One was a very old man, whose once giant frame was wasted and shrunken by the slow siege of many years, and on whose withered4, care-lined features death had already set its fatal seal. The other was a young girl, in all the pride and glory of budding womanhood, and beautiful with the dark, imperious beauty that is transmitted, like a priceless heirloom, along a line of proud descent unstained by any drop of base-born blood.
Yet in her beauty there was that which repelled5 as well as attracted. No sweet and gentle woman-soul looked out of the great, deep eyes, that changed from dusky-violet to the blackness of a starless night as the sun and shade of her varying moods swept over her inner being. Her straight, dark brows were almost masculine in their firmness; and the voluptuous6 promise of her full, red, sensuous7 lips was belied8 by the strength of her chin and the defiant9 poise10 of her splendid head on the strongly-moulded throat, whose smooth skin showed so dazzlingly white against the dark purple velvet11 of the collar of her dress.
[15]
It was a beauty to enslave and command rather than to woo and win; the fatal loveliness of a Cleopatra, a Lucrezia, or a Messalina; a charm to be used for evil rather than for good. In a few years she would be such a woman as would drive men mad for the love of her, and, giving no love in return, use them for her own ends, and cast them aside with a smile when they could serve her no longer.
The old man was lying on a low couch of magnificent furs, against whose dark lustre12 the grey pallor of his skin and the pure, silvery whiteness of his still thick hair and beard showed up in strong contrast. He had been asleep for the last four hours, resting after the exertion13 of going to the cathedral, and the girl was sitting watching him with anxious eyes, every now and then leaning forward to catch the faint sound of his slow and even breathing, and make sure that he was still alive.
A clock in one of the corners of the room chimed a quarter to nine, as the old man raised his hand to his brow and opened his eyes. They rested for a moment on the girl’s face, and then wandered inquiringly about the room, as though he expected someone else to be present. Then he said in a low, weak voice—
“What time is it? Has Serge come yet?”
“No,” said the girl, glancing up at the clock; “that was only a quarter to nine, and he is not due until the hour.”
“No; I remember. I don’t suppose he can be here much before. Meanwhile get me the draught15 ready, so that I shall have strength to do what has to be done before”—
“Are you sure it is necessary for you to take that terrible drug? Why should you sacrifice what may be months or even years of life, to gain a few hours’ renewed youth?”
The girl’s voice trembled as she spoke16, and her eyes melted in a sudden rush of tears. The one being that she loved in all the world was this old man, and he had just told her to prepare his death-draught.
“Do as I bid you, child,” he said, raising his voice to a querulous cry, “and do it quickly, while there is yet time. Why do you talk to me of a few more months of life—to me,[16] whose eyes have seen the snows of a hundred winters whitening the earth? I tell you that, drug or no drug, I shall not see the setting of to-morrow’s sun. As I slept, I heard the rush of the death-angel’s wings through the night, and the wind of them was cold upon my brow. Do as I bid you, quick—there is the door-telephone. Serge is here!”
As he spoke, a ring sounded in the lower part of the house. Accustomed to blind obedience17 from her infancy18, the girl choked back her rising tears and went to a little cupboard let into the wall, out of which she took two small vials, each containing about a fluid ounce of colourless liquid. She placed a tumbler in the old man’s hand, and emptied the vials into it simultaneously19.
There was a slight effervescence, and the two colourless liquids instantly changed to deep red. The moment that they did so, the dying man put the glass to his lips and emptied it at a gulp20. Then he threw himself back upon his pillows, and let the glass fall from his hand upon the floor. At the same moment a little disc of silver flew out at right angles to the wall near the door, and a voice said—
“Serge Nicholaivitch is here to command.”
“Serge Nicholaivitch is welcome. Let him ascend21!” said the girl, walking towards the transmitter, and replacing the disc as she ceased speaking.
A few moments later there was a tap on the door. The girl opened it and admitted a tall, splendidly-built young fellow of about twenty-two, dressed, according to the winter costume of the time, in a close-fitting suit of dark-blue velvet, long boots of soft, brown leather that came a little higher than the knee, and a long, fur-lined, hooded22 cloak, which was now thrown back, and hung in graceful23 folds from his broad shoulders.
As he entered, the girl held out her hand to him in silence. A bright flush rose to her clear, pale cheeks as he instantly dropped on one knee and kissed it, as in the old days a favoured subject would have kissed the hand of a queen.
“Welcome, Serge Nicholaivitch, Prince of the House of[17] Romanoff! Your bride and your crown are waiting for you!”
The words came clear and strong from the lips which, but a few minutes before, had barely been able to frame a coherent sentence. The strange drug had wrought24 a miracle of restoration. Fifty years seemed to have been lifted from the shoulders of the man who would never see another sunrise.
The light of youth shone in his eyes, and the flush of health on his cheeks. The deep furrows25 of age and care had vanished from his face, and, saving only for his long, white hair, if one who had seen Alexander Romanoff, the last of the Tsars of Russia, on the battlefield of Muswell Hill could have come back to earth, he would have believed that he saw him once more in the flesh.
Without any assistance he rose from the couch, and drew himself up to the full of his majestic26 height. As he did so the young man dropped on his knee before him, as he had done before the girl, and said in Russian—
“The honour is too great for my unworthiness. May heaven make me worthy27 of it!”
“Worthy you are now, and shall remain so long as you shall keep undefiled the faith and honour of the Imperial House from which you are sprung,” replied the old man in the same language, raising him from his knee as he spoke. Then he laid his hands on the young man’s shoulders, and, looking him straight in the eyes, went on—
“Serge Nicholaivitch, you know why I have bidden you come here to-night. Speak now, without fear or falsehood, and tell me whether you come prepared to take that which I have to give you, and to do that which I shall ask of you. If there is any doubt in your soul, speak it now and go in peace; for the task that I shall lay upon you is no light one, nor may it be undertaken without a whole heart and a soul that is undivided by doubt.”
The young man returned his burning gaze with a glance as clear and steady as his own, and replied—
“It is for your Majesty28 to give and for me to take—for you[18] to command and for me to obey. Tell me your will, and I will do it to the death. In the hour that I fail, may heaven’s mercy fail me too, and may I die as one who is not fit to live!”
“Spoken like a true son of Russia!” said the old man, taking his hands from his shoulders and beckoning29 the girl to his side. Then he placed them side by side before an ikon fastened to the eastern wall, with an ever-burning lamp in front of it. He bade them kneel down and join hands, and as they did so he took his place behind them and, raising his hands as though in invocation above their heads, he said in slow, solemn tones—
“Now, Serge Nicholaivitch and Olga Romanoff, sole heirs on earth of those who once were Tsars of Russia, swear before heaven and all its holy saints that, when this body of mine shall have been committed to the flames, you will take my ashes to Petersburg and lay them in the Church of Peter and Paul, and that when that is done, you will go to the Lossenskis at Moscow, and there, in the Uspènski Sobōr, where your ancestors were crowned, take each other for wedded30 wife and husband, according to the ancient laws of Russia and the rites31 of the orthodox church.”
The oath was taken by each of the now betrothed32 pair in turn, and then Paul Romanoff, great-grandson of Alexander, the Last of the Tsars, raised them from their knees and kissed each of them on the forehead. Then, taking from his neck a gold chain with a small key attached to it, he went to one of the oak panels, from which the walls of the room were lined, and pushed aside a portion of the apparently33 solid beading, disclosing a keyhole into which he inserted the key.
He turned the key and pulled, and the panel swung slowly out like a door. It was lined with three inches of solid steel, and behind it was a cavity in the wall, from which came the sheen of gold and the gleam of jewels. A cry of amazement34 broke at the same moment from the lips of both Olga and Serge, as they saw what the glittering object was.
Paul Romanoff took it out of the steel-lined cavity, and laid it reverently35 on the table, saying, as he did so—
“To-morrow I shall be dead, and this house and all that is[19] in it will be yours. There is my most precious possession, the Imperial crown of Russia, stolen when the Kremlin was plundered36 in the days of the Terror, and restored secretly to my father by the faith and devotion of one of the few who remained loyal after the fall of the Empire.
“In a few hours it will be yours. I leave it to you as a sacred heritage from the past for you to hand on to the future, and with it you shall receive and hand on a heritage of hate and vengeance37, which you shall keep hot in your hearts and in the hearts of your children against the day of reckoning when it comes.
“Now sit down on the divan38 yonder, and listen with your ears and your hearts as well, for these are the last words that I shall speak with the lips of flesh, and you must remember them, that you may tell them to your children, and perchance to their children after them, as I now tell them to you; for the hour of vengeance may not come in your day nor yet in theirs, though in the fulness of time it shall surely come, and therefore the story must never be forgotten while a Romanoff remains39 to remember it.”
The old man, on whom the strange drug that he had taken was still exercising its wonderful effects, threw himself into an easy-chair as he spoke, and motioned them with his hand towards a second low couch against one of the walls, covered with cushions and draped with neutral-tinted, silken hangings.
Olga, moving, as it seemed, with the unconscious motion of a somnambulist, allowed her form to sink back upon the cushions until she half sat and half reclined on them; and Serge, laying one of the cushions on the floor, sat at her feet, and drew one of her hands unresistingly over his shoulder, and kept it there as though she were caressing40 him. Thus they waited for Paul Romanoff to teach them the lesson that they had sworn to teach in turn to the generations that were to come.
The old man regarded them in silence for a moment or two, and as he did so the angry fire died out of his eyes, and his lips parted in a faint smile as he said, rather in soliloquy to himself than to them—
[20]
“As it was in the beginning, it is now and for ever shall be until the end! Empires wax and wane41, and dynasties rise and fall! Revolutions come and go, and the face of the world is changed, but the mystery of the sex, the beauty of woman, and the love of man, endure changeless as Destiny, for they are Destiny itself!”
As he spoke, the fixed42, rigid43 look melted from Olga’s face. The bright flush rose again to her cheeks, and she bowed her royal head, and looked almost tenderly at the blond, ruddy, young giant at her feet. After all, he was her fate, and she might well have had a worse one.
Then after a brief pause, Paul Romanoff began to speak again, slowly and quietly, with his eyes fixed on the glittering symbol of the vanished sovereignty of his House, as though he were addressing it, and communing with the mournful memories that it recalled from the past.
“It is a hundred and twenty-five years since the hand of Natas, the Jew, came forth44 out of the unknown, and struck you from the brow of the Last of the Tsars. On the day that Natas died, I was born, a hundred years ago. There are barely a score of men left on earth who have seen and spoken with the men who saw the Great Revolt and the beginning of the Terror, and I alone, of the elder line of Romanoff, remain to pass the story of our House’s shame and ruin on, so that it may not be forgotten against the day of vengeance, that I have waited for in vain.
“But I have no time left for dreams or vain regrets. Listen, Children of the Present, and take my words with you into the future that it is not given to me to see.”
He passed his hands upwards45 over his eyes and brow, and then went on, speaking now directly to Olga and Serge, in a quick, earnest tone, as though he feared that his fictitious46 strength would fail him before he could say what he had to say—
“When Alexander, the last of the crowned Emperors of Russia, fell down dead on the morning after he reached the mines of Kara, to which the Terrorists had exiled him as a convict for life, those who remained of his family, and who had[21] taken no part in the war, were allowed to return to Europe, on condition that they lived the lives of private citizens and sought no share in the government of any country to which they were allied47 by marriage or otherwise.
“Only two of those who had survived the march to Siberia were able to avail themselves of this permission, and these were Olga, the daughter of Alexander, and Serge Nicholaivitch, the youngest son of his nephew Nicholas. These two settled at the Court of Denmark, and there, two years later, Olga married Prince Ingeborg. Her first-born son, the only one of her children who lived beyond infancy, was my father, as my own first-born son was yours, Olga Romanoff.
“Serge married Dagmar, the youngest daughter of the House of Denmark, three years later, and from him you, Serge Nicholaivitch, are descended48 in the fourth generation. Thus in you will be united the only two remaining branches of the once mighty49 House of Romanoff. May the day come when, in you or your children, its ancient glories shall be restored!”
“Amen!” said Olga and Serge in a single breath, and as she uttered the words, Olga’s eyes fell on the lost crown upon the table, and for the moment they seemed to flame with the inner fires of a quenchless50 rage. Paul Romanoff’s eyes answered hers flash for flash, for the same hatred and longing51 for revenge possessed52 them both—the old man who had carried the weight of a hundred years to the brink53 of the grave, and the young girl whose feet were still lingering on the dividing line between girlhood and womanhood.
Then he went on, speaking with an added tone of fierceness in his voice—
“From the day of my birth until this, the night of my death, it has been impossible to do anything to recover that which was lost in the Great Revolt. Not that stout54 hearts and keen brains and willing hands have been wanting for the work; but because the strong arm of the Terror has encircled the earth with unbreakable bonds; because its eye has never slept; and because its hand has hurled55 infallible destruction upon all who have dared to take the first step towards freedom.
[22]
“Natas spoke truly when he said that the Terrorists had ruled the world by force, and Alan Arnold to-day spoke truly after him when he said that the supremacy56 of the Aerians was based upon the force that they could bring to bear upon any who revolted against them, through their possession of the empire of the air.
“It is this priceless possession that gives them the command of the world, and for a hundred years they have guarded it so jealously, that they have slain57 without mercy all who have ventured to take even the first step towards an independent solution of the mighty problem which Richard Arnold solved a hundred and twenty-six years ago.
“The last man who died in this cause was my only son, and your father, Olga. Remember that, for it is not the least item in the legacy58 of revenge that I bequeath to you to-night. He had devoted59 his life, as many others had done before him, to the task of discovering the secret of the motive60 power of the Terrorists’ air-ships.
“The year you were born, success had crowned the efforts of ten years of tireless labour. Working with the utmost secrecy61 in a lonely hut buried in the forests of Norway, he and six others, who were, as he thought, devoted to him and the glorious cause of wresting62 the empire of the world from the grasp of the Terrorists, had built an air-ship that would have been swifter and more powerful than any of their aerial fleet.
“Two days before she was ready to take the air, one of his men deserted64. The traitor65 was never seen again, but the next night a Terrorist vessel66 descended from the clouds, and in a few minutes not a vestige67 of our air-ship or her creators remained. Only a blackened waste in the midst of the forest was left to show the scene of their labours. Within forty-eight hours, it was known all over the civilised world that Vladimir Romanoff and his associates had been killed by order of the Supreme68 Council, for endeavouring to build an air-ship in defiance69 of its commands.
Not a Vestige of our Air-Ship or her Creators remained. Page 22.
“Such are the enemies against whom you will have to contend. They are still virtually the masters of the world, and the[23] task before you is to wrest63 that mastery from them. It is no light task, but it is not impossible; for these Aerians are, after all, but men and women as you are, and what they have done, other men and women can surely do.
“The Great Secret cannot always remain theirs alone. While they actively70 controlled the nations, nothing could be done against them, for their hand was everywhere and their eyes saw everything. But now they have abdicated71 the throne of the world, and left the nations to rule themselves as they can. For a time things will go on in their present grooves72, but that will not be for long.
“I, who am their bitterest enemy on earth, am forced to confess that the Terrorists have proved themselves to be the wisest as well as the strongest of despots. Under their rule the world has become a paradise—for the canaille and the multitude. But they have curbed73 the mob as well as the king, and abolished the demagogue as well as the despot. Now the strong hand is lifted and the bridle74 loosed; and before many years have passed, the brute75 strength of the multitude will have begun to assert itself.
“The so-called kings of the earth, who rule now in a mockery of royalty76, will speedily find that the real kings of the old days ruled because, in the last resource, they had armies and navies at their command and could enforce obedience. These are but the puppets of the popular will, and now that the moral and physical support of the Supreme Council and its aerial fleet is taken from them, they will see democracy run rampant77, and, having no strength to stem the tide, they will have to float with it or be submerged by it.
“In another generation the voice of the majority, the blind, brute force of numbers, will rule everything on earth. What government there may be, will be a mere78 matter of counting heads. Individual freedom will by swift degrees vanish from the earth, and human society will become a huge machine, grinding all men down to the same level until the monotony of life becomes unendurable.
“Hitherto all democracies in the history of the world have[24] been ended by military despotisms, but now military despotism has been made impossible, and so democracy will run riot, until it plunges79 the world into social chaos80.
“This may come in your time or in your children’s, but it is the opportunity for which you must work and wait. Even now you will find in every nation, thousands of men and women who are chafing81 against the limitations imposed on individual aspirations82 and ambition; and as the rule of democracy spreads and becomes heavier, the number of these will increase, until at last revolt will become possible, nay83, inevitable84.
“Of this revolt you must make yourselves the guiding-spirits. The work will be long and arduous85, but you have all your lives before you, and the reward of success will be glorious beyond all description.
“Not only will you restore the House of Romanoff to its ancient glories in yourselves and your children, but you will enthrone it in an even higher place than that which your ancestor had almost won for it, when these thrice-accursed Terrorists turned the tide of battle against him on the threshold of the conquest of the world.
“Do not shrink from the task, or despair because you are now only two against the world. Think of Natas and the mighty work that he did, and remember that he was once only one against the world which in the day of battle he fought and conquered.
“Above all things, never let your eyes wander from the land of the Aerians. That once conquered and the world is yours to do with as you will. To do that, you must first conquer the air as they have done. Aeria itself, by all reports, is such a paradise as the sun nowhere else shines upon. Some day, whether by force or cunning, it may be yours; and when it is, the world also will be yours to be your footstool and your plaything, and all the peoples of the earth shall be your servants to do your bidding.
“Yes, I can see, through the mists of the coming years and beyond the grave that opens at my feet, aerial navies, flying the Eagle of Russia and scaling the mighty battlements of Aeria,[25] hurling86 their lightnings far and wide in the work of vengeance long delayed! Behind the battle, I see darkness that my weak eyes cannot pierce, but yours shall see clearly where mine are clouded with the falling mists of death.
“The shadows are closing round me, and the sands in the glass are almost run out. Yet one thing remains to be done. Since Alexander Romanoff died at the mines of Kara, no Tsar of Russia has been crowned. Now I, Paul Romanoff, his rightful heir, will crown myself after the fashion of my ancestors, and then I will crown you, the daughter of my murdered son, and you will place the diadem87 on your husband’s brow when God has made you one!”
So saying, the old man rose from his seat, with his face flushed and his eyes aglow88 with the light of ecstasy89. Olga and Serge rose to their feet, half in fear and half in wonder, as they looked upon his transfigured countenance90.
He lifted the Imperial crown from the table, and then, drawing himself up to the full height of his majestic stature91, raised it high above his head, and lowered it slowly down towards his brow.
The jewelled circlet of gold had almost touched the silver of his snowy hair when the light suddenly died out of his eyes, leaving the glaze92 of death behind it. He gasped93 once for breath, and then his mighty form shrank together and pitched forward in a huddled94 heap at their feet, flinging the crown with a dull crash to the floor, and sending it rolling away into a corner of the room.
“God grant that may not be an omen14, Olga!” said Serge, covering his eyes with his hands to shut out the sudden horror of the sight.
“Omen or not, I will do his bidding to the end,” said the girl slowly and solemnly. Then her pent-up passion of grief burst forth in a long, wailing95 cry, and she flung herself down on the prostrate96 form of the only friend she had ever known and loved, and laid her cheek upon his, and let the welling tears run from her eyes over those that had for ever ceased to weep.
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1
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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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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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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simultaneously
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gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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hooded
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graceful
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wrought
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furrows
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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apparently
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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reverently
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plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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wane
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| n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦 | |
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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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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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quenchless
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| 不可熄灭的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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wresting
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| 动词wrest的现在进行式 | |
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wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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abdicated
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| 放弃（职责、权力等）( abdicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 退位，逊位 | |
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grooves
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| n.沟( groove的名词复数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏v.沟( groove的第三人称单数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏 | |
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curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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rampant
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| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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plunges
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| n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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diadem
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| n.王冠，冕 | |
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aglow
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| adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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glaze
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| v.因疲倦、疲劳等指眼睛变得呆滞，毫无表情 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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