He was years younger than the Mayor of Casterbridge; fair, fresh, and slenderly handsome. He wore genteel cloth leggings with white buttons, polished boots with infinite lace holes, light cord breeches under a black velveteen coat and waistcoat; and he had a silver-topped switch in his hand. Lucetta blushed, and said with a curious mixture of pout3 and laugh on her face--"O, I've made a mistake!"
The visitor, on the contrary, did not laugh half a wrinkle.
"But I'm very sorry!" he said, in deprecating tones. "I came and I inquired for Miss Henchard, and they showed me up here, and in no case would I have caught ye so unmannerly if I had known!"
"I was the unmannerly one," she said.
"But is it that I have come to the wrong house, madam?" said Mr. Farfrae, blinking a little in his bewilderment and nervously4 tapping his legging with his switch.
"O no, sir,--sit down. You must come and sit down now you are here," replied Lucetta kindly5, to relieve his embarrassment6. "Miss Henchard will be here directly."
Now this was not strictly7 true; but that something about the young man--that hyperborean crispness, stringency8, and charm, as of a well-braced musical instrument, which had awakened9 the interest of Henchard, and of Elizabeth-Jane and of the Three Mariners10' jovial11 crew, at sight, made his unexpected presence here attractive to Lucetta. He hesitated, looked at the chair, thought there was no danger in it (though there was), and sat down.
Farfrae's sudden entry was simply the result of Henchard's permission to him to see Elizabeth if he were minded to woo her. At first he had taken no notice of Henchard's brusque letter; but an exceptionally fortunate business transaction put him on good terms with everybody, and revealed to him that he could undeniably marry if he chose. Then who so pleasing, thrifty12, and satisfactory in every way as Elizabeth-Jane? Apart from her personal recommendations a reconciliation13 with his former friend Henchard would, in the natural course of things, flow from such a union. He therefore forgave the Mayor his curtness14; and this morning on his way to the fair he had called at her house, where he learnt that she was staying at Miss Templeman's. A little stimulated15 at not finding her ready and waiting--so fanciful are men!--he hastened on to High-Place Hall to encounter no Elizabeth but its mistress herself.
"The fair to-day seems a large one," she said when, by natural deviation16, their eyes sought the busy scene without. "Your numerous fairs and markets keep me interested. How many things I think of while I watch from here!"
He seemed in doubt how to answer, and the babble17 without reached them as they sat--voices as of wavelets on a looping sea, one ever and anon rising above the rest. "Do you look out often?" he asked.
"Yes--very often."
"Do you look for any one you know?"
Why should she have answered as she did?
"I look as at a picture merely. But," she went on, turning pleasantly to him, "I may do so now--I may look for you. You are always there, are you not? Ah--I don't mean it seriously! But it is amusing to look for somebody one knows in a crowd, even if one does not want him. It takes off the terrible oppressiveness of being surrounded by a throng18, and having no point of junction19 with it through a single individual."
"Ay! Maybe you'll be very lonely, ma'am?"
"Nobody knows how lonely."
"But you are rich, they say?"
"If so, I don't know how to enjoy my riches. I came to Casterbridge thinking I should like to live here. But I wonder if I shall."
"Where did ye come from, ma'am?"
"The neighbourhood of Bath."
"And I from near Edinboro'," he murmured. "It's better to stay at home, and that's true; but a man must live where his money is made. It is a great pity, but it's always so! Yet I've done very well this year. O yes," he went on with ingenuous20 enthusiasm. "You see that man with the drab kerseymere coat? I bought largely of him in the autumn when wheat was down, and then afterwards when it rose a little I sold off all I had! It brought only a small profit to me; while the farmers kept theirs, expecting higher figures-yes, though the rats were gnawing21 the ricks hollow. Just when I sold the markets went lower, and I bought up the corn of those who had been holding back at less price than my first purchases. And then," cried Farfrae impetuously, his face alight, "I sold it a few weeks after, when it happened to go up again! And so, by contenting mysel' with small profits frequently repeated, I soon made five hundred pounds--yes!"--(bringing down his hand upon the table, and quite forgetting where he was)--"while the others by keeping theirs in hand made nothing at all!"
Lucetta regarded him with a critical interest. He was quite a new type of person to her. At last his eye fell upon the lady's and their glances met.
"Ay, now, I'm wearying you!" he exclaimed.
She said, "No, indeed," colouring a shade.
"What then?"
"Quite otherwise. You are most interesting."
It was now Farfrae who showed the modest pink.
"I mean all you Scotchmen," she added in hasty correction. "So free from Southern extremes. We common people are all one way or the other--warm or cold, passionate22 or frigid23. You have both temperatures going on in you at the same time."
"But how do you mean that? Ye were best to explain clearly, ma'am."
"You are animated--then you are thinking of getting on. You are sad the next moment--then you are thinking of Scotland and friends."
"Yes. I think of home sometimes!" he said simply.
"So do I--as far as I can. But it was an old house where I was born, and they pulled it down for improvements, so I seem hardly to have any home to think of now."
Lucetta did not add, as she might have done, that the house was in St. Helier, and not in Bath.
"But the mountains, and the mists and the rocks, they are there! And don't they seem like home?"
She shook her head.
"They do to me--they do to me," he murmured. And his mind could be seen flying away northwards. Whether its origin were national or personal, it was quite true what Lucetta had said, that the curious double strands24 in Farfrae's thread of life--the commercial and the romantic--were very distinct at times. Like the colours in a variegated25 cord those contrasts could be seen intertwisted, yet not mingling26.
"You are wishing you were back again," she said.
"Ah, no, ma'am," said Farfrae, suddenly recalling himself.
The fair without the windows was now raging thick and loud. It was the chief hiring fair of the year, and differed quite from the market of a few days earlier. In substance it was a whitey-brown crowd flecked with white--this being the body of labourers waiting for places. The long bonnets27 of the women, like waggon-tilts, their cotton gowns and checked shawls, mixed with the carters' smockfrocks; for they, too, entered into the hiring. Among the rest, at the corner of the pavement, stood an old shepherd, who attracted the eyes of Lucetta and Farfrae by his stillness. He was evidently a chastened man. The battle of life had been a sharp one with him, for, to begin with, he was a man of small frame. He was now so bowed by hard work and years that, approaching from behind, a person could hardly see his head. He had planted the stem of his crook28 in the gutter29 and was resting upon the bow, which was polished to silver brightness by the long friction30 of his hands. He had quite forgotten where he was, and what he had come for, his eyes being bent31 on the ground. A little way off negotiations32 were proceeding33 which had reference to him; but he did not hear them, and there seemed to be passing through his mind pleasant visions of the hiring successes of his prime, when his skill laid open to him any farm for the asking.
The negotiations were between a farmer from a distant county and the old man's son. In these there was a difficulty. The farmer would not take the crust without the crumb34 of the bargain, in other words, the old man without the younger; and the son had a sweetheart on his present farm, who stood by, waiting the issue with pale lips.
"I'm sorry to leave ye, Nelly," said the young man with emotion. "But, you see, I can't starve father, and he's out o' work at Lady-day. 'Tis only thirty-five mile."
The girl's lips quivered. "Thirty-five mile!" she murmured. "Ah! 'tis enough! I shall never see 'ee again!" It was, indeed, a hopeless length of traction35 for Dan Cupid's magnet; for young men were young men at Casterbridge as elsewhere.
"O! no, no--I never shall," she insisted, when he pressed her hand; and she turned her face to Lucetta's wall to hide her weeping. The farmer said he would give the young man half-an-hour for his answer, and went away, leaving the group sorrowing.
Lucetta's eyes, full of tears, met Farfrae's. His, too, to her surprise, were moist at the scene.
"It is very hard," she said with strong feelings. "Lovers ought not to be parted like that! O, if I had my wish, I'd let people live and love at their pleasure!"
"Maybe I can manage that they'll not be parted," said Farfrae. "I want a young carter; and perhaps I'll take the old man too--yes; he'll not be very expensive, and doubtless he will answer my pairrpose somehow."
"O, you are so good!" she cried, delighted. "Go and tell them, and let me know if you have succeeded!"
Farfrae went out, and she saw him speak to the group. The eyes of all brightened; the bargain was soon struck. Farfrae returned to her immediately it was concluded.
"It is kind-hearted of you, indeed," said Lucetta. "For my part, I have resolved that all my servants shall have lovers if they want them! Do make the same resolve!"
Farfrae looked more serious, waving his head a half turn. "I must be a little stricter than that," he said.
"Why?"
"You are a--a thriving woman; and I am a struggling hay-andcorn merchant."
"I am a very ambitious woman."
"Ah, well, I cannet explain. I don't know how to talk to ladies, ambitious or no; and that's true," said Donald with grave regret. "I try to be civil to a' folk--no more!"
"I see you are as you say," replied she, sensibly getting the upper hand in these exchanges of sentiment. Under this revelation of insight Farfrae again looked out of the window into the thick of the fair.
Two farmers met and shook hands, and being quite near the window their remarks could be heard as others' had been.
"Have you seen young Mr. Farfrae this morning?" asked one. "He promised to meet me here at the stroke of twelve; but I've gone athwart and about the fair half-a-dozen times, and never a sign of him: though he's mostly a man to his word."
"I quite forgot the engagement," murmured Farfrae.
"Now you must go," said she; "must you not?"
"Yes," he replied. But he still remained.
"You had better go," she urged. "You will lose a customer.
"Now, Miss Templeman, you will make me angry," exclaimed Farfrae.
"Then suppose you don't go; but stay a little longer?"
He looked anxiously at the farmer who was seeking him and who just then ominously36 walked across to where Henchard was standing37, and he looked into the room and at her. "I like staying; but I fear I must go!" he said. "Business ought not to be neglected, ought it?
"Not for a single minute."
"It's true. I'll come another time--if I may, ma'am?"
"Certainly," she said. "What has happened to us to-day is very curious."
"Something to think over when we are alone, it's like to be?"
"Oh, I don't know that. It is commonplace after all."
"No, I'll not say that. O no!"
"Well, whatever it has been, it is now over; and the market calls you to be gone."
"Yes, yes. Market--business! I wish there were no business in the warrld."
Lucetta almost laughed--she would quite have laughed--but that there was a little emotion going in her at the time. "How you change!" she said. "You should not change like this.
"I have never wished such things before," said the Scotchman, with a simple, shamed, apologetic look for his weakness. "It is only since coming here and seeing you!"
"If that's the case, you had better not look at me any longer. Dear me, I feel I have quite demoralized you!"
"But look or look not, I will see you in my thoughts. Well, I'll go--thank you for the pleasure of this visit."
"Thank you for staying."
"Maybe I'll get into my market-mind when I've been out a few minutes," he murmured. "But I don't know--I don't know!"
As he went she said eagerly, "You may hear them speak of me in Casterbridge as time goes on. If they tell you I'm a coquette, which some may, because of the incidents of my life, don't believe it, for I am not."
"I swear I will not!" he said fervidly38.
Thus the two. She had enkindled the young man's enthusiasm till he was quite brimming with sentiment; while he from merely affording her a new form of idleness, had gone on to wake her serious solicitude39. Why was this? They could not have told.
Lucetta as a young girl would hardly have looked at a tradesman. But her ups and downs, capped by her indiscretions with Henchard had made her uncritical as to station. In her poverty she had met with repulse40 from the society to which she had belonged, and she had no great zest41 for renewing an attempt upon it now. Her heart longed for some ark into which it could fly and be at rest. Rough or smooth she did not care so long as it was warm.
Farfrae was shown out, it having entirely42 escaped him that he had called to see Elizabeth. Lucetta at the window watched him threading the maze43 of farmers and farmers' men. She could see by his gait that he was conscious of her eyes, and her heart went out to him for his modesty--pleaded with her sense of his unfitness that he might be allowed to come again. He entered the market-house, and she could see him no more.
Three minutes later, when she had left the window, knocks, not of multitude but of strength, sounded through the house, and the waiting-maid tripped up.
"The Mayor," she said.
Lucetta had reclined herself, and she was looking dreamily through her fingers. She did not answer at once, and the maid repeated the information with the addition, "And he's afraid he hasn't much time to spare, he says."
"Oh! Then tell him that as I have a headache I won't detain him to-day."
The message was taken down, and she heard the door close.
Lucetta had come to Casterbridge to quicken Henchard's feelings with regard to her. She had quickened them, and now she was indifferent to the achievement.
Her morning view of Elizabeth-Jane as a disturbing element changed, and she no longer felt strongly the necessity of getting rid of the girl for her stepfather's sake. When the young woman came in, sweetly unconscious of the turn in the tide, Lucetta went up to her, and said quite sincerely-
"I'm so glad you've come. You'll live with me a long time, won't you?"
Elizabeth as a watch-dog to keep her father off--what a new idea. Yet it was not unpleasing. Henchard had neglected her all these days, after compromising her indescribably in the past. The least he could have done when he found himself free, and herself affluent44, would have been to respond heartily45 and promptly46 to her invitation.
Her emotions rose, fell, undulated, filled her with wild surmise47 at their suddenness; and so passed Lucetta's experiences of that day.
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1
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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2
recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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3
pout
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| v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴 | |
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4
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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5
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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6
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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7
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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8
stringency
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| n.严格，紧迫，说服力；严格性；强度 | |
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9
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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10
mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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11
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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12
thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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13
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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14
curtness
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| n.简短；草率；简略 | |
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15
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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16
deviation
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| n.背离，偏离；偏差，偏向；离题 | |
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17
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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18
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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19
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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20
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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21
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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22
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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23
frigid
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| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
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24
strands
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| n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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26
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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27
bonnets
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| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
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28
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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29
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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30
friction
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| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
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31
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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32
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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33
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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34
crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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35
traction
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| n.牵引；附着摩擦力 | |
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36
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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37
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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38
fervidly
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| adv.热情地，激情地 | |
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39
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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40
repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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41
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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42
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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43
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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44
affluent
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| adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的 | |
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45
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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46
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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47
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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