Cigarette was a thorough democrat3; when she was two years old she had sat on the topmost pile of a Parisian barricade4, with the red bonnet5 on her curls, and had clapped her tiny hands for delight when the bullets flew, and the “Marseillaise” rose above the cannonading; and the spirit of the musketry and of the “Marseillaise” had together passed into her and made her what she was. She was a genuine democrat; and nothing short of the pure isonomy of the Greeks was tolerated in her political philosophy, though she could not have told what such a word had meant for her life. She had all the furious prejudices and all the instinctive6 truths in her of an uncompromising Rouge7; and the sight alone of those lofty standards, signalizing the place of rest of the “aristocrats8,” while her “children’s” lowly tents wore in her sight all the dignity and all the distinction of the true field, would have aroused her ire at any time. But now a hate tenfold keener moved her; she had a jealousy10 of the one in whose honor those two foreign ensigns floated, that was the most bitter thing which had ever entered her short and sunny life — a hate the hotter because tinged11 with that sickening sense of self-humiliation12, because mingled13 with that wondering emotion at beholding14 something so utterly15 unlike to all that she had known or dreamed.
She had it in her, could she have had the power, to mercilessly and brutally16 destroy this woman’s beauty, which was so far above her reach, as she had once destroyed the ivory wreath; yet, as that of the snow-white carving17 had done, so did this fair and regal beauty touch her, even in the midst of her fury, with a certain reverent18 awe19, with a certain dim sense of something her own life had missed. She had trodden the ivory in pieces with all the violence of childish, savage20, uncalculating hate, and she had been chidden, as by a rebuking21 voice, by the wreck22 which her action had made at her feet; so could she now, had it been possible, have ruined and annihilated23 the loveliness that filled his heart and his soul; but so would she also, the moment her instinct to avenge24 herself had been sated, have felt the remorse25 and the shame of having struck down a delicate and gracious thing that even in its destruction had a glory that was above her.
Even her very hate attracted her to the sight, to the study, to the presence of this woman, who was as dissimilar to all of womanhood that had ever crossed her path, in camp and barrack, as the pure, white gleaming lily of the hothouse is unlike the wind-tossed, sand-stained, yellow leaf down-trodden in the mud. An irresistible26 fascination27 drew her toward the self-same pain which had so wounded her a few hours before — an impulse more intense than curiosity, and more vital than caprice, urged her to the vicinity of the only human being who had ever awakened28 in her the pang29 of humiliation, the throbs30 of envy.
And she went to that vicinity, now that the daylight had just changed to evening, and the ruddy torch-glare was glowing everywhere from great pine boughs31 thrust in the ground, with their resinous32 branches steeped in oil and flaring33 alight. There was not a man that night in camp who would have dared oppose the steps of the young heroine of the Cross wherever they might choose, in their fantastic flight, to wander. The sentinels passing up and down the great space before the marquees challenged her, indeed, but she was quick to give the answering password, and they let her go by them, their eyes turning after the little picturesque34 form that every soldier of the Corps35 of Africa loved almost like the flag beneath which he fought. Once in the magic circle, she paused a while; the desire that urged her on, and the hate that impelled36 her backward, keeping her rooted there in the dusky shadow which the flapping standards threw.
To creep covertly37 into her rival’s presence, to hide herself like a spy to see what she wished, to show fear, or hesitation38, or deference39, were not in the least what she contemplated40. What she intended was to confront this fair, strange, cold, cruel thing, and see if she were of flesh and blood like other living beings, and do the best that could be done to outrage41, to scourge42, to challenge, to deride43 her with all the insolent44 artillery45 of camp ribaldry, and show her how a child of the people could laugh at her rank, and affront46 her purity, and scorn her power. Definite idea there was none to her; she had come on impulse. But a vague longing47 in some way to break down that proud serenity48 which galled49 her so sharply, and bring hot blood of shame into that delicate face, and cast indignity50 on that imperious and unassailable pride, consumed her.
She longed to do as some girl of whom she had once been told by an old Invalide had done in the ‘89 — a girl of the people, a fisher-girl of the Cannebiere, who had loved one above her rank, a noble who deserted51 her for a woman of his own Order, a beautiful, soft-skinned, lily-like, scornful aristocrat9, with the silver ring of merciless laughter and the languid luster53 of sweet, contemptuous eyes. The Marseillaise bore her wrong in silence — she was a daughter of the south and of the populace, with a dark, brooding, burning beauty, strong and fierce, and braced54 with the salt lashing55 of the sea and with the keen breath of the stormy mistral. She held her peace while the great lady was wooed and won, while the marriage joys came with the purple vintage time, while the people were made drunk at the bridal of their chatelaine in those hot, ruddy, luscious56 autumn days.
She held her peace; and the Terror came, and the streets of the city by the sea ran blood, and the scorch58 of the sun blazed, every noon, on the scaffold. Then she had her vengeance59. She stood and saw the ax fall down on the proud, snow-white neck that never had bent60 till it bent there, and she drew the severed61 head into her own bronzed hands and smote62 the lips his lips had kissed — a cruel blow that blurred63 their beauty out — and twined a fish-hook in the long and glistening64 hair, and drew it, laughing as she went, through dust, and mire65, and gore66, and over the rough stones of the town, and through the shouting crowds of the multitudes, and tossed it out on to the sea, laughing still as the waves flung it out from billow to billow, and the fish sucked it down to make their feast. She stood and laughed by the side of the gray, angry water, watching the tresses of the floating hair sink downward like a heap of sea-tossed weed.
That horrible story came to the memory of Cigarette now as it had been told her by the old soldier who, in his boyhood, had seen the entry of the Marseillais to Paris. She knew what the woman of the people had felt when she had bruised67 and mocked and thrown out to the devouring68 waters that fair and fallen head.
“I could do it — I could do it,” she thought, with the savage instinct of her many-sided nature dominant69, leaving uppermost only its ferocity — the same ferocity as had moved the southern woman to wreak70 her hatred on the senseless head of her rival. The school in which the child-soldier had been reared had been one to foster all those barbaric impulses; to leave in their inborn71, uncontrolled force all those native desires which the human shares with the animal nature. There had been no more to teach her that these were criminal or forbidden than there is to teach the young tigress that it is cruel to tear the antelope72 for food. What Cigarette was, that nature had made her; she was no more trained to self-control, or to the knowledge of good, than is the tiger’s cub73 as it wantons in its play under the great, broad tropic leaves.
Now, she acted on her impulse; her impulse of open scorn of rank, of reckless vindication74 of her right to do just whatsoever75 pleasured her; and she went boldly forward and dashed aside, with no gentle hand, the folds that hung before the entrance of the tent, and stood there with the gleam of the starry76 night and the glow of the torches behind her, so that her picturesque and brightly colored form looked painted on a dusky, lurid77 background of shadow and of flame.
The action startled the occupants of the tent, and made them both look up; they were Venetia Corona78 and a Levantine woman, who was her favorite and most devoted79 attendant, and had been about her from her birth. The tent was the first of three set aside for her occupancy, and had been adorned80 with as much luxury as was procurable81, and with many of the rich and curious things of Algerian art and workmanship, so far as they could be hastily collected by the skill and quickness of the French intendance. Cigarette stood silently looking at the scene on which she had thus broken without leave or question; she saw nothing of it except one head lifted in surprise at her entrance — just such a head, just so proudly carried, just so crowned with gleaming hair as that which the Marseillaise had dragged through the dust of the streets and cast out into the lust52 of the sharks. Venetia hesitated a moment in astonished wonder; then, with the grace and the courtesy of her race, rose and approached the entrance of her tent, in which that fierce — half a soldier, half a child — was standing82, with the fitful, reddened light behind. She recognized whose it was.
“Is it you, ma petite?” she said kindly83. “Come within. Do not be afraid ——”
She spoke84 with the gentle consideration of a great lady to one whom she admired for her heroism85, compassionated87 for her position, and thought naturally in need of such encouragement. She had liked the frank, fearless, ardent88 brunette face of the Little Friend of the Flag; she had liked her fiery89 and indomitable defense90 of the soldier of Zaraila; she felt an interest in her as deep as her pity, and she was above the scruples91 which many women of her rank might have had as to the fitness of entering into conversation with this child of the army. She was gentle to her as to a young bird, a young kitten, a young colt; what her brother had said of the vivandiere’s love for one whom the girl only knew as a trooper of Chasseurs filled with an indefinable compassion86 the woman who knew him as her own equal and of her own Order.
Cigarette, for once, answered nothing; her eyes very lowering, burning, savage.
“You wish to see me?” Venetia asked once more. “Come nearer. Have no fear —”
The one word unloosed the spell which had kept Cigarette speechless; the one word was an insult beyond endurance, that lashed92 all the worst spirit in her into flame.
“Fear!” she cried, with a camp oath, whose blasphemy93 was happily unintelligible94 to her listener. “Fear! You think I fear you! — the darling of the army, who saved the squadron at Zaraila, who has seen a thousand days of bloodshed, who has killed as many men with her own hand as any Lascar among them all — fear you, you hothouse flower, you paradise-bird, you silver pheasant, who never did aught but spread your dainty colors in the sun, and never earned so much as the right to eat a pierce of black bread, if you had your deserts! Fear you — I! Why! do you not know that I could kill you where you stand as easily as I could wring95 the neck of any one of those gold-winged orioles that flew above your head today, and who have more right to live than you, for they do at least labor96 in their own fashion for their food, and their drink, and their dwelling97? Dieu de Dieu! Why, I have killed Arabs, I tell you — great, gaunt, grim men — and made them bite the dust under my fire. Do you think I would check for a moment at dealing98 you death, you beautiful, useless, honeyed, poisoned, painted exotic, that has every wind tempered to you, and thinks the world only made to bear the fall of your foot!”
The fury of words was poured out without pause, and with an intense passion vibrating through them; the wine was hot in her veins99, the hate was hot in her heart; her eyes glittered with murderous meaning, and she darted100 with one swift bound to the side of the rival she loathed101, with the pistol half out of her belt; she expected to see the one she threatened recoil102, quail103, hear the threat in terror; she mistook the nature with which she dealt. Venetia Corona never moved, never gave a sign of the amazement104 that awoke in her; but she put her hand out and clasped the barrel of the weapon, while her eyes looked down into the flashing, looming105, ferocious106 ones that menaced her, with calm, contemptuous rebuke107, in which something of infinite pity was mingled.
“Child, are you mad?” she said gravely. “Brave natures do not stoop to assassination108, which you seem to deify. If you have any reason to feel evil against me, tell me what it is. I always repair a wrong, if I can. But as for those threats, they are most absurd if you do not mean them; they are most wicked if you do.”
The tranquil109, unmoved, serious words stilled the vehement110 passion she rebuked111 with a strange and irresistible power; under her gaze the savage lust in Cigarette’s eyes died out, and their lids drooped112 over them; the dusky, scarlet113 color failed from her cheeks; for the first time in her life she felt humiliated115, vanquished116, awed117. If this “aristocrat” had shown one sign of fear, one trace of apprehension118, all her violent and reckless hatred would have reigned119 on, and, it might have been, have rushed from threat to execution; but showing the only quality, that of courage, for which she had respect, her great rival confused and disarmed120 her. She was only sensible, with a vivid, agonizing121 sense of shame, that her only cause of hatred against this woman was that he loved her. And this she would have died a thousand deaths rather than have acknowledged.
She let the pistol pass into Venetia’s grasp; and stood, irresolute122 and ashamed, her fluent tongue stricken dumb, her intent to wound, and sting, and outrage with every vile123, coarse jest she knew, rendered impossible to execute. The purity and the dignity of her opponent’s presence had their irresistible influence, an influence too strong for even her debonair124 and dangerous insolence125. She hated herself in that moment more than she hated her rival.
Venetia laid the loaded pistol down, away from both, and seated herself on the cushions from which she had risen. Then she looked once more, long and quietly, at her unknown antagonist126.
“Well?” she said, at length. “Why do you venture to come here? And why do you feel this malignity127 toward a stranger who never saw you until this morning?”
Under the challenge the fiery spirit of Cigarette rallied, though a rare and galling128 sense of intense inferiority, of intense mortification129, was upon her; though she would almost have given the Cross which was on her breast that she had never come into this woman’s sight.
“Oh, ah!” she answered recklessly, with the red blood flushing her face again at the only evasion130 of truth of which the little desperado, with all her sins, had ever been guilty. “I hate you, Milady, because of your Order — because of your nation — because of your fine, dainty ways — because of your aristocrat’s insolence — because you treat my soldiers like paupers131 — because you are one of those who do no more to have the right to live than the purple butterfly that flies in the sun, and who oust132 the people out of their dues as the cuckoo kicks the poor birds that have reared it, out of the nest of down, to which it never has carried a twig133 or a moss134!”
Her listener heard with a slight smile of amusement and of surprise that bitterly discomfited135 the speaker. To Venetia Corona the girl-soldier seemed mad; but it was a madness that interested her, and she knew at a glance that this child of the army was of no common nature and no common mind.
“I do not wish to discuss democracy with you,” she answered, with a tone that sounded strangely tranquil to Cigarette after the scathing136 acrimony of her own. “I should probably convince you as little as you would convince me; and I never waste words. But I heard you today claim a certain virtue137 — justice. How do you reconcile with that your very hasty condemnation138 of a stranger of whose motives139, actions, and modes of life it is impossible you can have any accurate knowledge?”
Cigarette once again was silenced; her face burned, her heart was hot with rage. She had come prepared to upbraid140 and to outrage this patrician141 with every jibe142 and grossness camp usage could supply her with, and — she stood dumb before her! She could only feel an all-absorbing sense of being ridiculous, and contemptible143, and puerile144 in her sight.
“You bring two charges against me,” said Venetia, when she had vainly awaited answer. “That I treat your comrades like paupers, and that I rob the people — my own people, I imagine you to mean — of their dues. In the first, how will you prove it? — in the second, how can you know it?”
“Pardieu, Milady!” swore Cigarette recklessly, seeking only to hold her own against the new sense of inferiority and of inability that oppressed her. “I was in the hospital when your fruits and your wines came; and as for your people, I don’t speak of them — they are all slaves, they say, in Albion, and will bear to be yoked145 like oxen if they think they can turn any gold in the furrows147 — I speak of the people. Of the toiling148, weary, agonized149, joyless, hapless multitudes who labor on, and on, and on, ever in darkness, that such as you may bask150 in sunlight and take your pleasures wrung151 out of the death-sweat of millions of work-murdered poor! What right have you to have your path strewn with roses, and every pain spared from you; only to lift your voice and say, ‘Let that be done,’ to see it done? — to find life one long, sweet summer day of gladness and abundance, while they die out in agony by thousands, ague-stricken, famine-stricken, crime-stricken, age-stricken, for want only of one ray of the light of happiness that falls from dawn to dawn like gold upon your head?”
Vehement and exaggerated as the upbraiding152 was, her hearer’s face grew very grave, very thoughtful, as she spoke, those luminous153, earnest eyes, whose power even the young democrat felt, gazed wearily down into hers.
“Ah, child! Do you think we never think of that? You wrong me — you wrong my Order. There are many besides myself who turn over that terrible problem as despairingly as you can ever do. As far as in us lies, we strive to remedy its evil; the uttermost effort can do but little, but that little is only lessened155 — fearfully lessened — whenever Class is arrayed against Class by that blind antagonism156 which animates157 yourself.”
Cigarette’s intelligence was too rapid not to grasp the truths conveyed by these words; but she was in no mood to acknowledge them.
“Nom de Dieu, Milady!” she swore in her teeth. “If you do turn over the problem — you aristocrats — it is pretty work, no doubt! Just putting the bits of a puzzle-ball together so long as the game pleases you, and leaving the puzzle in chaos158 when you are tired! Oh, ha! I know how fine ladies and fine gentlemen play at philanthropies! But I am a child of the People, mark you; and I only see how birth is an angel that gives such as you eternal sunlight and eternal summer, and how birth is a devil that drives down the millions into a pit of darkness, of crime, of ignorance, of misery159, of suffering, where they are condemned160 before they have opened their eyes to existence, where they are sentenced before they have left their mothers’ bosoms161 in infancy162. You do not know what that darkness is. It is night — it is ice — it is hell!”
Venetia Corona sighed wearily as she heard; pain had been so far from her own life, and there was an intense eloquence163 in the low, deep words that seemed to thrill through the stillness.
“Nor do you know how many shadows checker that light which you envy! But I have said; it is useless for me to argue these questions with you. You commence with a hatred of a class; all justice is over wherever that element enters. If I were what you think, I should bid you leave my presence which you have entered so rudely. I do not desire to do that. I am sure that the heroine of Zaraila has something nobler in her than mere164 malignity against a person who can never have injured her; and I would endure her insolence for the sake of awakening165 her justice. A virtue, that was so great in her at noon, cannot be utterly dead at nightfall.”
Cigarette’s fearless eyes drooped under the gaze of those bent so searchingly, yet so gently, upon her; but only for a moment. She raised them afresh with their old dauntless frankness.
“Dieu! you shall never say you wanted justice and truth from a French soldier, and failed to get them! I hate you, never mind why — I do, though you never harmed me. I came here for two reasons: one, because I wanted to look at you close — you are not like anything that I ever saw; the other, because I wanted to wound you, to hurt you, to outrage you, if I could find a way how. And you will not let me do it. I do not know what it is in you.”
In all her courted life, the great lady had had no truer homage166 than lay in that irate167, reluctant wonder of this fiery foe168.
She smiled slightly.
“My poor child, it is rather something in yourself — a native nobility that will not allow you to be as unjust and as insolent as your soul desires —”
Cigarette gave a movement of intolerable impatience169.
“Pardieu! Do not pity me, or I shall give you a taste of my ‘insolence’ in earnest! You may be a sovereign grand dame170 everywhere else, but you can carry no terror with you for me, I promise you!”
“I do not seek to do so. If I did not feel interest in you, do you suppose I should suffer for a moment the ignorant rudeness of an ill-bred child? You fail in the tact171, as in the courtesy, that belong to your nation.”
The rebuke was gentle, but it was all the more severe for its very serenity. It cut Cigarette to the quick; it covered her with an overwhelming sense of mortification and of failure. She was too keen and too just, despite all her vanity, not to feel that she had deserved the condemnation, and not to know that her opponent had all the advantage and all the justice on her side. She had done nothing by coming here; nothing except to appear as an insolent and wayward child before her superb rival, and to feel a very anguish172 of inferiority before the grace, the calm, the beauty, the nameless, potent173 charm of this woman, whom she had intended to humiliate114 and injure!
The inborn truth within her, the native generosity174 and candor175 that soon or late always overruled every other element in the Little One, conquered her now. She dashed down her Cross on the ground, and trod passionately176 on the decoration she adored.
“I disgrace it the first day I wear it! You are right, though I hate you, and you are as beautiful as a sorceress! There is no wonder he loves you!”
“He! Who?”
There was a colder and more utterly amazed hauteur177 in the interrogation than had come into her voice throughout the interview, yet on her fair face a faint warmth rose.
The words were out, and Cigarette was reckless what she said; almost unconscious, indeed, in the violence of the many emotions in her.
“The man who carves the toys you give your dog to break!” she answered bitterly. “Dieu de Dieu! he loves you. When he was down with his wounds after Zaraila, he said so; but he never knew what he said, and he never knew that I heard him. You are like the women of his old world; though through you he got treated like a dog, he loves you!”
“Of whom do you venture to speak?”
The cold, calm dignity of the question, whose very tone was a rebuke, came strangely after the violent audacity178 of Cigarette’s speech.
“Sacre bleu! Of him, I tell you, who was made to bring his wares179 to you like a hawker. And you think it insult, I will warrant! — insult for a soldier who has nothing but his courage, and his endurance, and his heroism under suffering to ennoble him, to dare to love Mme. la Princesse Corona! I think otherwise. I think that Mme. la Princesse Corona never had a love of so much honor, though she has had princes and nobles and all the men of her rank, no doubt, at her feet, through that beauty that is like a spell!”
Hurried headlong by her own vehemence180, and her own hatred for her rival, which drove her to magnify the worth of the passion of which she was so jealous, that she might lessen154, if she could, the pride of her on whom it was lavished181, she never paused to care what she said, or heed182 what its consequences might become. She felt incensed183, amazed, irritated, to see no trace of any emotion come on her hearer’s face; the hot, impetuous, expansive, untrained nature underrated the power for self-command of the Order she so blindly hated.
“You speak idly and at random184, like the child you are,” the grande dame answered her with chill, contemptuous rebuke. “I do not imagine that the person you allude185 to made you his confidante in such a matter?”
“He!” retorted Cigarette. “He belongs to your class, Milady. He is as silent as the grave. You might kill him, and he would never show it hurt. I only know what he muttered in his fever.”
“When you attended him?”
“Not I!” cried Cigarette, who saw for the first time that she was betraying herself. “He lay in the scullion’s tent where I was; that was all; and he was delirious186 with the shot-wounds. Men often are —”
“Wait! Hear me a little while, before you rush on in this headlong and foolish speech,” interrupted her auditor187, who had in a moment’s rapid thought decided188 on her course with this strange, wayward nature. “You err57 in the construction you have placed on the words, whatever they were, which you heard. The gentleman — he is a gentleman — whom you speak of bears me no love. We are almost strangers. But by a strange chain of circumstances he is connected with my family; he once had great friendship with my brother; for reasons that I do not know, but which are imperative189 with him, he desires to keep his identity unsuspected by everyone; an accident alone revealed it to me, and I have promised him not to divulge190 it. You understand?”
Cigarette gave an affirmative gesture. Her eyes were fastened suddenly, yet with a deep, bright glow in them, upon her companion; she was beginning to see her way through his secret — a secret she was too intrinsically loyal even now to dream of betraying.
“You spoke very nobly for him today. You have the fealty191 of one brave character to another, I am sure!” pursued Venetia Corona, purposely avoiding all hints of any warmer feeling on her listener’s part, since she saw how tenacious192 the girl was of any confession193 of it. “You would do him service if you could, I fancy. Am I right?”
“Oh, yes!” answered Cigarette, with an over-assumption of carelessness. “He is bon zig; we always help each other. Besides, he is very good to my men. What is it you want of me?”
“To preserve secrecy194 on what I have told you for his sake; and to give him a message from me.”
Cigarette laughed scornfully; she was furious with herself for standing obediently like a chidden child to hear this patrician’s bidding, and to do her will. And yet, try how she would, she could not shake off the spell under which those grave, sweet, lustrous195 eyes of command held her.
“Pardieu, Milady! Do you think I babble196 like any young drunk with his first measure of wine? As for your message, you had better let him come and hear what you have to say; I cannot promise to remember it!”
“Your answer is reckless; I want a serious one. You spoke like a brave and a just friend to him today; are you willing to act as such to-night? You have come here strangely, rudely, without pretext197 or apology; but I think better of you than you would allow me to do, if I judged only from the surface. I believe that you have loyalty198, as I know that you have courage.”
Cigarette set her teeth hard.
“What of that?”
“This of it. That one who has them will never cherish malice199 unjustifiably, or fail to fulfill200 a trust.”
Cigarette’s clear, brown skin grew very red.
“That is true,” she muttered reluctantly. Her better nature was growing uppermost, though she strove hard to keep the evil one predominant.
“Then you will cease to feel hatred toward me for so senseless a reason as that I belong to an aristocracy that offends you; and you will remain silent on what I tell you concerning the one whom you know as Louis Victor?”
Cigarette nodded assent201; the sullen202 fire-glow still burned in her eyes, but she succumbed203 to the resistless influence which the serenity, the patience, and the dignity of this woman had over her. She was studying Venetia Corona all this while with the keen, rapid perceptions of envy and of jealousy; studying her features, her form, her dress, her attitude, all the many various and intangible marks of birth and breeding which were so new to her, and which made her rival seem so strange, so dazzling, so marvelous a sorceress to her; and all the while the sense of her own inferiority, her own worthlessness, her own boldness, her own debasement was growing upon her, eating, sharply into the metal of her vanity and her pride, humiliating her unbearably204, yet making her heart ache with a sad, pathetic pity for herself.
“He is of your Order, then?” she asked abruptly205.
“He was — yes.”
“Oh, ha!” cried Cigarette, with her old irony206. “Then he must be always, mustn’t he? You think too much of your blue blood, you patricians207, to fancy it can lose its royalty208, whether it run under a King’s purple or a Roumi’s canvas shirt. Blood tells, they say! Well, perhaps it does. Some say my father was a Prince of France — maybe! So, he is of your Order? Bah! I knew that the first day I saw his hands. Do you want me to tell you why he lives among us, buried like this?”
“Not if you violate any confidence to do so.”
“Pardieu! He makes no confidence, I promise you. Not ten words will Monsieur say, if he can help it, about anything. He is as silent as a lama. But we learn things without being told in camp; and I know well enough he is here to save someone else, in someone’s place; it is a sacrifice, look you, that nails him down to this martyrdom.”
Her auditor was silent; she thought as the vivandiere thought, but the pride in her, the natural reticence209 and reserve of her class, made her shrink from discussing the history of one whom she knew — shrink from having any argument on his past or future with a saucy210, rough, fiery young camp-follower, who had broken thus unceremoniously on her privacy. Yet she needed greatly to be able to trust Cigarette; the child was the only means through which she could send him a warning that must be sent; and there were a bravery and a truth in her which attracted the “aristocrat,” to whom she was so singular and novel a rarity as though she were some young savage of desert western isles211.
“Look you, Milady,” said Cigarette, half sullenly212, half passionately, for the words were wrenched213 out of her generosity, and choked her in their utterance214, “that man suffers; his life here is a hell upon earth — I don’t mean for the danger, he is bon soldat; but for the indignity, the subordination, the license215, the brutality216, the tyranny. He is as if he were chained to the galleys217. He never says anything. Oh, no! he is of your kind you know! But he suffers. Mort de Dieu! he suffers. Now, if you be his friend, can you do nothing for him? Can you ransom218 him in no way? Can you go away out of Africa and leave him in this living death to get killed and thrust into the sand, like his comrade the other day?”
Her hearer did not answer; the words made her heart ache; they cut her to the soul. It was not for the first time that the awful desolation of his future had been present before her; but it was the first time that the fate to which she would pass away and leave him had been so directly in words before her. Cigarette, obeying the generous impulses of her better nature, and abandoning self with the same reckless impetuosity with which a moment before she would, if she could, have sacrificed her rival, saw the advantage gained, and pursued it with rapid skill. She was pleading against herself; no matter. In that instant she was capable of crucifying herself, and only remembering mercy to the absent.
“I have heard,” she went on vehemently219, for the utterance to which she forced herself was very cruel to her, “that you of the Noblesse are stanch220 as steel to your own people. It is the best virtue that you have. Well, he is of your people. Will you go away in your negligent221 indifference222, and leave him to eat his heart out in bitterness and misery? He was your brother’s friend; he was known to you in his early time; you said so. And are you cold enough and cruel enough, Milady, not to make one effort to redeem223 him out of bondage224? — to go back to your palaces, and your pleasures, and your luxuries, and your flatteries, and be happy, while this man is left on bearing his yoke146 here? — and it is a yoke that galls225, that kills! — bearing it until, in some day of desperation, a naked blade cuts its way to his heart, and makes its pulse cease forever? If you do, you patricians are worse still than I thought you!”
Venetia heard her without interruption; a great sadness came over her face as the vivid phrases followed each other. She was too absorbed in the subject of them to heed the challenge and the insolence of their manner. She knew that the Little One who spoke them loved him, though so tenacious to conceal226 her love; and she was touched, not less by the magnanimity which, for his sake, sought to release him from the African service, than by the hopelessness of his coming years as thus prefigured before her.
“Your reproaches are unneeded,” she replied, slowly and wearily. “I could not abandon one who was once the friend of my family to such a fate as you picture without very great pain. But I do not see how to alter this fate, as you think I could do with so much ease. I am not in its secret; I do not know the reason of its seeming suicide; I have no more connection with its intricacies than you have. This gentleman has chosen his own path; it is not for me to change his choice or spy into his motives.”
Cigarette’s flashing, searching eyes bent all their brown light on her.
“Mme. Corona, you are courageous227; to those who are so, all things are possible.”
“A great fallacy! You must have seen many courageous men vanquished. But what would you imply by it?”
“That you can help this man, if you will.”
“Would that I could; but I can discern no means —”
“Make them.”
Even in that moment her listener smiled involuntarily at the curt228, imperious tones, decisive as Napoleon’s “Partons!” before the Passage of the Alps.
“Be certain, if I can, I will. Meantime, there is one pressing danger of which you must be my medium to warn him. He and my brother must not meet. Tell him that the latter, knowing him only as Louis Victor, and interested in the incidents of his military career, will seek him out early tomorrow morning before we quit the camp. I must leave it to him to avoid the meeting as best he may be able.”
Cigarette smiled grimly.
“You do not know much of the camp. Victor is only a bas-officier; if his officers call him up, he must come, or be thrashed like a slave for contumacy. He has no will of his own.”
Venetia gave an irrepressible gesture of pain.
“True; I forgot. Well, go and send him to me. My brother must be taken into his confidence, whatever that confidence reveals. I will tell him so. Go and send him to me; it is the last chance.”
Cigarette gave no movement of assent; all the jealous rage in her flared229 up afresh to stifle230 the noble and unselfish instincts under which she had been led during the later moments. A coarse and impudent231 scoff232 rose to her tongue, but it remained unuttered; she could not speak it under that glance, which held the evil in her in subjection, and compelled her reluctant reverence233 against her will.
“Tell him to come here to me,” repeated Venetia, with the calm decision of one to whom any possibility of false interpretation234 of her motives never occurred, and who was habituated to the free action that accompanied an unassailable rank. “My brother must know what I know. I shall be alone, and he can make his way hither, without doubt, unobserved. Go and say this to him. You are his loyal little friend and comrade.”
“If I be, I do not see why I am to turn your lackey235, Madame,” said Cigarette bitterly. “If you want him, you can send for him by other messengers!”
Venetia Corona looked at her steadfastly236, with a certain contempt in the look.
“Then your pleading for him was all insincere? Let the matter drop, and be good enough to leave my presence, which, you will remember, you entered unsummoned and undesired.”
The undeviating gentleness of the tone made the rebuke cut deeper, as her first rebuke had cut, than any sterner censure237 or more peremptory238 dismissal could have done. Cigarette stood irresolute, ashamed, filled with rage, torn by contrition239, impatient, wounded, swayed by jealous rage and by the purer impulses she strove to stifle.
The Cross she had tossed down caught her sight as it glittered on the carpet strewn over the hard earth; she stooped and raised it; the action sufficed to turn the tide with her impressionable, ardent, capricious nature; she would not disgrace that.
“I will go,” she muttered in her throat; “and you — you — O God! no wonder men love you when even I cannot hate you!”
Almost ere the words were uttered she had dashed aside the hangings before the tent entrance, and had darted out into the night air. Venetia Corona gazed after the swiftly flying figure as it passed over the starlit ground, lost in amazement, in pity, and in regret; wondering afresh if she had only dreamed of this strange interview in the Algerian camp, which seemed to have come and gone with the blinding rapidity of lightning.
“A little tigress!” she thought; “and yet with infinite nobility, with wonderful germs of good in her. Of such a nature what a rare life might have been made! As it is, her childhood we smile at and forgive; but, great Heaven! what will be her maturity240, her old age! Yet how she loves him! And she is so brave she will not show it.”
With the recollection came the remembrance of Cigarette’s words as to his own passion for herself, and she grew paler as it did so. “God forbid he should have that pain, too!” she murmured. “What could it be save misery for us both!”
Yet she did not thrust the fancy from her with contemptuous nonchalance241 as she had done every other of the many passions she had excited and disdained242; it had a great sadness and a greater terror for her. She dreaded243 it slightly for herself.
She wished now that she had not sent for him. But it was done; it was for sake of their old friendship; and she was not one to vainly regret what was unalterable, or to desert what she deemed generous and right for the considerations of prudence244 or of egotism.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
flickering
|
|
| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
democrat
|
|
| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
barricade
|
|
| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
bonnet
|
|
| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
instinctive
|
|
| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
rouge
|
|
| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
aristocrats
|
|
| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
aristocrat
|
|
| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
jealousy
|
|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
tinged
|
|
| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
humiliation
|
|
| n.羞辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
beholding
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
brutally
|
|
| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
carving
|
|
| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
reverent
|
|
| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
awe
|
|
| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
rebuking
|
|
| 责难或指责( rebuke的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
wreck
|
|
| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
annihilated
|
|
| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
avenge
|
|
| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
remorse
|
|
| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
fascination
|
|
| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
awakened
|
|
| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
pang
|
|
| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
throbs
|
|
| 体内的跳动( throb的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
boughs
|
|
| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
resinous
|
|
| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
flaring
|
|
| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
corps
|
|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
impelled
|
|
| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
covertly
|
|
| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
deference
|
|
| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
contemplated
|
|
| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
outrage
|
|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
scourge
|
|
| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
deride
|
|
| v.嘲弄，愚弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
insolent
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
artillery
|
|
| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
affront
|
|
| n./v.侮辱，触怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
serenity
|
|
| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
galled
|
|
| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
indignity
|
|
| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
lust
|
|
| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
luster
|
|
| n.光辉；光泽，光亮；荣誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
braced
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
lashing
|
|
| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
luscious
|
|
| adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
err
|
|
| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
scorch
|
|
| v.烧焦，烤焦；高速疾驶；n.烧焦处，焦痕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
vengeance
|
|
| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
severed
|
|
| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
smote
|
|
| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
blurred
|
|
| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
glistening
|
|
| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
mire
|
|
| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
gore
|
|
| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
bruised
|
|
| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
devouring
|
|
| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
dominant
|
|
| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
wreak
|
|
| v.发泄；报复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
inborn
|
|
| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
antelope
|
|
| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
cub
|
|
| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
vindication
|
|
| n.洗冤，证实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
whatsoever
|
|
| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
starry
|
|
| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
lurid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
corona
|
|
| n.日冕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
adorned
|
|
| [计]被修饰的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
procurable
|
|
| adj.可得到的，得手的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
heroism
|
|
| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
compassion
|
|
| n.同情，怜悯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
compassionated
|
|
| v.同情（compassionate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
ardent
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
defense
|
|
| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
scruples
|
|
| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
lashed
|
|
| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
blasphemy
|
|
| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
unintelligible
|
|
| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
wring
|
|
| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
loathed
|
|
| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
recoil
|
|
| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
quail
|
|
| n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
looming
|
|
| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
ferocious
|
|
| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
rebuke
|
|
| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
assassination
|
|
| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
tranquil
|
|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
vehement
|
|
| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
rebuked
|
|
| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
drooped
|
|
| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
humiliate
|
|
| v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
humiliated
|
|
| 感到羞愧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
vanquished
|
|
| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
awed
|
|
| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
apprehension
|
|
| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
reigned
|
|
| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
disarmed
|
|
| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
agonizing
|
|
| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
irresolute
|
|
| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
vile
|
|
| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
debonair
|
|
| adj.殷勤的，快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
insolence
|
|
| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
antagonist
|
|
| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
malignity
|
|
| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
galling
|
|
| adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
mortification
|
|
| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
evasion
|
|
| n.逃避，偷漏(税) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
paupers
|
|
| n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
oust
|
|
| vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
twig
|
|
| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
moss
|
|
| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
discomfited
|
|
| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
scathing
|
|
| adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
condemnation
|
|
| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
motives
|
|
| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
upbraid
|
|
| v.斥责，责骂，责备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
patrician
|
|
| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
jibe
|
|
| v.嘲笑，与...一致，使转向；n.嘲笑，嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
contemptible
|
|
| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
puerile
|
|
| adj.幼稚的，儿童的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
yoked
|
|
| 结合（yoke的过去式形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
yoke
|
|
| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
furrows
|
|
| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
toiling
|
|
| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
agonized
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
bask
|
|
| vt.取暖，晒太阳，沐浴于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
wrung
|
|
| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
upbraiding
|
|
| adj.& n.谴责（的）v.责备，申斥，谴责( upbraid的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
luminous
|
|
| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
lessen
|
|
| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
lessened
|
|
| 减少的，减弱的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
antagonism
|
|
| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
animates
|
|
| v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
chaos
|
|
| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
bosoms
|
|
| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
infancy
|
|
| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
eloquence
|
|
| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
awakening
|
|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
homage
|
|
| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
irate
|
|
| adj.发怒的，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
dame
|
|
| n.女士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
tact
|
|
| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
anguish
|
|
| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
potent
|
|
| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
candor
|
|
| n.坦白，率真 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
passionately
|
|
| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
hauteur
|
|
| n.傲慢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
audacity
|
|
| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
wares
|
|
| n. 货物, 商品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
vehemence
|
|
| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
lavished
|
|
| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
heed
|
|
| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
incensed
|
|
| 盛怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
random
|
|
| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
allude
|
|
| v.提及，暗指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
delirious
|
|
| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
auditor
|
|
| n.审计员，旁听着 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
imperative
|
|
| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
divulge
|
|
| v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
fealty
|
|
| n.忠贞，忠节 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
tenacious
|
|
| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
confession
|
|
| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
secrecy
|
|
| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
lustrous
|
|
| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
babble
|
|
| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
pretext
|
|
| n.借口，托词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
malice
|
|
| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
fulfill
|
|
| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
assent
|
|
| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
succumbed
|
|
| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
unbearably
|
|
| adv.不能忍受地，无法容忍地；慌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
irony
|
|
| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
patricians
|
|
| n.（古罗马的）统治阶层成员( patrician的名词复数 )；贵族，显贵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
royalty
|
|
| n.皇家，皇族 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
reticence
|
|
| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
saucy
|
|
| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
211
isles
|
|
| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
wrenched
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
utterance
|
|
| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
license
|
|
| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
brutality
|
|
| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
galleys
|
|
| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
218
ransom
|
|
| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
219
vehemently
|
|
| adv. 热烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
220
stanch
|
|
| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
221
negligent
|
|
| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
222
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
223
redeem
|
|
| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
224
bondage
|
|
| n.奴役，束缚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
225
galls
|
|
| v.使…擦痛( gall的第三人称单数 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
226
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
227
courageous
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
228
curt
|
|
| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
229
Flared
|
|
| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
230
stifle
|
|
| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
231
impudent
|
|
| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
232
scoff
|
|
| n.嘲笑，笑柄，愚弄；v.嘲笑，嘲弄，愚弄，狼吞虎咽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
233
reverence
|
|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
234
interpretation
|
|
| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
235
lackey
|
|
| n.侍从；跟班 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
236
steadfastly
|
|
| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
237
censure
|
|
| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
238
peremptory
|
|
| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
239
contrition
|
|
| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
240
maturity
|
|
| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
241
nonchalance
|
|
| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
242
disdained
|
|
| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
243
dreaded
|
|
| 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) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
244
prudence
|
|
| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |