrested her steps a moment irresolutely83, and then came directly towards him. As she drew nearer Lynde was conscious of being dazzled by a pair of heavily fringed black eyes, large and lustrous84, set in an oval face of exquisite85 pallor. The girl held a dandelion in one hand, twirling it by the end of its long, snake- like stem as she approached. She was close upon him now; for an instant he caught the wind of the flower as it swiftly described a circle within an inch of his cheek. The girl paused in front of him, and drawing herself up to her full height said haughtily86--
"I am the Queen of Sheba."
Then she glided87 by him with a quickened pace and a suddenly timid air. Lynde was longer recovering himself, this time. He stood rooted to the ground, stupidly watching the retreating gracious form of the girl, who half turned once and looked back at him. Then she vanished over the ridge88 of the hill, as the old gentleman had done. Was she following him? Was there any connection between those two? Perhaps he was the village clergyman. Could this be his daughter? What an unconventional costume for a young lady to promenade89 in--for she was a lady down to her finger- nails! And what an odd salutation!
"The Queen of Sheba!" he repeated wonderingly. "What could she mean by that? She took me for some country bumpkin, with this confounded saddle, and was laughing at me. I never saw a girl at once so--so audacious and modest, or so lovely. I didn't know there was anything on earth so lovely as that girl."
He had caught only an instantaneous glimpse of her face, but he had seen it with strange distinctness, as one sees an object by a flash of lightning; and he still saw it, as one seems still to see the object in the after-darkness. Every line of the features lived in his eyes, even an almost indistinguishable scar there was on the girl's right cheek near the temple. It was not a flaw, that faint scar; it seemed somehow to heighten her loveliness, as an accent over a word sometimes gives it one knows not what of piquancy90.
"Evidently she lives in the town or in the neighborhood. Shall I meet her again, I wonder? I will stay here a week or a month if--What nonsense! I must have distinguished91 myself, staring at her like a gawk. When she said she was the Queen of Sheba, I ought instantly to have replied--what in the deuce is it I ought to have replied? How can a man be witty92 with a ton of sole-leather pressing on his spine93!"
Edward Lynde, with the girl and her mocking words in his mind, and busying himself with all the clever things he might have said and did not say, mechanically traversed the remaining distance to the village.
The street which had seemed thronged94 when he viewed it from the slope of the hill was deserted95; at the farther end he saw two or three persons hurrying along, but there were no indications whatever of the festival he had conjectured96. Indeed, the town presented the appearance of a place smitten97 by a pestilence98. The blinds of the lower casements99 of all the houses were closed; he would have supposed them unoccupied if he had not caught sight of a face pressed against the glass of an upper window here and there. He thought it singular that these faces instantly withdrew when he looked up. Once or twice he fancied he heard a distant laugh, and the sound of voices singing drunkenly somewhere in the open air.
Some distance up the street a tall liberty-pole sustaining a swinging sign announced a tavern100. Lynde hastened thither; but the tavern, like the private houses, appeared tenantless101; the massive pine window- shutters102 were barred and bolted. Lynde mounted the three or four low steps leading to the piazza103, and tried the front door, which was locked. With the saddle still on his shoulders, he stepped into the middle of the street to reconnoitre the premises104. A man and two women suddenly showed themselves at an open window in the second story. Lynde was about to address them when the man cried out--
"Oh, you're a horse, I suppose. Well, there isn't any oats for you here. You had better trot105 on!"
Lynde did not relish106 this pleasantry; it struck him as rather insolent107; but he curbed108 his irritation109, and inquired as politely as he could if a horse or any kind of vehicle could be hired in the village.
The three persons in the window nodded to one another significantly, and began smiling in a constrained110 manner, as if there were something quite preposterous111 in the inquiry112. The man, a corpulent, red-faced person, seemed on the point of suffocating113 with merriment.
"That's as may be," answered the man, recovering his breath, and becoming grave.
"Are you the proprietor115?"
"That's jest what I am."
"Then I require of you the accommodation which is the right of every traveller. Your license116 does not permit you to turn any respectable stranger from your door."
"Now, my advice to you," said the man, stepping back from the window, "my advice to you is to trot. You can't get in here. If you try to, I'll pepper you as sure as you live, though I wouldn't like to do it. So trot right along!"
The man had a gun in his hands; he clutched it nervously117 by the stock; his countenance worked strangely, and his small, greenish eyes had a terrified, defiant118 expression. Indisputably, the tavern-keeper looked upon Lynde as a dangerous person, and was ready to fire upon him if he persisted in his demands.
"My friend," said Lynde through his set teeth, "if I had you down here I'd give you a short lesson in manners."
"I dare say! I dare say!" cried the man, flourishing the shot-gun excitedly.
Lynde turned away disgusted and indignant; but his indignation was neutralized119 by his astonishment120 at this incomprehensible brutality121. He had no resource but to apply to some private house and state his predicament. As that luckless saddle had excited the derision of the girl, and drawn122 down on him the contumely of the tavern-keeper, he looked around for some safe spot in which to deposit it before it brought him into further disgrace. His linen123 and all his worldly possessions, except his money, which he carried on his person, were in the valise; he could not afford to lose that.
The sun was high by this time, and the heat would have been intolerable if it had not been for a merciful breeze which swept down from the cooler atmosphere of the hills. Lynde wasted half an hour or more seeking a hiding-place for the saddle. It had grown a grievous burden to him; at every step it added a pound to its dead weight. He saw no way of relieving himself of it. There it was perched upon his shoulders, like the Old Man of the Sea on the back of Sindbad the Sailor. In sheer despair Lynde flung down his load on the curb-stone at a corner formed by a narrow street diagonally crossing the main thoroughfare, which he had not quitted. He drew out his handkerchief and wiped the heavy drops of perspiration124 from his brows. At that moment he was aware of the presence of a tall, cadaverous man of about forty, who was so painfully pinched and emaciated125 that a sympathetic shiver ran over Lynde as he glanced at him. He was as thin as an exclamation point. It seemed to Lynde that the man must be perishing with cold even in that burning June sunshine. It was not a man, but a skeleton.
"Good heavens, sir!" cried Lynde. "Tell me where I am! What is the name of this town?"
"Constantinople."
"Constan"--
"--tinople," added the man briskly. "A stranger here?"
"Yes," said Lynde abstractedly. He was busy running over an imaginary map of the State of New Hampshire in search of Constantinople.
"You'll employ me? I like that!"
"Certainly. I'm a ship-builder."
"I am building a ship--don't say I'm not!"
"Of course I know nothing about it."
"A marble ship."
"A ship to carry marble?"
"No, a ship made of marble; a passenger ship. We have ships of iron, why not of marble?" he asked fiercely.
"Oh, the fellow is mad!" said Lynde to himself, "as mad as a loon129; everybody here is mad, or I've lost my senses. So you are building a marble ship?" he added aloud, good-naturedly. "When it is finished I trust you will get all the inhabitants of this town into it, and put to sea at once."
"Then you'll help me!" cried the man enthusiastically, with his eyes gleaming in their sunken sockets130. More than ever he looked like a specimen131 escaped from some anatomical museum.
"I do not believe I can be of much assistance," answered Lynde, laughing. "I have had so little experience in constructing marble vessels, you see. I fear my early education has been fearfully neglected. By the bye," continued the young man, who was vaguely132 diverted by his growing interest in the monomaniac, "how do you propose to move your ship to the seaboard?"
"In the simplest manner--a double railroad track--twenty-four engines-- twelve engines on each side to support the hull134."
"That WOULD be a simple way."
Edward Lynde laughed again, but not heartily135. He felt that this marble ship was a conception of high humor and was not without its pathetic element. The whimsicality of the idea amused him, but the sad earnestness of the nervous, unstrung visionary at his side moved his compassion137.
"Dear me," he mused136, "may be all of us are more or less engaged in planning a marble ship, and perhaps the happiest are those who, like this poor soul, never awake from their delusion138. Matrimony was uncle David's marble ship--he launched his! Have I one on the ways, I wonder?"
Lynde broke with a shock from his brief abstraction. His companion had disappeared, and with him the saddle and valise. Lynde threw a hasty glance up the street, and started in pursuit of the naval-architect, who was running with incredible swiftness and bearing the saddle on his head with as much ease as if it had been a feather.
The distance between the two men, some sixty or seventy yards, was not the disadvantage that made pursuit seem hopeless. Lynde had eaten almost nothing since the previous noon; he had been carrying that cumbersome139 saddle for the last two or three hours; he was out of breath, and it was impossible to do much running in his heavy riding-boots. The other man, on the contrary, appeared perfectly140 fresh; he wore light shoes, and had not a superfluous141 ounce of flesh to carry. He was all bone and sinew; the saddle resting upon his head was hardly an impediment to him. Lynde, however, was not going to be vanquished142 without a struggle; though he recognized the futility143 of pursuit, he pushed on doggedly144. A certain tenacious145 quality in the young man imperatively146 demanded this of him.
"The rascal147 has made off with my dinner," he muttered between his clinched148 teeth. "That completes the ruin Mary began. If I should happen to catch up with him, I trust I shall have the moral strength not to knock his head off--his skull149 off; it isn't a head."
Lynde's sole hope of overtaking him, and it was a very slender hope, was based on the possibility that the man might fall and disable himself; but he seemed to have the sure-footedness as well as the lightness of a deer. When Lynde reached the outskirts150 of the village, on the road by which he had entered, the agile151 ship-builder was more than halfway152 up the hill. Lynde made a fresh spurt153 here, and lost his hat; but he had no time to turn back for it. Every instant widened the space between the two runners, as one of them noticed with disgust. At the top of the ascent154 the man halted a moment to take breath, and then disappeared behind the ridge. He was on the down grade now, and of course gaining at each stride on his pursuer, who was still toiling155 upward. Lynde did not slacken his pace, however; he had got what runners call their second wind. With lips set, elbows pressed against his sides, and head thrown forward, he made excellent time to the brow of the hill, where he suddenly discovered himself in the midst of a crowd of men and horses.
For several seconds Lynde was so dazed and embarrassed that he saw nothing; then his eyes fell upon the girl with the long hair and the white gown. She was seated sidewise on a horse without saddle, and the horse was Mary. A strapping156 fellow was holding the animal by the head- stall.
He was immediately seized by two men who attempted to pass a cord over his wrists. Lynde resisted so desperately159 that a third man was called into requisition, and the three succeeded in tying his hands and placing him upon a saddle vacated by one of the riders. All this occupied hardly a minute.
"Will you go along quietly," said one of the men roughly, "or will you be carried?"
He received no reply from any of the group, which seemed to be composed of farmers and laboring-hands, with two or three persons whose social status did not betray itself. Directly behind the girl and, like her, mounted on a horse led by a couple of rustics162, was the white-haired old gentleman who had repulsed163 Lynde so rudely. Lynde noticed that his hands were also secured by cords, an indignity164 which in no wise altered the benevolent and satisfied expression of his face. Lynde's saddle and valise were attached to the old gentleman's horse. Lynde instinctively165 looked around for the ship-builder. There he was, flushed and sullen166, sitting on a black nag167 as bony and woe-begone as himself, guarded by two ill-favored fellows. Not only were the ship-builder's arms pinioned168, but his feet were bound by a rope fastened to each ankle and passed under the nag's belly169. It was clear to Lynde that he himself, the old clergyman, and the girl were the victims of some dreadful misconception, possibly brought about by the wretch170 who had purloined171 the saddle.
"Gentlemen!" cried Lynde, as the party began to advance, "I protest against this outrage172 so far as I am concerned, and I venture to protest on the part of the lady. I am convinced that she is incapable173 of any act to warrant such treatment. I--I know her slightly," he added, hesitating.
"Oh, yes," said the girl, folding her hands demurely174 in her lap, "and I know you, too, very well. You are my husband."
This announcement struck Lynde speechless. The rough men exchanged amused glances, and the ship-builder gave vent81 to a curious dry laugh. Lynde could have killed him. The party moved on. Up to this moment the young man had been boiling with rage; his rage now yielded place to amazement175. What motive176 had prompted the girl to claim that relationship? Was it a desperate appeal to him for protection? But brother, or cousin, or friend would have served as well. Her impulsive177 declaration, which would be at once disproved, might result in serious complications for him and her. But it had not been an impulsive declaration; she had said it very calmly, and, he fancied, with just the lightest touch of coquetry, "You are my husband!" For several minutes Lynde did not dare to let his eyes wander in her direction. She was a pace or so in the rear at his right. To see her he would be obliged to turn slightly; this he presently did, with a movement as if settling himself more easily in the saddle. The girl's loose hair was blown like a black veil over her face, putting her into mourning; she was steadying herself with one hand resting on Mary's mane; her feet were crossed, and a diminutive178 slipper179 had fallen from one of them. There was something so helpless and appealing in the girl's attitude that Lynde was touched.
"May I speak with you, sir?" he said, addressing himself to a man whom somebody had called Morton, and who appeared to issue the orders for the party. The man came to Lynde's side.
"For Heaven's sake, sir, explain this! Who is that young woman?"
"You said you knew her," returned the man, not unpleasantly.
"Indeed I said so," replied Lynde, reddening. "What has happened? What has she done, what have I done, what has the old clergyman done, that we should be seized like murderers on the public highway?"
"Be quiet now," said the man, laying his hand soothingly180 on Lynde's arm, and looking at him steadily181. "Everything will be satisfactorily explained by and by."
Lynde's indignation blazed up again.
"I can assure you, sir," he cried, as the man returned to his former position, "that the result of the explanation will be far from satisfactory to you. I shall hold to strict account every man who has had a hand in this business. I demand to be brought before a magistrate182, or a justice of the peace, if there is one in this God-forsaken country."
No attention was paid to Lynde's fresh outbreak. Some one picked up his hat and set it on the back of his head, giving him quite a rakish air. His dignity suffered until the wind took the hat again. The party proceeded in silence, halting once to tighten183 a girth, and another time to wait for a straggler. If the men spoke184 to one another it was in subdued185 tones or whispers. Two of the horsemen trotted186 on a hundred yards in advance, like skirmishers thrown out in front of an attacking force. There was something in all this mysterious precaution and reticence187 which bewildered and exasperated188 Lynde, who noted189 every detail. Mary, in a transient spasm190 of backing, had fallen to the rear; the young man could no longer see the girl, but ever before his eyes was the piteous, unslippered little foot with its arched instep.
The party was now at the base of the declivity191. Instead of following the road to the village, the horses turned abruptly into a bridle-path branching off to the left, and in the course of a few minutes passed through an iron-spiked gateway192 in a high brick wall surrounding the large red structure which had puzzled Lynde on first discovering the town. The double gates stood wide open and were untended; they went to, however, with a clang, and the massive bolts were shot as soon as the party had entered. In the courtyard Lynde was hastily assisted from the horse; he did not have an opportunity to observe what became of the other three prisoners. When his hands were freed he docilely193 allowed himself to be conducted up a flight of stone steps and into the vestibule of the building, and thence, through a long corridor, to a small room in which his guard left him. The door closed with a spring not practicable from the inside, as Lynde ascertained194 on inspection195.
The chamber196 was not exactly a cell; it resembled rather the waiting-room of a penitentiary197. The carpet, of a tasteless, gaudy198 pattern, was well worn, and the few pieces of hair-cloth furniture, a sofa, a table, and chairs, had a stiff, official air. A strongly barred window gave upon a contracted garden--one of those gardens sometimes attached to prisons, with mathematically cut box borders, and squares of unhealthy, party- colored flowers looking like gangs of convicts going to meals. On his arrival at the place Edward Lynde had offered no resistance, trusting that some sort of judicial199 examination would promptly200 set him at liberty. Faint from want of food, jaded201 by his exertions202, and chafing203 at the delay, he threw himself upon the sofa, and waited.
There was a great deal of confusion in the building. Hurried footsteps came and went up and down the passages; now and then he heard approaching voices, which tantalizingly204 passed on, or died away before reaching his door. Once a shrill205 shriek--a woman's shriek--rang through the corridor and caused him to spring to his feet.
After the lapse206 of an hour that had given Lynde some general idea of eternity207, the door was hastily thrown open, and a small, elderly, blue- eyed gentleman, followed by a man of gigantic stature208, entered the chamber.
"My dear sir," cried the gentleman, making a courteous209, deprecatory gesture with his palms spread outward, "we owe you a million apologies. There has been a most lamentable210 mistake!"
"A mistake!" said Lynde haughtily. "Mistake is a mild term to apply to an outrage."
"Your indignation is just; still it was a mistake, and one I would not have had happen for the world. I am Dr. Pendegrast, the superintendent211 of this asylum212."
"This is an asylum!"
"An asylum for the insane," returned Dr. Pendegrast. "I do not know how to express my regret at what has occurred. I can only account for the unfortunate affair, and throw myself upon your generosity214. Will you allow me to explain?"
Lynde passed his hand over his forehead in a bewildered way. Then he looked at the doctor suspiciously; Lynde's late experience had shaken his faith in the general sanity215 of his species. "Certainly," he said, "I would like to have this matter explained to me; for I'll be hanged if I understand it. This is an asylum?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you are the superintendent?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then--naturally--you are not a lunatic?"
"Certainly not!" said the doctor, starting.
"Very well; I didn't know. I am listening to you, sir."
"Early this morning," said Dr. Pendegrast, somewhat embarrassed by Lynde's singular manner, "a number of patients whom we had always considered tractable216 seized the attendants one by one at breakfast, and, before a general alarm could be given, locked them in the cells. Some of us were still in our bedrooms when the assault began and were there overpowered. We chanced to be short-handed at the time, two of the attendants being ill, and another absent. As I say, we were all seized-- the women attendants and nurses as well--and locked up. Higgins here, my head-man, they put into a strait-jacket."
"Yes, sir," spoke up Higgins for himself, "they did so!"
"Me," continued Dr. Pendegrast, smiling, "they confined in the padded chamber."
Lynde looked at him blankly.
"A chamber with walls thickly cushioned, to prevent violent patients from inflicting217 injury on themselves," explained the doctor. "_I_, you see, was considered a very bad case indeed! Meanwhile, Morton, the under-keeper, was in the garden, and escaped; but unfortunately, in his excitement, he neglected to lock the main gate after him. Morton gave the alarm to the people in the village, who, I am constrained to say, did not behave handsomely. Instead of coming to our relief and assisting to restore order, which might easily have been done even then, they barricaded218 themselves in their houses, in a panic. Morton managed to get a horse, and started for G--In the meantime the patients who had made the attack liberated219 the patients still in confinement220, and the whole rushed in a body out of the asylum and spread themselves over the village."
"That must have been the crowd I saw in the streets when I sighted the town," said Lynde, thinking aloud.
"If you saw persons in the street," returned the doctor, "they were not the townsfolk. They kept very snug40, I assure you. But permit me to finish, Mr."--
"My name is Lynde."
"Morton," continued the doctor, bowing, "having secured several volunteers before reaching G--, decided221 to return with what force he had, knowing that every instant was precious. On his way back he picked up three of the poor wanderers, and, unluckily, picked up you."
"He should not have committed such a stupid error," said Lynde, clinging stoutly222 to his grievance223. "He ought to have seen that I was not an inmate224 of the asylum."
"An attendant, my dear Mr. Lynde, is not necessarily familiar with all the patients; he may know only those in his special ward1. Besides, you were bare-headed and running, and seemed in a state of great cerebral225 excitement."
"I was chasing a man who had stolen my property."
"Morton and the others report that you behaved with great violence."
"Of course I did. I naturally resented being seized and bound."
"Your natural violence confirmed them in their natural suspicion, you see. Assuredly they were to blame; but the peculiar226 circumstances must plead for them."
"But when I spoke to them calmly and rationally"--
"My good sir," interrupted the doctor, "if sane213 people always talked as rationally and sensibly as some of the very maddest of my poor friends sometimes do, there would be fewer foolish things said in the world. What remark is that the great poet puts into the mouth of Polonius, speaking of Hamlet? 'How pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of.' My dear Mr. Lynde, it was your excellent good sense that convicted you! By the way, I believe you claimed the horse which Morton found adrift on the road."
"Yes, sir, it was mine; at least I was riding it this morning when the saddle-girth broke, and the mare got away from me."
"Then of course that was your saddle Blaisdell was running off with."
"Blaisdell?"
"One of our most dangerous patients, in fact, the only really dangerous patient at present in the establishment. Yet you should hear HIM talk sometimes! To-day, thank God, he happened to be in his ship-building mood. Otherwise--I dare not think what he might have done. I should be in despair if he had not been immediately retaken. Oddly enough, all the poor creatures, except three, returned to the asylum of their own will, after a brief ramble227 through the village."
"And the white-haired old gentleman who looked like a clergyman, is he mad?"
"Mackenzie? Merely idiotic," replied the doctor, with the cool professional air.
"And the young girl," asked Lynde hesitatingly, "is she"--
"A very sad case," interrupted Dr. Pendegrast, with a tenderer expression settling upon his countenance. "The saddest thing in the world."
"Insane?"
"Hopelessly so, I fear."
A nameless heaviness fell upon Lynde's heart. He longed to ask other questions, but he did not know how to shape them. He regretted that subsequently.
"And now, Mr. Lynde," said the doctor, "in your general pardon I wish you to include my unavoidable delay in coming or sending to you. When you were brought here I was still in durance vile228, and Higgins was in his strait-jacket. On being released, my hands were full, as you can suppose. Moreover, I did not learn at once of your detention229. The saddle and the valise caused me to suspect that a blunder had been committed. I cannot adequately express my regrets. In ten minutes," continued Dr. Pendegrast, turning a fat gold watch over on its back in the palm of his hand, where it looked like a little yellow turtle, "in ten minutes dinner will be served. Unless you do me the honor to dine with me, I shall not believe in the sincerity230 of your forgiveness."
"Thanks," said Lynde dejectedly. "I fully11 appreciate your thoughtfulness; I am nearly famished231, but I do not think I could eat a mouthful here. Excuse me for saying it, but I should have to remain here permanently232 if I were to stay another hour. I quite forgive Mr. Morton and the others," Lynde went on, rising and giving the doctor his hand; "and I forgive you also, since you insist upon being forgiven, though I do not know for what. If my horse, and my traps, and my hat--really, I don't see how they could have helped taking me for a lunatic--can be brought together, I will go and dine at the tavern."
Half an hour afterward82 Edward Lynde dismounted at the steps of the rustic161 hotel. The wooden shutters were down now, and the front door stood hospitably233 open. A change had come over the entire village. There were knots of persons at the street corners and at garden gates, discussing the event of the day. There was also a knot of gossips in the hotel barroom to whom the landlord, Mr. Zeno Dodge234, was giving a thrilling account of an attack made on the tavern by a maniac133 who had fancied himself a horse!
"The critter," cried Mr. Dodge dramatically, "was on the p'int of springin' up the piazzy, when Martha handed me the shot-gun."
Mr. Dodge was still in a heroic attitude, with one arm stretched out to receive the weapon and his eye following every movement of a maniac obligingly personated by the cuspidor between the windows, when Lynde entered. Mr. Dodge's arm slowly descended to his side, his jaw235 fell, and the narrative236 broke off short.
Lynde requested dinner in a private room, and Mr. Dodge deposed237 the maid in order to bring in the dishes himself and scrutinize238 his enigmatical guest. In serving the meal the landlord invented countless239 pretexts240 to remain in the room. After a while Lynde began to feel it uncomfortable to have those sharp green eyes continually boring into the back of his head.
"Yes," he exclaimed wearily, "I am the man."
"I thought you was. Glad to see you, sir," said Mr. Dodge politely.
"This morning you took me for an escaped lunatic?"
"I did so--fust-off."
"A madman who imagined himself a horse?"
"That's what I done," said Mr. Dodge contritely241, "an' no wonder, with that there saddle. They're a very queer lot, them crazy chaps. There's one on 'em up there who calls himself Abraham Lincoln, an' then there's another who thinks he's a telegraph wire an' hes messages runnin' up an' down him continally. These is new potatoes, sir--early rosers. There's no end to their cussed kinks. When I see you prancin' round under the winder with that there saddle, I says at once to Martha, 'Martha, here's a luny!'"
"Wasn't it now?"
"And if you had shot me to death," said Lynde, helping243 himself to another chop, "I should have been very much obliged to you."
"Comin'! comin'!" cried Mr. Dodge, in response to a seemingly vociferous245 call which had failed to reach Lynde's ear.
When Edward Lynde had finished dinner, Mary was brought to the door. Under the supervision246 of a group of spectators assembled on the piazza, Lynde mounted, and turned the mare's head directly for Rivermouth. He had no heart to go any farther due north. The joyousness247 had dropped out of the idle summer journey. He had gone in search of the picturesque248 and the peculiar; he had found them--and he wished he had not.
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1
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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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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lugging
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| 超载运转能力 | |
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protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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pate
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| n.头顶；光顶 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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pates
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| n.头顶，（尤指）秃顶，光顶( pate的名词复数 ) | |
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13
spartan
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| adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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15
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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16
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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17
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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18
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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19
maples
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| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
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masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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pretentious
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| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
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22
arsenal
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| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
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23
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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centaur
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| n.人首马身的怪物 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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27
orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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acidulous
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| adj.微酸的；苛薄的 | |
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31
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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32
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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33
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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34
chestnuts
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| n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马 | |
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35
brewery
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| n.啤酒厂 | |
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36
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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37
marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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idyllic
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| adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的 | |
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39
cranberry
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| n.梅果 | |
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40
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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41
snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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42
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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43
worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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44
cosmopolitans
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| 世界性的( cosmopolitan的名词复数 )； 全球各国的； 有各国人的； 受各国文化影响的 | |
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45
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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46
quota
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| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
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48
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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49
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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50
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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51
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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52
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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53
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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54
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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55
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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56
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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57
inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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58
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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59
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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60
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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61
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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62
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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63
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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64
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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65
frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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67
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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68
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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69
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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70
benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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71
obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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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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exigency
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| n.紧急；迫切需要 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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76
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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77
melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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78
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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79
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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80
archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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81
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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82
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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83
irresolutely
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| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
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84
lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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85
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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86
haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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87
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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88
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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89
promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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90
piquancy
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| n.辛辣，辣味，痛快 | |
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91
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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93
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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94
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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96
conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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98
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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99
casements
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| n.窗扉( casement的名词复数 ) | |
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100
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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101
tenantless
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| adj.无人租赁的，无人居住的 | |
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102
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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103
piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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104
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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105
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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106
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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107
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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108
curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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109
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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110
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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111
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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112
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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113
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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114
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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115
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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116
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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117
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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118
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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119
neutralized
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| v.使失效( neutralize的过去式和过去分词 )；抵消；中和；使（一个国家）中立化 | |
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120
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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121
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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122
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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123
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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124
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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125
emaciated
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| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
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126
anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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127
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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128
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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129
loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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130
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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131
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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132
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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133
maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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134
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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135
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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136
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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137
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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138
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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139
cumbersome
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| adj.笨重的，不便携带的 | |
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140
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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141
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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142
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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143
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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144
doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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145
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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146
imperatively
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| adv.命令式地 | |
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147
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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148
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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149
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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150
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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151
agile
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| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
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152
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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153
spurt
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| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
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154
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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155
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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156
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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157
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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158
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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159
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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160
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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161
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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162
rustics
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| n.有农村或村民特色的( rustic的名词复数 )；粗野的；不雅的；用粗糙的木材或树枝制作的 | |
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163
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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164
indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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165
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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166
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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167
nag
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| v.(对…)不停地唠叨；n.爱唠叨的人 | |
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168
pinioned
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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169
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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170
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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171
purloined
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| v.偷窃( purloin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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173
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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174
demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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175
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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176
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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177
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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178
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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179
slipper
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| n.拖鞋 | |
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180
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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181
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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182
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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183
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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184
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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185
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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186
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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187
reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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188
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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189
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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190
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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191
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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192
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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193
docilely
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| adv.容易教地，易驾驶地，驯服地 | |
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194
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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195
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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196
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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197
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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198
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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199
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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200
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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201
jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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202
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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203
chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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204
tantalizingly
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| adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度 | |
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205
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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206
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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207
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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208
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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209
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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210
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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211
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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212
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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213
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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214
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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215
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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216
tractable
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| adj.易驾驭的；温顺的 | |
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217
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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218
barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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219
liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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220
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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221
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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222
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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223
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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224
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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225
cerebral
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| adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的 | |
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226
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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227
ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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228
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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229
detention
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| n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下 | |
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230
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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231
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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232
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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233
hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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234
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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235
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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236
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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237
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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238
scrutinize
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| n.详细检查，细读 | |
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239
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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240
pretexts
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| n.借口，托辞( pretext的名词复数 ) | |
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241
contritely
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242
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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243
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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244
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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245
vociferous
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| adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的 | |
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246
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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247
joyousness
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| 快乐，使人喜悦 | |
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248
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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