“You don’t mean it. Never let it ooze6 out, Beauty; you’ll ruin your reputation!”
Cecil laughed a little, very languidly; to have been in the sun for four hours, in full harness, had almost taken out of him any power to be amused at anything.
“I’ve been thinking,” he went on undisturbed, pulling down his chin-scale. “What’s a fellow to do when he’s smashed?”
“Eh?” The Seraph couldn’t offer a suggestion; he had a vague idea that men who were smashed never did do anything except accept the smashing; unless, indeed, they turned up afterward7 as touts8, of which he had an equally vague suspicion.
“What do they do?” pursued Bertie.
“Go to the bad,” finally suggested the Seraph, lighting9 a great cigar, without heeding10 the presence of the Duke, a Field–Marshal, and a Serene11 Highness far on in front.
Cecil shook his head.
“Can’t go where they are already. I’ve been thinking what a fellow might do that was up a tree; and on my honor there are lots of things one might turn to ——”
“Well, I suppose there are,” assented12 the Seraph, with a shake of his superb limbs in his saddle till his cuirass and chains and scabbard rang again. “I should try the P. R., only they will have you train.”
“One might do better than the P. R. Getting yourself into prime condition, only to be pounded out of condition and into a jelly, seems hardly logical or satisfactory — specially13 to your looking-glass, though, of course, it’s a matter of taste. But now, if I had a cropper, and got sold up ——”
“You, Beauty?” The Seraph puffed15 a giant puff14 of amazement16 from his Havana, opening his blue eyes to their widest.
“Possible!” returned Bertie serenely18, with a nonchalant twist to his mustaches. “Anything’s possible. If I do now, it strikes me there are vast fields open.”
“Gold fields!” suggested the Seraph, wholly bewildered.
“Gold fields? No! I mean a field for — what d’ye call it — genius. Now, look here; nine-tenths of creatures in this world don’t know how to put on a glove. It’s an art, and an art that requires long study. If a few of us were to turn glove-fitters when we are fairly crushed, we might civilize19 the whole world, and prevent the deformity of an ill-fitting glove ever blotting20 creation and prostituting Houbigant. What do you say?”
“Don’t be such a donkey, Beauty!” laughed the Seraph, while his charger threatened to passage into an oyster21 cart.
“You don’t appreciate the majesty22 of great plans,” rejoined Beauty reprovingly. “There’s an immense deal in what I’m saying. Think what we might do for society — think how we might extinguish snobbery24, if we just dedicated25 our smash to Mankind. We might open a College, where the traders might go through a course of polite training before they blossomed out as millionaires; the world would be spared an agony of dropped h’s and bad bows. We might have a Bureau where we registered all our social experiences, and gave the Plutocracy26 a map of Belgravia, with all the pitfalls27 marked; all the inaccessible28 heights colored red, and all the hard-up great people dotted with gold to show the amount they’d be bought for — with directions to the ignoramuses whom to know, court, and avoid. We might form a Courier Company, and take Brummagem abroad under our guidance, so that the Continent shouldn’t think Englishwomen always wear blue veils and gray shawls, and hear every Englishman shout for porter and beefsteak in Tortoni’s. We might teach them to take their hats off to women, and not to prod29 pictures with sticks, and to look at statutes30 without poking31 them with an umbrella, and to be persuaded that all foreigners don’t want to be bawled32 at, and won’t understand bad French any the better for its being shouted. Or we might have a Joint–Stock Toilette Association, for the purposes of national art, and receive Brummagem to show it how to dress; we might even succeed in making the feminine British Public drape itself properly, and the B. P. masculine wear boots that won’t creak, and coats that don’t wrinkle, and take off its hat without a jerk, as though it were a wooden puppet hung on very stiff strings33. Or one might —”
“Talk the greatest nonsense under the sun!” laughed the Seraph. “For mercy’s sake, are you mad, Bertie?”
“Inevitable question addressed to Genius!” yawned Cecil. “I’m showing you plans that might teach a whole nation good style if we just threw ourselves into it a little. I don’t mean you, because you’ll never smash, and one don’t turn bear-leader, even to the B. P., without the primary impulse of being hard-up. And I don’t talk for myself, because, when I go to the dogs I have my own project.”
“And what’s that?”
“To be groom34 of the chambers35 at Meurice’s or Claridge’s,” responded Bertie solemnly. “Those sublime36 creatures with their silver chains round their necks and their ineffable37 supremacy38 over every other mortal! — one would feel in a superior region still. And when a snob23 came to poison the air, how exquisitely39 one could annihilate40 him with showing him his ignorance of claret; and when an epicure41 dined, how delightfully42, as one carried in a turbot, one could test him with the eprouvette positive, or crush him by the eprouvette negative. We have been Equerries at the Palace, both of us, but I don’t think we know what true dignity is till we shall have risen to headwaiters at a Grand Hotel.”
With which Bertie let his charger pace onward43, while he reflected thoughtfully on his future state. The Seraph laughed till he almost swayed out of saddle, but he shook himself into his balance again with another clash of his brilliant harness, while his eyes lightened and glanced with a fiery44 gleam down the line of the Household Cavalry.
“Well, if I went to the dogs I wouldn’t go to Grand Hotels; but I’ll tell you where I would go, Beauty.”
“Where’s that?”
“Into hot service, somewhere. By Jove, I’d see some good fighting under another flag — out in Algeria, there, or with the Poles, or after Garibaldi. I would, in a day — I’m not sure I won’t now, and I bet you ten to one the life would be better than this.”
Which was ungrateful in the Seraph, for his happy temper made him the sunniest and most contented45 of men, with no cross in his life save the dread46 that somebody would manage to marry him some day. But Rock had the true dash and true steel of the soldier in him, and his blue eyes flashed over his Guards as he spoke47, with a longing48 wish that he were leading them on to a charge instead of pacing with them toward Hyde Park.
Cecil turned in his saddle and looked at him with a certain wonder and pleasure in his glance, and did not answer aloud. “The deuce — that’s not a bad idea,” he thought to himself; and the idea took root and grew with him.
Far down, very far down, so far that nobody had ever seen it, nor himself ever expected it, there was a lurking49 instinct in “Beauty,”— the instinct that had prompted him, when he sent the King at the Grand Military cracker50, with that prayer, “Kill me if you like, but don’t fail me!”— which, out of the languor51 and pleasure-loving temper of his unruffled life, had a vague, restless impulse toward the fiery perils52 and nervous excitement of a sterner and more stirring career.
It was only vague, for he was naturally very indolent, very gentle, very addicted54 to taking all things passively, and very strongly of persuasion55 that to rouse yourself for anything was a niaiserie of the strongest possible folly56; but it was there. It always is there with men of Bertie’s order, and only comes to light when the match of danger is applied57 to the touchhole. Then, though “the Tenth don’t dance,” perhaps, with graceful58, indolent, dandy insolence59, they can fight as no others fight when Boot and Saddle rings through the morning air, and the slashing60 charge sweeps down with lightning speed and falcon61 swoop62.
“In the case of a Countess, sir, the imagination is more excited,” says Dr. Johnson, who had, I suppose, little opportunity of putting that doctrine63 for amatory intrigues64 to the test in actual practice. Bertie, who had many opportunities, differed with him. He found love-making in his own polished, tranquil65 circles apt to become a little dull, and was more amused by Laura Lelas. However, he was sworn to the service of the Guenevere, and he drove his mail-phaeton down that day to another sort of Richmond dinner, of which the lady was the object instead of the Zu–Zu.
She enjoyed thinking herself the wife of a jealous and inexorable lord, and arranged her flirtations to evade66 him with a degree of skill so great that it was lamentable68 it should be thrown away on an agricultural husband, who never dreamt that the “Fidelio-III-TstnegeR,” which met his eyes in the innocent face of his “Times” referred to an appointment at a Regent Street modiste’s, or that the advertisement —“White wins — Twelve,” meant that if she wore white camellias in her hair at the opera she would give “Beauty” a meeting after it.
Lady Guenevere was very scrupulous69 never to violate conventionalities. And yet she was a little fast — very fast, indeed, and was a queen of one of the fastest sets; but then — O sacred shield of a wife’s virtue70 — she could not have borne to lose her very admirable position, her very magnificent jointure, and, above all, the superb Guenevere diamonds!
So, for the sake of the diamonds, she and Bertie had their rendezvous71 under the rose.
This day she went down to see a dowager Baroness72 aunt, out at Hampton Court — really went, she was never so imprudent as to falsify her word; and with the Dowager, who was very deaf and purblind73, dined at Richmond, while the world thought her dining at Hampton Court. It was nothing to anyone, since none knew it to gossip about, that Cecil joined her there; that over the Star and Garter repast they arranged their meeting at Baden next month; that while the Baroness dozed74 over the grapes and peaches — she had been a beauty herself, in her own day, and still had her sympathies — they went on the river, in the little toy that he kept there for his fair friends’ use; floating slowly along in the coolness of evening, while the stars loomed75 out in the golden trail of the sunset, and doing a graceful scene a la Musset and Meredith, with a certain languid amusement in the assumption of those poetic76 guises77, for they were of the world worldly; and neither believed very much in the other.
When you have just dined well, and there has been no fault in the clarets, and the scene is pretty, if it be not the Nile in the afterglow, the Arno in the moonlight, or the Loire in vintage-time, but only the Thames above Richmond, it is the easiest thing in the world to feel a touch of sentiment when you have a beautiful woman beside you who expects you to feel it. The evening was very hot and soft. There was a low south wind, the water made a pleasant murmur78, wending among its sedges. She was very lovely, moreover; lying back there among her laces and Indian shawls, with the sunset in the brown depths of her eyes and on her delicate cheek. And Bertie, as he looked on his liege lady, really had a glow of the old, real, foolish, forgotten feeling stir at his heart, as he gazed on her in the half-light, and thought, almost wistfully, “If the Jews were down on me tomorrow, would she really care, I wonder?”
Really care? Bertie knew his world and its women too well to deceive himself in his heart about the answer. Nevertheless, he asked the question. “Would you care much, chere belle79?”
“Care what?”
“If I came to grief — went to the bad, you know; dropped out of the world altogether?”
She raised her splendid eyes in amaze, with a delicate shudder80 through all her laces. “Bertie! You would break my heart! What can you dream of?”
“Oh, lots of us end so! How is a man to end?” answered Bertie philosophically81, while his thoughts still ran off in a speculative82 skepticism. “Is there a heart to break?”
Her ladyship looked at him an laughed.
“A Werther in the Guards! I don’t think the role will suit either you or your corps83, Bertie; but if you do it, pray do it artistically84. I remember, last year, driving through Asnieres, when they had found a young man in the Seine; he was very handsome, beautifully dressed, and he held fast in his clinched85 hand a lock of gold hair. Now, there was a man who knew how to die gracefully86, and make his death an idyl!”
“Died for a woman? — ah!” murmured Bertie, with the Brummel nonchalance87 of his order. “I don’t think I should do that, even for you — not, at least, while I had a cigar left.”
And then the boat drifted backward, while the stars grew brighter and the last reflection of the sun died out; and they planned to meet tomorrow, and talked of Baden, and sketched88 projects for the winter in Paris, and went in and sat by the window, taking their coffee, and feeling, in a half-vague pleasure, the heliotrope89-scented air blowing softly in from the garden below, and the quiet of the starlit river in the summer evening, with a white sail gleaming here and there, or the gentle splash of an oar91 following on the swift trail of a steamer; the quiet, so still and so strange after the crowded rush of the London season.
“Would she really care?” thought Cecil, once more. In that moment he could have wished to think she would.
But heliotrope, stars, and a river, even though it had been tawny92 and classical Tiber instead of ill-used and inodorous Thames, were not things sufficiently93 in the way of either of them to detain them long. They had both seen the Babylonian sun set over the ruins of the Birs Nimrud, and had talked of Paris fashions while they did so; they had both leaned over the terraces of Bellosguardo, while the moon was full on Giotto’s tower, and had discussed their dresses for the Veglione masquerade. It was not their style to care for these matters; they were pretty, to be sure, but they had seen so many of them.
The Dowager went home in her brougham; the Countess drove in his mail-phaeton — objectionable, as she might be seen, but less objectionable than letting her servants know he had met her at Richmond. Besides, she obviated94 danger by bidding him set her down at a little villa95 across the park, where dwelt a confidential96 protegee of hers, whom she patronized; a former French governess, married tolerably well, who had the Countess’ confidences, and kept them religiously for sake of so aristocratic a patron, and of innumerable reversions of Spanish point and shawls that had never been worn, and rings, of which her lavish97 ladyship had got tired.
From here she would take her exgoverness’ little brougham, and get quietly back to her own home in Eaton Square, in due time for all the drums and crushes at which she must make her appearance. This was the sort of little device which really made them think themselves in love, and gave the salt to the whole affair. Moreover, there was this ground for it, that had her lord once roused from the straw-yards of his prize cattle, there was a certain stubborn, irrational98, old-world prejudice of pride and temper in him that would have made him throw expediency99 to the winds, then and there, with a blind and brutal100 disregard to slander101 and to the fact that none would ever adorn102 his diamonds as she did. So that Cecil had not only her fair fame, but her still more valuable jewels in his keeping when he started from the Star and Garter in the warmth of the bright summer’s evening.
It was a lovely night; a night for lonely highland103 tarns104, and southern shores by Baiae; without a cloud to veil the brightness of the stars. A heavy dew pressed the odors from the grasses, and the deep glades106 of the avenue were pierced here and there with a broad beam of silvery moonlight, slanting107 through the massive boles of the trees, and falling white and serene across the turf. Through the park, with the gleam of the water ever and again shining through the branches of the foliage108, Cecil started his horses; his groom he had sent away on reaching Richmond, for the same reason as the Countess had dismissed her barouche, and he wanted no servant, since, as soon as he had set down his liege lady at her protegee’s, he would drive straight back to Piccadilly. But he had not noticed what he noted109 now, that instead of one of his carriage-grays, who had fallen slightly lame67, they had put into harness the young one, Maraschino, who matched admirably for size and color, but who, being really a hunter, though he had been broken to shafts110 as well, was not the horse with which to risk driving a lady.
However, Beauty was a perfect whip and had the pair perfectly111 in hand, so that he thought no more of the change, as the grays dashed at a liberal half-speed through the park, with their harness flashing in the moonlight, and their scarlet112 rosettes fluttering in the pleasant air. The eyes beside him, the Titian-like mouth, the rich, delicate cheek, these were, to be sure, rather against the coolness and science that such a five-year-old as Maraschino required; they were distracting even to Cecil, and he had not prudence113 enough to deny his sovereign lady when she put her hands on the ribbons.
“The beauties! Give them to me, Bertie. Dangerous? How absurd you are; as if I could not drive anything? Do you remember my four roans at Longchamps?”
She could, indeed, with justice, pique114 herself on her skill; she drove matchlessly, but as he resigned them to her, Maraschino and his companion quickened their trot115, and tossed their pretty thoroughbred heads, conscious of a less powerful hand on the reins116.
“I shall let their pace out; there is nobody to run over here,” said her ladyship.
Maraschino, as though hearing the flattering conjuration swung off into a light, quick canter, and tossed his head again; he knew that, good whip though she was, he could jerk his mouth free in a second, if he wanted. Cecil laughed — prudence was at no time his virtue — and leaned back contentedly117, to be driven at a slashing pace through the balmy summer’s night, while the ring of the hoofs118 rang merrily on the turf, and the boughs119 were tossed aside with a dewy fragrance120. As they went, the moonlight was shed about their path in the full of the young night, and at the end of a vista121 of boughs, on a grassy122 knoll123 were some phantom124 forms — the same graceful shapes that stand out against the purple heather and the tawny gorse of Scottish moorlands, while the lean rifle-tube creeps up by stealth. In the clear starlight there stood the deer — a dozen of them, a clan125 of stags alone — with their antlers clashing like a clash of swords, and waving like swaying banners as they tossed their heads and listened.2
2 Let me here take leave to beg pardon of the gallant127 Highland stags for comparing them one instant with the shabby, miserable-looking wretches128 that travesty129 them in Richmond Park. After seeing these latter scrubby, meager130 apologies for deer, one wonders why something better cannot be turned loose there. A hunting-mare131 I know well nevertheless flattered them thus by racing132 them through the park: when in harness herself, to her own great disgust.
In an instant the hunter pricked133 his ears, snuffed the air, and twitched134 with passionate135 impatience136 at his bit; another instant and he had got his head, and, launching into a sweeping137 gallop138, rushed down the glade105.
Cecil sprang forward from his lazy rest, and seized the ribbons that in one instant had cut his companion’s gloves to stripes.
“Sit still,” he said calmly, but under his breath. “He had been always ridden with the Buckhounds; he will race the deer as sure as we live!”
Race the deer he did.
Startled, and fresh for their favorite nightly wandering, the stags were off like the wind at the noise of alarm, and the horses tore after them; no skill, no strength, no science could avail to pull them in; they had taken their bits between their teeth, and the devil that was in Maraschino lent the contagion139 of sympathy to the young carriage mare, who had never gone at such a pace since she had been first put in her break.
Neither Cecil’s hands nor any other force could stop them now; on they went, hunting as straight in line as though staghounds streamed in front of them, and no phaeton rocked and swayed in a dead and dragging weight behind them. In a moment he gauged140 the closeness and the vastness of the peril53; there was nothing for it but to trust to chance, to keep his grasp on the reins to the last, and to watch for the first sign of exhaustion141. Long ere that should be given death might have come to them both; but there was a gay excitation in that headlong rush through the summer night; there was a champagne-draught of mirth and mischief142 in that dash through the starlit woodland; there was a reckless, breathless pleasure in that neck-or-nothing moonlight chase!
Yet danger was so near with every oscillation; the deer were trooping in fast flight, now clear in the moonlight, now lost in the shadow, bounding with their lightning grace over sward and hillock, over briar and brushwood, at that speed which kills most living things that dare to race the “Monarch of the Glens.” And the grays were in full pursuit; the hunting fire was in the fresh young horse; he saw the shadowy branches of the antlers toss before him, and he knew no better than to hunt down in their scenting143 line as hotly as though the field of the Queen’s or the Baron’s was after them. What cared he for the phaeton that rocked and reeled on his traces; he felt its weight no more than if it were a wicker-work toy, and, extended like a greyhound, he swerved144 from the road, swept through the trees, and tore down across the grassland145 in the track of the herd146.
Through the great boles of the trunks, bronze and black in the shadows, across the hilly rises of the turf, through the brushwood pell-mell, and crash across the level stretches of the sward, they raced as though the hounds were streaming in front; swerved here, tossed there, carried in a whirlwind over the mounds147, wheeled through the gloom of the woven branches, splashed with a hiss148 through the shallow rain-pools, shot swift as an arrow across the silver radiance of the broad moonlight, borne against the sweet south wind, and down the odors of the trampled149 grass, the carriage was hurled150 across the park in the wild starlight chase. It rocked, it swayed, it shook, at every yard, while it was carried on like a paper toy; as yet the marvelous chances of accident had borne it clear of the destruction that threatened it at every step as the grays, in the height of their pace now, and powerless even to have arrested themselves, flew through the woodland, neither knowing what they did, nor heeding where they went; but racing down on the scent90, not feeling the strain of the traces, and only maddened the more by the noise of the whirling wheels behind them.
As Cecil leaned back, his hands clinched on the reins, his sinews stretched almost to bursting in their vain struggle to recover power over the loosened beasts, the hunting zest151 awoke in him too, even while his eyes glanced on his companion in fear and anxiety for her.
“Tally-ho! hark forward! As I live, it is glorious!” he cried, half unconsciously. “For God’s sake, sit still, Beatrice! I will save you.”
Inconsistent as the words were, they were true to what he felt; alone, he would have flung himself delightedly into the madness of the chase; for her he dreaded152 with horror the eminence153 of their peril.
On fled the deer, on swept the horses; faster in the gleam of the moonlight the antlered troop darted154 on through the gloaming; faster tore the grays in the ecstasy155 of their freedom; headlong and heedless they dashed through the thickness of leaves and the weaving of branches; neck to neck, straining to distance each other, and held together by the gall126 of the harness. The broken boughs snapped, the earth flew up beneath their hoofs; their feet struck scarlet sparks of fire from the stones, the carriage was whirled, rocking and tottering156, through the maze17 of tree-trunks, towering like pillars of black stone up against the steel-blue clearness of the sky. The strain was intense; the danger deadly. Suddenly, straight ahead, beyond the darkness of the foliage, gleamed a line of light; shimmering157, liquid, and glassy — here brown as gloom where the shadows fell on it, here light as life where the stars mirrored on it. That trembling line stretched right in their path. For the first time, from the blanched158 lips beside him a cry of terror rang.
“The river! — oh, heaven! — the river!”
There it lay in the distance, the deep and yellow water, cold in the moon’s rays, with its further bank but a dull gray line in the mists that rose from it, and its swamp a yawning grave as the horses, blind in their delirium159 and racing against each other, bore down through all obstacles toward its brink160. Death was rarely ever closer; one score yards more, one plunge161, one crash down the declivity162 and against the rails, one swell163 of the noisome164 tide above their heads, and life would be closed and passed for both of them. For one breathless moment his eyes met hers — in that moment he loved her, in that moment their hearts beat with a truer, fonder impulse to each other than they had ever done. Before the presence of a threatening death life grows real, love grows precious, to the coldest and most careless.
No aid could come; not a living soul was nigh; the solitude165 was as complete as though a western prairie stretched round them; there were only the still and shadowy night, the chilly166 silence, on which the beat of the plunging167 hoofs shattered like thunder, and the glisten168 of the flowing water growing nearer and nearer every yard. The tranquillity169 around only jarred more horribly on ear and brain; the vanishing forms of the antlered deer only gave a weirder170 grace to the moonlight chase whose goal was the grave. It was like the midnight hunt after Herne the Hunter; but here, behind them, hunted Death.
The animals neither saw nor knew what waited them, as they rushed down on to the broad, gray stream, veiled from them by the slope and the screen of flickering171 leaves; to save them there was but one chance, and that so desperate that it looked like madness. It was but a second’s thought; he gave it but a second’s resolve.
The next instant he stood on his feet, as the carriage swayed to and fro over the turf, balanced himself marvelously as it staggered in that furious gallop from side to side, clinched the reins hard in the grip of his teeth, measured the distance with an unerring eye, and crouching172 his body for the spring with all the science of the old playing-fields of his Eton days, cleared the dashboard and lighted astride on the back of the hunting five-year old — how, he could never have remembered or have told.
The tremendous pace at which they went swayed him with a lurch173 and a reel over the off-side; a woman’s cry rang again, clear, and shrill174, and agonized175 on the night; a moment more, and he would have fallen, head downward, beneath the horses’ feet. But he had ridden stirrupless and saddleless ere now; he recovered himself with the suppleness176 of an Arab, and firm-seated behind the collar, with one leg crushed between the pole and Maraschino’s flanks, gathering177 in the ribbons till they were tight-drawn as a bridle178, he strained with all the might and sinew that were in him to get the grays in hand before they could plunge down into the water. His wrists were wrenched179 like pulleys, the resistance against him was hard as iron; but as he had risked life and limb in the leap which had seated him across the harnessed loins of the now terrified beast, so he risked them afresh to get the mastery now; to slacken them, turn them ever so slightly, and save the woman he loved — loved, at least in this hour, as he had not loved her before. One moment more, while the half-maddened beast rushed through the shadows; one moment more, till the river stretched full before them in all its length and breadth, without a living thing upon its surface to break the still and awful calm; one moment — and the force of cool command conquered and broke their wills despite themselves. The hunter knew his master’s voice, his touch, his pressure, and slackened speed by an irresistible180, almost unconscious habit of obedience181; the carriage mare, checked and galled182 in the full height of her speed, stood erect183, pawing the air with her forelegs, and flinging the white froth over her withers184, while she plunged185 blindly in her nervous terror; then with a crash, her feet came down upon the ground, the broken harness shivered together with a sharp, metallic186 clash; snorting, panting, quivering, trembling, the pair stood passive and vanquished187.
The carriage was overthrown188; but the high and fearless courage of the peeress bore her unharmed, even as she was flung out on to the yielding fern-grown turf. Fair as she was in every hour, she had never looked fairer than as he swung himself from the now powerless horses and threw himself beside her.
“My love — my love, you are saved!”
The beautiful eyes looked up, half unconscious; the danger told on her now that it was passed, as it does most commonly with women.
“Saved! — lost! All the world must know, now, that you are with me this evening,” she murmured with a shudder. She lived for the world, and her first thought was of self.
He soothed189 her tenderly.
“Hush — be at rest! There is no injury but what I can repair, nor is there a creature in sight to have witnessed the accident. Trust in me; no one shall ever know of this. You shall reach town safely and alone.”
And, while he promised, he forgot that he thus pledged his honor to leave four hours of his life so buried that, however much he needed, he neither should nor could account for them.
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seraph
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| n.六翼天使 | |
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musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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mellowly
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| 柔软且甜地，成熟地 | |
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ooze
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| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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touts
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| n.招徕( tout的名词复数 )；（音乐会、体育比赛等的）卖高价票的人；侦查者；探听赛马的情报v.兜售( tout的第三人称单数 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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12
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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14
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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15
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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16
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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17
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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18
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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19
civilize
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| vt.使文明，使开化 (=civilise) | |
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20
blotting
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| 吸墨水纸 | |
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21
oyster
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| n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人 | |
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22
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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23
snob
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| n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人 | |
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24
snobbery
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| n. 充绅士气派, 俗不可耐的性格 | |
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25
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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26
plutocracy
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| n.富豪统治 | |
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27
pitfalls
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| （捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误 | |
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28
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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29
prod
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| vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励 | |
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30
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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31
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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32
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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33
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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34
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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35
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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36
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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37
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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38
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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39
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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40
annihilate
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| v.使无效；毁灭；取消 | |
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41
epicure
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| n.行家，美食家 | |
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42
delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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43
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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44
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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45
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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46
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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47
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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48
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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49
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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50
cracker
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| n.（无甜味的）薄脆饼干 | |
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51
languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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52
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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53
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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54
addicted
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|
| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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55
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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56
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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57
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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58
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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59
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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60
slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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61
falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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62
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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63
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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64
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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65
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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66
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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67
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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68
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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69
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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70
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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71
rendezvous
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|
| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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72
baroness
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| n.男爵夫人，女男爵 | |
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73
purblind
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|
| adj.半盲的；愚笨的 | |
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74
dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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76
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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77
guises
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|
| n.外观，伪装( guise的名词复数 )v.外观，伪装( guise的第三人称单数 ) | |
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78
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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79
belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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80
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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81
philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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82
speculative
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|
| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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83
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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84
artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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85
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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86
gracefully
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|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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87
nonchalance
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|
| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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88
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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89
heliotrope
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| n.天芥菜；淡紫色 | |
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90
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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91
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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92
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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93
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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94
obviated
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| v.避免，消除（贫困、不方便等）( obviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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96
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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97
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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98
irrational
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|
| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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99
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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100
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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101
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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102
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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103
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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104
tarns
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| n.冰斗湖，山中小湖( tarn的名词复数 ) | |
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105
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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106
glades
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| n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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107
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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108
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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109
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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110
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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111
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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112
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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113
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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114
pique
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| v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气 | |
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115
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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116
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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117
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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118
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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119
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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120
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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121
vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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122
grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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123
knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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124
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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125
clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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126
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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127
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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128
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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129
travesty
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| n.歪曲，嘲弄，滑稽化 | |
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130
meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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131
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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132
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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133
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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134
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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135
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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136
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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137
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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138
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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139
contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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140
gauged
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| adj.校准的；标准的；量规的；量计的v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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141
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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142
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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143
scenting
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| vt.闻到（scent的现在分词形式） | |
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144
swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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145
grassland
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| n.牧场，草地，草原 | |
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146
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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147
mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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148
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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149
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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150
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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151
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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152
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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153
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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154
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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155
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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156
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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157
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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158
blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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159
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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160
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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161
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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162
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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163
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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164
noisome
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| adj.有害的，可厌的 | |
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165
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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166
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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167
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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168
glisten
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| vi.（光洁或湿润表面等）闪闪发光，闪闪发亮 | |
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169
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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170
weirder
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| 怪诞的( weird的比较级 )； 神秘而可怕的； 超然的； 古怪的 | |
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171
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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172
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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173
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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174
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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175
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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176
suppleness
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| 柔软； 灵活； 易弯曲； 顺从 | |
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177
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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178
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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179
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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180
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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181
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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182
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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183
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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184
withers
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| 马肩隆 | |
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185
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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186
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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187
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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188
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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189
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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