"You have made," he said, "an enemy, and a dangerous one; but you have also secured friends against whose support even the anger of a greater than the Zampta might break as harmlessly as waves upon a rock. He behaved only as any one else would have done; and it is useless to be angry with men for being what they habitually4 and universally are. What you did for Eveena, one of ourselves, perhaps, but no other, might have risked for a first bride on the first day of her marriage. Indeed, though I am most thankful to you, I should, perhaps, have withheld5 my consent to my daughter's request had I supposed that you felt so strongly for her."
"I think," I replied with some displeasure, "that I may positively6 affirm that I have spoken no word to your daughter which I should not have spoken in your presence. I am too unfamiliar8 with your ideas to know whether your remark has the same force and meaning it would have borne among my own people; but to me it conveys a grave reproach. When I accepted the charge of your daughter during this day's excursion, I thought of her only as every man thinks of a young, pretty, and gentle girl of whom he has seen and knows scarcely anything. To avail myself of what has since happened to make a deeper impression on her feelings than you might approve would have seemed to me unpardonable treachery."
"You do utterly9 misunderstand me," he answered. "It may be that Eveena has received an impression which will not be effaced10 from her mind. It may be that this morning, could I have foreseen it, I should have decidedly wished to avoid anything that would so impress her. But that feeling, if it exist, has been caused by your acts and not by your words. That you should do your utmost, at any risk to yourself, to save her, is consistent with what I know of your habit of mind, and ought not much to surprise me. But, from your own account of what you said to the Zampta, you were not merely willing to risk life for life. When you deemed it impossible to return without her, you spoke7 as few among us would seriously speak of a favourite bride."
"I spoke and felt," I replied, "as any man trained in the hereditary13 thought of my race and rank would have spoken of any woman committed to his care. All that I said and did for Eveena, I should have said and done, I hope, for the least attractive or least amiable14 maiden15 in this planet who had been similarly entrusted16 to my charge. How could any but the vilest17 coward return and say to a father, 'You trusted your daughter to me, and she has perished by my fault or neglect'?"
"Not so," he answered, "Eveena alone was to blame—and much to blame. She says herself that you had told her to remain where you left her till your return; and if she had not disobeyed, neither her life nor yours would have been imperilled."
"One hardly expects a young lady to comply exactly with such requests," I said. "At any rate, Terrestrial feelings of honour and even of manhood would have made it easier to leap the precipice20 than to face you and the world if, no matter by whose fault, my charge had died in such a manner under my eyes and within my reach."
Esmo's eyes brightened and his cheek flushed a little as I spoke, with more of earnestness or passion than any incident, however exciting, is wont21 to provoke among his impassive race.
"Of one thing," he said, "you have assured me—that the proposal I was about to make rather invites honour than confers it. I have been obliged, in speaking of the manners and ideas of my countrymen, to let you perceive not only that I differ from them, but that there are others who think and act as I do. We have for ages formed a society bound together by our peculiar22 tenets. That we individually differ in conduct, and, therefore, probably in ideas, from our countrymen, they necessarily know; that we form a body apart with laws and tenets of our own, is at least suspected. But our organisation23, its powers, its methods, its rules of membership, and its doctrines24 are, and have always been, a secret, and no man's connection with it is avowed25 or provable. Our chief distinctive26 and essential doctrines you hold as strongly as we do—the All-perfect Existence, the immortal27 human soul. From these necessarily follow conceptions of life and principles of conduct alien to those that have as necessarily grown up among a race which repudiates28, ignores, and hates our two fundamental premises29. After what has happened, I can promise you immediate30 and eager acceptance among those invested with the fullest privileges of our order. They will all admire your action and applaud your motives31, though, frankly32 speaking, I doubt whether any of us would carry your views so far as you have done. The best among us would have flinched33, unless under the influence of the very strongest personal affection, from the double peril19 of which you seemed to think so lightly. They might indeed have defied the Regent but it would have been in reliance on the protection of, a power superior to his of which you knew nothing."
"Then," I said, "I suppose your engagement of to-day was a meeting of this society?"
"Yes," he answered, "a meeting of the Chamber34 to which I and the elder members of my household, including my son and his wife, belong." "But," I said, "if you are more powerful than the rulers of your people, what need of such careful secrecy35?"
"You will understand the reason," he answered, "when you learn the nature of our powers. Hundreds among millions, we are no match for the fighting force of our unbelieving countrymen. Our safety lies in the terror inspired by a tradition, verified by repeated and invariable experience, that no one who injures one of us but has reason to rue36 it, that no mortal enemy of the Star has ever escaped signal punishment, more terrible for the mystery attending it. Were we known, were our organisation avowed, we might be hunted down and exterminated38, and should certainly suffer frightful39 havoc40, even if in the end we were able to frighten or overcome our enemies. But if you are disposed to accept my offer—and enrolment among us gives you at once your natural place in this planet and your best security against the enmity you have incurred42 and will incur41 here—I should prefer to make the rest of the explanation that must precede your admission in presence of my family. The first step, the preliminary instruction in our creed43 and our simpler mysteries, which is the work of the Novitiate, is a solemn epoch44 in the lives of our children. They are not trusted with our secret till we can rely on the maturity45 of their intelligence and loyalty46 of their nature. Eveena would in any case have been received as a novice47 within some dozen days. It will now be easy for me, considering her education and intelligence and my own position in the Order, to obtain, for her as for you, exemption48 from the usual probation49 on proof that you both know all that is usually taught therein, and admission on the same occasion; and it will add solemnity and interest to her first initiation50, that this chief lesson of her life should be shared this evening with him to whom she owes it that she lives to enter the society, to which her ancestors have belonged since its institution."
We passed into the peristyle, where the ladies were as usual assembled; but the children had been dismissed, and of the maidens51 Eveena only was present. Fatigue52 and agitation53 had left her very pale, and she was resting at full length on the cushions with her head pillowed on her mother's knee. As we approached, however, they all rose, the other ladies greeting me eagerly and warmly, Eveena rising with difficulty and faltering54 the welcome which the rest had spoken with enthusiastic earnestness. Forgetting for the moment the prudence55 which ignorance of Martial56 customs had hitherto dictated57, I lifted to my lips the hand that she, following the example of the rest, but shyly and half reluctantly, laid on my shoulder—a form very different to the distant greeting I had heretofore received, and marking that I was no longer to be treated as a stranger to the family. My unusual salute58 brought the colour back to her cheeks, but no one else took notice of it. I observed, however, that on this occasion, instead of interposing himself between me and the ladies as usual, her father left vacant the place next to her; and I seated myself at her feet. She would have exchanged her reclining posture59 for that of the others, but her mother gently drew her down to her former position.
"Eveena," said my host, "I have told our friend, what you know, that there is in this world a society, of which I am a member, whose principles are not those of our countrymen, but resemble rather those which supplied the impulses on which he acted to-day. This much you know. What you would have learned a few days hence, I mean that you and he shall now hear at the same time."
"Before you enter on that subject," interposed Zulve timidly—for it is most unusual for a lady to interfere60 in her husband's conversation, much more to offer a suggestion or correction—but yet earnestly, "let me say, on my own part, what I am sure you must have said already on yours. If there be now, or ever shall be, anything we can do for our guest, anything we can give that he would value, not in requital61, but in memory of what he has done for us—whatever it should cost us, though he should ask the most precious thing we possess, it will be our pride and pleasure—the greatest pleasure he can afford us—to grant it."
The time and the surroundings were not perhaps exactly suitable to the utterance62 of the wish suggested by these words; but I knew so little what might be in store for me, and understood so well the difficulty and uncertainty63 of finding future opportunities of intercourse64 with the ladies at least of the family, that I dared not lose the present. I spoke at once upon the impulse of the moment, with a sense of reckless desperation not unlike that with which an artillerist65 fires the train whose explosion may win for him the obsidional wreath or blow him into atoms. "You and my host," I said, "have one treasure that I have learned to covet66, but it is exactly the most precious thing you possess, and one which it would be presumptuous67 to ask as reward; even had I not owed to Esmo the life I perilled18 for Eveena, and if I had acted from choice and freely, instead of doing only what only the vilest of cowards could have failed to attempt. In asking it indeed, I feel that I cancel whatever claim your extravagant68 estimate of that act can possibly ascribe to me."
"We don't waste words," answered Esmo, "in saying what we don't mean, and I confirm fully69 what my wife has said. There is nothing we possess that we shall not delight to give as token of regard and in remembrance of this day to the saviour70 of our child."
"If," I said, "I find a neighbour's purse containing half his fortune, and return it to him, he may offer me what reward I ask, but would hardly think it reasonable if I asked for the purse and its contents. But you have only one thing I care to possess—that which I have, by God's help, been enabled to save to-day. If I must ask a gift, give me Eveena herself."
Utilitarianism has extinguished in Mars the use of compliment and circumlocution72; and until I concluded, their looks of mild perplexity showed that neither Zulve nor her husband caught my purpose. I fancied—for, not daring to look them in the face, I had turned my downcast glance on Eveena—that she had perhaps somewhat sooner divined the object of my thoughts. However, a silence of surprise—was it of reluctance73?—followed, and then Zulve bent74 over her daughter and looked into her half-averted face, while Esmo answered—
"What you should ask I promised to give; what you have asked I give, in so far as it is mine to give, in willing fulfilment of my pledge. But, of course, what I can give is but my free permission to my daughter to answer for herself. You will be, I hope, within a few days at furthest, one of those in whose possession alone a woman of my house could be safe or content; and, free by the law of the land to follow her own wish, she is freed by her father's voice from the rule which the usage of ten thousand years imposes on the daughters of our brotherhood75."
Zulve then looked up, for Eveena had hidden her face in her mother's robe, and said—
"If my child will not speak for herself I must speak for her, and in my own name and in hers I fulfil her father's promise. And now let my husband tell his story, for nothing can solemnise more appropriately the betrothal76 of a daughter of the Star, than her admission to the knowledge of the Order whose privileges are her heritage."
"At the time," Esmo began, "when material science had gained a decided11 ascendant, and enforced the recognition of its methods as the only ones whereby certain knowledge and legitimate77 belief could be attained78, those who clung most earnestly to convictions not acquired or favoured by scientific logic79 were sorely dismayed. They were confounded, not so much by the yet informal but irrevocable majority-vote against them, as by an instinctive80 misgiving81 that Science was right; and by irrepressible doubts whether that which would not bear the application of scientific method could in any sense be true or trustworthy knowledge. At the same time, to apply a scientific method to the cherished beliefs threatened only to dissolve them. Fortunately for them and their successors, there was living at that time one of the most remarkable82 and original thinkers whom our race has produced. From him came the suggestions that gave impulse to our learning and birth to our Order. 'The reasonings, the processes of Science,' he affirmed,'are beyond challenge. Their trustworthiness depends not on their subject-matter, but on their own character; not on their relation to outward Nature, but on their conformity83 to the laws of thought. Their upholders are right in affirming that what will not ultimately bear the test of their application cannot be knowledge, and probably—for the practical purposes of human life we may say certainly—cannot be truth. They are wrong in alleging85 that the ideas for which they can find no foundation in the subjects to which scientific method has hitherto been applied86, are therefore unscientific, or sure to disappear under scientific investigation87. I hold that the existence of a Creator and Ruler of the Universe can be logically deduced from first principles, as well as justly inferred from cumulative88 evidences of overwhelming weight. The existence of something in Man that is not merely corporeal89, of powers that can act beyond the reach of any corporeal instruments at his command, or without the range of their application, is not proven; it may be, only because the facts that indicate without proving it have never yet been subject to systematic90 verification or scientific analysis. But of such facts there exists a vast accumulation; unsifted, untested, and therefore as yet ineffective for proof, but capable, I can scarcely doubt, of reduction to methodical order and scientific treatment. There are records and traditions of every degree of value, from utter worthlessness to the worth of the most authentic91 history, preserving the evidences of powers which may be generally described as spiritual. Through all ages, among all races, the living have alleged92 themselves from time to time to have seen the forms and even heard the voices of the dead. Scientific men have been forced by the actual and public exercise of the power under the most crucial tests—for instance, to produce insensibility in surgical94 operations—to admit that the will of one man can control the brain, the senses, the physical frame of another without material contact, perhaps at a distance. There are narratives95 of marvels96 wrought97 by human will, chiefly in remote, but occasionally in recent times, transcending99 and even contradicting or overruling the known laws of Nature. All these evidences point to one conclusion; all corroborate100 and confirm one another. The men of science ridicule101 them because in so many cases the facts are imperfectly authenticated102, and because in others the action of the powers is uncertain, dependent on conditions imperfectly ascertained103, and not of that material kind to which material science willingly submits. But if they be facts, if they relate to any element of human nature, all these things can be systematically104 investigated, the true separated from the false, the proven from the unproven. The powers can be investigated, their conditions of action laid down. Probably they may be so developed as to be exercised with comparative certainty, whether by every one or only by those special constitutions in which they may inhere. Such investigations105 will at present only enlist106 the attention and care of a few qualified107 persons, and, that they may be carried on in peace and safety, should be carried on in secrecy. But upon them may, I hope, be founded a certainty as regards the higher side of man's nature not less complete than that which science, by similar methods, has gradually acquired in regard to its purely108 physical aspects.'
"For this end he instituted a secret society, which has subsisted109 in constantly increasing strength and cohesion110 to the present hour. It has collected evidence, conducted experiments, investigated records, studied methodically the abnormal phenomena111 you call occult or spiritual, and reduced them to something like the certainty of science. Discoveries from the first curious and interesting have become more and more complete, practical, and effective. Our results have surpassed the hopes of our Founder112, and transcend98 in importance, while they equal in certainty, the contemporary achievements of physical science,—some of the chief of which belong to us. All that profound knowledge of human nature could suggest to bring its weakness to the support of its strength, and enlist both in the work, was done by our Founder, and by those who have carried out his scheme. The corporate113 character of the society, its rites114 and formularies, its grades and ranks, are matter of deep interest to all its members, have linked them together by an inviolable bond, and given them a strength infinitely115 greater than numbers without such cohesion could possibly have afforded. The Founder left us no moral code, imposed on us none of his own most cherished ethical116 convictions, as he pledged us to none of the conclusions which his own occult studies had led him to anticipate, nearly all of which have been verified by later investigation. Such rules as he imposed were directed only to the cohesion and efficiency of the Order. Our creed still consists only of the two fundamental doctrines; two settled principles only are laid down by our aboriginal117 law. We are taught to cultivate the closest personal affection, the most intimate and binding118 ties among ourselves; to defend the Order and one another, whether by strenuous119 resistance or severe reprisals121, against all who injure us individually or collectively, and especially against persecutors of the Order. But the few laws our Founder has left are given in the form of striking precepts123, brief, and often even paradoxical. For example, the law of defence or reprisal120 is concentrated in one antithetic phrase:—Gavart dax Zvelta, gavart gedex Zinta [Never let the member strike, never let the Order spare]. As it is a rule with us to embody124 none of our symbols, forms, or laws in writing, this manner of statement served to impress them on the memory, as well as to leave the utmost freedom in their application, by the gathered experience of ages, and the prudence of those who had to deal with the circumstances of each successive period. Another maxim125 says, 'Who kisses a brother's hand may kick the Campta,' thus enforcing at once the value of ceremonial courtesy, and the power conferred by union. We observe more ceremony in family life than others in the most formal public relations. Their theory of life being utterly utilitarian71, no form is observed that serves no distinct practical purpose. We wish to make life graceful126 and elegant, as well as easy. Principles originally inculcated upon us by the necessity of self-protection have been enforced and graven on our very nature, by the reaction of our experience against the rough and harsh relations, the jarring and often unfriendly intercourse, of external society. Aliens to our Order—that is, ninety-nine hundredths of our race—take delight in the infliction127 of petty personal annoyance128, at least never take care not to 'jar each other's elbow-nerves,' or set on edge the teeth that never bit them. We are careful not to wound the feelings or even the weaknesses of a brother. Punctilious129 courtesy, frank apology for unintentional wrong, is with us a point of honour. Disputes, when by any chance they arise, are referred to the arbitration130 of our chiefs, who never consider their work done till the disputants are cordially reconciled. Envy, the most dangerous source of ill-will among men, can hardly exist among us. Rank has been well earned by its holder84, or in a few cases by his ancestors; and authority is a trust never to be used for its holder's benefit. Wealth never provokes covetousness131, since no member is ever allowed to be poor. Not only the Order but each member is bound to take every opportunity of assisting every other by every method within his power. We employ them, we promote them, we give them the preference in every kind of patronage132 at our command. But these obligations are points of honour rather than of law. Only apostasy133 or treason to the Order involve compulsory134 penalties; and the latter, if it ever occurred in these days, would be visited with instant death,—inflicted135, as it is inflicted upon irreconcilable136 enemies, in such a manner that none could know who passed the sentence, or by whom it was executed."
"And have you," I asked, "no apostates137, as you have no traitors139?"
"No," he said. "In the first place, none who has lived among us could endure to fall into the ordinary Martial life. Secondly140, the foundations of our simple creed are so clear, so capable of being made apparent to every one, that none once familiar with the evidences can well cease to believe them."
Here he paused, and I asked, "How is it possible that the means you employ to punish those who have wronged you should not, in some cases at least, indicate the person who has employed them?"
"Because," he said, "the means of vengeance141 are not corporeal; the agency does not in the least resemble any with which our countrymen, or apparently142 your race on Earth, are acquainted. A traitor138 would be found dead with no sign of suffering or injury, and the physician would pronounce that he had died of apoplexy or heart disease. A persecutor122, or one who had unpardonably wronged any of the Children of the Star, might go mad, might fling himself from a precipice, might be visited with the most terrible series of calamities143, all natural in their character, all distinctly traceable to natural causes, but astonishing and even apparently supernatural in their accumulation, and often in their immediate appropriateness to the character of his offence. Our neighbours would, of course, destroy the avenger144, if they could find him out—would attempt to exterminate37 our society, could they prove its agency."
"But surely your countrymen must either disbelieve in such agency, in which case they can hardly fear your vengeance, or they must believe it, and then would deem it just and necessary to retaliate145."
"No," he said. "They disbelieve in the possibility while they are forced to see the fact. It is impossible, they would say, that a man should be injured in mind or body, reputation or estate, that the forces of Nature or the feelings of men should be directed against him, without the intervention146 of any material agent, by the mere12 will of those who take no traceable means to give that will effect. At the same time, tradition and even authentic history record, what experience confirms, that every one who has wronged us deeply has come to some terrible, awe-striking end. Each man would ridicule heartily147 a neighbour who should allege93 such a ground for fearing to injure one of us; but there is none who is so true to his own unbelief as to do that which, in every instance, has been followed by signal and awful disaster. Moreover, we do by visible symbols suggest a relation between the vengeance and the crime. Over the heart of criminals who have paid with their lives, no matter by what immediate agency, for wrong to us, is found after death the image of a small blood-red star; the only case in which any of our sacred symbols are exposed to profane148 eyes."
"Surely," I said, "in the course of generations, and with your numbers, you must be often watched and traced; and some one spy, on one out of a million occasions, must have found access to your meetings and heard and seen all that passed."
"Our meetings," he said, "are held where no human eye can possibly see, no human ear hear what passes. The Chambers149 meet in apartments concealed150 within the dwellings151 of individual members. When we meet the doors are guarded, and can be passed only by those who give a token and a password. And if these could become known to an enemy, the appearance of a stranger would lead to questions that would at once expose his ignorance of our simplest secrets. He would learn nothing, and would never tell his story to the outer world." …
Opening the door, or rather window, of his private chamber, Esmo directed our eyes to a portrait sunk in the wall, and usually concealed by a screen which fitted exactly the level and the patterns of the general surface. It displayed, in a green vesture not unlike his own, but with a gold ribbon and emerald symbol like the cross of an European knighthood over the right shoulder, a spare soldierly form, with the most striking countenance152 I have ever seen; one which, once seen, none could forget. The white long hair and beard, the former reaching the shoulders, the latter falling to the belt, were not only unlike the fashion of this generation, but gave tokens of age never discerned in Mars for the last three or four thousand years. The form, though erect153 and even stately, was that of one who had felt the long since abolished infirmity of advancing years. The countenance alone bore no marks of old age. It was full, unwrinkled, firm in physical as in moral character; calm in the unresisted power of intellect and will over the passions, serene154 in a dignity too absolute and self-contained for pride, but expressing a consciousness of command over others as evident as the unconscious, effortless command of self to which it owed its supreme155 and sublime156 quietude. The lips were not set as with a habit of reserve or self-restraint, but close and even as in the repose157 to which restraint had never been necessary. The features were large, clearly defined, and perfect in shape, proportion, and outline. The brow was massive and broad, but strangely smooth and even; the head had no single marked development or deficiency that could have enlightened a phrenologist, as the face told no tale that a physiognomist could read. The dark deep eyes were unescapable; while in presence of the portrait you could not for a moment avoid or forget their living, fixed158, direct look into your own. Even in the painted representation of that gaze, almost too calm in its absolute mastery to be called searching or scrutinising, yet seeming to look through the eyes into the soul, there was an almost mesmeric influence; as if, across the abyss of ten thousand years, the Master could still control the wills and draw forth159 the inner thoughts of the living, as he had dominated the spirits of their remotest ancestors.
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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withheld
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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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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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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mere
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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entrusted
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vilest
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perilled
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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precipice
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wont
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peculiar
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organisation
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doctrines
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avowed
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distinctive
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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repudiates
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| v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的第三人称单数 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务） | |
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premises
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immediate
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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flinched
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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35
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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36
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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37
exterminate
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| v.扑灭，消灭，根绝 | |
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38
exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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40
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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41
incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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42
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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43
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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44
epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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45
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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46
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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47
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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48
exemption
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| n.豁免，免税额，免除 | |
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49
probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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50
initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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51
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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52
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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53
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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54
faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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55
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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56
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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57
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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58
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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59
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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60
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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61
requital
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| n.酬劳；报复 | |
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62
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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63
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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64
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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65
artillerist
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| 炮手，炮兵，炮术家 | |
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66
covet
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| vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西) | |
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67
presumptuous
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| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
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68
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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69
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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70
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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71
utilitarian
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| adj.实用的，功利的 | |
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72
circumlocution
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| n. 绕圈子的话，迂回累赘的陈述 | |
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73
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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74
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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75
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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76
betrothal
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| n. 婚约, 订婚 | |
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77
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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78
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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79
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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80
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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81
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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82
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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83
conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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84
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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85
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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86
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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87
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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88
cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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89
corporeal
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| adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的 | |
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90
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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91
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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92
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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93
allege
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| vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言 | |
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94
surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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95
narratives
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| 记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分 | |
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96
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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97
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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98
transcend
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| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
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99
transcending
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的现在分词 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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100
corroborate
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| v.支持，证实，确定 | |
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101
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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102
authenticated
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| v.证明是真实的、可靠的或有效的( authenticate的过去式和过去分词 )；鉴定，使生效 | |
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103
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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105
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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106
enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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107
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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108
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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109
subsisted
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110
cohesion
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| n.团结，凝结力 | |
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111
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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112
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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113
corporate
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| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
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114
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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115
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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116
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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117
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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118
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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119
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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120
reprisal
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| n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠 | |
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121
reprisals
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| n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
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122
persecutor
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| n. 迫害者 | |
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123
precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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124
embody
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| vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录 | |
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125
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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126
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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127
infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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128
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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129
punctilious
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| adj.谨慎的，谨小慎微的 | |
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130
arbitration
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| n.调停，仲裁 | |
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131
covetousness
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132
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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133
apostasy
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| n.背教，脱党 | |
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134
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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135
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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136
irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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137
apostates
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| n.放弃原来信仰的人( apostate的名词复数 )；叛教者；脱党者；反叛者 | |
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138
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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139
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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140
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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141
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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142
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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143
calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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144
avenger
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| n. 复仇者 | |
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145
retaliate
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| v.报复，反击 | |
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146
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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147
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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148
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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149
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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150
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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151
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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152
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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153
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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154
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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155
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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156
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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157
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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158
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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159
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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