Holcroft had been given a foretaste of the phase of torment1 which he was destined2 to endure in his domestic relations, and was planning to secure a refuge into which he could not be pursued. He had made himself a little more presentable for supper, instinctively3 aware that nothing would escape the lynx-eyed widow, and was taking some measurements from the floor to a stovepipe hole leading into the chimney flue, when he became aware that someone was in the doorway4. Turning, he saw Jane with her small catlike eyes fixed5 intently upon him. Instantly he had the feeling that he was being watched and would be watched.
"Supper's ready," said the girl, disappearing.
Mrs. Mumpson smiled upon him--if certain contortions6 of her thin, sharp face could be termed a smile--from that side of the table at which his wife had sat so many years, and he saw that the low rocking chair, which he had preserved jealously from his former "help," had been brought from the parlor7 and established in the old familiar place. Mrs. Mumpson folded her hands and assumed a look of deep solemnity; Jane, as instructed, also lowered her head, and they waited for him to say "grace." He was in far too bitter a mood for any such pious8 farce9, and stolidly10 began to help them to the ham and eggs, which viands11 had been as nearly spoiled as was possible in their preparation. The widow raised her head with a profound sigh which set Holcroft's teeth on edge, but he proceeded silently with his supper. The biscuits were heavy enough to burden the lightest conscience; and the coffee, simply grounds swimming around in lukewarm water. He took a sip12, then put down his cup and said, quietly, "Guess I'll take a glass of milk tonight. Mrs. Mumpson, if you don't know how to make coffee, I can soon show you."
"Why! Isn't it right? How strange! Perhaps it would be well for you to show me just exactly how you like it, for it will afford me much pleasure to make it to your taste. Men's tastes differ so! I've heard that no two men's tastes were alike; and, after all, everything is a matter of taste. Now Cousin Abiram doesn't believe in coffee at all. He thinks it is unwholesome. Have YOU ever thought that it might be unwholesome?"
"I'm used to it, and would like it good when I have it at all."
"Why, of course, of course! You must have it exactly to your taste. Jane, my dear, we must put our minds on coffee and learn precisely13 how Mr. Holcroft likes it, and when the hired girl comes we must carefully superintend her when she makes it. By the way, I suppose you will employ my assistant tomorrow, Mr. Holcroft."
"I can't get a girl short of town," was the reply, "and there is so much cream in the dairy that ought to be churned at once that I'll wait till next Monday and take down the butter."
Mrs. Mumpson put on a grave, injured air, and said, "Well," so disapprovingly14 that it was virtually saying that it was not well at all. Then, suddenly remembering that this was not good policy, she was soon all smiles and chatter15 again. "How cozy16 this is!" she cried, "and how soon one acquires the home feeling! Why, anyone looking in at the window would think that we were an old established family, and yet this is but our first meal together. But it won't be the last, Mr. Holcroft. I cannot make it known to you how your loneliness, which Cousin Lemuel has so feelingly described to me, has affected17 my feelings. Cousin Nancy said but this very day that you have had desperate times with all kinds of dreadful creatures. But all that's past. Jane and me will give a look of stability and respecterbility to every comer."
"Well, really, Mrs. Mumpson, I don't know who's to come."
"Oh, you'll see!" she replied, wrinkling her thin, blue lips into what was meant for a smile, and nodding her head at him encouragingly. "You won't be so isolated18 no more. Now that I'm here, with my offspring, your neighbors will feel that they can show you their sympathy. The most respecterble people in town will call, and your life will grow brighter and brighter; clouds will roll away, and--"
"I hope the neighbors will not be so ill-mannered as to come without being invited," remarked Mr. Holcroft grimly. "It's too late in the day for them to begin now."
"My being here with Jane will make all the difference in the world," resumed Mrs. Mumpson, with as saccharine19 an expression as she could assume. "They will come out of pure kindness and friendly interest, with the wish to encourage--"
"Mrs. Mumpson," said Holcroft, half desperately20, "if anyone comes it'll be out of pure curiosity, and I don't want such company. Selling enough butter, eggs, and produce to pay expenses will encourage me more than all the people of Oakville, if they should come in a body. What's the use of talking in this way? I've done without the neighbors so far, and I'm sure they've been very careful to do without me. I shall have nothing to do with them except in the way of business, and as I said to you down at Lemuel Weeks's, business must be the first consideration with us all," and he rose from the table.
"Oh, certainly, certainly!" the widow hastened to say, "but then business is like a cloud, and the meetings and greetings of friends is a sort of silver lining21, you know. What would the world be without friends--the society of those who take an abiding22 interest? Believe me, Mr. Holcroft," she continued, bringing her long, skinny finger impressively down on the table, "you have lived alone so long that you are unable to see the crying needs of your own constitution. As a Christian23 man, you require human sympathy and--"
Poor Holcroft knew little of centrifugal force; but at that moment he was a living embodiment of it, feeling that if he did not escape he would fly into a thousand atoms. Saying nervously24, "I've a few chores to do," he seized his hat, and hastening out, wandered disconsolately25 around the barn. "I'm never going to be able to stand her," he groaned26. "I know now why my poor wife shook her head whenever this woman was mentioned. The clack of her tongue would drive any man living crazy, and the gimlet eyes of that girl Jane would bore holes through a saint's patience. Well, well! I'll put a stove up in my room, then plowing27 and planting time will soon be here, and I guess I can stand it at mealtimes for three months, for unless she stops her foolishness she shan't stay any longer."
Jane had not spoken during the meal, but kept her eyes on Holcroft, except when he looked toward her, and then she instantly averted28 her gaze. When she was alone with her mother, she said abruptly29, "We aint a-goin' to stay here long, nuther."
"Why not?" was the sharp, responsive query30.
"'Cause the same look's comin' into his face that was in Cousin Lemuel's and Cousin Abiram's and all the rest of 'em. 'Fi's you I'd keep still now. 'Pears to me they all want you to keep still and you won't."
"Jane," said Mrs. Mumpson in severe tones, "you're an ignorant child. Don't presume to instruct ME! Besides, this case is entirely31 different. Mr. Holcroft must be made to understand from the start that I'm not a common woman--that I'm his equal, and in most respects his superior. If he aint made to feel this, it'll never enter his head--but law! There's things which you can't and oughtn't to understand."
"But I do," said the girl shortly, "and he won't marry you, nor keep you, if you talk him to death."
"Jane!" gasped32 Mrs. Mumpson, as she sank into the chair and rocked violently.
The night air was keen and soon drove Holcroft into the house. As he passed the kitchen window, he saw that Mrs. Mumpson was in his wife's rocking chair and that Jane was clearing up the table.
He kindled33 a fire on the parlor hearth34, hoping, but scarcely expecting, that he would be left alone.
Nor was he very long, for the widow soon opened the door and entered, carrying the chair. "Oh, you are here," she said sweetly. "I heard the fire crackling, and I do so love open wood fires. They're company in themselves, and they make those who bask35 in the flickering36 blaze inclined to be sociable37. To think of how many long, lonely evenings you have sat here when you had persons in your employ with whom you could have no affinity38 whatever! I don't see how you stood it. Under such circumstances life must cloud up into a dreary39 burden." It never occurred to Mrs. Mumpson that her figures of speech were often mixed. She merely felt that the sentimental40 phase of conversation must be very flowery. But during the first evening she had resolved on prudence41. "Mr. Holcroft shall have time," she thought, "for the hope to steal into his heart that his housekeeper42 may become something more to him than housekeeper--that there is a nearer and loftier relation."
Meanwhile she was consumed with curiosity to know something about the "persons" previously43 employed and his experiences with them. With a momentary44, and, as she felt, a proper pause before descending45 to ordinary topics, she resumed, "My dear Mr. Holcroft, no doubt it will be a relief to your overfraught mind to pour into a symperthetic ear the story of your troubles with those--er--those peculiar46 females that--er--that--"
"Mrs. Mumpson, it would be a much greater relief to my mind to forget all about 'em," he replied briefly47.
"INDEED!" exclaimed the widow. "Was they as bad as that? Who'd 'a' thought it! Well, well, well; what people there is in the world! And you couldn't abide48 'em, then?"
"No, I couldn't."
"Well now; what hussies they must have been! And to think you were here all alone, with no better company! It makes my heart bleed. They DO say that Bridget Malony is equal to anything, and I've no doubt but that she took things and did things."
"Well, she's taken herself off, and that's enough." Then he groaned inwardly, "Good Lord! I could stand her and all her tribe bettern'n this one."
"Yes, Mr. Holcroft," pursued Mrs. Mumpson, sinking her voice to a loud, confidential49 whisper, "and I don't believe you've any idea how much she took with her. I fear you've been robbed in all these vicissitudes50. Men never know what's in a house. They need caretakers; respecterble women, that would sooner cut out their tongues than purloin51. How happy is the change which has been affected! How could you abide in the house with such a person as that Bridget Malony?"
"Well, well, Mrs. Mumpson! She abode52 with herself. I at least had this room in peace and quietness."
"Of course, of course! A person so utterly53 unrespecterble would not think of entering THIS apartment; but then you had to meet her, you know. You could not act as if she was not, when she was, and there being so much of her, too. She was a monstrous-looking person. It's dreadful to think that such persons belong to our sex. I don't wonder you feel as you do about it all. I can understand you perfectly54. All your senserbleness was offended. You felt that your very home had become sacrilegious. Well, now, I suppose she said awful things to you?"
Holcroft could not endure this style of inquisition and comment another second longer. He rose and said, "Mrs. Mumpson, if you want to know just what she said and did, you must go and ask her. I'm very tired. I'll go out and see that the stock's all right, and then go to bed."
"Oh, certainly, certainly!" ejaculated the widow. "Repose55 is nature's sweet rester, says the poet. I can see how recalling those dreadful scenes with those peculiar females--" But he was gone.
In passing out, he caught sight of Jane whisking back into the kitchen. "She's been listening," he thought. "Well, I'll go to town tomorrow afternoon, get a stove for my room upstairs, and stuff the keyhole."
He went to the barn and looked with envy at the placid56 cows and quiet horses. At last, having lingered as long as he could, he returned to the kitchen. Jane had washed and put away the supper dishes after a fashion, and was now sitting on the edge of a chair in the farthest corner of the room.
"Take this candle and go to your mother," he said curtly57. Then he fastened the doors and put out the lamp. Standing58 for an instant at the parlor entrance, he added, "Please rake up the fire and put out the light before you come up. Good night."
"Oh, certainly, certainly! We'll look after everything just as if it was our own. The sense of strangeness will soon pass--" But his steps were halfway59 up the stairs.
Mother and daughter listened until they heard him overhead, then, taking the candle, they began a most minute examination of everything in the room.
Poor Holcroft listened also; too worried, anxious, and nervous to sleep until they came up and all sounds ceased in the adjoining apartment.
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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contortions
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| n.扭歪，弯曲；扭曲，弄歪，歪曲( contortion的名词复数 ) | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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disapprovingly
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| adv.不以为然地，不赞成地，非难地 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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cozy
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| adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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saccharine
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| adj.奉承的，讨好的 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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plowing
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| v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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28
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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32
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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bask
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| vt.取暖，晒太阳，沐浴于 | |
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flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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40
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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41
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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42
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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43
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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48
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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49
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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50
vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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51
purloin
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| v.偷窃 | |
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52
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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53
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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54
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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55
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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56
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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58
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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