The plump little mistress of Government House, standing1 before a full-length mirror, in her boudoir, surveyed herself with intense satisfaction. Her arms and neck burst startlingly from the clinging sheath of the incomparable Doeuillet gown that was Jane Gerson's douceur for official protection; in the flood of morning light pouring through the mullioned windows Lady Crandall seemed a pink and white—and somewhat florid—lily in bloom out of time. Hildebrand's buyer, on her knees and with deft2 fingers busy with the soft folds of the skirt, answered through a mouthful of pins:
"Poor Cynthia; my heart goes out to her."
"Oh, it needn't!" Lady Crandall answered, with a tilting3 of her strictly4 Iowa style nose. "The Maxwell person has made me bleed more than once here on the Rock with the gowns a fond mama sends her from Paris. But, honestly, isn't this a bit low for a staid middle-aged5 person like myself? I'm afraid I'll have trouble getting my precious Doeuillet past the censor6." Lady Crandall plumed7 herself with secret joy.
Jane looked up, puzzled.
"Oh, that's old Lady Porter—a perfect dragon," the general's wife rattled8 on. "Poor old dear; she thinks the Lord put her on the Rock for a purpose. Her own collars get higher and higher. I believe if she ever was presented at court she'd emulate9 the old Scotch10 lady who followed the law of décolleté, but preserved her self-respect by wearing a red flannel11 chest protector. You must meet her."
"I'm afraid I won't have time to get a look at your dragon," Jane returned, with a little laugh, all happiness. "Now that Sir George has promised me I can sail on the Saxonia Friday——"
"You really must——" The envious12 eyes of Lady Crandall fell on the pile of plans—potent13 Delphic mysteries to charm the heart of woman—that lay scattered14 about upon the floor.
Jane sat back on her heels and surveyed the melting folds of satin with an artist's eye.
"If you only knew—what it means to me to get back with my baskets full of French beauties! Why, when I screwed up my courage two months ago to go to old Hildebrand and ask him to send me abroad as his buyer—I'd been studying drawing and French at nights for three years in preparation, you see—he roared like the dear old lion he is and said I was too young. But I cooed and pleaded, and at last he said I could come—on trial, and so——"
"He'll purr like a pussy-cat when you get back," Lady Crandall put in, with a pat on the brown head at her knees.
"Maybe. If I can slip into New York with my little baskets while all the other buyers are still over here, cabling tearfully for money to get home or asking their firms to send a warship16 to fetch them—why, I guess the pennant's mine all right."
The eternal feminine, so strong in Iowa's transplanted stock, prompted a mischievous17 question:
"Then you won't be leaving somebody behind when you sail—somebody who seemed awfully18 nice and—foreigny and all that? All our American girls find the moonlight over on this side infectious. Witness me—a 'finishing trip' abroad after school days—and see where I've finished—on a Rock!" Lady Crandall bubbled laughter. A shrewd downward sweep of her eye was just in time to catch a flush mounting to Jane's cheeks.
"Well, a Mysterious Stranger has crossed my path," Jane admitted. "He was very nice, but mysterious."
"Oh!" A delighted gurgle from the older woman. "Tell me all about it—a secret for these ancient walls to hear."
Jane was about to reply when second thought checked her tongue. Before her flashed that strange meeting with Captain Woodhouse the night before—his denial of their former meeting, followed by his curious insistence19 on her keeping faith with him by not revealing the fact of their acquaintance. She had promised—why she had promised she could no more divine than the reason for his asking; but a promise it was that she would not betray his confidence. More than once since that minute in the reception room of the Hotel Splendide Jane Gerson had reviewed the whole baffling circumstance in her mind and a growing resentment20 at this stranger's demand, as well as at her own compliance21 with it, was rising in her heart. Still, this Captain Woodhouse was "different," and—this Jane sensed without effort to analyze—the mystery which he threw about himself but served to set him apart from the common run of men. She evaded22 Lady Crandall's probing with a shrug23 of the shoulders.
"It's a secret which I myself do not know, Lady Crandall—and never will."
Back to the o'erweening lure24 of the gown the flitting fancy of the general's lady betook itself.
"You—don't think this is a shade too young for me, Miss Gerson?" Anxiety pleaded to be quashed.
"Nonsense!" Jane laughed.
"But I'm no chicken, my dear. If you would look me up in our family Bible back in Davenport you'd find——"
"People don't believe everything they read in the Bible any more," Jane assured her. "Your record and Jonah's would both be open to doubt."
"You're very comforting," Lady Crandall beamed. Her maid knocked and entered on the lady's crisp: "Come!"
"The general wishes to see you, Lady Crandall, in the library."
"Tell the general I'm in the midst of trying on——" Lady Crandall began, then thought better of her excuse. She dropped the shimmering26 gown from her shoulders and slipped into a kimono.
"Some stuffy27 plan for entertaining somebody or other, my dear"—this to Jane. "The real burden of being governor-general of the Rock falls on the general's wife. Just slip into your bonnet28, and when I'm back we'll take that little stroll through the Alameda I've promised you for this morning." She clutched her kimono about her and whisked out of the room.
General Crandall, just rid of the dubious29 pleasure of Billy Capper's company, was pacing the floor of the library office thoughtfully. He looked up with a smile at his wife's entrance.
"Helen, I want you to do something for me," he said.
"Certainly, dear." Lady Crandall was not an unpleasing picture of ripe beauty to look on, in the soft drape of her Japanese robe. Even in his worry, General Crandall found himself intrigued30 for the minute.
"There's a new chap in the signal service—just in from Egypt—name's Woodhouse. I wish you would invite him to tea, my dear."
"Of course; any day."
"This afternoon, if you please, Helen," the general followed.
His wife looked slightly puzzled.
"This afternoon? But, George, dear, isn't that—aren't you—ah—rushing this young man to have him up to Government House so soon after his arrival?" She suddenly remembered something that caused her to reverse herself. "Besides, I've asked him to dinner—the dinner I'm to give the Americans to-morrow night before they sail."
General Crandall looked his surprise.
"You didn't tell me that. I didn't know you had met him."
"Just happened to," Lady Crandall cut in hastily. "Met him at the Hotel Splendide last night when I brought Miss Gerson home with me."
"What was Woodhouse doing at the Splendide?" the general asked suspiciously.
"Why, spending the night, you foolish boy. Just off the Princess Mary, he was. I believe he did Miss Gerson some sort of a service—and I met him in that way—quite informally."
"Did Miss Gerson—a service—hum!"
"Oh, a trifling32 thing! It seemed she had only French money, and that cautious Almer fellow wouldn't accept it. Captain Woodhouse gave her English gold for it—to pay her bill. But why——"
"Has Miss Gerson seen him since?" General Crandall asked sharply.
"Why, George, dear, how could she? We haven't been up from the breakfast table an hour."
"Woodhouse was here less than an hour ago to pay his duty call and report," he explained. "I thought perhaps he might have met our guest somewhere in the garden as he was coming or going."
"He did send her some lovely roses." Lady Crandall brightened at this, to her, patent inception33 of a romance; she doted on romances. "They were in Miss Gerson's room before she was down to breakfast."
"Roses, eh? And they met informally at the Splendide only last night." Suspicion was weighing the general's words. "Isn't that a bit sudden? I say, do you think Miss Gerson and this Captain Woodhouse had met somewhere before last night?"
"I hardly think so—she on her first trip to the Continent and he coming from Egypt. But——"
"No matter. I want him here to tea this afternoon." The general dismissed the subject and turned to his desk. His lady's curiosity would not be so lightly turned away.
"All these questions—aren't they rather absurd? Is anything wrong?" She ran up to him and laid her hands on his shoulders.
"Of course not, dear." He kissed her lightly on the brow. "Now run along and play with that new gown Miss Gerson gave you. I imagine that's the most important thing on the Rock to-day."
Lady Crandall gave her soldier-husband a peck on each cheek, and slapped back to her room. When he was alone again, General Crandall resumed his restless pacing. Resolution suddenly crystallized, and he stepped to the desk telephone. He called a number.
"That you, Bishop34? ... General Crandall speaking.... Bishop, you were here on the Rock seven years ago? ... Good! ... Pretty good memory for names and faces, eh? ... Right! ... I want you to come to Government House for tea at five this afternoon.... But run over for a little talk with me some time earlier—an hour from now, say. Rather important.... You'll be here.... Thank you."
General Crandall sat at his desk and tried to bring himself down to the routine crying from accumulated papers there. But the canker Billy Capper had implanted in his mind would not give him peace. Major-general Crandall was a man cast in the stolid35 British mold; years of army discipline and tradition of the service had given to his conservatism a hard grain. In common with most of those in high command, he held to the belief that nothing existed—nothing could exist—which was not down in the regulations of the war office, made and provided. For upward of twenty-five years he had played the hard game of the service—in Egypt, in Burma, on the broiling36 rocks of Aden, and here, at last, on the key to the Mediterranean37. During all those years he had faithfully pursued his duty, had stowed away in his mind the wisdom disseminated38 in blue-bound books by that corporate39 paragon40 of knowledge at home, the war office. But never had he read in anything but fluffy41 fiction of a place or a thing called the Wilhelmstrasse, reputed by the scriveners to be the darkest closet and the most potent of all the secret chambers42 of diplomacy43. The regulations made no mention of a Wilhelmstrasse, even though they provided the brand of pipe clay that should brighten men's pith helmets and stipulated44 to the ounce an emergency ration15. Therefore, to the official military mind at least, the Wilhelmstrasse was non-existent.
But here comes a beach-comber, a miserable45 jackal from the back alleys46 of society, and warns the governor-general of the Rock that he has a man from the Wilhelmstrasse—a spy bent47 on some unfathomable mission—in his very forces on the Rock. He says that an agent of the enemy has dared masquerade as a British officer in order to gain admission inside the lines of Europe's most impregnable fortress48, England's precious stronghold, there to do mischief49!
General Crandall's tremendous responsibility would not permit him to ignore such a warning, coming even from so low a source. Yet the man found himself groping blindly in the dark before the dilemma50 presented; he had no foot rule of precept51 or experience to guide him.
His fruitless searching for a prop52 in emergency was broken by the appearance of Jane Gerson in the door opening from Lady Crandall's rooms to the right of the library. The girl was dressed for the out-of-doors; in her arms was a fragrant53 bunch of blood-red roses, spraying out from the top of a bronze bowl. The girl hesitated and drew back in confusion at seeing the room occupied; she seemed eager to escape undetected. But General Crandall smilingly checked her flight.
"I—I thought you would be out," Jane stammered54, "and——"
"And the posies——" the general interrupted.
"Were for you to enjoy when you should come back." She smiled easily into the man's eyes. "They'll look so much prettier here than in my room."
"Very good of you, I'm sure." General Crandall stepped up to the rich cluster of buds and sniffed56 critically. Without looking at the girl, he continued: "It appears to me as though you had already made a conquest on the Rock. One doesn't pick these from the cliffs, you know."
"I should hardly call it a conquest," Jane answered, with a sprightly57 toss of her head.
"But a young man sent you these flowers. Come—confess!" The general's tone was bantering58, but his eyes did not leave the piquant59 face under the chic25 summer straw hat that shaded it.
"Surely. One of your own men—Captain Woodhouse, of the signal service." Jane was rearranging the stems in the bowl, apparently60 ready to accept what was on the surface of the general's rallying.
"Woodhouse, eh? You've known him for a long time, I take it."
"Since last night, General. And yet some people say Englishmen are slow." She laughed gaily61 and turned to face him. His voice took on a subtle quality of polite insistence:
"Surely you met him somewhere before Gibraltar."
"How could I, when this is the first time Captain Woodhouse has been out of Egypt for years?"
"Who told you that?" The general was quick to catch her up. The girl felt a swift stab of fear. On the instant she realized that here was somebody attempting to drive into the mystery which she herself could not understand, but which she had pledged herself to keep inviolate62. Her voice fluttered in her throat as she answered:
"Why, he did himself, General."
"He did, eh? Gave you a bit of his history on first meeting. Confiding63 chap, what! But you, Miss Gerson—you've been to Egypt, you say?"
"No, General."
Jane was beginning to find this cross-examination distinctly painful. She felt that already her pledge, so glibly64 given at Captain Woodhouse's insistence, was involving her in a situation the significance of which might prove menacing to herself—and one other. She could sense the beginnings of a strain between herself and this genial65 elderly gentleman, her host.
"Do you know, Miss Gerson"—he was speaking soberly now—"I believe you and Captain Woodhouse have met before."
"You're at liberty to think anything you like, General—the truth or otherwise." Her answer, though given smilingly, had a sting behind it.
"I'm not going to think much longer. I'm going to know!" He clapped his lips shut over the last word with a smack66 of authority.
"Are you really, General Crandall?" The girl's eyes hardened just perceptibly. He took a turn of the room and paused, facing her. The situation pleased him no more than it did his breezy guest, but he knew his duty and doggedly67 pursued it.
"Come—come, Miss Gerson! I believe you're straightforward68 and sincere or I wouldn't be wasting my time this way. I'll be the same with you. This is a time of war; you understand all that implies, I hope. A serious question concerning Captain Woodhouse's position here has arisen. If you have met him before—as I think you have—it will be to your advantage to tell me where and when. I am in command of the Rock, you know."
He finished with an odd tenseness of tone that conveyed assurance of his authority even more than did the sense of his words. His guest, her back to the table on which the roses rested and her hands bracing69 her by their tense grip on the table edge, sought his eyes boldly.
"General Crandall," she began, "my training in Hildebrand's store hasn't made me much of a diplomat70. All this war and intrigue31 makes me dizzy. But I know one thing: this isn't my war, or my country's, and I'm going to follow my country's example and keep out of it."
General Crandall shrugged71 his shoulders and smiled at the girl's defiance72.
"Maybe your country may not be able to do that," he declared, with a touch of solemnity. "I pray God it may. But I'm afraid your resolution will not hold, Miss Gerson."
"I'm going to try to make it, anyway," she answered.
Gibraltar's commander, baffled thus by a neutral—a neutral fair to look on, in the bargain—tried another tack73. He assumed the fatherly air.
"Lady Crandall and I have tried to show you we were friends—tried to help you get home," he began.
"You've been very good to me," Jane broke in feelingly.
"What I say now is spoken as a friend, not as governor of the Rock. If it is true that you have met Woodhouse before—and our conversation here verifies my suspicion—that very fact makes his word worthless and releases you from any promise you may have made not to reveal this and what you may know about him. Also it should put you on your guard—his motives74 in any attentions he may pay you can not be above suspicion."
"I think that is a personal matter I am perfectly75 capable of handling." Jane's resentment sent the flags to her cheeks.
General Crandall was quick to back-water: "Yes, yes! Don't misunderstand me. What I mean to say is——"
He was interrupted by his wife's voice calling for Jane from the near-by room. Anticipating her interruption, he hurried on:
"For the present, Miss Gerson, we'll drop this matter. I said a few minutes ago I intended shortly to—know. I hope I won't have to carry out that—threat."
Jane was withdrawing one of the buds from the jar. At his last word, she dropped it with a little gasp76.
"Threat, General?"
"I hope not. Truly I hope not. But, young woman——"
She stooped, picked up the flower, and was setting it in his buttonhole before he could remonstrate77.
"This one was for you, General," she said, and the truce78 was sealed. That minute, Lady Crandall was wafted79 into the room on the breeze of her own staccato interruption.
"What's this—what's this! Flirting80 with poor old George—pinning a rose on my revered81 husband when my back's turned? Brazen82 miss. I'm here to take you off to the gardens at once, where you can find somebody younger—and not near so dear—to captivate with your tricks. At once, now!"
She had her arm through Jane's and was marching her off. An exchange of glances between the governor and Hildebrand's young diplomat of the dollar said that what had passed between them was a confidence.
Jaimihr Khan announced Major Bishop to the general a short time later. The major, a rotund pink-faced man of forty, who had the appearance of being ever tubbed and groomed83 to the pink of parade perfection, saluted84 his superior informally, accepted a cigarette and crossed his plump legs in an easy chair near the general's desk. General Crandall folded his arms on his desk and went direct to his subject:
"Major, you were here on the Rock seven years ago, you say?"
"Here ten years, General. Regular rock scorpion—old-timer."
"Do you happen to recall this chap Woodhouse whom I sent to you to report for duty in the signal tower to-day? Has transfer papers from Wady Halfa."
"Haven't met him yet, though Captain Carson tells me he reported at my office a little more than an hour ago—see him after parade. Woodhouse—Woodhouse——" The major propped85 his chin on his fingers in thought.
"His papers—army record and all that—say he was here on the Rock for three months in the spring of nineteen-seven," General Crandall urged, to refresh the other's memory.
Major Bishop stroked his round cheeks, tugged86 at one ear, but found recollection difficult.
"When I see the chap—so many coming and going, you know. Three months—bless me! That's a thin slice out of ten years."
"Major, I'm going to take you into my confidence," the senior officer began; then he related the incident of Capper's visit and repeated the charge he had made. Bishop sat aghast at the word "spy."
"Woodhouse will be here to tea this afternoon," continued Crandall. "While you and I ask him a few leading questions, I'll have Jaimihr, my Indian, search his room in barracks. I trust Jaimihr implicitly87, and he can do the job smoothly88. Now, Bishop, what do you remember about nineteen-seven—something we can lead up to in conversation, you know?"
The younger man knuckled89 his brow for a minute, then looked up brightly.
"I say, General, Craigen was governor then. But—um—aren't you a bit—mild; this asking of a suspected spy to tea?"
"What can I do?" the other replied, somewhat testily90. "I can't clap an officer of his majesty's army into prison on the mere55 say-so of a drunken outcast who has no proof to offer. I must go slowly, Major. Watch for a slip from this Woodhouse. One bad move on his part, and he starts on his way to face a firing squad91."
Bishop had risen and was slowly pacing the room, his eyes on the walls, hung with many portraits in oils.
"Well, you can't help admiring the nerve of the chap," he muttered, half to himself. "Forcing his way on to the Rock—why, he might as well put his head in a cannon's mouth."
"I haven't time to admire," the general said shortly. "Thing to do is to act."
"Quite right. Nineteen-seven, eh? Um——"
He paused before the portrait of a young woman in a Gainsborough hat and with a sparkling piquant face. "By George, General, why not try him on Lady Evelyn? There's a fair test for you, now!"
"You mean Craigen's wife?" The general looked up at the portrait quizzically. "Skeleton's bones, Bishop."
"Right; but no man who ever saw her could forget. I know I never can. Poor Craigen!"
"Good idea, though," the older man acquiesced92. "We'll trip him on Lady Evelyn."
Jaimihr Khan appeared at the double doors. "The general sahib's orderly," he announced. The young subaltern entered and saluted.
"That young man, General Crandall, the one Sergeant93 Crosby was to escort out of the lines to Algeciras——"
"Well, what of him? He's gone, I hope."
"First train to Madrid, General; but he left a message for you, sir, to be delivered after he'd gone, he said."
"A message?" General Crandall was perplexed94.
"As Sergeant Crosby had it and gave it to me to repeat to you, sir, it was, 'Arrest the cigar girl calling herself Josepha. She is one of the cleverest spies of the Wilhelmstrasse.'"
点击收听单词发音
1 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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2 deft | |
adj.灵巧的,熟练的(a deft hand 能手) | |
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3 tilting | |
倾斜,倾卸 | |
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4 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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5 middle-aged | |
adj.中年的 | |
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6 censor | |
n./vt.审查,审查员;删改 | |
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7 plumed | |
饰有羽毛的 | |
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8 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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9 emulate | |
v.努力赶上或超越,与…竞争;效仿 | |
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10 scotch | |
n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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11 flannel | |
n.法兰绒;法兰绒衣服 | |
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12 envious | |
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
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13 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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14 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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15 ration | |
n.定量(pl.)给养,口粮;vt.定量供应 | |
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16 warship | |
n.军舰,战舰 | |
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17 mischievous | |
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的 | |
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18 awfully | |
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地 | |
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19 insistence | |
n.坚持;强调;坚决主张 | |
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20 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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21 compliance | |
n.顺从;服从;附和;屈从 | |
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22 evaded | |
逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 ); 避开; 回避; 想不出 | |
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23 shrug | |
v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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24 lure | |
n.吸引人的东西,诱惑物;vt.引诱,吸引 | |
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25 chic | |
n./adj.别致(的),时髦(的),讲究的 | |
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26 shimmering | |
v.闪闪发光,发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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27 stuffy | |
adj.不透气的,闷热的 | |
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28 bonnet | |
n.无边女帽;童帽 | |
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29 dubious | |
adj.怀疑的,无把握的;有问题的,靠不住的 | |
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30 intrigued | |
adj.好奇的,被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式);激起…的兴趣或好奇心;“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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31 intrigue | |
vt.激起兴趣,迷住;vi.耍阴谋;n.阴谋,密谋 | |
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32 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
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33 inception | |
n.开端,开始,取得学位 | |
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34 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
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35 stolid | |
adj.无动于衷的,感情麻木的 | |
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36 broiling | |
adj.酷热的,炽热的,似烧的v.(用火)烤(焙、炙等)( broil的现在分词 );使卷入争吵;使混乱;被烤(或炙) | |
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37 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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38 disseminated | |
散布,传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39 corporate | |
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的 | |
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40 paragon | |
n.模范,典型 | |
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41 fluffy | |
adj.有绒毛的,空洞的 | |
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42 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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43 diplomacy | |
n.外交;外交手腕,交际手腕 | |
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44 stipulated | |
vt.& vi.规定;约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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45 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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46 alleys | |
胡同,小巷( alley的名词复数 ); 小径 | |
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47 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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48 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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49 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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50 dilemma | |
n.困境,进退两难的局面 | |
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51 precept | |
n.戒律;格言 | |
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52 prop | |
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山 | |
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53 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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54 stammered | |
v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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56 sniffed | |
v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
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57 sprightly | |
adj.愉快的,活泼的 | |
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58 bantering | |
adj.嘲弄的v.开玩笑,说笑,逗乐( banter的现在分词 );(善意地)取笑,逗弄 | |
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59 piquant | |
adj.辛辣的,开胃的,令人兴奋的 | |
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60 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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61 gaily | |
adv.欢乐地,高兴地 | |
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62 inviolate | |
adj.未亵渎的,未受侵犯的 | |
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63 confiding | |
adj.相信人的,易于相信的v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的现在分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
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64 glibly | |
adv.流利地,流畅地;满口 | |
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65 genial | |
adj.亲切的,和蔼的,愉快的,脾气好的 | |
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66 smack | |
vt.拍,打,掴;咂嘴;vi.含有…意味;n.拍 | |
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67 doggedly | |
adv.顽强地,固执地 | |
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68 straightforward | |
adj.正直的,坦率的;易懂的,简单的 | |
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69 bracing | |
adj.令人振奋的 | |
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70 diplomat | |
n.外交官,外交家;能交际的人,圆滑的人 | |
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71 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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72 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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73 tack | |
n.大头钉;假缝,粗缝 | |
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74 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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75 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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76 gasp | |
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说 | |
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77 remonstrate | |
v.抗议,规劝 | |
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78 truce | |
n.休战,(争执,烦恼等的)缓和;v.以停战结束 | |
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79 wafted | |
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80 flirting | |
v.调情,打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
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81 revered | |
v.崇敬,尊崇,敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82 brazen | |
adj.厚脸皮的,无耻的,坚硬的 | |
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83 groomed | |
v.照料或梳洗(马等)( groom的过去式和过去分词 );使做好准备;训练;(给动物)擦洗 | |
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84 saluted | |
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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85 propped | |
支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86 tugged | |
v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87 implicitly | |
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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88 smoothly | |
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地 | |
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89 knuckled | |
v.(指人)指关节( knuckle的过去式和过去分词 );(指动物)膝关节,踝 | |
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90 testily | |
adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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91 squad | |
n.班,小队,小团体;vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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92 acquiesced | |
v.默认,默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93 sergeant | |
n.警官,中士 | |
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94 perplexed | |
adj.不知所措的 | |
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