With which peroration13 to his born enemy the stud-groom, with whom he waged a perpetual and most lively feud14, Rake flourished the tops that had been under discussion, and triumphant15, as he invariably was, ran up the back stairs of his master’s lodgings16 in Piccadilly, opposite the Green Park, and with a rap on the panels entered his master’s bedroom.
A Guardsman at home is always, if anything, rather more luxuriously17 accommodated than a young Duchess, and Bertie Cecil was never behind his fellows in anything; besides, he was one of the cracks of the Household, and women sent him pretty things enough to fill the Palais Royal. The dressing-table was littered with Bohemian glass and gold-stoppered bottles, and all the perfumes of Araby represented by Breidenback and Rimmel. The dressing-case was of silver, with the name studded on the lid in turquoises18; the brushes, bootjack, boot-trees, whip-stands, were of ivory and tortoiseshell; a couple of tiger skins were on the hearth19 with a retriever and blue greyhound in possession; above the mantel-piece were crossed swords in all the varieties of gilt20, gold, silver, ivory, aluminum21, chiseled22 and embossed hilts; and on the walls were a few perfect French pictures, with the portraits of a greyhound drawn23 by Landseer, of a steeple-chaser by Harry24 Hall, one or two of Herring’s hunters, and two or three fair women in crayons. The hangings of the room were silken and rose-colored, and a delicious confusion prevailed through it pell-mell; box-spurs, hunting-stirrups, cartridge25 cases, curb-chains, muzzle-loaders, hunting flasks26, and white gauntlets, being mixed up with Paris novels, pink notes, point-lace ties, bracelets27, and bouquets28 to be dispatched to various destinations, and velvet30 and silk bags for banknotes, cigars, or vesuvians, embroidered31 by feminine fingers and as useless as those pretty fingers themselves. On the softest of sofas, half dressed, and having half an hour before splashed like a waterdog out of the bath, as big as a small pond, in the dressing-chamber beyond was the Hon. Bertie himself, second son of Viscount Royallieu, known generally in the Brigades as “Beauty.” The appellative, gained at Eton, was in no way undeserved; when the smoke cleared away that was circling round him out of a great meerschaum bowl, it showed a face of as much delicacy32 and brilliancy as a woman’s; handsome, thoroughbred, languid, nonchalant, with a certain latent recklessness under the impressive calm of habit, and a singular softness given to the large, dark hazel eyes by the unusual length of the lashes33 over them. His features were exceedingly fair — fair as the fairest girl’s; his hair was of the softest, silkiest, brightest chestnut34; his mouth very beautifully shaped; on the whole, with a certain gentle, mournful love-me look that his eyes had with them, it was no wonder that great ladies and gay lionnes alike gave him the palm as the handsomest man in all the Household Regiments36 — not even excepting that splendid golden-haired Colossus, his oldest friend and closest comrade, known as “the Seraph37.”
He looked at the new tops that Rake swung in his hand, and shook his head.
“Better, Rake; but not right yet. Can’t you get that tawny38 color in the tiger’s skin there? You go so much to brown.”
Rake shook his head in turn, as he set down the incorrigible39 tops beside six pairs of their fellows, and six times six of every other sort of boots that the covert40 side, the heather, the flat, or the sweet shady side of “Pall Mall” ever knew.
“Do my best, sir; but Polish don’t come nigh Nature, Mr. Cecil.”
“Goes beyond it, the ladies say; and to do them justice they favor it much the most,” laughed Cecil to himself, floating fresh clouds of Turkish about him. “Willon up?”
“Yes, sir. Come in this minute for orders.”
“How’d Forest King stand the train?”
“Bright as a bird, sir; he never mind nothing. Mother o’ Pearl she worreted a little, he says; she always do, along of the engine noise, but the King walked in and out just as if the station were his own stable-yard.”
“He gave them gruel41 and chilled water after the shaking before he let them go to their corn?”
“He says he did, sir.”
Rake would by no means take upon himself to warrant the veracity42 of his sworn foe43, the stud-groom; unremitting feud was between them; Rake considered that he knew more about horses than any other man living, and the other functionary44 proportionately resented back his knowledge and his interference, as utterly45 out of place in a body-servant.
“Tell him I’ll look in at the stable after duty and see the screws are all right; and that he’s to be ready to go down with them by my train tomorrow — noon, you know. Send that note there, and the bracelets, to St. John’s Wood: and that white bouquet29 to Mrs. Delamaine. Bid Willon get some Banbury bits; I prefer the revolving46 mouths, and some of Wood’s double mouths and Nelson gags; we want new ones. Mind that lever-snap breech-loader comes home in time. Look in at the Commission stables, and if you see a likely black charger as good as Black Douglas, tell me. Write about the stud fox-terrier, and buy the blue Dandy Dinmont; Lady Guinevere wants him. I’ll take him down with me, but first put me into harness, Rake; it’s getting late.”
Murmuring which multiplicity of directions, for Rake to catch as he could, in the softest and sleepiest of tones, Bertie Cecil drank a glass of Curacoa, put his tall, lithe47 limbs indolently off his sofa, and surrendered himself to the martyrdom of cuirass and gorget, standing48 six feet one without his spurred jacks, but light-built and full of grace as a deer, or his weight would not have been what it was in gentleman-rider races from the Hunt steeple-chase at La Marche to the Grand National in the Shires.
“As if Parliament couldn’t meet without dragging us through the dust! The idiots write about ‘the swells49 in the Guards,’ as if we had all fun and no work, and knew nothing of the rough of the Service. I should like to learn what they call sitting motionless in your saddle through half a day, while a London mob goes mad round you, and lost dogs snap at your charger’s nose, and dirty little beggars squeeze against your legs, and the sun broils50 you, or the fog soaks you, and you sit sentinel over a gingerbread coach till you’re deaf with the noise, and blind with the dust, and sick with the crowd, and half dead for want of sodas51 and brandies, and from going a whole morning without one cigarette! Not to mention the inevitable53 apple-woman who invariably entangles54 herself between your horse’s legs, and the certainty of your riding down somebody and having a summons about it the next day! If all that isn’t the rough of the Service, I should like to know what is. Why the hottest day in the batteries, or the sharpest rush into Ghoorkhas or Bhoteahs, would be light work, compared!” murmured Cecil with the most plaintive55 pity for the hardships of life in the Household, while Rake, with the rapid proficiency56 of long habit, braced57, and buckled58 and buttoned, knotted the sash with the knack59 of professional genius, girt on the brightest of all glittering polished silver steel “Cut-and-Thrusts,” with its rich gild60 mountings, and contemplated61 with flattering self-complacency leathers white as snow, jacks brilliant as black varnish could make them, and silver spurs of glittering radiance, until his master stood full harnessed, at length, as gallant62 a Life Guardsman as ever did duty at the Palace by making love to the handsomest lady-inwaiting.
“To sit wedged in with one’s troop for five hours, and in a drizzle63 too! Houses oughtn’t to meet until the day’s fine; I’m sure they are in no hurry,” said Cecil to himself, as he pocketed a dainty, filmy handkerchief, all perfume, point, and embroidery64, with the interlaced B. C., and the crest65 on the corner, while he looked hopelessly out of the window. He was perfectly66 happy, drenched67 to the skin on the moors68 after a royal, or in a fast thing with the Melton men from Thorpe Trussels to Ranksborough; but three drops of rain when on duty were a totally different matter, to be resented with any amount of dandy’s lamentations and epicurean diatribes69.
“Ah, young one, how are you? Is the day very bad?” he asked with languid wistfulness as the door opened.
But indifferent and weary — on account of the weather — as the tone was, his eyes rested with a kindly70, cordial light on the newcomer, a young fellow of scarcely twenty, like himself in feature, though much smaller and slighter in build; a graceful71 boy enough, with no fault in his face, except a certain weakness in the mouth, just shadowed only, as yet, with down.
A celebrity72, the Zu–Zu, the last coryphee whom Bertie had translated from a sphere of garret bread-and-cheese to a sphere of villa73 champagne74 and chicken (and who, of course, in proportion to the previous scarcity75 of her bread-and-cheese, grew immediately intolerant of any wine less than 90s the dozen), said the Cecil cared for nothing longer than a fortnight, unless it was his horse, Forest King. It was very ungrateful in the Zu–Zu, since he cared for her at the least a whole quarter, paying for his fidelity76 at the tune77 of a hundred a month; and, also, it was not true, for, besides Forest King, he loved his young brother Berkeley — which, however, she neither knew nor guessed.
“Beastly!” replied the young gentleman, in reference to the weather, which was indeed pretty tolerable for an English morning in February. “I say, Bertie — are you in a hurry?”
“The very deuce of a hurry, little one; why?” Bertie never was in a hurry, however, and he said this as lazily as possible, shaking the white horsehair over his helmet, and drawing in deep draughts78 of Turkish Latakia previous to parting with his pipe for the whole of four or five hours.
“Because I am in a hole — no end of a hole — and I thought you’d help me,” murmured the boy, half penitently79, half caressingly80; he was very girlish in his face and his ways. On which confession81 Rake retired82 into the bathroom; he could hear just as well there, and a sense of decorum made him withdraw, though his presence would have been wholly forgotten by them. In something the same spirit as the French countess accounted for her employing her valet to bring her her chocolate in bed —“Est ce que vous appelez cette chose-la un homme?”— Bertie had, on occasion, so wholly regarded servants as necessary furniture that he had gone through a love scene, with that handsome coquette Lady Regalia, totally oblivious83 of the presence of the groom of the chambers84, and the possibility of that person’s appearance in the witness-box of the Divorce Court. It was in no way his passion that blinded him — he did not put the steam on like that, and never went in for any disturbing emotion — it was simply habit, and forgetfulness that those functionaries85 were not born mute, deaf, and sightless.
He tossed some essence over his hands, and drew on his gauntlets.
“What’s up Berk?”
The boy hung his head, and played a little uneasily with an ormolu terrier-pot, upsetting half the tobacco in it; he was trained to his brother’s nonchalant, impenetrable school, and used to his brother’s set; a cool, listless, reckless, thoroughbred, and impassive set, whose first canon was that you must lose your last thousand in the world without giving a sign that you winced86, and must win half a million without showing that you were gratified; but he had something of girlish weakness in his nature, and a reserve in his temperament87 that was with difficulty conquered.
Bertie looked at him, and laid his hand gently on the young one’s shoulder.
“Come, my boy; out with it! It’s nothing very bad, I’ll be bound!”
“I want some more money; a couple of ponies88,” said the boy a little huskily; he did not meet his brother’s eyes that were looking straight down on him.
Cecil gave a long, low whistle, and drew a meditative89 whiff from his meerschaum.
“Tres cher, you’re always wanting money. So am I. So is everybody. The normal state of man is to want money. Two ponies. What’s it for?”
“I lost it at chicken-hazard last night. Poulteney lent it me, and I told him I would send it him in the morning. The ponies were gone before I thought of it, Bertie, and I haven’t a notion where to get them to pay him again.”
“Heavy stakes, young one, for you,” murmured Cecil, while his hand dropped from the boy’s shoulder, and a shadow of gravity passed over his face; money was very scarce with himself. Berkeley gave him a hurried, appealing glance. He was used to shift all his anxieties on to his elder brother, and to be helped by him under any difficulty. Cecil never allotted90 two seconds’ thought to his own embarrassments91, but he would multiply them tenfold by taking other people’s on him as well, with an unremitting and thoughtless good nature.
“I couldn’t help it,” pleaded the lad, with coaxing92 and almost piteous apology. “I backed Grosvenor’s play, and you know he’s always the most wonderful luck in the world. I couldn’t tell he’d go a crowner and have such cards as he had. How shall I get the money, Bertie? I daren’t ask the governor; and besides I told Poulteney he should have it this morning. What do you think if I sold the mare93? But then I couldn’t sell her in a minute ——”
Cecil laughed a little, but his eyes, as they rested on the lad’s young, fair, womanish face, were very gentle under the long shade of their lashes.
“Sell the mare! Nonsense! How should anybody live without a hack94? I can pull you through, I dare say. Ah! by George, there’s the quarters chiming. I shall be too late, as I live.”
Not hurried still, however; even by that near prospect95, he sauntered to his dressing-table, took up one of the pretty velvet and gold-filigreed absurdities96, and shook out all the banknotes there were in it. There were fives and tens enough to count up 45 pounds. He reached over and caught up a five from a little heap lying loose on a novel of Du Terrail’s, and tossed the whole across the room to the boy.
“There you are, young one! But don’t borrow of any but your own people again, Berk. We don’t do that. No, no! — no thanks! Shut up all that. If ever you get in a hole, I’ll take you out if I can. Good-by — will you go to the Lords? Better not — nothing to see, and still less to hear. All stale. That’s the only comfort for us — we are outside!” he said, with something that almost approached hurry in the utterance97; so great was his terror of anything approaching a scene, and so eager was he to escape his brother’s gratitude98. The boy had taken the notes with delighted thanks indeed, but with that tranquil99 and unprotesting readiness with which spoiled childishness or unhesitating selfishness accepts gifts and sacrifices from another’s generosity100, which have been so general that they have ceased to have magnitude. As his brother passed him, however, he caught his hand a second, and looked up with a mist before his eyes, and a flush half of shame, half of gratitude, on his face.
“What a trump101 you are! — how good you are, Bertie!”
Cecil laughed and shrugged102 his shoulders.
“First time I ever heard it, my dear boy,” he answered, as he lounged down the staircase, his chains clashing and jingling103; while, pressing his helmet on to his forehead and pulling the chin scale over his mustaches, he sauntered out into the street where his charger was waiting.
“The deuce!” he thought, as he settled himself in his stirrups, while the raw morning wind tossed his white plume104 hither and thither105. “I never remembered! — I don’t believe I’ve left myself money enough to take Willon and Rake and the cattle down to the Shires tomorrow. If I shouldn’t have kept enough to take my own ticket with! — that would be no end of a sell. On my word I don’t know how much there’s left on the dressing-table. Well! I can’t help it; Poulteney had to be paid; I can’t have Berk’s name show in anything that looks shady.”
The 50 pounds had been the last remnant of a bill, done under great difficulties with a sagacious Jew, and Cecil had no more certainty of possessing any more money until next pay-day should come round than he had of possessing the moon; lack of ready money, moreover, is a serious inconvenience when you belong to clubs where “pounds and fives” are the lowest points, and live with men who take the odds106 on most events in thousands; but the thing was done; he would not have undone107 it at the boy’s loss, if he could; and Cecil, who never was worried by the loss of the most stupendous “crusher,” and who made it a rule never to think of disagreeable inevitabilities two minutes together, shook his charger’s bridle108 and cantered down Piccadilly toward the barracks, while Black Douglas reared, curveted, made as if he would kick, and finally ended by “passaging” down half the length of the road, to the imminent109 peril110 of all passers-by, and looking eminently111 glossy112, handsome, stalwart, and foam-flecked, while he thus expressed his disapprobation of forming part of the escort from Palace to Parliament.
“Home Secretary should see about it; it’s abominable113! If we must come among them, they ought to be made a little odoriferous first. A couple of fire-engines now, playing on them continuously with rose-water and bouquet d’Ess for an hour before we come up, might do a little good. I’ll get some men to speak about it in the house; call it ‘Bill for the Purifying of the Unwashed, and Prevention of their Suffocating114 Her Majesty’s Brigades,’” murmured Cecil to the Earl of Broceliande, next him, as they sat down in their saddles with the rest of the “First Life,” in front of St. Stephen’s, with a hazy115 fog steaming round them, and a London mob crushing against their chargers’ flanks, while Black Douglas stood like a rock, though a butcher’s tray was pressed against his withers116, a mongrel was snapping at his hocks, and the inevitable apple-woman, of Cecil’s prophetic horror, was wildly plunging117 between his legs, as the hydra-headed rushed down in insane, headlong haste to stare at, and crush on to, that superb body of Guards.
“I would give a kingdom for a soda52 and brandy. Bah! ye gods! What a smell of fish and fustian,” signed Bertie, with a yawn of utter famine for want of something to drink and something to smoke, were it only a glass of brown sherry and a little papelito, while he glanced down at the snow-white and jet-black masterpieces of Rake’s genius, all smirched, and splashed, and smeared118.
He had given fifty pounds away, and scarcely knew whether he should have enough to take his ticket next day into the Shires, and he owed fifty hundred without having the slightest grounds for supposing he should ever be able to pay it, and he cared no more about either of these things than he cared about the Zu–Zu’s throwing the half-guinea peaches into the river after a Richmond dinner, in the effort to hit dragon-flies with them; but to be half a day without a cigarette, and to have a disagreeable odor of apples and corduroys wafted119 up to him, was a calamity120 that made him insupportably depressed121 and unhappy.
Well, why not? It is the trifles of life that are its bores, after all. Most men can meet ruin calmly, for instance, or laugh when they lie in a ditch with their own knee-joint and their hunter’s spine122 broken over the double post and rails: it is the mud that has choked up your horn just when you wanted to rally the pack; it’s the whip who carries you off to a division just when you’ve sat down to your turbot; it’s the ten seconds by which you miss the train; it’s the dust that gets in your eyes as you go down to Epsom; it’s the pretty little rose note that went by accident to your house instead of your club, and raised a storm from madame; it’s the dog that always will run wild into the birds; it’s the cook who always will season the white soup wrong — it is these that are the bores of life, and that try the temper of your philosophy.
An acquaintance of mine told me the other day of having lost heavy sums through a swindler, with as placid123 an indifference124 as if he had lost a toothpick; but he swore like a trooper because a thief had stolen the steel-mounted hoof125 of a dead pet hunter.
“Insufferable!” murmured Cecil, hiding another yawn behind his gauntlet; “the Line’s nothing half so bad as this; one day in a London mob beats a year’s campaigning; what’s charging a pah to charging an oyster-stall, or a parapet of fascines to a bristling126 row of umbrellas?”
Which question as to the relative hardships of the two Arms was a question of military interest never answered, as Cecil scattered127 the umbrellas right and left, and dashed from the Houses of Parliament full trot128 with the rest of the escort on the return to the Palace; the afternoon sun breaking out with a brightened gleam from the clouds, and flashing off the drawn swords, the streaming plumes129, the glittering breastplates, the gold embroideries130, and the fretting131 chargers.
But a mere132 sun-gleam just when the thing was over, and the escort was pacing back to Hyde Park barracks, could not console Cecil for fog, wind, mud, oyster-vendors, bad odors, and the uproar133 and riff-raff of the streets; specially when his throat was as dry as a lime-kiln, and his longing134 for the sight of a cheroot approaching desperation. Unlimited135 sodas, three pipes smoked silently over Delphine Demirep’s last novel, a bath well dashed with eau de cologne, and some glasses of Anisette after the fatigue-duty of unharnessing, restored him a little; but he was still weary and depressed into gentler languor136 than ever through all the courses at a dinner party at the Austrian Embassy, and did not recover his dejection at a reception of the Duchess of Lydiard–Tregoze, where the prettiest French Countess of her time asked him if anything was the matter.
“Yes!” said Bertie with a sigh, and a profound melancholy137 in what the woman called his handsome Spanish eyes, “I have had a great misfortune; we have been on duty all day!”
He did not thoroughly138 recover tone, light and careless though his temper was, till the Zu–Zu, in her diamond-edition of a villa, prescribed Crème de Bouzy and Parfait Amour in succession, with a considerable amount of pine-apple ice at three o’clock in the morning, which restorative prescription139 succeeded.
Indeed, it took something as tremendous as divorce from all forms of smoking for five hours to make an impression on Bertie. He had the most serene140 insouciance141 that ever a man was blessed with; in worry he did not believe — he never let it come near him; and beyond a little difficulty sometimes in separating too many entangled142 rose-chins caught round him at the same time, and the annoyance143 of a miscalculation on the flat, or the ridge-and-furrow, when a Maldon or Danebury favorite came nowhere, or his book was wrong for the Grand National, Cecil had no cares of any sort or description.
True, the Royallieu Peerage, one of the most ancient and almost one of the most impoverished144 in the kingdom, could ill afford to maintain its sons in the expensive career on which it had launched them, and the chief there was to spare usually went between the eldest145 son, a Secretary of Legation in that costly146 and charming City of Vienna, and the young one, Berkeley, through the old Viscount’s partiality; so that, had Bertie ever gone so far as to study his actual position, he would have probably confessed that it was, to say the least, awkward; but then he never did this, certainly never did it thoroughly. Sometimes he felt himself near the wind when settling-day came, or the Jews appeared utterly impracticable; but, as a rule, things had always trimmed somehow, and though his debts were considerable, and he was literally147 as penniless as a man can be to stay in the Guards at all, he had never in any shape realized the want of money. He might not be able to raise a guinea to go toward that long-standing account, his army tailor’s bill, and post obits had long ago forestalled148 the few hundred a year that, under his mother’s settlements, would come to him at the Viscount’s death; but Cecil had never known in his life what it was not to have a first-rate stud, not to live as luxuriously as a duke, not to order the costliest149 dinners at the clubs, and be among the first to lead all the splendid entertainments and extravagances of the Household; he had never been without his Highland150 shooting, his Baden gaming, his prize-winning schooner151 among the R. V. Y. Squadron, his September battues, his Pytchley hunting, his pretty expensive Zu–Zus and other toys, his drag for Epsom and his trap and hack for the Park, his crowd of engagements through the season, and his bevy152 of fair leaders of the fashion to smile on him, and shower their invitation-cards on him, like a rain of rose-leaves, as one of the “best men.”
“Best,” that is, in the sense of fashion, flirting153, waltzing, and general social distinction; in no other sense, for the newest of debutantes154 knew well that “Beauty,” though the most perfect of flirts155, would never be “serious,” and had nothing to be serious with; on which understanding he was allowed by the sex to have the run of their boudoirs and drawing-rooms, much as if he were a little lion-dog; they counted him quite “safe.” He made love to the married women, to be sure; but he was quite certain not to run away with the marriageable daughters.
Hence, Bertie had never felt the want of all that is bought by and represents money, and imbibed156 a vague, indistinct impression that all these things that made life pleasant came by Nature, and were the natural inheritance and concomitants of anybody born in a decent station, and endowed with a tolerable tact157; such a matter-of-fact difficulty as not having gold enough to pay for his own and his stud’s transit158 to the Shires had very rarely stared him in the face, and when it did he trusted to chance to lift him safely over such a social “yawner,” and rarely trusted in vain.
According to all the canons of his Order he was never excited, never disappointed, never exhilarated, never disturbed; and also, of course, never by any chance embarrassed. “Votre imperturbabilite,” as the Prince de Ligne used to designate La Grande Catherine, would have been an admirable designation for Cecil; he was imperturbable159 under everything; even when an heiress, with feet as colossal160 as her fortune, made him a proposal of marriage, and he had to retreat from all the offered honors and threatened horrors, he courteously161, but steadily162 declined them. Nor in more interesting adventures was he less happy in his coolness. When my Lord Regalia, who never knew when he was not wanted, came in inopportunely in a very tender scene of the young Guardsman’s (then but a Cornet) with his handsome Countess, Cecil lifted his long lashes lazily, turning to him a face of the most plait-il? and innocent demureness163 — or consummate164 impudence165, whichever you like. “We’re playing Solitaire. Interesting game. Queer fix, though, the ball’s in that’s left all alone in the middle, don’t you think?” Lord Regalia felt his own similarity to the “ball in a fix” too keenly to appreciate the interesting character of the amusement, or the coolness of the chief performer in it; but “Beauty’s Solitaire” became a synonym166 thenceforth among the Household to typify any very tender passages “sotto quartr’ occhi.”
This made his reputation on the town; the ladies called it very wicked, but were charmed by the Richelieu-like impudence all the same, and petted the sinner; and from then till now he had held his own with them; dashing through life very fast, as became the first riding man in the Brigades, but enjoying it very fully35, smoothly167, and softly; liking168 the world and being liked by it.
To be sure, in the background there was always that ogre of money, and the beast had a knack of growing bigger and darker every year; but then, on the other hand, Cecil never looked at him — never thought about him — knew, too, that he stood just as much behind the chairs of men whom the world accredited169 as millionaires, and whenever the ogre gave him a cold grip, that there was for the moment no escaping, washed away the touch of it in a warm, fresh draft of pleasure.
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factotum
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| n.杂役；听差 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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waterproofs
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| n.防水衣物，雨衣 usually plural( waterproof的名词复数 )v.使防水，使不透水( waterproof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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varnish
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| n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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snobs
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| （谄上傲下的）势利小人( snob的名词复数 )； 自高自大者，自命不凡者 | |
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peroration
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| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
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feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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16
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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17
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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18
turquoises
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| n.绿松石( turquoise的名词复数 )；青绿色 | |
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19
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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20
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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21
aluminum
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| n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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22
chiseled
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| adj.凿刻的，轮廓分明的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 ) | |
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23
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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24
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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25
cartridge
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| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
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26
flasks
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| n.瓶，长颈瓶， 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 ) | |
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27
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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28
bouquets
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| n.花束( bouquet的名词复数 )；（酒的）芳香 | |
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29
bouquet
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| n.花束，酒香 | |
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30
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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31
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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32
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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33
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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34
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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35
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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36
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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37
seraph
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| n.六翼天使 | |
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38
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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39
incorrigible
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| adj.难以纠正的，屡教不改的 | |
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40
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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41
gruel
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| n.稀饭，粥 | |
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42
veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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43
foe
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|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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44
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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45
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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46
revolving
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|
| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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47
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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48
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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49
swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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50
broils
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| v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的第三人称单数 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
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51
sodas
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| n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水 | |
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52
soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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53
inevitable
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|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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54
entangles
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| v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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55
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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56
proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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57
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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58
buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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59
knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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60
gild
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| vt.给…镀金，把…漆成金色，使呈金色 | |
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61
contemplated
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|
| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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62
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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63
drizzle
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| v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨 | |
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64
embroidery
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|
| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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65
crest
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|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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66
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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67
drenched
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|
| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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68
moors
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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69
diatribes
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| n.谩骂，讽刺( diatribe的名词复数 ) | |
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70
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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71
graceful
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|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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72
celebrity
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|
| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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73
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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74
champagne
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|
| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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75
scarcity
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|
| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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76
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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77
tune
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|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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78
draughts
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|
| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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79
penitently
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80
caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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81
confession
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|
| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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82
retired
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|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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83
oblivious
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|
| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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84
chambers
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|
| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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85
functionaries
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|
| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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86
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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88
ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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89
meditative
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|
| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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90
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
embarrassments
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|
| n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事 | |
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92
coaxing
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|
| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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93
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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94
hack
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|
| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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95
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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96
absurdities
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| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
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97
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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98
gratitude
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|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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99
tranquil
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|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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100
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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101
trump
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| n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭 | |
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102
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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103
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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104
plume
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|
| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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105
thither
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|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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106
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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107
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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108
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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109
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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110
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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111
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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112
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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113
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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114
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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115
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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116
withers
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| 马肩隆 | |
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117
plunging
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|
| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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118
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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119
wafted
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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120
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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121
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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122
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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123
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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124
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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125
hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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126
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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127
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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128
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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129
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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130
embroideries
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| 刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 )； 刺绣品； 刺绣法 | |
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131
fretting
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| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
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132
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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133
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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134
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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135
unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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136
languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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137
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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138
thoroughly
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|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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139
prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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140
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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141
insouciance
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| n.漠不关心 | |
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142
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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143
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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144
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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145
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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146
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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147
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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148
forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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149
costliest
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| adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的 | |
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150
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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151
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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152
bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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153
flirting
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
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154
debutantes
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| n.初进社交界的上流社会年轻女子( debutante的名词复数 ) | |
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155
flirts
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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156
imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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157
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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158
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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159
imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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160
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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161
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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162
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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163
demureness
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| n.demure（拘谨的，端庄的）的变形 | |
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164
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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165
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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166
synonym
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| n.同义词，换喻词 | |
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167
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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168
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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169
accredited
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| adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于 | |
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