In the mean time Dr. Villa4 reached England. In conference with the British cabinet, the members deemed it very desirable, at all events, to effect the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Prussian princess. The main consideration was that it would tend to detach Prussia from Germany, and secure its alliance with England. It was also a good Protestant match, and would promote the interests of Protestantism. The king desired this marriage. But he was inflexible5 in his resolve that both marriages should take place or neither. The Prussian king was equally inflexible in his determination that, while he would consent to one marriage, he would not consent to both. Colonel Hotham, a man of good family and of some personal distinction, was accordingly sent, as envoy6 extraordinary, to Berlin, to make new efforts in favor of the double marriage.
The Queen of Prussia had recently given birth to another prince. She was on a bed of languor7. The king was somewhat mollified, and was anxious to be relieved from these protracted8 difficulties. Colonel Hotham reached the palace of Charlottenburg on the 2d of April, 1730, and was graciously received by the king. The next day quite a splendid dinner was given in honor of the British envoy. All the notables who surrounded the table, the English and the Prussian, in accordance with the degrading custom of those times, drank deeply. Hotham, in his dispatch, without any apparent sense of shame, writes, “We all got immoderately drunk.”
81 The object of Colonel Hotham’s mission was well known. The cordial reception he had met from the king indicated that his message was not an unwelcome one to his Prussian majesty9. In the indecent hilarity10 of the hour, it was assumed that the marriage contract between Wilhelmina and the Prince of Wales was settled. Brains addled11 with wine gave birth to stupid jokes upon the subject. “A German ducat was to be exchanged for an English half guinea.” At last, in the semi-delirium of their intoxication12, one proposed as a toast, “To the health of Wilhelmina, Princess of Wales.” The sentiment was received with uproarious jollity. Though all the company were in the same state of silly inebriation13, neither the king nor the British ministers, Hotham and Dubourgay, for a moment lost sight of their settled policy. The king remained firm in his silent resolve to consent only to the marriage of Wilhelmina and the Prince of Wales. Hotham and Dubourgay could not swerve14 from the positive instructions which they had received, to insist upon both marriages or neither. Thus, notwithstanding this bacchanal jollification, neither party was disposed to swerve a hair’s breadth from its fixed15 resolve, and the question was no nearer a settlement than before.
Still, most of the courtly carousers did not comprehend this. And when the toast to Wilhelmina as Princess of Wales was received with such acclaim16, they supposed that all doubt was at an end. The news flew upon the wings of the wind to Berlin. It was late in the afternoon of Monday, April 30. Wilhelmina writes:
“I was sitting quiet in my apartment, busy with work, and some one reading to me, when the queen’s ladies rushed in, with a torrent17 of domestics in their rear, who all bawled18 out, putting one knee to the ground, that they were come to salute19 the Princess of Wales. I fairly believed these poor people had lost their wits. They would not cease overwhelming me with noise and tumult20; their joy was so great they knew not what they did. When the farce21 had lasted some time, they told me what had occurred at the dinner.
“I was so little moved by it that I answered, going on with my work, ‘Is that all?’ which greatly surprised them. A while82 after, my sisters and several ladies came to congratulate me. I was much loved, and I felt more delighted at the proofs each gave me of that than at what had occasioned their congratulations. In the evening I went to the queen’s. You may readily conceive her joy. On my first entrance she called me her dear Princess of Wales, and addressed Madam De Sonsfeld as ‘Miladi.’ This latter took the liberty of hinting to her that it would be better to keep quiet; that the king, having yet given no notice of this business, might be provoked at such demonstration22, and that the least trifle could still ruin all her hopes.”
The king, upon his return from Charlottenburg to Berlin, made no allusion23 whatever in his family to the matter. In the court, however, it was generally considered that the question, so far as Wilhelmina was concerned, was settled. Hotham held daily interviews with the king, and received frequent communications from the Prince of Wales, who appears to have been very eager for the consummation of the marriage. Many of these letters were shown to Wilhelmina. She was much gratified with the fervor24 they manifested on the part of a lover who had never yet seen her. In one of these letters the prince says: “I conjure25 you, my dear Hotham, get these negotiations26 finished. I am madly in love (amoureux comme un fou), and my impatience28 is unequaled.”
The question arises, Why was Frederick William so averse29 to the marriage of Fritz with the Princess Amelia? Probably the real reason was his rooted antipathy30 to his son, and his consequent unwillingness31 to do any thing which would promote his interests or increase his influence. His advisers32 strengthened him in this sentiment. The English were very unpopular at Berlin. Their assumption of superiority over all other peoples was a constant annoyance33. The Prussian king said to his confidential34 friends,
“If the English Princess Amelia come here as the bride of my son, she will bring with her immense wealth. Accustomed to grandeur35, she will look contemptuously upon our simplicity36. With her money she can dazzle and bribe37. I hate my son. He hates me. Aided by the gold of England, my son can get up a party antagonistic38 to me. No! I will never, never consent to his marrying the Princess Amelia. If he is never married it is83 no matter. Fortunately I have other sons, and the succession will not be disturbed.”10
The king had made many efforts to force his son to surrender his rights of primogeniture, and to sign an act renouncing39 his claim to the succession of the Prussian throne in favor of his next brother. His only answer was, “Declare my birth illegitimate, and I will give up the throne.” But the king could never consent to fix such a stain upon the honor of his wife.
And why was George II. so averse to the single marriage of the Prince of Wales to Wilhelmina? It is supposed that the opposition40 arose simply from his own mulish obstinacy. He hated his brother-in-law, the Prussian king. He was a weak, ill-tempered man; and having once said “Both marriages or none,” nothing could induce him to swerve from that position. In such a difficulty, with such men, there could be no possible compromise.
George II. was far from popular in England. There was but little in the man to win either affection or esteem41. The Prince of Wales was also daily becoming more disliked. He was assuming haughty42 airs. He was very profligate43, and his associates were mainly actresses and opera girls. The Prussian minister at London, who was opposed to any matrimonial connection whatever between the Prussian and the English court, watched the Prince of Wales very narrowly, and wrote home quite unfavorable reports respecting his character and conduct. He had searched out the fact that Fritz had written to his aunt, Queen Caroline, pledging to her his word “never to marry any body in the world except the Princess Amelia of England, happen what will.” This fact was reported to the king, greatly exciting his wrath44.
To obviate45 the difficulty of the Crown Prince becoming the head of a party in Berlin antagonistic to the king, the plan was suggested of having him appointed, with his English princess, vice-regent of Hanover. But this plan failed. Hotham now84 became quite discouraged. He wrote home, on the 22d of April, that he had that day dined with the king; that the Crown Prince was present, but dreadfully dejected, and that great sympathy was excited in his behalf, as he was so engaging and so universally popular. He evidently perceived some indications of superiority in the Crown Prince, for he added, “If I am not much mistaken, this young prince will one day make a very considerable figure.”
After much diplomatic toil46, the ultimatum47 obtained from Frederick William was the ever inflexible answer: “1. The marriage of the Prince of Wales to Wilhelmina I consent to. 2. The marriage of the Crown Prince Frederick with the Princess Amelia must be postponed48. I hope it may eventually take place.”
Hotham, quite indignant, sent this dispatch, dated May 13, to London, including with it a very earnest letter from the Crown Prince to his uncle, in which Fritz wrote:
“The Crown Prince begs his Britannic majesty not to reject the king’s proposals, whatever they may be, for his sister Wilhelmina’s sake. For, though the Crown Prince is determined49 to lose his life sooner than marry any body but the Princess Amelia, yet, if this negotiation27 were broken off, his father would go to extremities50 to force him and his sister into other engagements.”
The return mail brought back, under date of May 22, the stereotype51 British answer: “Both marriages or none.” Just before the reception of this reply, as Colonel Hotham was upon the eve of leaving Berlin, the Crown Prince addressed to him, from Potsdam, the following interesting letter:
“Monsieur,—I believe that it is of the last importance that I should write to you, and I am very sad to have things to say which I ought to conceal52 from all the earth. But one must take that bad leap, and, reckoning you among my friends, I the more easily resolve to open myself to you.
“The case is this: I am treated in an unheard of manner by the king; and I know that there are terrible things in preparation against me touching53 certain letters which I wrote last winter, of which I believe you are informed. In a word, to speak frankly54 to you, the real, secret reason why the king will not consent to this marriage is, that he wishes to keep me on a low footing85 constantly, and to have the power of driving me mad whenever the whim55 takes him, throughout his life. Thus he will never give his consent.
“For my own part, therefore, I believe it would be better to conclude my sister’s marriage in the first place, and not even to ask from the king any assurance in regard to mine, the rather as his word has nothing to do with it. It is enough that I here reiterate56 the promises which I have already made to the king, my uncle, never to take another wife than his second daughter, the Princess Amelia. I am a person of my word, and shall be able to bring about what I set forth58, provided that there is trust put in me. I promise it to you. And now you may give your court notice of it, and I shall manage to keep my promise. I remain yours always.”
In June, 1730, Augustus, King of Poland, had one of the most magnificent military reviews of which history gives any record. The camp of Mühlberg, as it was called, was established upon an undulating field, twelve miles square, on the right bank of the Elbe, a few leagues below Dresden. It is hardly too much to say that all the beauty and chivalry59 of Europe were gathered upon that field. Fabulous60 amounts of money and of labor61 were expended62 to invest the scene with the utmost sublimity63 of splendor64. A military review had great charms for Frederick William. He attended as one of the most distinguished65 of the invited guests. The Crown Prince accompanied the king, as his father dared not leave him behind. But Fritz was exposed to every mortification66 and every species of ignominy which the ingenuity67 of this monster parent could heap upon him.
In the presence of monarchs68, of lords and ladies, of the highest dignitaries of Europe, the young heir apparent to the throne of Prussia, beautiful in person, high-spirited, and of superior genius, was treated by his father with studied contumely and insult. Every thing was done to expose him to contempt. He even openly flogged the prince with his rattan70. It would seem that the father availed himself of this opportunity so to torture the sensibilities of his son as to drive him to suicide. Professor Ranke writes:
“In that pleasure-camp of Mühlberg, where the eyes of many86 strangers were directed to him, the Crown Prince was treated like a disobedient boy, and at one time even with blows, to make him feel that he was such. The enraged71 king, who never weighed the consequences of his words, added mockery to his manual outrage72. ‘Had I been so treated,’ he said, ‘by my father, I would have blown my brains out. But this fellow has no honor. He takes all that comes.’”
It would seem that if ever there were an excuse for suicide it was to be found here. But what folly73 it would have been! Dark as these days were, they led the prince to a crown, and to achievements of whose recital74 the world will never grow weary. Fritz, goaded75 to madness, again adopted the desperate resolve to attempt an escape. A young Englishman, Captain Guy Dickens, secretary of the British embassador, Dubourgay, had become quite the intimate friend of the Crown Prince. They conferred together upon plans of escape. But the precautions adopted by the father were such that no plan which they could devise seemed feasible at that time. Fritz confided76 his thoughts to his friend, Lieutenant77 Keith, at Berlin.
It is probable that the suspicions of the king were excited, for suddenly he sent Lieutenant Keith to a garrison78 at Wesel, at a great distance from Berlin, in a small Prussian province far down the Rhine. The three had, however, concocted79 the following plan, to be subsequently executed. Immediately after the return from Mühlberg the king was to undertake a long journey to the Rhine. The Crown Prince, as usual, was to be dragged along with him. In this journey they would pass through Stuttgart, within a few miles of Strasbourg, which was on the French side of the river. From Stuttgart the prince was to escape in disguise, on fleetest horses, to Strasbourg, and thence proceed to London. Colonel Hotham, who had accompanied the Prussian king to the camp of Mühlberg, was apprised80 of all this by his secretary. He immediately dispatched the secretary, on the 16th of June, to convey the confidential intelligence to London.
At the close of these festivities at Mühlberg Frederick William and his suite81 took boat down the River Elbe to his hunting palace at Lichtenberg. Here they killed, in a grand hunting bout57, a thousand animals, boars and deer. The Crown Prince, dishonored by insults which he could not revenge, and stung to the87 quick by innumerable humiliations, followed, dejected, like a guarded captive, in the train of his father. The unhappy prince had but just returned to his garrison at Potsdam, where spies ever kept their eyes vigilantly82 upon him, when his friend, Captain Guy Dickens, brought him the answer, returned from London, to the confidential communication of the Crown Prince to his uncle, the British king. The substance of the document was as follows:
“Mr. Guy Dickens may give to the prince the assurance of the deep compassion83 which the king feels in view of the sad condition in which the prince finds himself, and of the sincere desire of his majesty to aid, by all the means in his power, to extricate84 him. While waiting the result of some negotiations now on foot, his majesty is of the opinion that it would be best for the prince to defer85 for a time his present design; that the present critical state of affairs in Europe do not present a favorable opportunity for the execution of the contemplated86 plan; that the idea of retiring to France demands very careful deliberation; and that there is not time now to ascertain87 how such a step would be regarded by the French court, which his majesty would think to be essential before he advise a prince so dear to him to withdraw to that country.”
Soon after this, Colonel Hotham, having received a gross insult from the king, demanded his passports. The English embassador had presented the king with a document from his court. Frederick William angrily threw the paper upon the floor, exclaiming, “I have had enough of those things!” and, turning upon his heel, left the room. Colonel Hotham, a high-bred English gentleman, could not brook88 such an indignity89, not only to himself, but to his sovereign. The passionate90 king had scarcely left the apartment before he perceived the impolicy of his conduct. He tried to make amends91. But Colonel Hotham, justly regarding it as an insult to his court, persisted in demanding his passports, and returned to London. The Crown Prince in vain begged Colonel Hotham to remain. Very properly he replied that the incivility was addressed to his king, and that it was for him only to judge what satisfaction was due for the indignity offered.
All negotiation in reference to the marriages was now apparently88 at an end. Lieutenant Katte remained at Potsdam. In the absence of Lieutenant Keith he became more than ever the friend and confidant of the Crown Prince. Wilhelmina, aware of the dissipated character of Katte, mourned over this intimacy92. The king was very much annoyed by the blunder of which he himself had been guilty in insulting the court of England in the person of its embassador. He declared, in his vexation, that he would never again treat in person with a foreign minister; that his hot temper rendered it unsafe for him to do so.
He informed Wilhelmina that the question of her marriage with the Prince of Wales was now settled forever, and that, as she declined taking the Duke of Weissenfels for a husband, she might prepare to retire to the abbey of Hereford, a kind of Protestant nunnery for ladies of quality, who, for any reason, wished to be buried from the world. He mercilessly resolved to make her the abbess of this institution. This living burial was almost the last situation to suit the taste of Wilhelmina. The king was in the worst possible humor. “He bullies93 and outrages94 his poor Crown Prince almost worse than ever. There have been rattan showers hideous95 to think of, descending97 this very week (July, 1730) on the fine head and far into the high heart of a royal young man, who can not in the name of manhood endure, and must not in the name of sonhood resist, and vainly calls to all the gods to teach him what he shall do in this intolerable, inextricable state of affairs.”11
As soon as Hotham had left Berlin the Crown Prince held a secret midnight interview with Captain Dickens and Lieutenant Katte, to devise some new plan of escape during the journey to the Rhine, which was to commence in a few days. He made arrangements to leave all his private papers with Katte, provided himself with a large gray overcoat as a partial disguise, and, with much difficulty, obtained about a thousand ducats to defray his expenses. Lieutenant Keith was at Wesel. He was written to with the utmost secrecy98, as he might be able to render efficient aid, could the Crown Prince reach him.
On Saturday, the 15th of July, 1730, the king, with a small train, which really guarded Fritz, set out at an early hour from Potsdam on this memorable99 journey. Three reliable officers of89 the king occupied the same carriage with Fritz, with orders to keep a strict watch over him, and never to leave him alone. Thus, throughout the journey, one of his guards sat by his side, and the other two on the seat facing him. The king was not a luxurious100 traveler. He seemed to covet101 hardship and fatigue102. Post-horses were provided all along the route. The meteoric103 train rushed along, scarcely stopping for food or sleep, but occasionally delayed by business of inspection104, until it reached Anspach, where the king’s beautiful daughter, then but sixteen years of age, resided with her uncongenial husband. Here the Crown Prince had some hope of escape. He endeavored to persuade his brother-in-law, the young Marquis of Anspach, to lend him a pair of saddle-horses, and to say nothing about it. But the characterless young man, suspecting his brother, and dreading105 the wrath of his terrible father-in-law, refused, with many protestations of good-will.
When near Augsburg, Fritz wrote a letter to Lieutenant Katte, stating that he should embrace the first opportunity to escape to the Hague; that there he should assume the name of the Count of Alberville. He wished Katte to join him there, and to bring with him the overcoat and the one thousand ducats which he had left in his hands. On Thursday, August 3d, the royal party reached the little hamlet of Steinfurth, not far from the Rhine. Here, as was not unfrequently the case, they slept in barns, carefully swept and prepared for them. The usual hour of starting was three o’clock in the morning.
Just after midnight, the prince, seeing his associates soundly asleep, cautiously rose, dressed, and crept out into the open air. He had secretly made arrangements with his valet, a brother of Lieutenant Keith, to meet him with some horses on the village green. He reached the green. His valet soon appeared with the horses. Just at that moment, one of his guard, Rochow, who had been aroused by a servant whom he had left secretly on the watch, came forward through the gloom of the night, and, sternly addressing Keith, inquired, “Sirrah, what are you doing with those horses?” With much self-possession Keith replied, “I am getting the horses ready for the hour of starting.” “His majesty,” Rochow replied, “does not start till five o’clock. Take the horses directly back to the stable.”
90
THE FLIGHT ARRESTED.
Keith, trembling in every limb, returned to the stable. Though Rochow pretended not to suspect any attempt at escape, it was manifestly pretense107 only. The prince had provided himself with a red overcoat as a disguise to his uniform, the gray one having been left with Katte at Potsdam. As Fritz was returning to the barn with Rochow, wearing this suspicious garment, they met the minister Seckendorf, whom Fritz and his mother thoroughly108 hated as one of the counselors109 of the king. Very coolly and cuttingly Rochow inquired of Seckendorf, “How do you like his royal highness in the red overcoat?” It was a desperate game these men were playing; for, should the king suddenly91 die, Fritz would surely inherit the crown, and they would be entirely110 at his mercy. All hope of escape seemed now to vanish, and the prince was quite in despair.
The king was doubtless informed of all that had occurred. They reached Manheim the next night. Keith was so terrified, fearing that his life would be the penalty, that he there threw himself upon his knees before the king, confessing all, and imploring111 pardon. The king, in tones of intense agitation112, informed the vigilance trio that death would be their inevitable113 doom114 if they allowed the prince to escape. Thus far the prince had been nominally115 free. Those who occupied the carriage with him—Rochow, Waldau, and Buddenbrock—had assumed to be merely his traveling companions. Their office of guardship had been scrupulously116 concealed117. But henceforth he was regarded and treated as a culprit in the custody118 of his jailers.
The king, smothering119 his wrath, did not immediately seek an interview with his son. But the next day, encountering him, he said, sarcastically120, “Ah! you are still here, then; I thought that by this time you would have been in Paris.” The prince, somewhat emboldened121 by despair, ventured to reply, “I certainly could have been there had I wished it.”
At Frankfort-on-the-Main the party were to take boats to descend96 the river. The prince was informed that the king had given express orders that he should not be permitted to enter the town, but that he should be conducted immediately to one of the royal yachts. Here the king received an intercepted122 letter from the Crown Prince to Lieutenant Katte. Boiling with indignation, he stalked on board the yacht, and assailed123 his captive son in the coarsest and most violent language of abuse. In the frenzy124 of his passion he seized Fritz by the collar, shook him, hustled125 him about, tore out handfuls of hair, and thrust his cane126 into his face, causing the blood to gush127 from his nose. “Never before,” exclaimed the unhappy prince, pathetically, “did a Brandenburg face suffer the like of this.”
The king then, having ordered his guard to watch him with the utmost vigilance, assuring them that their heads should answer for it if they allowed him to escape, sent his son to another boat. He was prevailed upon to do so, as no one could tell to what length the king’s ungovernable passions might lead him.
92 The royal yachts glided128 down the Main to the Rhine, and thence down the Rhine to Wesel. Probably a heavier heart than that of the prince never floated upon that world-renowned stream. Lost in painful musings, he had no eye to gaze upon the picturesque129 scenes of mountain, forest, castle, and ruins through which they were gliding130. At Bonn he had an interview with Seckendorf, whose influence was great with his father, and whom he hoped to interest in his favor. To him he said,
“I intended to have escaped at Steinfurth. I can not endure the treatment which I receive from my father—his abuse and blows. I should have escaped long ago had it not been for the condition in which I should have thus left my mother and sister. I am so miserable131 that I care but little for my own life. My great anxiety is for those officers who have been my friends, and who are implicated133 in my attempts. If the king will promise to pardon them, I will make a full confession134 of every thing. If you can help me in these difficulties, I shall be forever grateful to you.”
It is probable that even Seckendorf was somewhat moved by this pathetic appeal. Fritz succeeded in sending a letter to the post-office, addressed to Lieutenant Keith at Wesel, containing simply the words “Sauvez vous; tout135 est decouvert” (Save yourself; all is found out). Keith received the letter but an hour or so before a colonel of gens d’armes arrived to arrest him. Seckendorf had an interview with the king, and seems to have endeavored to mitigate136 his wrath. He assured the infuriate monarch69 of his son’s repentance137, and of his readiness to make a full confession if his father would spare those who had been led by their sympathies to befriend him. The unrelenting father received this message very sullenly139, saying that he had no faith that his son would make an honest confession, but that he would see what he had to say for himself.
At Geldern, when within a few miles of Wesel, the king’s wrath flamed up anew as he learned that Lieutenant Keith had escaped. The imperiled young officer, warned of his danger, had saddled his horse as if for an evening ride in the country. He passed out at one of the gates of the city, and, riding gently till darkness came, he put spurs to his horse and escaped to the Hague. Here, through the friendly offices of Lord Chesterfield,93 the British embassador, he embarked140 for England. The authorities there received him kindly141, and he entered the British army. For ten years he was heard of no more. The king dispatched officers in pursuit of the fugitive142, and redoubled the vigilance with which Fritz was guarded.
Upon the king’s arrival at Wesel he ordered his culprit son to be brought on shore and to be arraigned143 before him. It was Saturday evening, August 12, 1730. A terrible scene ensued. The despairing Crown Prince, tortured by injustice144, was not disposed to humble145 himself before his father. Receiving no assurance that his friends would be pardoned, he evaded146 all attempts to extort147 from him confessions148 which would implicate132 them. General Mosel alone was present at this examination.
“Why,” asked the king, furiously, “did you attempt to desert?”
“I wished to escape,” the prince boldly replied, “because you did not treat me like a son, but like an abject149 slave.”
“You are a cowardly deserter,” the father exclaimed, “devoid of all feelings of honor.”
“I have as much honor as you have,” the son replied; “and I have only done that which I have heard you say a hundred times you would have done yourself had you been treated as I have been.”
The wrath of the king was now ungovernable. He drew his sword, threatening to thrust it through the heart of his son, and seemed upon the point of doing so, when General Mosel threw himself before the king, exclaiming, “Sire, you may kill me, but spare your son.”12
The prince was withdrawn150, and placed in a room where two sentries152 watched over him with fixed bayonets. The king malignantly153 assumed that the prince, being a colonel in the army and attempting to escape, was a deserter, whose merited doom was death. General Mosel urged the king not to see his son again, as his presence was sure to inflame154 his anger to so alarming a pitch. The father did not again see him for a year and three days.
A stern military commission was, however, appointed to interrogate155 the prince from questions drawn151 up by the king. The examination took place the next day. The prince confessed that94 it was his intention to cross the Rhine at the nearest point, and to repair to Strasbourg, in France. There he intended to enlist156 incognito157 as a volunteer in the French army. He refused to tell how he obtained his money, or to make any revelations which would implicate his friends Katte and Keith.
FREDERICK WILLIAM ENRAGED.
As this report was made to the king, he exclaimed, angrily, “Let him lie in ward106, then, and await the doom which the laws adjudge to him. He is my colonel. He has attempted to desert. He has endeavored to induce others to desert with him. The law speaks plainly enough as to the penalty for such crimes.”
In the mean time, the queen and Wilhelmina, at Berlin, unconscious of the dreadful tidings they were soon to receive, were95 taking advantage of the absence of the king in seeking a few hours of social enjoyment158. They gave a ball at the pretty little palace of Monbijou, on the banks of the Spree, a short distance out from Berlin. In the midst of the entertainment the queen received, by a courier, the following dispatch from Frederick William:
“I have arrested the rascal159 Fritz. I shall treat him as his crime and his cowardice160 merit. He has dishonored me and all my family. So great a wretch161 is no longer worthy162 to live.”
Wilhelmina, in the following graphic163 narrative164, describes the scene: “Mamma had given a ball in honor of papa’s birthday. We recommenced the ball after supper. For six years I had not danced before. It was new fruit, and I took my fill of it, without heeding165 much what was passing. Madam Bulow, who, with others, had worn long faces all night, pleading illness when one noticed it, said to me several times,
“‘It is late. I wish you had done.’
“‘Oh dear me!’ I exclaimed; ‘do let me have enough of dancing this one new time. It may be long before it comes again.’
“She returned to me an hour after, and said, with a vexed166 air, ‘Will you end, then? You are so engaged you have eyes for nothing.’
“I replied, ‘You are in such a humor I know not what to make of it.’
“‘Look at the queen, then,’ she added, ‘and you will cease to reproach me.’
“A glance which I gave that way filled me with terror. There sat the queen, in a corner of the room, paler than death, in low conference with Madam Sonsfeld and Countess Finckenstein. As my brother was most in my anxieties, I asked if it concerned him. Madam Bulow shrugged167 her shoulders, answering, ‘I do not know at all.’”
They repaired to the carriage, which was immediately ordered. Not a word was spoken until they reached the palace. Wilhelmina did not venture to ask any questions. Fearing that her brother was dead, she was in terrible trepidation168. Having arrived at the palace, Madam Sonsfeld informed her of the contents of the dispatch.
96
DESTROYING THE LETTERS.
The next morning they learned that Lieutenant Katte had been arrested. All the private papers of Fritz were left, under Katte’s charge, in a small writing-desk. These letters would implicate both the mother and the daughter. They were terror-stricken. Count Finckenstein, who was in high authority, was their friend. Through him, by the aid of Madam Finckenstein, they obtained the desk. It was locked and sealed. Despair stimulated169 their ingenuity. They succeeded in getting the letters. To destroy them and leave nothing in their place would only rouse to greater fury the suspicion and rage of the king. The letters were taken out and burned. The queen and Wilhelmina immediately set to work writing new ones, of a very different character, with which to replace them. For three days they thus labored170 almost incessantly171, writing between six and seven hundred letters. They were so careful to avoid any thing97 which might lead to detection that paper was employed for each letter bearing the date of the year in which the letter was supposed to be written. “Fancy the mood,” writes Carlyle, “of these two royal women, and the black whirlwind they were in. Wilhelmina’s dispatch was incredible. Pen went at the gallop172 night and day. New letters of old date and of no meaning are got into the desk again, the desk closed without mark of injury, and shoved aside while it is yet time.”
Wesel was the fortress173 of a small province belonging to Prussia, on the Rhine, many leagues from Berlin. The intervening territory belonged to Hanover and Hesse Cassel. The king ordered his captive son to be taken, under a strong guard, by circuitous174 roads, so as not to attract attention, to the castle of Mittenwalde, near Berlin. The king then started for home, probably as wretched as he was making every body about him. After a very rapid journey, he reached Berlin late in the afternoon of Sunday, the 27th of August, 1730. It was the evening after the fabrication of the letters had been completed. We give, from the graphic pen of Wilhelmina, the account of the king’s first interview with his family:
“The queen was alone, in his majesty’s apartment, waiting for him as he approached. As soon as he saw her at the end of the suite of rooms, and long before he arrived in the one where she was, he cried out, ‘Your unworthy son has at last ended himself. You have done with him.’
“‘What!’ cried the queen, ‘have you had the barbarity to kill him?’
“‘Yes, I tell you,’ the king replied; ‘but I must have his writing-case.’ For he had already informed himself that it was in the queen’s possession.
“The queen went to her own apartment to fetch it. I ran in to her there for a moment. She was out of her senses, wringing175 her hands, crying incessantly, and exclaiming, ‘O God, my son, my son!’ Breath failed me. I fell fainting into the arms of Madam Sonsfeld. The queen took the writing-desk to the king. He immediately broke it open and tore out the letters, with which he went away. The queen came back to us. We were comforted by the assurance, from some of the attendants, that my brother at least was not dead.
98 “Pretty soon the king came back, and we, his children, ran to pay our respects to him, by kissing his hands. But he no sooner noticed me than rage and fury took possession of him. He became black in the face, his eyes sparkling fire, his mouth foaming176. ‘Infamous177 wretch!’ said he, ‘dare you show yourself before me? Go and keep your scoundrel brother company.’
“So saying, he seized me with one hand, striking me several blows in the face with the other fist. One of the blows struck me on the temple, so that I fell back, and should have split my head against a corner of the wainscot had not Madam Sonsfeld caught me by the head-dress and broken the fall. I lay on the floor without consciousness. The king, in his frenzy, proceeded to kick me out of a window which opened to the floor. The queen, my sisters, and the rest, ran between, preventing him. They all ranged themselves around me, which gave Mesdames De Kamecke and Sonsfeld time to pick me up. They put me in a chair in an embrasure of a window. Madam Sonsfeld supported my head, which was wounded and swollen178 with the blows I had received. They threw water upon my face to bring me to life, which care I lamentably179 reproached them with, death being a thousand times better in the pass things had come to. The queen was shrieking180. Her firmness had entirely abandoned her. She ran wildly about the room, wringing her hands in despair. My brothers and sisters, of whom the youngest was not more than four years old, were on their knees begging for me. The king’s face was so disfigured with rage that it was frightful181 to look upon.
“The king now admitted that my brother was still alive, but vowed182 horribly that he would put him to death, and lay me fast within four walls for the rest of my life. He accused me of being the prince’s accomplice183, whose crime was high treason. ‘I hope now,’ he said, ‘to have evidence enough to convict the rascal Fritz and the wretch Wilhelmina, and to cut their heads off. As for Fritz, he will always, if he lives, be a worthless fellow. I have three other sons, who will all turn out better than he has done.’
“‘Oh, spare my brother,’ I cried, ‘and I will marry the Duke of Weissenfels.’ But in the great noise he did not hear me. And while I strove to repeat it louder, Madam Sonsfeld clapped99 her handkerchief on my mouth. Pushing aside to get rid of the handkerchief, I saw Katte crossing the square. Four soldiers were conducting him to the king. My brother’s trunks and his were following in the rear. Pale and downcast, he took off his hat to salute me. He fell at the king’s feet imploring pardon.”
WILHELMINA IMPRISONED.
The king kicked him, and struck him several heavy blows with his cane. He was hit repeatedly in the face, and blood gushed184 from the wounds. With his own hands the king tore from Katte’s breast the cross of the Order of Saint John. After this disgraceful scene the interrogatory commenced. Katte confessed all the circumstances of the prince’s intended escape, but denied that there had been any design against the king or the state. His own and the prince’s letters were examined, but nothing was found in them to criminate either. Katte was then100 remanded to prison. Wilhelmina, after receiving the grossest possible insults from her father, who accused her, in coarsest terms, of being the paramour of Lieutenant Katte, was ordered to her room. Two sentries were placed at her door, and directions were given that she should be fed only on prison fare.
“Tell your unworthy daughter,” said the king to the queen, “that her room is to be her prison. I shall give orders to have the guard there doubled. I shall have her examined in the most rigorous manner, and will afterward185 have her removed to some fit place, where she may repent138 of her crimes.”
The whole city of Berlin was agitated186 by the rumor187 of these events. The violent scene in the palace had taken place in an apartment on the ground floor. The loud and angry tones of the king, the shrieks188 of the queen, the cries of the children, the general clamor, had so attracted the attention of the passers-by that a large crowd had assembled before the windows. It was necessary to call out the guard to disperse189 them. Difficult as it was to exaggerate outrages so infamous, still they were exaggerated. The report went to all foreign courts that the king, in his ungovernable rage, had knocked down the Princess Wilhelmina and trampled190 her to death beneath his feet.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
obstinacy
|
|
| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
imprisonment
|
|
| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
imprisoned
|
|
| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
villa
|
|
| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
inflexible
|
|
| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
envoy
|
|
| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
languor
|
|
| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
protracted
|
|
| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
hilarity
|
|
| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
addled
|
|
| adj.（头脑）糊涂的，愚蠢的；（指蛋类）变坏v.使糊涂( addle的过去式和过去分词 )；使混乱；使腐臭；使变质 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
intoxication
|
|
| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
inebriation
|
|
| n.醉，陶醉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
swerve
|
|
| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
acclaim
|
|
| v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
bawled
|
|
| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
salute
|
|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
tumult
|
|
| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
farce
|
|
| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
demonstration
|
|
| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
allusion
|
|
| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
fervor
|
|
| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
conjure
|
|
| v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
negotiations
|
|
| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
negotiation
|
|
| n.谈判，协商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
averse
|
|
| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
antipathy
|
|
| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
unwillingness
|
|
| n. 不愿意，不情愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
advisers
|
|
| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
annoyance
|
|
| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
confidential
|
|
| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
grandeur
|
|
| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
bribe
|
|
| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
antagonistic
|
|
| adj.敌对的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
renouncing
|
|
| v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
esteem
|
|
| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
haughty
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
profligate
|
|
| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
obviate
|
|
| v.除去，排除，避免，预防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
toil
|
|
| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
ultimatum
|
|
| n.最后通牒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
postponed
|
|
| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
extremities
|
|
| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
stereotype
|
|
| n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
whim
|
|
| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
reiterate
|
|
| v.重申，反复地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
bout
|
|
| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
chivalry
|
|
| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
fabulous
|
|
| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
expended
|
|
| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
sublimity
|
|
| 崇高，庄严，气质高尚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
splendor
|
|
| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
mortification
|
|
| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
ingenuity
|
|
| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
monarchs
|
|
| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
monarch
|
|
| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
rattan
|
|
| n.藤条，藤杖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
enraged
|
|
| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
outrage
|
|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
folly
|
|
| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
recital
|
|
| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
goaded
|
|
| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
confided
|
|
| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
concocted
|
|
| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
apprised
|
|
| v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
suite
|
|
| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
vigilantly
|
|
| adv.警觉地，警惕地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
compassion
|
|
| n.同情，怜悯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
extricate
|
|
| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
defer
|
|
| vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
contemplated
|
|
| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
ascertain
|
|
| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
brook
|
|
| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
indignity
|
|
| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
passionate
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
amends
|
|
| n. 赔偿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
bullies
|
|
| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
outrages
|
|
| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
secrecy
|
|
| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
memorable
|
|
| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
luxurious
|
|
| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
covet
|
|
| vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
fatigue
|
|
| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
meteoric
|
|
| adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
dreading
|
|
| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
ward
|
|
| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
pretense
|
|
| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
counselors
|
|
| n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
imploring
|
|
| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
agitation
|
|
| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
nominally
|
|
| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
scrupulously
|
|
| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
custody
|
|
| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
smothering
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的现在分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
sarcastically
|
|
| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
emboldened
|
|
| v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
intercepted
|
|
| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
assailed
|
|
| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
frenzy
|
|
| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
hustled
|
|
| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
cane
|
|
| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
gush
|
|
| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
glided
|
|
| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
gliding
|
|
| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
implicate
|
|
| vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
implicated
|
|
| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
confession
|
|
| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
tout
|
|
| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
mitigate
|
|
| vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
repentance
|
|
| n.懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
repent
|
|
| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
embarked
|
|
| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
fugitive
|
|
| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
arraigned
|
|
| v.告发( arraign的过去式和过去分词 )；控告；传讯；指责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
injustice
|
|
| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
evaded
|
|
| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
extort
|
|
| v.勒索，敲诈，强要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
confessions
|
|
| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
abject
|
|
| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
withdrawn
|
|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
sentries
|
|
| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
malignantly
|
|
| 怀恶意地； 恶毒地； 有害地； 恶性地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
inflame
|
|
| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
interrogate
|
|
| vt.讯问，审问，盘问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
enlist
|
|
| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
incognito
|
|
| adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
rascal
|
|
| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
cowardice
|
|
| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
wretch
|
|
| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
graphic
|
|
| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
narrative
|
|
| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
heeding
|
|
| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
vexed
|
|
| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
trepidation
|
|
| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
stimulated
|
|
| a.刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
labored
|
|
| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
incessantly
|
|
| ad.不停地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
gallop
|
|
| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
fortress
|
|
| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
circuitous
|
|
| adj.迂回的路的，迂曲的，绕行的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
wringing
|
|
| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
foaming
|
|
| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
infamous
|
|
| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
swollen
|
|
| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
lamentably
|
|
| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
shrieking
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
frightful
|
|
| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
vowed
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
accomplice
|
|
| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
gushed
|
|
| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
agitated
|
|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
rumor
|
|
| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
shrieks
|
|
| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
disperse
|
|
| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
trampled
|
|
| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |