Constance stood at the large, many-paned window in the parlour. She was stouter1. Although always plump, her figure had been comely2, with a neat, well-marked waist. But now the shapeliness had gone; the waist-line no longer existed, and there were no more crinolines to create it artificially. An observer not under the charm of her face might have been excused for calling her fat and lumpy. The face, grave, kind, and expectant, with its radiant, fresh cheeks, and the rounded softness of its curves, atoned3 for the figure. She was nearly twenty-nine years of age.
It was late in October. In Wedgwood Street, next to Boulton Terrace, all the little brown houses had been pulled down to make room for a palatial4 covered market, whose foundations were then being dug. This destruction exposed a vast area of sky to the north-east. A great dark cloud with an untidy edge rose massively out of the depths and curtained off the tender blue of approaching dusk; while in the west, behind Constance, the sun was setting in calm and gorgeous melancholy5 on the Thursday hush6 of the town. It was one of those afternoons which gather up all the sadness of the moving earth and transform it into beauty.
Samuel Povey turned the corner from Wedgwood Street, and crossed King Street obliquely7 to the front-door, which Constance opened. He seemed tired and anxious.
"Well?" demanded Constance, as he entered.
"She's no better. There's no getting away from it, she's worse. I should have stayed, only I knew you'd be worrying. So I caught the three-fifty."
"How is that Mrs. Gilchrist shaping as a nurse?"
"She's very good," said Samuel, with conviction. "Very good!"
"What a blessing8! I suppose you didn't happen to see the doctor?"
"Yes, I did."
"What did he say to you?"
Samuel gave a deprecating gesture. "Didn't say anything particular. With dropsy, at that stage, you know ..."
Constance had returned to the window, her expectancy9 apparently10 unappeased.
"I don't like the look of that cloud," she murmured.
"What! Are they out still?" Samuel inquired, taking off his overcoat.
"Here they are!" cried Constance. Her features suddenly transfigured, she sprang to the door, pulled it open, and descended11 the steps.
A perambulator was being rapidly pushed up the slope by a breathless girl.
"Amy," Constance gently protested, "I told you not to venture far."
"I hurried all I could, mum, soon as I seed that cloud," the girl puffed12, with the air of one who is seriously thankful to have escaped a great disaster.
Constance dived into the recesses13 of the perambulator and extricated14 from its cocoon15 the centre of the universe, and scrutinized16 him with quiet passion, and then rushed with him into the house, though not a drop of rain had yet fallen.
"Precious!" exclaimed Amy, in ecstasy17, her young virginal eyes following him till he disappeared. Then she wheeled away the perambulator, which now had no more value nor interest than an egg-shell. It was necessary to take it right round to the Brougham Street yard entrance, past the front of the closed shop.
Constance sat down on the horsehair sofa and hugged and kissed her prize before removing his bonnet18.
"Here's Daddy!" she said to him, as if imparting strange and rapturous tidings. "Here's Daddy come back from hanging up his coat in the passage! Daddy rubbing his hands!" And then, with a swift transition of voice and features: "Do look at him, Sam!"
Samuel, preoccupied19, stooped forward. "Oh, you little scoundrel! Oh, you little scoundrel!" he greeted the baby, advancing his finger towards the baby's nose.
The baby, who had hitherto maintained a passive indifference20 to external phenomena21, lifted elbows and toes, blew bubbles from his tiny mouth, and stared at the finger with the most ravishing, roguish smile, as though saying: "I know that great sticking-out limb, and there is a joke about it which no one but me can see, and which is my secret joy that you shall never share."
"Tea ready?" Samuel asked, resuming his gravity and his ordinary pose.
"You must give the girl time to take her things off," said Constance. "We'll have the table drawn22, away from the fire, and baby can lie on his shawl on the hearthrug while we're having tea." Then to the baby, in rapture23: "And play with his toys; all his nice, nice toys!"
"You know Miss Insull is staying for tea?"
Constance, her head bent24 over the baby, who formed a white patch on her comfortable brown frock, nodded without speaking.
Samuel Povey, walking to and fro, began to enter into details of his hasty journey to Axe25. Old Mrs. Baines, having beheld26 her grandson, was preparing to quit this world. Never again would she exclaim, in her brusque tone of genial27 ruthlessness: 'Fiddlesticks!' The situation was very difficult and distressing28, for Constance could not leave her baby, and she would not, until the last urgency, run the risks of a journey with him to Axe. He was being weaned. In any case Constance could not have undertaken the nursing of her mother. A nurse had to be found. Mr. Povey had discovered one in the person of Mrs. Gilchrist, the second wife of a farmer at Malpas in Cheshire, whose first wife had been a sister of the late John Baines. All the credit of Mrs. Gilchrist was due to Samuel Povey. Mrs. Baines fretted29 seriously about Sophia, who had given no sign of life for a very long time. Mr. Povey went to Manchester and ascertained30 definitely from the relatives of Scales that nothing was known of the pair. He did not go to Manchester especially on this errand. About once in three weeks, on Tuesdays, he had to visit the Manchester warehouses31; but the tracking of Scales's relative cost him so much trouble and time that, curiously32, he came to believe that he had gone to Manchester one Tuesday for no other end. Although he was very busy indeed in the shop, he flew over to Axe and back whenever he possibly could, to the neglect of his affairs. He was glad to do all that was in his power; even if he had not done it graciously his sensitive, tyrannic conscience would have forced him to do it. But nevertheless he felt rather virtuous33, and worry and fatigue34 and loss of sleep intensified35 this sense of virtue36.
"So that if there is any sudden change they will telegraph," he finished, to Constance.
She raised her head. The words, clinching37 what had led up to them, drew her from her dream and she saw, for a moment, her mother in an agony.
"But you don't surely mean--?" she began, trying to disperse38 the painful vision as unjustified by the facts.
"My dear girl," said Samuel, with head singing, and hot eyes, and a consciousness of high tension in every nerve of his body, "I simply mean that if there's any sudden change they will telegraph."
While they had tea, Samuel sitting opposite to his wife, and Miss Insull nearly against the wall (owing to the moving of the table), the baby rolled about on the hearthrug, which had been covered with a large soft woollen shawl, originally the property of his great-grandmother. He had no cares, no responsibilities. The shawl was so vast that he could not clearly distinguish objects beyond its confines. On it lay an indiarubber ball, an indiarubber doll, a rattle39, and fan. He vaguely40 recollected41 all four items, with their respective properties. The fire also was an old friend. He had occasionally tried to touch it, but a high bright fence always came in between. For ten months he had never spent a day without making experiments on this shifting universe in which he alone remained firm and stationary42. The experiments were chiefly conducted out of idle amusement, but he was serious on the subject of food. Lately the behaviour of the universe in regard to his food had somewhat perplexed43 him, had indeed annoyed him. However, he was of a forgetful, happy disposition44, and so long as the universe continued to fulfil its sole end as a machinery45 for the satisfaction, somehow, of his imperious desires, he was not inclined to remonstrate46. He gazed at the flames and laughed, and laughed because he had laughed. He pushed the ball away and wriggled47 after it, and captured it with the assurance of practice. He tried to swallow the doll, and it was not until he had tried several times to swallow it that he remembered the failure of previous efforts and philosophically48 desisted. He rolled with a fearful shock, arms and legs in air, against the mountainous flank of that mammoth49 Fan, and clutched at Fan's ear. The whole mass of Fan upheaved and vanished from his view, and was instantly forgotten by him. He seized the doll and tried to swallow it, and repeated the exhibition of his skill with the ball. Then he saw the fire again and laughed. And so he existed for centuries: no responsibilities, no appetites; and the shawl was vast. Terrific operations went on over his head. Giants moved to and fro. Great vessels50 were carried off and great books were brought and deep voices rumbled51 regularly in the spaces beyond the shawl. But he remained oblivious52. At last he became aware that a face was looking down at his. He recognized it, and immediately an uncomfortable sensation in his stomach disturbed him; he tolerated it for fifty years or so, and then he gave a little cry. Life had resumed its seriousness.
"Black alpaca. B quality. Width 20, t.a. 22 yards," Miss Insull read out of a great book. She and Mr. Povey were checking stock.
And Mr. Povey responded, "Black alpaca B quality. Width 20, t.a. 22 yards. It wants ten minutes yet." He had glanced at the clock.
"Does it?" said Constance, well knowing that it wanted ten minutes.
The baby did not guess that a high invisible god named Samuel Povey, whom nothing escaped, and who could do everything at once, was controlling his universe from an inconceivable distance. On the contrary, the baby was crying to himself, There is no God.
His weaning had reached the stage at which a baby really does not know what will happen next. The annoyance53 had begun exactly three months after his first tooth, such being the rule of the gods, and it had grown more and more disconcerting. No sooner did he accustom54 himself to a new phenomenon than it mysteriously ceased, and an old one took its place which he had utterly55 forgotten. This afternoon his mother nursed him, but not until she had foolishly attempted to divert him from the seriousness of life by means of gewgaws of which he was sick. Still; once at her rich breast, he forgave and forgot all. He preferred her simple natural breast to more modern inventions. And he had no shame, no modesty56. Nor had his mother. It was an indecent carouse57 at which his father and Miss Insull had to assist. But his father had shame. His father would have preferred that, as Miss Insull had kindly58 offered to stop and work on Thursday afternoon, and as the shop was chilly59, the due rotation60 should have brought the bottle round at half-past five o'clock, and not the mother's breast. He was a self-conscious parent, rather apologetic to the world, rather apt to stand off and pretend that he had nothing to do with the affair; and he genuinely disliked that anybody should witness the intimate scene of HIS wife feeding HIS baby. Especially Miss Insull, that prim61, dark, moustached spinster! He would not have called it an outrage62 on Miss Insull, to force her to witness the scene, but his idea approached within sight of the word.
Constance blandly63 offered herself to the child, with the unconscious primitive64 savagery65 of a young mother, and as the baby fed, thoughts of her own mother flitted to and fro ceaselessly like vague shapes over the deep sea of content which filled her mind. This illness of her mother's was abnormal, and the baby was now, for the first time perhaps, entirely66 normal in her consciousness. The baby was something which could be disturbed, not something which did disturb. What a change! What a change that had seemed impossible until its full accomplishment67!
For months before the birth, she had glimpsed at nights and in other silent hours the tremendous upset. She had not allowed herself to be silly in advance; by temperament68 she was too sagacious, too well balanced for that; but she had had fitful instants of terror, when solid ground seemed to sink away from her, and imagination shook at what faced her. Instants only! Usually she could play the comedy of sensible calmness to almost perfection. Then the appointed time drew nigh. And still she smiled, and Samuel smiled. But the preparations, meticulous69, intricate, revolutionary, belied70 their smiles. The intense resolve to keep Mrs. Baines, by methods scrupulous71 or unscrupulous, away from Bursley until all was over, belied their smiles. And then the first pains, sharp, shocking, cruel, heralds72 of torture! But when they had withdrawn73, she smiled, again, palely. Then she was in bed, full of the sensation that the whole house was inverted74 and disorganized, hopelessly. And the doctor came into the room. She smiled at the doctor apologetically, foolishly, as if saying: "We all come to it. Here I am." She was calm without. Oh, but what a prey75 of abject76 fear within! "I am at the edge of the precipice," her thought ran; "in a moment I shall be over." And then the pains--not the heralds but the shattering army, endless, increasing in terror as they thundered across her. Yet she could think, quite clearly: "Now I'm in the middle of it. This is it, the horror that I have not dared to look at. My life's in the balance. I may never get up again. All has at last come to pass. It seemed as if it would never come, as if this thing could not happen to me. But at last it has come to pass!"
Ah! Some one put the twisted end of a towel into her hand again-- she had loosed it; and she pulled, pulled, enough to break cables. And then she shrieked77. It was for pity. It was for some one to help her, at any rate to take notice of her. She was dying. Her soul was leaving her. And she was alone, panic-stricken, in the midst of a cataclysm78 a thousand times surpassing all that she had imagined of sickening horror. "I cannot endure this," she thought passionately79. "It is impossible that I should be asked to endure this!" And then she wept; beaten, terrorized, smashed and riven. No commonsense80 now! No wise calmness now! No self-respect now! Why, not even a woman now! Nothing but a kind of animalized victim! And then the supreme81 endless spasm82, during which she gave up the ghost and bade good-bye to her very self.
She was lying quite comfortable in the soft bed; idle, silly: happiness forming like a thin crust over the lava83 of her anguish84 and her fright. And by her side was the soul that had fought its way out of her, ruthlessly; the secret disturber revealed to the light of morning. Curious to look at! Not like any baby that she had ever seen; red, creased85, brutish! But--for some reason that she did not examine--she folded it in an immense tenderness.
Sam was by the bed, away from her eyes. She was so comfortable and silly that she could not move her head nor even ask him to come round to her eyes. She had to wait till he came.
In the afternoon the doctor returned, and astounded86 her by saying that hers had been an ideal confinement87. She was too weary to rebuke88 him for a senseless, blind, callous89 old man. But she knew what she knew. "No one will ever guess," she thought, "no one ever can guess, what I've been through! Talk as you like. I KNOW, now."
Gradually she had resumed cognizance of her household, perceiving that it was demoralized from top to bottom, and that when the time came to begin upon it she would not be able to settle where to begin, even supposing that the baby were not there to monopolize90 her attention. The task appalled91 her. Then she wanted to get up. Then she got up. What a blow to self-confidence! She went back to bed like a little scared rabbit to its hole, glad, glad to be on the soft pillows again. She said: "Yet the time must come when I shall be downstairs, and walking about and meeting people, and cooking and superintending the millinery." Well, it did come-- except that she had to renounce92 the millinery to Miss Insull--but it was not the same. No, different! The baby pushed everything else on to another plane. He was a terrific intruder; not one minute of her old daily life was left; he made no compromise whatever. If she turned away her gaze from him he might pop off into eternity93 and leave her.
And now she was calmly and sensibly giving him suck in presence of Miss Insull. She was used to his importance, to the fragility of his organism, to waking twice every night, to being fat. She was strong again. The convulsive twitching94 that for six months had worried her repose95, had quite disappeared. The state of being a mother was normal, and the baby was so normal that she could not conceive the house without him.
All in ten months!
When the baby was installed in his cot for the night, she came downstairs and found Miss Insull and Samuel still working, and Larder96 than ever, but at addition sums now. She sat down, leaving the door open at the foot of the stairs. She had embroidery97 in hand: a cap. And while Miss Insull and Samuel combined pounds, shillings, and pence, whispering at great speed, she bent over the delicate, intimate, wasteful98 handiwork, drawing the needle with slow exactitude. Then she would raise her head and listen.
"Excuse me," said Miss Insull, "I think I hear baby crying."
"And two are eight and three are eleven. He must cry," said Mr. Povey, rapidly, without looking up.
The baby's parents did not make a practice of discussing their domestic existence even with Miss Insull; but Constance had to justify99 herself as a mother.
"I've made perfectly100 sure he's comfortable," said Constance. "He's only crying because he fancies he's neglected. And we think he can't begin too early to learn."
"How right you are!" said Miss Insull. "Two and carry three."
That distant, feeble, querulous, pitiful cry continued obstinately101. It continued for thirty minutes. Constance could not proceed with her work. The cry disintegrated102 her will, dissolved her hard sagacity.
Without a word she crept upstairs, having carefully deposed103 the cap on her rocking-chair.
Mr. Povey hesitated a moment and then bounded up after her, startling Fan. He shut the door on Miss Insull, but Fan was too quick for him. He saw Constance with her hand on the bedroom door.
"My dear girl," he protested, holding himself in. "Now what ARE you going to do?"
"I'm just listening," said Constance.
"Do be reasonable and come downstairs."
He spoke104 in a low voice, scarcely masking his nervous irritation105, and tiptoed along the corridor towards her and up the two steps past the gas-burner. Fan followed, wagging her tail expectant.
"Suppose he's not well?" Constance suggested.
"Pshaw!" Mr. Povey exclaimed contemptuously. "You remember what happened last night and what you said!"
They argued, subduing106 their tones to the false semblance107 of good- will, there in the closeness of the corridor. Fan, deceived, ceased to wag her tail and then trotted108 away. The baby's cry, behind the door, rose to a mysterious despairing howl, which had such an effect on Constance's heart that she could have walked through fire to reach the baby. But Mr. Povey's will held her. And she rebelled, angry, hurt, resentful. Commonsense, the ideal of mutual109 forbearance, had winged away from that excited pair. It would have assuredly ended in a quarrel, with Samuel glaring at her in black fury from the other side of a bottomless chasm110, had not Miss Insull most surprisingly burst up the stairs.
Mr. Povey turned to face her, swallowing his emotion.
"A telegram!" said Miss Insull. "The postmaster brought it down himself--"
"What? Mr. Derry?" asked Samuel, opening the telegram with an affectation of majesty111.
"Yes. He said it was too late for delivery by rights. But as it seemed very important ..."
Samuel scanned it and nodded gravely; then gave it to his wife. Tears came into her eyes.
"I'll get Cousin Daniel to drive me over at once," said Samuel, master of himself and of the situation.
"Wouldn't it be better to hire?" Constance suggested. She had a prejudice against Daniel.
Mr. Povey shook his head. "He offered," he replied. "I can't refuse his offer."
"Put your thick overcoat on, dear," said Constance, in a dream, descending112 with him.
"I hope it isn't--" Miss Insull stopped.
"Yes it is, Miss Insull," said Samuel, deliberately113.
In less than a minute he was gone.
Constance ran upstairs. But the cry had ceased. She turned the door-knob softly, slowly, and crept into the chamber114. A night- light made large shadows among the heavy mahogany and the crimson115, tasselled rep in the close-curtained room. And between the bed and the ottoman (on which lay Samuel's newly-bought family Bible) the cot loomed116 in the shadows. She picked up the night-light and stole round the bed. Yes, he had decided117 to fall asleep. The hazard of death afar off had just defeated his devilish obstinacy118. Fate had bested him. How marvellously soft and delicate that tear-stained cheek! How frail119 that tiny, tiny clenched120 hand! In Constance grief and joy were mystically united.
收听单词发音 |
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stouter
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| 粗壮的( stout的比较级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
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comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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extricated
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cocoon
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| n.茧 | |
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scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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clinching
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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43
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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44
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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45
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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46
remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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47
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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48
philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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49
mammoth
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| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
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50
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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51
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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52
oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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53
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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54
accustom
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| vt.使适应，使习惯 | |
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55
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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56
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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57
carouse
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| v.狂欢；痛饮；n.狂饮的宴会 | |
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58
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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59
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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60
rotation
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| n.旋转；循环，轮流 | |
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61
prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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62
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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65
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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66
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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67
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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68
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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69
meticulous
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| adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的 | |
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70
belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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71
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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72
heralds
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| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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73
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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76
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
cataclysm
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| n.洪水，剧变，大灾难 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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commonsense
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| adj.有常识的；明白事理的；注重实际的 | |
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81
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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82
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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83
lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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84
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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85
creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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88
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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89
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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90
monopolize
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| v.垄断，独占，专营 | |
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91
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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92
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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93
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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94
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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95
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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96
larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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97
embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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98
wasteful
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| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
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99
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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100
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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101
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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102
disintegrated
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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104
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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105
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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106
subduing
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| 征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗 | |
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107
semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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108
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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109
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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110
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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111
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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112
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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113
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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114
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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115
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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116
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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117
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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118
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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119
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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120
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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