A SUNNY midsummer day. There was such a thing sometimes, even in Coketown.
Seen from a distance in such weather, Coketown lay shrouded1 in a haze2 of its own, which appeared impervious3 to the sun's rays. You only knew the town was there, because you knew there could have been no such sulky blotch4 upon the prospect5 without a town. A blur6 of soot7 and smoke, now confusedly tending this way, now that way, now aspiring8 to the vault9 of Heaven, now murkily10 creeping along the earth, as the wind rose and fell, or changed its quarter: a dense11 formless jumble12, with sheets of cross light in it, that showed nothing but masses of darkness:- Coketown in the distance was suggestive of itself, though not a brick of it could be seen.
The wonder was, it was there at all. It had been ruined so often, that it was amazing how it had borne so many shocks. Surely there never was such fragile china-ware as that of which the millers13 of Coketown were made. Handle them never so lightly, and they fell to pieces with such ease that you might suspect them of having been flawed before. They were ruined, when they were required to send labouring children to school; they were ruined when inspectors14 were appointed to look into their works; they were ruined, when such inspectors considered it doubtful whether they were quite justified15 in chopping people up with their machinery16; they were utterly17 undone18, when it was hinted that perhaps they need not always make quite so much smoke. Besides Mr. Bounderby's gold spoon which was generally received in Coketown, another prevalent fiction was very popular there. It took the form of a threat. Whenever a Coketowner felt he was ill-used - that is to say, whenever he was not left entirely19 alone, and it was proposed to hold him accountable for the consequences of any of his acts - he was sure to come out with the awful menace, that he would 'sooner pitch his property into the Atlantic.' This had terrified the Home Secretary within an inch of his life, on several occasions.
However, the Coketowners were so patriotic20 after all, that they never had pitched their property into the Atlantic yet, but, on the contrary, had been kind enough to take mighty21 good care of it. So there it was, in the haze yonder; and it increased and multiplied.
The streets were hot and dusty on the summer day, and the sun was so bright that it even shone through the heavy vapour drooping23 over Coketown, and could not be looked at steadily24. Stokers emerged from low underground doorways25 into factory yards, and sat on steps, and posts, and palings, wiping their swarthy visages, and contemplating26 coals. The whole town seemed to be frying in oil. There was a stifling27 smell of hot oil everywhere. The steam- engines shone with it, the dresses of the Hands were soiled with it, the mills throughout their many stories oozed28 and trickled29 it. The atmosphere of those Fairy palaces was like the breath of the simoom: and their inhabitants, wasting with heat, toiled30 languidly in the desert. But no temperature made the melancholy31 mad elephants more mad or more sane32. Their wearisome heads went up and down at the same rate, in hot weather and cold, wet weather and dry, fair weather and foul33. The measured motion of their shadows on the walls, was the substitute Coketown had to show for the shadows of rustling34 woods; while, for the summer hum of insects, it could offer, all the year round, from the dawn of Monday to the night of Saturday, the whirr of shafts36 and wheels.
Drowsily37 they whirred all through this sunny day, making the passenger more sleepy and more hot as he passed the humming walls of the mills. Sun-blinds, and sprinklings of water, a little cooled the main streets and the shops; but the mills, and the courts and alleys38, baked at a fierce heat. Down upon the river that was black and thick with dye, some Coketown boys who were at large - a rare sight there - rowed a crazy boat, which made a spumous track upon the water as it jogged along, while every dip of an oar39 stirred up vile40 smells. But the sun itself, however beneficent, generally, was less kind to Coketown than hard frost, and rarely looked intently into any of its closer regions without engendering41 more death than life. So does the eye of Heaven itself become an evil eye, when incapable42 or sordid43 hands are interposed between it and the things it looks upon to bless.
Mrs. Sparsit sat in her afternoon apartment at the Bank, on the shadier side of the frying street. Office-hours were over: and at that period of the day, in warm weather, she usually embellished44 with her genteel presence, a managerial board-room over the public office. Her own private sitting-room45 was a story higher, at the window of which post of observation she was ready, every morning, to greet Mr. Bounderby, as he came across the road, with the sympathizing recognition appropriate to a Victim. He had been married now a year; and Mrs. Sparsit had never released him from her determined46 pity a moment.
The Bank offered no violence to the wholesome47 monotony of the town. It was another red brick house, with black outside shutters48, green inside blinds, a black street-door up two white steps, a brazen49 door-plate, and a brazen door-handle full stop. It was a size larger than Mr. Bounderby's house, as other houses were from a size to half-a-dozen sizes smaller; in all other particulars, it was strictly50 according to pattern.
Mrs. Sparsit was conscious that by coming in the evening-tide among the desks and writing implements51, she shed a feminine, not to say also aristocratic, grace upon the office. Seated, with her needlework or netting apparatus52, at the window, she had a self- laudatory53 sense of correcting, by her ladylike deportment, the rude business aspect of the place. With this impression of her interesting character upon her, Mrs. Sparsit considered herself, in some sort, the Bank Fairy. The townspeople who, in their passing and repassing, saw her there, regarded her as the Bank Dragon keeping watch over the treasures of the mine.
What those treasures were, Mrs. Sparsit knew as little as they did. Gold and silver coin, precious paper, secrets that if divulged54 would bring vague destruction upon vague persons (generally, however, people whom she disliked), were the chief items in her ideal catalogue thereof. For the rest, she knew that after office- hours, she reigned55 supreme56 over all the office furniture, and over a locked-up iron room with three locks, against the door of which strong chamber57 the light porter laid his head every night, on a truckle bed, that disappeared at cockcrow. Further, she was lady paramount58 over certain vaults59 in the basement, sharply spiked60 off from communication with the predatory world; and over the relics61 of the current day's work, consisting of blots62 of ink, worn-out pens, fragments of wafers, and scraps63 of paper torn so small, that nothing interesting could ever be deciphered on them when Mrs. Sparsit tried. Lastly, she was guardian64 over a little armoury of cutlasses and carbines, arrayed in vengeful order above one of the official chimney-pieces; and over that respectable tradition never to be separated from a place of business claiming to be wealthy - a row of fire-buckets - vessels65 calculated to be of no physical utility on any occasion, but observed to exercise a fine moral influence, almost equal to bullion66, on most beholders.
A deaf serving-woman and the light porter completed Mrs. Sparsit's empire. The deaf serving-woman was rumoured67 to be wealthy; and a saying had for years gone about among the lower orders of Coketown, that she would be murdered some night when the Bank was shut, for the sake of her money. It was generally considered, indeed, that she had been due some time, and ought to have fallen long ago; but she had kept her life, and her situation, with an ill-conditioned tenacity68 that occasioned much offence and disappointment.
Mrs. Sparsit's tea was just set for her on a pert little table, with its tripod of legs in an attitude, which she insinuated69 after office-hours, into the company of the stern, leathern-topped, long board-table that bestrode the middle of the room. The light porter placed the tea-tray on it, knuckling70 his forehead as a form of homage71.
'Thank you, Bitzer,' said Mrs. Sparsit.
'Thank you, ma'am,' returned the light porter. He was a very light porter indeed; as light as in the days when he blinkingly defined a horse, for girl number twenty.
'All is shut up, Bitzer?' said Mrs. Sparsit.
'All is shut up, ma'am.'
'And what,' said Mrs. Sparsit, pouring out her tea, 'is the news of the day? Anything?'
'Well, ma'am, I can't say that I have heard anything particular. Our people are a bad lot, ma'am; but that is no news, unfortunately.'
'What are the restless wretches72 doing now?' asked Mrs. Sparsit.
'Merely going on in the old way, ma'am. Uniting, and leaguing, and engaging to stand by one another.'
'It is much to be regretted,' said Mrs. Sparsit, making her nose more Roman and her eyebrows73 more Coriolanian in the strength of her severity, 'that the united masters allow of any such class- combinations.'
'Yes, ma'am,' said Bitzer.
'Being united themselves, they ought one and all to set their faces against employing any man who is united with any other man,' said Mrs. Sparsit.
'They have done that, ma'am,' returned Bitzer; 'but it rather fell through, ma'am.'
'I do not pretend to understand these things,' said Mrs. Sparsit, with dignity, 'my lot having been signally cast in a widely different sphere; and Mr. Sparsit, as a Powler, being also quite out of the pale of any such dissensions. I only know that these people must be conquered, and that it's high time it was done, once for all.'
'Yes, ma'am,' returned Bitzer, with a demonstration74 of great respect for Mrs. Sparsit's oracular authority. 'You couldn't put it clearer, I am sure, ma'am.'
As this was his usual hour for having a little confidential75 chat with Mrs. Sparsit, and as he had already caught her eye and seen that she was going to ask him something, he made a pretence76 of arranging the rulers, inkstands, and so forth77, while that lady went on with her tea, glancing through the open window, down into the street.
'Has it been a busy day, Bitzer?' asked Mrs. Sparsit.
'Not a very busy day, my lady. About an average day.' He now and then slided into my lady, instead of ma'am, as an involuntary acknowledgment of Mrs. Sparsit's personal dignity and claims to reverence78.
'The clerks,' said Mrs. Sparsit, carefully brushing an imperceptible crumb79 of bread and butter from her left-hand mitten80, 'are trustworthy, punctual, and industrious81, of course?'
'Yes, ma'am, pretty fair, ma'am. With the usual exception.'
He held the respectable office of general spy and informer in the establishment, for which volunteer service he received a present at Christmas, over and above his weekly wage. He had grown into an extremely clear-headed, cautious, prudent82 young man, who was safe to rise in the world. His mind was so exactly regulated, that he had no affections or passions. All his proceedings83 were the result of the nicest and coldest calculation; and it was not without cause that Mrs. Sparsit habitually84 observed of him, that he was a young man of the steadiest principle she had ever known. Having satisfied himself, on his father's death, that his mother had a right of settlement in Coketown, this excellent young economist85 had asserted that right for her with such a steadfast86 adherence87 to the principle of the case, that she had been shut up in the workhouse ever since. It must be admitted that he allowed her half a pound of tea a year, which was weak in him: first, because all gifts have an inevitable88 tendency to pauperise the recipient89, and secondly90, because his only reasonable transaction in that commodity would have been to buy it for as little as he could possibly give, and sell it for as much as he could possibly get; it having been clearly ascertained91 by philosophers that in this is comprised the whole duty of man - not a part of man's duty, but the whole.
'Pretty fair, ma'am. With the usual exception, ma'am,' repeated Bitzer.
'Ah - h!' said Mrs. Sparsit, shaking her head over her tea-cup, and taking a long gulp92.
'Mr. Thomas, ma'am, I doubt Mr. Thomas very much, ma'am, I don't like his ways at all.'
'Bitzer,' said Mrs. Sparsit, in a very impressive manner, 'do you recollect93 my having said anything to you respecting names?'
'I beg your pardon, ma'am. It's quite true that you did object to names being used, and they're always best avoided.'
'Please to remember that I have a charge here,' said Mrs. Sparsit, with her air of state. 'I hold a trust here, Bitzer, under Mr. Bounderby. However improbable both Mr. Bounderby and myself might have deemed it years ago, that he would ever become my patron, making me an annual compliment, I cannot but regard him in that light. From Mr. Bounderby I have received every acknowledgment of my social station, and every recognition of my family descent, that I could possibly expect. More, far more. Therefore, to my patron I will be scrupulously94 true. And I do not consider, I will not consider, I cannot consider,' said Mrs. Sparsit, with a most extensive stock on hand of honour and morality, 'that I should be scrupulously true, if I allowed names to be mentioned under this roof, that are unfortunately - most unfortunately - no doubt of that - connected with his.'
Bitzer knuckled95 his forehead again, and again begged pardon.
'No, Bitzer,' continued Mrs. Sparsit, 'say an individual, and I will hear you; say Mr. Thomas, and you must excuse me.'
'With the usual exception, ma'am,' said Bitzer, trying back, 'of an individual.'
'Ah - h!' Mrs. Sparsit repeated the ejaculation, the shake of the head over her tea-cup, and the long gulp, as taking up the conversation again at the point where it had been interrupted.
'An individual, ma'am,' said Bitzer, 'has never been what he ought to have been, since he first came into the place. He is a dissipated, extravagant96 idler. He is not worth his salt, ma'am. He wouldn't get it either, if he hadn't a friend and relation at court, ma'am!'
'Ah - h!' said Mrs. Sparsit, with another melancholy shake of her head.
'I only hope, ma'am,' pursued Bitzer, 'that his friend and relation may not supply him with the means of carrying on. Otherwise, ma'am, we know out of whose pocket that money comes.'
'Ah - h!' sighed Mrs. Sparsit again, with another melancholy shake of her head.
'He is to be pitied, ma'am. The last party I have alluded97 to, is to be pitied, ma'am,' said Bitzer.
'Yes, Bitzer,' said Mrs. Sparsit. 'I have always pitied the delusion98, always.'
'As to an individual, ma'am,' said Bitzer, dropping his voice and drawing nearer, 'he is as improvident99 as any of the people in this town. And you know what their improvidence101 is, ma'am. No one could wish to know it better than a lady of your eminence102 does.'
'They would do well,' returned Mrs. Sparsit, 'to take example by you, Bitzer.'
'Thank you, ma'am. But, since you do refer to me, now look at me, ma'am. I have put by a little, ma'am, already. That gratuity103 which I receive at Christmas, ma'am: I never touch it. I don't even go the length of my wages, though they're not high, ma'am. Why can't they do as I have done, ma'am? What one person can do, another can do.'
This, again, was among the fictions of Coketown. Any capitalist there, who had made sixty thousand pounds out of sixpence, always professed104 to wonder why the sixty thousand nearest Hands didn't each make sixty thousand pounds out of sixpence, and more or less reproached them every one for not accomplishing the little feat105. What I did you can do. Why don't you go and do it?
'As to their wanting recreations, ma'am,' said Bitzer, 'it's stuff and nonsense. I don't want recreations. I never did, and I never shall; I don't like 'em. As to their combining together; there are many of them, I have no doubt, that by watching and informing upon one another could earn a trifle now and then, whether in money or good will, and improve their livelihood106. Then, why don't they improve it, ma'am! It's the first consideration of a rational creature, and it's what they pretend to want.'
'Pretend indeed!' said Mrs. Sparsit.
'I am sure we are constantly hearing, ma'am, till it becomes quite nauseous, concerning their wives and families,' said Bitzer. 'Why look at me, ma'am! I don't want a wife and family. Why should they?'
'Because they are improvident,' said Mrs. Sparsit.
'Yes, ma'am,' returned Bitzer, 'that's where it is. If they were more provident100 and less perverse107, ma'am, what would they do? They would say, "While my hat covers my family," or "while my bonnet108 covers my family," - as the case might be, ma'am - "I have only one to feed, and that's the person I most like to feed."'
'To be sure,' assented110 Mrs. Sparsit, eating muffin.
'Thank you, ma'am,' said Bitzer, knuckling his forehead again, in return for the favour of Mrs. Sparsit's improving conversation. 'Would you wish a little more hot water, ma'am, or is there anything else that I could fetch you?'
'Nothing just now, Bitzer.'
'Thank you, ma'am. I shouldn't wish to disturb you at your meals, ma'am, particularly tea, knowing your partiality for it,' said Bitzer, craning a little to look over into the street from where he stood; 'but there's a gentleman been looking up here for a minute or so, ma'am, and he has come across as if he was going to knock. That is his knock, ma'am, no doubt.'
He stepped to the window; and looking out, and drawing in his head again, confirmed himself with, 'Yes, ma'am. Would you wish the gentleman to be shown in, ma'am?'
'I don't know who it can be,' said Mrs. Sparsit, wiping her mouth and arranging her mittens111.
'A stranger, ma'am, evidently.'
'What a stranger can want at the Bank at this time of the evening, unless he comes upon some business for which he is too late, I don't know,' said Mrs. Sparsit, 'but I hold a charge in this establishment from Mr. Bounderby, and I will never shrink from it. If to see him is any part of the duty I have accepted, I will see him. Use your own discretion112, Bitzer.'
Here the visitor, all unconscious of Mrs. Sparsit's magnanimous words, repeated his knock so loudly that the light porter hastened down to open the door; while Mrs. Sparsit took the precaution of concealing113 her little table, with all its appliances upon it, in a cupboard, and then decamped up-stairs, that she might appear, if needful, with the greater dignity.
'If you please, ma'am, the gentleman would wish to see you,' said Bitzer, with his light eye at Mrs. Sparsit's keyhole. So, Mrs. Sparsit, who had improved the interval114 by touching115 up her cap, took her classical features down-stairs again, and entered the board- room in the manner of a Roman matron going outside the city walls to treat with an invading general.
The visitor having strolled to the window, and being then engaged in looking carelessly out, was as unmoved by this impressive entry as man could possibly be. He stood whistling to himself with all imaginable coolness, with his hat still on, and a certain air of exhaustion116 upon him, in part arising from excessive summer, and in part from excessive gentility. For it was to be seen with half an eye that he was a thorough gentleman, made to the model of the time; weary of everything, and putting no more faith in anything than Lucifer.
'I believe, sir,' quoth Mrs. Sparsit, 'you wished to see me.'
'I beg your pardon,' he said, turning and removing his hat; 'pray excuse me.'
'Humph!' thought Mrs. Sparsit, as she made a stately bend. 'Five and thirty, good-looking, good figure, good teeth, good voice, good breeding, well-dressed, dark hair, bold eyes.' All which Mrs. Sparsit observed in her womanly way - like the Sultan who put his head in the pail of water - merely in dipping down and coming up again.
'Please to be seated, sir,' said Mrs. Sparsit.
'Thank you. Allow me.' He placed a chair for her, but remained himself carelessly lounging against the table. 'I left my servant at the railway looking after the luggage - very heavy train and vast quantity of it in the van - and strolled on, looking about me. Exceedingly odd place. Will you allow me to ask you if it's always as black as this?'
'In general much blacker,' returned Mrs. Sparsit, in her uncompromising way.
'Is it possible! Excuse me: you are not a native, I think?'
'No, sir,' returned Mrs. Sparsit. 'It was once my good or ill fortune, as it may be - before I became a widow - to move in a very different sphere. My husband was a Powler.'
'Beg your pardon, really!' said the stranger. 'Was - ?'
Mrs. Sparsit repeated, 'A Powler.'
'Powler Family,' said the stranger, after reflecting a few moments. Mrs. Sparsit signified assent109. The stranger seemed a little more fatigued117 than before.
'You must be very much bored here?' was the inference he drew from the communication.
'I am the servant of circumstances, sir,' said Mrs. Sparsit, 'and I have long adapted myself to the governing power of my life.'
'Very philosophical,' returned the stranger, 'and very exemplary and laudable, and - ' It seemed to be scarcely worth his while to finish the sentence, so he played with his watch-chain wearily.
'May I be permitted to ask, sir,' said Mrs. Sparsit, 'to what I am indebted for the favour of - '
'Assuredly,' said the stranger. 'Much obliged to you for reminding me. I am the bearer of a letter of introduction to Mr. Bounderby, the banker. Walking through this extraordinarily118 black town, while they were getting dinner ready at the hotel, I asked a fellow whom I met; one of the working people; who appeared to have been taking a shower-bath of something fluffy119, which I assume to be the raw material - '
Mrs. Sparsit inclined her head.
' - Raw material - where Mr. Bounderby, the banker, might reside. Upon which, misled no doubt by the word Banker, he directed me to the Bank. Fact being, I presume, that Mr. Bounderby the Banker does not reside in the edifice120 in which I have the honour of offering this explanation?'
'No, sir,' returned Mrs. Sparsit, 'he does not.'
'Thank you. I had no intention of delivering my letter at the present moment, nor have I. But strolling on to the Bank to kill time, and having the good fortune to observe at the window,' towards which he languidly waved his hand, then slightly bowed, 'a lady of a very superior and agreeable appearance, I considered that I could not do better than take the liberty of asking that lady where Mr. Bounderby the Banker does live. Which I accordingly venture, with all suitable apologies, to do.'
The inattention and indolence of his manner were sufficiently121 relieved, to Mrs. Sparsit's thinking, by a certain gallantry at ease, which offered her homage too. Here he was, for instance, at this moment, all but sitting on the table, and yet lazily bending over her, as if he acknowledged an attraction in her that made her charming - in her way.
'Banks, I know, are always suspicious, and officially must be,' said the stranger, whose lightness and smoothness of speech were pleasant likewise; suggesting matter far more sensible and humorous than it ever contained - which was perhaps a shrewd device of the founder122 of this numerous sect35, whosoever may have been that great man: 'therefore I may observe that my letter - here it is - is from the member for this place - Gradgrind - whom I have had the pleasure of knowing in London.'
Mrs. Sparsit recognized the hand, intimated that such confirmation123 was quite unnecessary, and gave Mr. Bounderby's address, with all needful clues and directions in aid.
'Thousand thanks,' said the stranger. 'Of course you know the Banker well?'
'Yes, sir,' rejoined Mrs. Sparsit. 'In my dependent relation towards him, I have known him ten years.'
'Quite an eternity124! I think he married Gradgrind's daughter?'
'Yes,' said Mrs. Sparsit, suddenly compressing her mouth, 'he had that - honour.'
'The lady is quite a philosopher, I am told?'
'Indeed, sir,' said Mrs. Sparsit. 'Is she?'
'Excuse my impertinent curiosity,' pursued the stranger, fluttering over Mrs. Sparsit's eyebrows, with a propitiatory125 air, 'but you know the family, and know the world. I am about to know the family, and may have much to do with them. Is the lady so very alarming? Her father gives her such a portentously126 hard-headed reputation, that I have a burning desire to know. Is she absolutely unapproachable? Repellently and stunningly127 clever? I see, by your meaning smile, you think not. You have poured balm into my anxious soul. As to age, now. Forty? Five and thirty?'
Mrs. Sparsit laughed outright128. 'A chit,' said she. 'Not twenty when she was married.'
'I give you my honour, Mrs. Powler,' returned the stranger, detaching himself from the table, 'that I never was so astonished in my life!'
It really did seem to impress him, to the utmost extent of his capacity of being impressed. He looked at his informant for full a quarter of a minute, and appeared to have the surprise in his mind all the time. 'I assure you, Mrs. Powler,' he then said, much exhausted129, 'that the father's manner prepared me for a grim and stony130 maturity131. I am obliged to you, of all things, for correcting so absurd a mistake. Pray excuse my intrusion. Many thanks. Good day!'
He bowed himself out; and Mrs. Sparsit, hiding in the window curtain, saw him languishing132 down the street on the shady side of the way, observed of all the town.
'What do you think of the gentleman, Bitzer?' she asked the light porter, when he came to take away.
'Spends a deal of money on his dress, ma'am.'
'It must be admitted,' said Mrs. Sparsit, 'that it's very tasteful.'
'Yes, ma'am,' returned Bitzer, 'if that's worth the money.'
'Besides which, ma'am,' resumed Bitzer, while he was polishing the table, 'he looks to me as if he gamed.'
'It's immoral133 to game,' said Mrs. Sparsit.
'It's ridiculous, ma'am,' said Bitzer, 'because the chances are against the players.'
Whether it was that the heat prevented Mrs. Sparsit from working, or whether it was that her hand was out, she did no work that night. She sat at the window, when the sun began to sink behind the smoke; she sat there, when the smoke was burning red, when the colour faded from it, when darkness seemed to rise slowly out of the ground, and creep upward, upward, up to the house-tops, up the church steeple, up to the summits of the factory chimneys, up to the sky. Without a candle in the room, Mrs. Sparsit sat at the window, with her hands before her, not thinking much of the sounds of evening; the whooping134 of boys, the barking of dogs, the rumbling135 of wheels, the steps and voices of passengers, the shrill136 street cries, the clogs137 upon the pavement when it was their hour for going by, the shutting-up of shop-shutters. Not until the light porter announced that her nocturnal sweetbread was ready, did Mrs. Sparsit arouse herself from her reverie, and convey her dense black eyebrows - by that time creased22 with meditation138, as if they needed ironing out-up-stairs.
'O, you Fool!' said Mrs. Sparsit, when she was alone at her supper. Whom she meant, she did not say; but she could scarcely have meant the sweetbread.
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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blotch
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| n.大斑点；红斑点；v.使沾上污渍，弄脏 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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murkily
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| adv.阴暗地；混浊地；可疑地；黝暗地 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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millers
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| n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工 | |
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inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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18
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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19
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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20
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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21
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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22
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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23
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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24
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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25
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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26
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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27
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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28
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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29
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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30
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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31
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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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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33
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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34
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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35
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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36
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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37
drowsily
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| adv.睡地，懒洋洋地，昏昏欲睡地 | |
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38
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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39
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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40
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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41
engendering
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的现在分词 ) | |
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42
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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43
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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44
embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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45
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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46
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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47
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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48
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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49
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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50
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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51
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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52
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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53
laudatory
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| adj.赞扬的 | |
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54
divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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56
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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57
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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58
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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59
vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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60
spiked
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| adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的 | |
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61
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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62
blots
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| 污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点 | |
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63
scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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64
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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65
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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66
bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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67
rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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68
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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69
insinuated
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| v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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70
knuckling
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| n.突球v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的现在分词 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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71
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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72
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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73
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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74
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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75
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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76
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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77
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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78
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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79
crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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80
mitten
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| n.连指手套，露指手套 | |
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81
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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82
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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83
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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84
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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85
economist
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| n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人 | |
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86
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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87
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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88
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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89
recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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90
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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91
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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92
gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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93
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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94
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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95
knuckled
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| v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的过去式和过去分词 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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96
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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97
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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99
improvident
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| adj.不顾将来的，不节俭的，无远见的 | |
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100
provident
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| adj.为将来做准备的，有先见之明的 | |
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101
improvidence
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| n.目光短浅 | |
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102
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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103
gratuity
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| n.赏钱，小费 | |
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104
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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105
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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106
livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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107
perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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108
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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109
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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110
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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111
mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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112
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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113
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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114
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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115
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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116
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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117
fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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118
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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119
fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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120
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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121
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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122
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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123
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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124
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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125
propitiatory
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| adj.劝解的；抚慰的；谋求好感的；哄人息怒的 | |
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126
portentously
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127
stunningly
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| ad.令人目瞪口呆地；惊人地 | |
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128
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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129
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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130
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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131
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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132
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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133
immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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134
whooping
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| 发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的 | |
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135
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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136
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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137
clogs
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| 木屐； 木底鞋，木屐( clog的名词复数 ) | |
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138
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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