'We frolic while 'tis May.'
It has now to be realized that nearly three-quarters of a year have passed away. In place of the autumnal scenery which formed a setting to the previous enactments2, we have the culminating blooms of summer in the year following.
Stephen is in India, slaving away at an office in Bombay; occasionally going up the country on professional errands, and wondering why people who had been there longer than he complained so much of the effect of the climate upon their constitutions. Never had a young man a finer start than seemed now to present itself to Stephen. It was just in that exceptional heyday3 of prosperity which shone over Bombay some few years ago, that he arrived on the scene. Building and engineering partook of the general impetus4. Speculation5 moved with an accelerated velocity6 every successive day, the only disagreeable contingency7 connected with it being the possibility of a collapse8.
Elfride had never told her father of the four-and-twenty-hours' escapade with Stephen, nor had it, to her knowledge, come to his ears by any other route. It was a secret trouble and grief to the girl for a short time, and Stephen's departure was another ingredient in her sorrow. But Elfride possessed9 special facilities for getting rid of trouble after a decent interval10. Whilst a slow nature was imbibing11 a misfortune little by little, she had swallowed the whole agony of it at a draught12 and was brightening again. She could slough13 off a sadness and replace it by a hope as easily as a lizard14 renews a diseased limb.
And two such excellent distractions15 had presented themselves. One was bringing out the romance and looking for notices in the papers, which, though they had been significantly short so far, had served to divert her thoughts. The other was migrating from the vicarage to the more commodious16 old house of Mrs. Swancourt's, overlooking the same valley. Mr. Swancourt at first disliked the idea of being transplanted to feminine soil, but the obvious advantages of such an accession of dignity reconciled him to the change. So there was a radical17 'move;' the two ladies staying at Torquay as had been arranged, the vicar going to and fro.
Mrs. Swancourt considerably18 enlarged Elfride's ideas in an aristocratic direction, and she began to forgive her father for his politic19 marriage. Certainly, in a worldly sense, a handsome face at three-and-forty had never served a man in better stead.
The new house at Kensington was ready, and they were all in town.
The Hyde Park shrubs20 had been transplanted as usual, the chairs ranked in line, the grass edgings trimmed, the roads made to look as if they were suffering from a heavy thunderstorm; carriages had been called for by the easeful, horses by the brisk, and the Drive and Row were again the groove21 of gaiety for an hour. We gaze upon the spectacle, at six o'clock on this midsummer afternoon, in a melon-frame atmosphere and beneath a violet sky. The Swancourt equipage formed one in the stream.
Mrs. Swancourt was a talker of talk of the incisive22 kind, which her low musical voice--the only beautiful point in the old woman-- prevented from being wearisome.
'Now,' she said to Elfride, who, like AEneas at Carthage, was full of admiration23 for the brilliant scene, 'you will find that our companionless state will give us, as it does everybody, an extraordinary power in reading the features of our fellow- creatures here. I always am a listener in such places as these-- not to the narratives25 told by my neighbours' tongues, but by their faces--the advantage of which is, that whether I am in Row, Boulevard, Rialto, or Prado, they all speak the same language. I may have acquired some skill in this practice through having been an ugly lonely woman for so many years, with nobody to give me information; a thing you will not consider strange when the parallel case is borne in mind,--how truly people who have no clocks will tell the time of day.'
'Ay, that they will,' said Mr. Swancourt corroboratively. 'I have known labouring men at Endelstow and other farms who had framed complete systems of observation for that purpose. By means of shadows, winds, clouds, the movements of sheep and oxen, the singing of birds, the crowing of cocks, and a hundred other sights and sounds which people with watches in their pockets never know the existence of, they are able to pronounce within ten minutes of the hour almost at any required instant. That reminds me of an old story which I'm afraid is too bad--too bad to repeat.' Here the vicar shook his head and laughed inwardly.
'Tell it--do!' said the ladies.
'I mustn't quite tell it.'
'That's absurd,' said Mrs. Swancourt.
'It was only about a man who, by the same careful system of observation, was known to deceive persons for more than two years into the belief that he kept a barometer26 by stealth, so exactly did he foretell27 all changes in the weather by the braying28 of his ass1 and the temper of his wife.'
Elfride laughed.
'Exactly,' said Mrs. Swancourt. 'And in just the way that those learnt the signs of nature, I have learnt the language of her illegitimate sister--artificiality; and the fibbing of eyes, the contempt of nose-tips, the indignation of back hair, the laughter of clothes, the cynicism of footsteps, and the various emotions lying in walking-stick twirls, hat-liftings, the elevation29 of parasols, the carriage of umbrellas, become as A B C to me.
'Just look at that daughter's sister class of mamma in the carriage across there,' she continued to Elfride, pointing with merely a turn of her eye. 'The absorbing self-consciousness of her position that is shown by her countenance30 is most humiliating to a lover of one's country. You would hardly believe, would you, that members of a Fashionable World, whose professed31 zero is far above the highest degree of the humble32, could be so ignorant of the elementary instincts of reticence33.'
'How?'
'Why, to bear on their faces, as plainly as on a phylactery, the inscription34, "Do, pray, look at the coronet on my panels."'
'Really, Charlotte,' said the vicar, 'you see as much in faces as Mr. Puff35 saw in Lord Burleigh's nod.'
Elfride could not but admire the beauty of her fellow countrywomen, especially since herself and her own few acquaintances had always been slightly sunburnt or marked on the back of the hands by a bramble-scratch at this time of the year.
'And what lovely flowers and leaves they wear in their bonnets36!' she exclaimed.
'Oh yes,' returned Mrs. Swancourt. 'Some of them are even more striking in colour than any real ones. Look at that beautiful rose worn by the lady inside the rails. Elegant vine-tendrils introduced upon the stem as an improvement upon prickles, and all growing so naturally just over her ear--I say growing advisedly, for the pink of the petals37 and the pink of her handsome cheeks are equally from Nature's hand to the eyes of the most casual observer.'
'But praise them a little, they do deserve it!' said generous Elfride.
'Well, I do. See how the Duchess of----waves to and fro in her seat, utilizing38 the sway of her landau by looking around only when her head is swung forward, with a passive pride which forbids a resistance to the force of circumstance. Look at the pretty pout39 on the mouths of that family there, retaining no traces of being arranged beforehand, so well is it done. Look at the demure40 close of the little fists holding the parasols; the tiny alert thumb, sticking up erect41 against the ivory stem as knowing as can be, the satin of the parasol invariably matching the complexion42 of the face beneath it, yet seemingly by an accident, which makes the thing so attractive. There's the red book lying on the opposite seat, bespeaking43 the vast numbers of their acquaintance. And I particularly admire the aspect of that abundantly daughtered woman on the other side--I mean her look of unconsciousness that the girls are stared at by the walkers, and above all the look of the girls themselves--losing their gaze in the depths of handsome men's eyes without appearing to notice whether they are observing masculine eyes or the leaves of the trees. There's praise for you. But I am only jesting, child--you know that.'
'Piph-ph-ph--how warm it is, to be sure!' said Mr. Swancourt, as if his mind were a long distance from all he saw. 'I declare that my watch is so hot that I can scarcely bear to touch it to see what the time is, and all the world smells like the inside of a hat.'
'How the men stare at you, Elfride!' said the elder lady. 'You will kill me quite, I am afraid.'
'Kill you?'
'As a diamond kills an opal in the same setting.'
'I have noticed several ladies and gentlemen looking at me,' said Elfride artlessly, showing her pleasure at being observed.
'My dear, you mustn't say "gentlemen" nowadays,' her stepmother answered in the tones of arch concern that so well became her ugliness. 'We have handed over "gentlemen" to the lower middle class, where the word is still to be heard at tradesmen's balls and provincial44 tea-parties, I believe. It is done with here.'
'What must I say, then?'
'"Ladies and MEN" always.'
At this moment appeared in the stream of vehicles moving in the contrary direction a chariot presenting in its general surface the rich indigo45 hue46 of a midnight sky, the wheels and margins47 being picked out in delicate lines of ultramarine; the servants' liveries were dark-blue coats and silver lace, and breeches of neutral Indian red. The whole concern formed an organic whole, and moved along behind a pair of dark chestnut48 geldings, who advanced in an indifferently zealous49 trot50, very daintily performed, and occasionally shrugged51 divers52 points of their veiny53 surface as if they were rather above the business.
In this sat a gentleman with no decided54 characteristics more than that he somewhat resembled a good-natured commercial traveller of the superior class. Beside him was a lady with skim-milky eyes and complexion, belonging to the "interesting" class of women, where that class merges55 in the sickly, her greatest pleasure being apparently56 to enjoy nothing. Opposite this pair sat two little girls in white hats and blue feathers.
The lady saw Elfride, smiled and bowed, and touched her husband's elbow, who turned and received Elfride's movement of recognition with a gallant57 elevation of his hat. Then the two children held up their arms to Elfride, and laughed gleefully.
'Who is that?'
'Why, Lord Luxellian, isn't it?' said Mrs. Swancourt, who with the vicar had been seated with her back towards them.
'Yes,' replied Elfride. 'He is the one man of those I have seen here whom I consider handsomer than papa.'
'Thank you, dear,' said Mr. Swancourt.
'Yes; but your father is so much older. When Lord Luxellian gets a little further on in life, he won't be half so good-looking as our man.'
'Thank you, dear, likewise,' said Mr. Swancourt.
'See,' exclaimed Elfride, still looking towards them, 'how those little dears want me! Actually one of them is crying for me to come.'
'We were talking of bracelets58 just now. Look at Lady Luxellian's,' said Mrs. Swancourt, as that baroness60 lifted up her arm to support one of the children. 'It is slipping up her arm-- too large by half. I hate to see daylight between a bracelet59 and a wrist; I wonder women haven't better taste.'
'It is not on that account, indeed,' Elfride expostulated. 'It is that her arm has got thin, poor thing. You cannot think how much she has altered in this last twelvemonth.'
The carriages were now nearer together, and there was an exchange of more familiar greetings between the two families. Then the Luxellians crossed over and drew up under the plane-trees, just in the rear of the Swancourts. Lord Luxellian alighted, and came forward with a musical laugh.
It was his attraction as a man. People liked him for those tones, and forgot that he had no talents. Acquaintances remembered Mr. Swancourt by his manner; they remembered Stephen Smith by his face, Lord Luxellian by his laugh.
Mr. Swancourt made some friendly remarks--among others things upon the heat.
'Yes,' said Lord Luxellian, 'we were driving by a furrier's window this afternoon, and the sight filled us all with such a sense of suffocation61 that we were glad to get away. Ha-ha!' He turned to Elfride. 'Miss Swancourt, I have hardly seen or spoken to you since your literary feat24 was made public. I had no idea a chiel was taking notes down at quiet Endelstow, or I should certainly have put myself and friends upon our best behaviour. Swancourt, why didn't you give me a hint!'
Elfride fluttered, blushed, laughed, said it was nothing to speak of, &c. &c.
'Well, I think you were rather unfairly treated by the PRESENT, I certainly do. Writing a heavy review like that upon an elegant trifle like the COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE was absurd.'
'What?' said Elfride, opening her eyes. 'Was I reviewed in the PRESENT?'
'Oh yes; didn't you see it? Why, it was four or five months ago!'
'No, I never saw it. How sorry I am! What a shame of my publishers! They promised to send me every notice that appeared.'
'Ah, then, I am almost afraid I have been giving you disagreeable information, intentionally62 withheld63 out of courtesy. Depend upon it they thought no good would come of sending it, and so would not pain you unnecessarily.'
'Oh no; I am indeed glad you have told me, Lord Luxellian. It is quite a mistaken kindness on their part. Is the review so much against me?' she inquired tremulously.
'No, no; not that exactly--though I almost forget its exact purport64 now. It was merely--merely sharp, you know--ungenerous, I might say. But really my memory does not enable me to speak decidedly.'
'We'll drive to the PRESENT office, and get one directly; shall we, papa?'
'If you are so anxious, dear, we will, or send. But to-morrow will do.'
'And do oblige me in a little matter now, Elfride,' said Lord Luxellian warmly, and looking as if he were sorry he had brought news that disturbed her. 'I am in reality sent here as a special messenger by my little Polly and Katie to ask you to come into our carriage with them for a short time. I am just going to walk across into Piccadilly, and my wife is left alone with them. I am afraid they are rather spoilt children; but I have half promised them you shall come.'
The steps were let down, and Elfride was transferred--to the intense delight of the little girls, and to the mild interest of loungers with red skins and long necks, who cursorily65 eyed the performance with their walking-sticks to their lips, occasionally laughing from far down their throats and with their eyes, their mouths not being concerned in the operation at all. Lord Luxellian then told the coachman to drive on, lifted his hat, smiled a smile that missed its mark and alighted on a total stranger, who bowed in bewilderment. Lord Luxellian looked long at Elfride.
The look was a manly66, open, and genuine look of admiration; a momentary67 tribute of a kind which any honest Englishman might have paid to fairness without being ashamed of the feeling, or permitting it to encroach in the slightest degree upon his emotional obligations as a husband and head of a family. Then Lord Luxellian turned away, and walked musingly68 to the upper end of the promenade69.
Mr. Swancourt had alighted at the same time with Elfride, crossing over to the Row for a few minutes to speak to a friend he recognized there; and his wife was thus left sole tenant70 of the carriage.
Now, whilst this little act had been in course of performance, there stood among the promenading71 spectators a man of somewhat different description from the rest. Behind the general throng72, in the rear of the chairs, and leaning against the trunk of a tree, he looked at Elfride with quiet and critical interest.
Three points about this unobtrusive person showed promptly73 to the exercised eye that he was not a Row man pur sang. First, an irrepressible wrinkle or two in the waist of his frock-coat-- denoting that he had not damned his tailor sufficiently74 to drive that tradesman up to the orthodox high pressure of cunning workmanship. Second, a slight slovenliness75 of umbrella, occasioned by its owner's habit of resting heavily upon it, and using it as a veritable walking-stick, instead of letting its point touch the ground in the most coquettish of kisses, as is the proper Row manner to do. Third, and chief reason, that try how you might, you could scarcely help supposing, on looking at his face, that your eyes were not far from a well-finished mind, instead of the well-finished skin et praeterea nihil, which is by rights the Mark of the Row.
The probability is that, had not Mrs. Swancourt been left alone in her carriage under the tree, this man would have remained in his unobserved seclusion76. But seeing her thus, he came round to the front, stooped under the rail, and stood beside the carriage-door.
Mrs. Swancourt looked reflectively at him for a quarter of a minute, then held out her hand laughingly:
'Why, Henry Knight77--of course it is! My--second--third--fourth cousin--what shall I say? At any rate, my kinsman78.'
'Yes, one of a remnant not yet cut off. I scarcely was certain of you, either, from where I was standing79.'
'I have not seen you since you first went to Oxford80; consider the number of years! You know, I suppose, of my marriage?'
And there sprang up a dialogue concerning family matters of birth, death, and marriage, which it is not necessary to detail. Knight presently inquired:
'The young lady who changed into the other carriage is, then, your stepdaughter?'
'Yes, Elfride. You must know her.'
'And who was the lady in the carriage Elfride entered; who had an ill-defined and watery81 look, as if she were only the reflection of herself in a pool?'
'Lady Luxellian; very weakly, Elfride says. My husband is remotely connected with them; but there is not much intimacy82 on account of----. However, Henry, you'll come and see us, of course. 24 Chevron83 Square. Come this week. We shall only be in town a week or two longer.'
'Let me see. I've got to run up to Oxford to-morrow, where I shall be for several days; so that I must, I fear, lose the pleasure of seeing you in London this year.'
'Then come to Endelstow; why not return with us?'
'I am afraid if I were to come before August I should have to leave again in a day or two. I should be delighted to be with you at the beginning of that month; and I could stay a nice long time. I have thought of going westward84 all the summer.'
'Very well. Now remember that's a compact. And won't you wait now and see Mr. Swancourt? He will not be away ten minutes longer.'
'No; I'll beg to be excused; for I must get to my chambers85 again this evening before I go home; indeed, I ought to have been there now--I have such a press of matters to attend to just at present. You will explain to him, please. Good-bye.'
'And let us know the day of your appearance as soon as you can.'
'I will'
1 ass | |
n.驴;傻瓜,蠢笨的人 | |
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2 enactments | |
n.演出( enactment的名词复数 );展现;规定;通过 | |
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3 heyday | |
n.全盛时期,青春期 | |
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4 impetus | |
n.推动,促进,刺激;推动力 | |
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5 speculation | |
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机 | |
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6 velocity | |
n.速度,速率 | |
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7 contingency | |
n.意外事件,可能性 | |
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8 collapse | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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9 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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10 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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11 imbibing | |
v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 );喝;吸取;吸气 | |
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12 draught | |
n.拉,牵引,拖;一网(饮,吸,阵);顿服药量,通风;v.起草,设计 | |
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13 slough | |
v.蜕皮,脱落,抛弃 | |
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14 lizard | |
n.蜥蜴,壁虎 | |
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15 distractions | |
n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 );娱乐,消遣;心烦意乱;精神错乱 | |
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16 commodious | |
adj.宽敞的;使用方便的 | |
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17 radical | |
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
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18 considerably | |
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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19 politic | |
adj.有智虑的;精明的;v.从政 | |
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20 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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21 groove | |
n.沟,槽;凹线,(刻出的)线条,习惯 | |
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22 incisive | |
adj.敏锐的,机敏的,锋利的,切入的 | |
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23 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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24 feat | |
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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25 narratives | |
记叙文( narrative的名词复数 ); 故事; 叙述; 叙述部分 | |
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26 barometer | |
n.气压表,睛雨表,反应指标 | |
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27 foretell | |
v.预言,预告,预示 | |
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28 braying | |
v.发出驴叫似的声音( bray的现在分词 );发嘟嘟声;粗声粗气地讲话(或大笑);猛击 | |
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29 elevation | |
n.高度;海拔;高地;上升;提高 | |
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30 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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31 professed | |
公开声称的,伪称的,已立誓信教的 | |
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32 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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33 reticence | |
n.沉默,含蓄 | |
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34 inscription | |
n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文 | |
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35 puff | |
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气 | |
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36 bonnets | |
n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 );(烟囱等的)覆盖物;(苏格兰男子的)无边呢帽;(女子戴的)任何一种帽子 | |
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37 petals | |
n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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38 utilizing | |
v.利用,使用( utilize的现在分词 ) | |
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39 pout | |
v.撅嘴;绷脸;n.撅嘴;生气,不高兴 | |
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40 demure | |
adj.严肃的;端庄的 | |
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41 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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42 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
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43 bespeaking | |
v.预定( bespeak的现在分词 );订(货);证明;预先请求 | |
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44 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
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45 indigo | |
n.靛青,靛蓝 | |
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46 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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47 margins | |
边( margin的名词复数 ); 利润; 页边空白; 差数 | |
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48 chestnut | |
n.栗树,栗子 | |
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49 zealous | |
adj.狂热的,热心的 | |
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50 trot | |
n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧 | |
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51 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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52 divers | |
adj.不同的;种种的 | |
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53 veiny | |
adj.纹理状的 | |
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54 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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55 merges | |
(使)混合( merge的第三人称单数 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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56 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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57 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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58 bracelets | |
n.手镯,臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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59 bracelet | |
n.手镯,臂镯 | |
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60 baroness | |
n.男爵夫人,女男爵 | |
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61 suffocation | |
n.窒息 | |
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62 intentionally | |
ad.故意地,有意地 | |
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63 withheld | |
withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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64 purport | |
n.意义,要旨,大要;v.意味著,做为...要旨,要领是... | |
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65 cursorily | |
adv.粗糙地,疏忽地,马虎地 | |
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66 manly | |
adj.有男子气概的;adv.男子般地,果断地 | |
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67 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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68 musingly | |
adv.沉思地,冥想地 | |
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69 promenade | |
n./v.散步 | |
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70 tenant | |
n.承租人;房客;佃户;v.租借,租用 | |
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71 promenading | |
v.兜风( promenade的现在分词 ) | |
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72 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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73 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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74 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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75 slovenliness | |
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76 seclusion | |
n.隐遁,隔离 | |
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77 knight | |
n.骑士,武士;爵士 | |
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78 kinsman | |
n.男亲属 | |
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79 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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80 Oxford | |
n.牛津(英国城市) | |
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81 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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82 intimacy | |
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
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83 chevron | |
n.V形臂章;V形图案 | |
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84 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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85 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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