“Thank you,” said I, somewhat bashfully, as well as breathlessly.
“Thank you, sir,” said Justine; laughing, I thought, rather roguishly.
“Dear! how you’ve rumpled5 your collar,” I observed, with perfect innocence6. Justine glanced reproachfully in my face, as she smoothed the collar down with a remarkably7 pretty hand, and, tilting8 the offending basket on the bannisters, paused for a space, as if to “get her wind” before proceeding9 any further. In a few minutes the process would be accomplished10, and Justine would take wing and fly away. I should never have such an opportunity again—at least not for a considerable period. The basket, in all probability, contained articles of wearing apparel, either going to or coming from the wash. Without being a family man, I was aware such an occurrence did not usually take place more than once a week. I should have another seven days to wait before so favourable11 an opportunity would arise again. Stimulated12 by this reflection I accosted13 Justine with considerable energy. I am not sure that I did not take her by the hand.
“Can I speak a word with you, mademoiselle?” said I, in trembling tones. I do not know why I called her Mademoiselle, except that I was flurried and eager, and inclined to be supremely14 polite.
“Not now, sir,” replied Justine, sinking her voice, to my great alarm, incontinently to a whisper. “Some other time, Mr. Softly” (she had got my name already): “not now, sir, pray. I hear somebody coming!”
“It’s only a question or two I want to ask,” I urged, as soothingly17 and reassuringly18 as I could; for, in truth, had there been fifty “somebodies coming,” there was nothing to be alarmed at. “Something you can tell me about—about your mistress.” I bounced it out, thinking it better we should understand each other at once.
“Oh!” replied Justine, this time in a perfectly19 audible voice. “And what may you please to want to know, Mr. Softly, about my lady?”
“I want to know everything about her,” said I; slipping, at the same time, a little profile of her Majesty20, raised in gold, into Justine’s hand, which delicate compliment was acknowledged by the least perceptible squeeze. “When did she arrive? When is she going away again? Where did she come from? Where does she live when she is at home? Is she young or aged22" target="_blank">middle-aged21? Of course she’s very beautiful, or she couldn’t afford to take about with her such a pretty maid as you!”
The latter clause of my sentence I considered, not without reason, a master-stroke of diplomacy23, and I strove to enhance its effect by again possessing myself of Justine’s hand; a man?uvre she neutralised by placing both her own in her apron-pockets, leaving the basket to take care of itself.
“Why, ain’t you a hunting gentleman?” asked she, in her turn, somewhat inconsequently, as I thought. “I made sure you was a hunting gentleman, by your broken bones; and I thought every hunting gentleman knew my lady. She’s just come from the Castle—my lady. She’ll stay here exactly as long as suits her fancy, and not a moment longer. Bless you, Mr. Softly, we might never stir a foot from here this side of Easter; and we might be off, bag and baggage, first thing to-morrow morning. She’s a quiet lady, mine: a quieter lady than Miss Merlin I never wish to dress and do for; but when she says a thing, she means it, Mr. Softly, and horses couldn’t draw her the way she hasn’t a mind to go.”
“And is she so very beautiful?” I inquired, determined24 to know the worst of this Amazon at once. Justine looked up from under her long eyelashes (she was a very pretty girl—this Justine), and shook her head, and smiled.
“That depends upon taste, Mr. Softly,” replied she, shooting such a glance at me the while, as I have no doubt had often done irreparable injury amongst her adorers.
“Some gentlemen doesn’t admire such a pale grave lady with dark eyes and hair. She’s a slight figure, too, has Miss Merlin; and, for as tall as she is, her waist is as small as mine. For goodness’ sake, Mr. Softly, here’s the waiter coming along the passage!” and without giving me any more information as to the size of Miss Merlin’s waist, or further opportunity of measuring her own, Justine darted25 up the staircase, and was soon lost in the sacred retreat of her mistress’s apartment.
I am no busy-body, I humbly26 trust and believe. It is not my way ever to inquire into the affairs of other people; and when any obliging friend wishes to make me the depository of some secret which is growing too heavy for his own shoulders, I invariably beg that he will keep it to himself. There is no such false position, as to be told an awful mystery under oath of inviolable silence, which you feel sure has been administered with the same injunctions to some half-dozen others besides yourself. One of these lets it out; perhaps all six of them make it their everyday conversation; and you, the only trustworthy person of the lot, sustain all the blame of having divulged27 a circumstance which you have kept silent as the grave, or even forgotten altogether. I need not, therefore, say that it is not my custom to waylay28 waiting-maids, nor to set every engine in my power in motion to discover the antecedents of such ladies as may happen to occupy the same hostelry with myself. But there was something about this new arrival that interested and excited me in spite of my better judgment29. It was like being in the same house with a ghost. A man may not like ghosts, or he may disbelieve in them, or, worse still, he may have an invincible30 terror of these apparitions31; and although he laughs and jeers32 at such matters by a crowded fireside on a Christmas eve, he may quail33 and shudder34 in his cold sheets at the dead of night, when he lies awake, thinking of all the horrors he has ever heard and read; fancying, as people will fancy in the dark, that he hears sighs at the door, footsteps in the passage, and something moving softly and stealthily about the room. But whether he be a courageous35 infidel, or a superstitious36 believer in the possibility of apparitions, only tell him there is a phantom37 belonging to the establishment, and the man becomes restless and uncomfortable forthwith. You will find him poking38 about the attics39 and offices by day and night. When you are snoring healthily in your first sleep, he will be shivering in his dressing-gown, to discover the spirit or the impostor; and it is probable that in his character of detective he will alarm more of the inhabitants of the mansion40 in a week than the old established and considerate ghost itself has done in a century.
Well, Miss Merlin was rapidly becoming my ghost. I felt a morbid41 desire to find out all about her. I could not rest in ignorance of the appearance, the character, and the antecedents of a lady who in her own person involved such interesting contradictions as this mysterious dame—tall, pale, and slight; with a waist as small as Justine’s, and that was certainly an extremely taper42 one; with a will of iron (not that there was anything unusual in THAT), and four such horses as I never saw together in one stable before. Then she was a devoted43 student; for had not Miss Lushington taxed her with read, read, reading all day long? Probably she was blue; possibly she might be an authoress, and I adore intellectual women! I can never see why ignorance is supposed by some men to be such an attraction in the other sex. The Tree of Knowledge is not necessarily the Tree of Evil; and, for my part, I think the more they know the better. What can be more graceful44 than a woman’s way of imparting her information?—the deprecating air with which she produces it, as it were, under protest, and the charming humility45 with which she accepts her victory when she has beaten you in argument, and swamped you with rhetoric46? Oh! if Miss Merlin should turn out literary, it would be all over with me! In the meantime, how was I to find out something definite about her, before I committed myself in a personal interview?
As I revolved47 this question in my mind, I bethought me of a club acquaintance of mine—indeed I think I may almost call him a friend—whose speciality it is to know all about everybody who floats on the surface of society, not only in London, where he resides, but also in the different counties of England, and most of the fashionable watering-places abroad. Where and how he acquires his information is to me a matter of the darkest mystery, inasmuch as I never entered “The Hat and Umbrella” in my life, without finding him making use of that commodious48 club; and I have been informed by other members, that with the exception of Christmas-Day—a festival which, in his dislike of congratulations, I am giving to understand he always spends in bed—he may be seen seven times a week in his accustomed arm-chair during the afternoon, and at his accustomed table when the dining-hour arrives. However, he is a man of universal information, a walking edition of “Who’s Who?” in any year of the century. And to Quizby accordingly I resolved to write, begging him at his earliest convenience to give me all the particulars he could about Miss Merlin, stating also that we were occupying the same hotel, but wording by communication with the delicacy49 imperatively50 demanded by such topics. I hope none of my friends may ever have cause to say, but that “Softly is a confoundedly guarded fellow about women, you know!”
Pending51 my friend’s reply, it may easily be believed that I waited with no small anxiety and impatience52, none the less that the fact of my being under the same roof with Miss Merlin gave me no more access to her society, no more information regarding her movements, than if we had been on different continents. The very first morning after her arrival she was off to hunt before I was out of bed, and returned so quietly as to frustrate53 my insidious54 intentions of waylaying55 her in the passage. Justine too, either taken to task by her mistress, or on some definite calculations of her own, avoided my presence altogether, and never gave me an opportunity of exchanging a syllable56 with her. Miss Lushington, whom I boldly confronted in her own dominions57, was obviously on her high horse, and ill at ease. There could be no question but that, notwithstanding her simple and retiring habits, in accordance with the strict seclusion58 in which she lived, Miss Merlin’s arrival had completely altered the tone and destroyed the cordiality of the whole establishment.
True to his post, my letter must have found Quizby at the “Hat and Umbrella,” for within eight-and-forty hours of its dispatch, I received his answer; written of course on Club paper, and sealed with our handsome Club seal—a beautiful device formed of the domestic insignia from which we take our name. I opened it eagerly, and after a few commonplace lines of inquiry59 and gossip, I arrived, so to speak, at the marrow60 of its contents.
“You could not have applied61, my dear Softly,” said my correspondent, “to any man in London better qualified62 to give you the information you require. Not only have I known Miss Merlin almost from childhood, but it was my lot in early life, when the heart is fresh and the feelings susceptible63, to be by no means insensible to her charms. You ask me whether she is good-looking; and this, did I not know your extreme diffidence and scrupulous64 delicacy of feeling, would seem a strange question from one who is under the same roof with its object. Beauty is a matter of opinion. I need scarcely say that many years ago I thought her ‘beautiful exceedingly.’ She was then a tall pale girl, with the most thorough-bred head and neck you ever saw, with the grace and elasticity65 of a nymph, combined with the dignity of an empress. So haughty66 a young woman it has never been my fate to come across. She had full dark eyes, and very silky dark hair; regular features of the severe classical type, and the sad mournful expression, that had a great effect on me at that period. I need not be ashamed to confess it, whilst I remained an eleven-stone man I was romantic; but, like many others, increasing weight has brought with it, I trust, increasing wisdom, and I have not the slightest doubt myself that adipose67 matter conduces vastly to a proper equilibrium68 of the mind. I thought otherwise once, and Miss Merlin’s dark eyes would have led me to follow her to the end of the world—nay, even over those ghastly fences, which then, as now, it seemed to be her greatest delight to ‘negotiate,’ as I think you hunting men call it in your extraordinary vernacular69. She had a wonderfully graceful figure too, as a young thing, and the narrowest, most flexible hands and feet you ever beheld70. I have waltzed with her many a time—moi qui vous parle; and to think of the delicious swing with which she went down a room to the strains of Jullien and K?nig, the musical wonders of our day, almost makes me feel as if I could waltz again. When she bridled71 her taper neck, and put one little foot forward from beneath her draperies, she looked like a filly just going to start for the Oaks.
“I have been thus particular in describing her, because they tell me she is very much aged and altered now; so that, whenever you do see her, you can judge for yourself of the difference between the Miss Merlin of to-day, and the damsel of a good many years ago, who made such an example of your old friend.
“But I never had a chance with her—never! She was a singular girl, not the least like most of her own age and sex. Her mother was dead; and she lived and kept house for her father, an old clergyman of eccentric habits and extraordinary learning. Being an only child, she was accustomed to have her own way from the first; and as her father never interfered72 in the household arrangements, and indeed seldom came out of his study upon any provocation73, she had the whole management of the establishment, and conducted it with the decision and prudence74 of a woman of forty. To this I partly attribute her extraordinary self-reliance and self-control. She was attached to her father, and studied with him several hours a day. At the period when we used to dance together, I think Miss Merlin was as thorough a Greek scholar as any University don I know. She was a proficient75 in several modern languages, and my own impression is that mathematics and algebra76 were as completely at her fingers’-ends, as worsted-work and crochet-knitting are to the generality of her sex. Studying hard at the Parsonage, her only relaxation77 was to hunt. I have already said she did exactly what she pleased; and her father, though a clergyman, was a rich man, and though a rich man a liberal one. Consequently Miss Fanny, as she was called then, was allowed to keep a couple of horses for her own use, and very good ones she took care they should be. At eighteen there was not a sportsman with the X.Y.Z. that cared to follow Fanny Merlin in a quick thing over the Vale, where the fences were largest, and the Swimley twisted and twined about, like the silver lace on a green volunteer uniform, never less than eighteen feet from bank to bank. I always hated hunting, I honestly acknowledge it; but oh! the duckings I have had in that accursed Swimley, following the flutter of her riding-habit, that I would have followed, if necessary, across the Styx. The girl never looked back either, which was sufficiently78 provoking. No; she rode on, always in the same calm business-like manner, perfectly quiet, and perfectly straight. She cured me of following her, though, after a time; for I found it safer and easier to skirt a little, with the generality of the other sportsmen, so as to come in somewhere at the finish, and take my chance of riding with her part of the way home.
“It was hard that such devotion as mine should not have met with better success. You, my dear Softly, who are fond of that uncomfortable diversion which men call hunting, can scarcely appreciate what I had to undergo; but when I tell you that in addition to unintermitting agitation79 of mind, I suffered from constant abrasion80 of body, you will pity, though you cannot sympathise with, my distress81. Apprehension82, amounting to actual funk, is a disagreeable sensation enough; but to be partially83 flayed84 alive, and that on portions of the person called into daily use by a man of sedentary habits, amounts to a cruel and unbearable85 infliction86. I wonder whether she ever pitied me! I am inclined to think she scarcely thought about me at all.
“At one time, however, our acquaintance seemed likely to ripen87 into intimacy88; and it happened that at the same period a detachment from a regiment89 of Hussars was quartered in our neighbourhood. The Captain hunted of course, so did the Lieutenant90; and two harder riders never dirtied their coats with the X.Y.Z., nor washed them, when dirty, in the Swimley brook91. Also they danced, dined, drank, and flirted92, as is the custom of their kind. But the Cornet was an exception to the rule. Strange anomaly! a Cornet of Hussars, who seldom, when off duty, got upon a horse; who did not waltz or give conundrums93, or squeeze young ladies’ hands; who retired94 from mess early, not to smoke nor play whist, nor get into scrapes, but to practise on the pianoforte; whose general appearance was sedate95 and steady, though, to do him justice, he was a good-looking fellow enough, in a manly96 Anglo-Saxon style, and, in short, whose whole character and habits appeared more those of a travelling tutor than a dissipated young officer of Dragoons.
“And yet Miss Merlin fell in love with Cornet Brown. Where they met, has always been to me a mystery; and when they did meet, I cannot conceive what they found to talk about, for they had not two ideas in common. He did not even read; for, with all his quiet habits, the Cornet was as ignorant upon most topics of general information, as if he had been the fastest and idlest of his kind. His sole passion was music, and Miss Merlin did not know a note. Nevertheless, she fell in love with him—over head—such a fall as she never had in her life before, even in the Vale. She gave up hunting; she parted with her horses; she altered her whole habits and disposition97 and appearance, as a woman will, to identify herself the more with the man she loves. A good many of us in that part of the country had entered for the race; but we saw it was all up now—Brown in a canter, and the rest nowhere.
“The Cornet, too, seemed fond of her, in his own undemonstrative way. When not practising the pianoforte in his barrack-room, he was generally to be found at the Rectory; and as he never interfered with old Merlin, who indeed hardly knew him by sight, he would have suited him as well for a son-in-law as anybody else. The thing seemed to go on swimmingly, his brother-officers laughed at him, and we all thought the Cornet and Fanny Merlin were engaged.
“But this deserving young officer had an elder brother, whose views in some peculiar98 points it did by no means suit that his junior should commit matrimony, and the elder Brown appeared ere long upon the scene of action. He came down to stay at the barracks, where he made himself so agreeable to the Hussars, that they seriously proposed to him that he should make interest at the Horse Guards for the transfer of his brother’s commission to himself. He didn’t know a note of music—the elder Brown; but he talked, and he drank, and he smoked, and he rode, and, in short, was as jolly a fellow as ever kept a mess-table in a roar. Also, he made a slight acquaintance with Miss Merlin—not, I am bound to state, with any ulterior views; for he had a wife and promising99 little family of his own. He was a man of energy, you see—this gentleman—and when he meant a thing, why he went and did it without delay.
“There are secrets, I am told, in all families—a fact that makes me additionally grateful that I have got none: I mean, neither family nor secrets. What arguments were used by the elder Brown in his conferences with the younger, whether he urged him by threats or plied15 him with entreaties100, we shall never know. It is sufficient to state that he gained his point, as such men usually do, and prevailed upon the less energetic Cornet to give up Miss Merlin. Men vary much in the force of character, and I hope I know what is the wisest and the most discreet101 course to take in most affairs of life; but when I was his age, before I would have given up such a girl as Fanny Merlin, in consideration of any amount of threatening, reasoning, or expediency102, I would have seen fifty elder brothers consigned103 to that place where they would have had an opportunity of comparing notes with Dives on their terrestrial prosperity.
“The Cornet, however, gave way, and wrote a most affecting letter to his ladye-love, in which he assured her of his eternal attachment105 and regard, vowing106 that ‘imperious necessity would alone have induced him to forego her affection, and that although, at his brother’s injunctions, he must leave that part of the country, and they would probably not meet again, yet he could never forget her, and should always look back on their acquaintance as the happiest period of his life. In conclusion, he implored107 her to send him some keepsake, however trifling108, that he might take with him into his banishment—anything that was her gift would be prized and valued till death,’ etc. etc.
“Miss Merlin was not a young lady to make parade of a sorrow, however engrossing109. She said nothing, and the most curious observer could not have discovered from her impassive face that she had sustained so cruel a wound, for she loved the Cornet very dearly, as the sequel proved; but she complied with her weak-minded swain’s request, and sent him by return of post the most appropriate present she could think of—namely, ‘a pair of leading-strings and a child’s go-cart’! Brown the elder positively110 roared with delight when he heard of this quiet and bitter sarcasm111. But the Cornet took it very much to heart; I do not think he had seen his own conduct in its true light before.
“Soon after this, old Merlin died, and there was a lawsuit112 instituted by his next of kin16 to deprive his daughter of her inheritance. The general report in the country went that Fanny Merlin was ruined, and would have to go for a governess. The Cornet was not a bad fellow after all. In defiance113 of his brother, he came back forthwith from the North of England, and endeavoured to renew his proposals. Of course, with such a girl as Miss Merlin, this was a forlorn hope, and equally of course the young officer became more attached to her than ever, and would have broken the leading-strings and dashed the go-cart all to pieces this time; but he never once set eyes on her whilst he remained in the neighbourhood, and retired at last in a perfect fever of fury and disappointment. Whether this contre-temps, or the accumulating pressure of many unpaid114 bills, chiefly for grand pianofortes, and other musical instruments, was the cause, I know not; but the following year Cornet Brown exchanged into a regiment serving in India, and the same paper which furnished the gazette of his appointment, also announced the judicial115 decision that restored Miss Merlin to affluence116 and prosperity.
“She gave up her hunting, though, for a time, and practised music incessantly117. I have heard that in a wonderfully short period she attained118 a proficiency119 in that science, which is not usually acquired under a lifetime.
“Meanwhile the Cornet, alternating his military duties in India with a great many tiffins and a vast quantity of brandy pawnee, was invalided120 home in a very dangerous state of illness. The sea-voyage failed in his case to produce its usual good effect, and he arrived at Marseilles a dying man. How she heard of it, I have not the slightest idea; but Miss Merlin never was like other girls; she possessed121 an energy and force of will extremely rare in her sex, fortunately for ours. She started off, at a moment’s notice, without taking even a maid, and crossed France in the utmost haste, to reach her old lover, and bring him home. She had forgiven him his weakness and vacillation122, had forgotten all about the leading-strings and the go-cart, now that she heard he was dying.
“I am not a sentimental123 man, as you know, and have little sympathy to spare for those afflictions of the heart, which, in my opinion, sink into insignificance124 when compared with a derangement125 of the stomach; but it has always struck me that Miss Merlin’s was a melancholy126 story. When she arrived at Marseilles the Cornet had been buried eight-and-forty hours. She stood by his grave on the hill above the town, with the blue southern sky overhead, and the blue Mediterranean127 at her feet. I think, strong and self-reliant as she was, she had as much sorrow then for her portion as she could bear.
“She remained abroad a twelvemonth, I know, for I made it my business at the time to ascertain128; but what she did with herself, during that period, I have never been able to find out. Some said she had gone on into Syria, others that she was in Egypt. Archer129 thought he saw a person very like her eating sandwiches at Jerusalem. Aimwell is almost sure he recognised her in male attire130 at the First Cataract131; there was a very general report prevalent that she had gone into a convent for a year on trial; but didn’t like it, which I can easily imagine, and so came away again. Be this as it may, she turned up again after a time in the X. Y. Z. country, hunting more furiously than before, riding harder, speaking less, and looking graver than she had ever done; but as the Rectory was now inhabited by a fresh incumbent132, and she had no settled place of residence, she did not remain very long in the neighbourhood of her youthful home.
“Since then, and it is a long time ago, she has travelled about the country, far more independently than most bachelors. In the summer she retires to some obscure town, either in the Highlands of Scotland, or on the sea-side, where she takes a quiet lodging133, and devotes the time to study. In the winter she moves her horses about, to hunt with different packs of hounds, giving the Soakington country the preference, partly on account of the strong friendship which has sprung up between herself and the Earl. In fact, a room is always kept ready for her at Castle-Cropper, and she has arranged the library for the proprietor134, and re-hung all the pictures in more favourable lights. So independent is she, however, in her habits, that she often prefers to remain at the Haycock, where, if you are not afraid, you may, perhaps, have an opportunity of becoming acquainted with her. I have now told you all I can about your mysterious visitor, and consign104 you, not without a shudder, to your fate. If she only retains half the attractions she had at eighteen, you’re a gone ’coon, Softly; and mind this—it’s a game like the pitch-and-toss we used to play at school, ‘Heads she wins, tails you lose!’ I have warned you. Adieu! Liberavi animam meam.
“P.S.—A pianoforte is no use. She has never played a note since the Cornet died.”
I appeal to any impartial135 man, whether such a communication as the above was not adding fuel to fire. I read and re-read it with an interest that increased on each fresh perusal136. I resolved that, come what might, it should not be my fault if another sun went down without my obtaining at least a sight of the fair subject of Quizby’s memoir137. I called up, in my mind’s eye, my correspondent himself. His jolly fat face, with the little eye, that twinkled pleasantly over a ready joke as over a slice from the haunch or a bubbling bumper138 of Bordeaux. I reflected on his imperturbable139 character, his consistent philosophy, cynical140, perhaps, in language, but jovial141, and thoroughly142 epicurean in practice; and the more I thought, the more I wondered, the more I longed to witness with my own eyes the peerless attractions that could have knocked my steady friend, so to speak, off his equilibrium. To-morrow morning then, I resolved, I would see Miss Merlin, or die in the attempt.
Eagerly I scanned the hunting-card for the week. To-morrow the hounds were to meet at the kennels143. Castle Cropper was but ten miles from Soakington. She could not possibly start before nine. I desired my servant to call me at eight, and retired to rest, in that frame of mind which prompts a man to shave over-night, that he may be in time, and makes him wake every half-hour lest he should over-sleep himself after all at the last.
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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extricated
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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rumpled
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| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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tilting
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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reassuringly
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| ad.安心，可靠 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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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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middle-aged
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22
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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23
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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24
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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25
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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26
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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27
divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
waylay
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| v.埋伏，伏击 | |
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29
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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30
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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31
apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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32
jeers
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| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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33
quail
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| n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖 | |
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34
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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35
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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36
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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37
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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38
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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39
attics
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| n. 阁楼 | |
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40
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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41
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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42
taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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43
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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44
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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45
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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46
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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47
revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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48
commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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49
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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50
imperatively
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| adv.命令式地 | |
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51
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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52
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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53
frustrate
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| v.使失望；使沮丧；使厌烦 | |
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54
insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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55
waylaying
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| v.拦截，拦路( waylay的现在分词 ) | |
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56
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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57
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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58
seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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59
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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60
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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61
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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62
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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63
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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64
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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65
elasticity
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| n.弹性，伸缩力 | |
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66
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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67
adipose
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| adj.脂肪质的，脂肪多的；n.（储于脂肪组织中的）动物脂肪；肥胖 | |
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68
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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69
vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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70
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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71
bridled
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| 给…套龙头( bridle的过去式和过去分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气 | |
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72
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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73
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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74
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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75
proficient
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| adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家 | |
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76
algebra
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| n.代数学 | |
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77
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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78
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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79
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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80
abrasion
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| n.磨（擦）破，表面磨损 | |
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81
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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82
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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83
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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84
flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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85
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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86
infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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87
ripen
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| vt.使成熟；vi.成熟 | |
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88
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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89
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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90
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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91
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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92
flirted
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93
conundrums
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| n.谜，猜不透的难题，难答的问题( conundrum的名词复数 ) | |
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94
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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95
sedate
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| adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的 | |
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96
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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97
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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98
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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99
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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100
entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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101
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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102
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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103
consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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104
consign
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| vt.寄售（货品），托运，交托，委托 | |
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105
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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106
vowing
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
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107
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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108
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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109
engrossing
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| adj.使人全神贯注的，引人入胜的v.使全神贯注( engross的现在分词 ) | |
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110
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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111
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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112
lawsuit
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| n.诉讼，控诉 | |
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113
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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114
unpaid
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| adj.未付款的，无报酬的 | |
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115
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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116
affluence
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| n.充裕，富足 | |
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117
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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118
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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119
proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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120
invalided
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| 使伤残（invalid的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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121
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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122
vacillation
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| n.动摇；忧柔寡断 | |
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123
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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124
insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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125
derangement
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| n.精神错乱 | |
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126
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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127
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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128
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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129
archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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130
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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131
cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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132
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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133
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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134
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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135
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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136
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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137
memoir
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| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
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138
bumper
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| n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的 | |
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139
imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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140
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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141
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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142
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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143
kennels
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| n.主人外出时的小动物寄养处，养狗场；狗窝( kennel的名词复数 )；养狗场 | |
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