Here at Maidstone it was Mr. Caryll's intent to dine, resuming his journey in the cool of the evening, when he hoped to get at least as far as Farnborough ere he slept.
Landlady3, chamberlain, ostler and a posse of underlings hastened to give welcome to so fine a gentleman, and a private room above-stairs was placed at his disposal. Before ascending4, however, Mr. Caryll sauntered into the bar for a whetting5 glass to give him an appetite, and further for the purpose of bespeaking7 in detail his dinner with the hostess. It was one of his traits that he gave the greatest attention to detail, and held that the man who left the ordering of his edibles8 to his servants was no better than an animal who saw no more than nourishment9 in food. Nor was the matter one to be settled summarily; it asked thought and time. So he sipped10 his Hock, listening to the landlady's proposals, and amending11 them where necessary with suggestions of his own, and what time he was so engaged, there ambled12 into the inn yard a sturdy cob bearing a sturdy little man in snuff-colored clothes that had seen some wear.
The newcomer threw his reins13 to the stable-boy—a person of all the importance necessary to receive so indifferent a guest. He got down nimbly from his horse, produced an enormous handkerchief of many colors, and removed his three-cornered hat that he might the better mop his brow and youthful, almost cherubic face. What time he did so, a pair of bright little blue eyes were very busy with Mr. Caryll's carriage, from which Leduc, Mr. Caryll's valet, was in the act of removing a portmantle. His mobile mouth fell into lines of satisfaction.
Still mopping himself, he entered the inn, and, guided by the drone of voices, sauntered into the bar. At sight of Mr. Caryll leaning there, his little eyes beamed an instant, as do the eyes of one who espies14 a friend, or—apter figure—the eyes of the hunter when they sight the quarry15.
He advanced to the bar, bowing to Mr. Caryll with an air almost apologetic, and to the landlady with an air scarcely less so, as he asked for a nipperkin of ale to wash the dust of the road from his throat. The hostess called a drawer to serve him, and departed herself upon the momentous16 business of Mr. Caryll's dinner.
Mr. Caryll agreed with him politely, and finished his glass, the other sipping18 meanwhile at his ale.
“A fine brew19, sir,” said he. “A prodigious20 fine brew! With all respect, sir, your honor should try a whet6 of our English ale.”
Mr. Caryll, setting down his glass, looked languidly at the man. “Why do you exclude me, sir, from the nation of this beverage21?” he inquired.
The chubby man's face expressed astonishment22. “Ye're English, sir! Ecod! I had thought ye French!”
“It is an honor, sir, that you should have thought me anything.”
The other abased23 himself. “'Twas an unwarrantable presumption24, Codso! which I hope your honor'll pardon.” Then he smiled again, his little eyes twinkling humorously. “An ye would try the ale, I dare swear your honor would forgive me. I know ale, ecod! I am a brewer25 myself. Green is my name, sir—Tom Green—your very obedient servant, sir.” And he drank as if pledging that same service he professed26.
Mr. Caryll observed him calmly and a thought indifferently. “Ye're determined27 to honor me,” said he. “I am your debtor28 for your reflections upon whetting glasses; but ale, sir, is a beverage I don't affect, nor shall while there are vines in France.”
“Ah!” sighed Mr. Green rapturously. “'Tis a great country, France; is it not, sir?”
“'Tis not the general opinion here at present. But I make no doubt that it deserves your praise.”
“And Paris, now,” persisted Mr. Green. “They tell me 'tis a great city; a marvel29 o' th' ages. There be those, ecod! that say London's but a kennel30 to't.”
“Be there so?” quoth Mr. Caryll indifferently.
“Ye don't agree with them, belike?” asked Mr. Green, with eagerness.
“Not always,” was the retort in a sly tone. “I've known men to be prodigious short when they had aught to hide.”
“Have ye so? Ye seem to have had a wide experience.” And Mr. Caryll sauntered out, humming a French air through closed lips.
Mr. Green looked after him with hardened eyes. He turned to the drawer who stood by. “He's mighty32 close,” said he. “Mighty close!”
Mr. Green looked at him. “Very like,” he snapped. “How long does he stay here?”
“Ye lost a rare chance of finding out when ye let him go without inquiring,” said the drawer.
Mr. Green's face lost some of its chubbiness34. “When d'ye look to marry the landlady?” was his next question.
The man stared. “Cod!” said he. “Marry the—Are ye daft?”
Mr. Green affected35 surprise. “I'm mistook, it seems. Ye misled me by your pertness. Get me another nipperkin.”
Meanwhile Mr. Caryll had taken his way above stairs to the room set apart for him. He dined to his satisfaction, and thereafter, his shapely, silk-clad legs thrown over a second chair, his waistcoat all unbuttoned, for the day was of an almost midsummer warmth—he sat mightily36 at his ease, a decanter of sherry at his elbow, a pipe in one hand and a book of Mr. Gay's poems in the other. But the ease went no further than the body, as witnessed the circumstances that his pipe was cold, the decanter tolerably full, and Mr. Gay's pleasant rhymes and quaint37 conceits38 of fancy all unheeded. The light, mercurial39 spirit which he had from nature and his unfortunate mother, and which he had retained in spite of the stern training he had received at his adoptive father's hands, was heavy-fettered now.
The mild fatigue40 of his journey through the heat of the day had led him to look forward to a voluptuous41 hour of indolence following upon dinner, with pipe and book and glass. The hour was come, the elements were there, but since he could not abandon himself to their dominion42 the voluptuousness43 was wanting. The task before him haunted him with anticipatory44 remorse45. It hung upon his spirit like a sick man's dream. It obtruded46 itself upon his constant thought, and the more he pondered it the more did he sicken at what lay before him.
Wrought47 upon by Everard's fanaticism48 that day in Paris some three weeks ago, infected for the time being by something of his adoptive father's fever, he had set his hands to the task in a glow of passionate49 exaltation. But with the hour, the exaltation went, and reaction started in his soul. And yet draw back he dared not; too long and sedulously50 had Everard trained his spirit to look upon the avenging51 of his mother as a duty. Believing that it was his duty, he thirsted on the one hand to fulfill52 it, whilst, on the other, he recoiled53 in horror at the thought that the man upon whom he was to wreak54 that vengeance55 was his father—albeit a father whom he did not know, who had never seen him, who was not so much as aware of his existence.
He sought forgetfulness in Mr. Gay. He had the delicate-minded man's inherent taste for verse, a quick ear for the melody of words, the aesthete's love of beauty in phrase as of beauty in all else; and culture had quickened his perceptions, developed his capacity for appreciation56. For the tenth time he called Leduc to light his pipe; and, that done, he set his eye to the page once more. But it was like harnessing a bullock to a cart; unmindful of the way it went and over what it travelled, his eye ambled heavily along the lines, and when he came to turn the page he realized with a start that he had no impression of what he had read upon it.
In sheer disgust he tossed the book aside, and kicking away the second chair, rose lythely. He crossed to the window, and stood there gazing out at nothing, nor conscious of the incense57 that came to him from garden, from orchard58, and from meadow.
It needed a clatter59 of hoofs60 and a cloud of dust approaching from the north to draw his mind from its obsessing61 thoughts. He watched the yellow body of the coach as it came furiously onward62, its four horses stretched to the gallop63, postillion lusty of lungs and whip, and the great trail of dust left behind it spreading to right and left over the flowering hedge-rows to lose itself above the gold-flecked meadowland. On it came, to draw up there, at the very entrance to Maidstone, at the sign of the “Adam and Eve.”
Mr. Caryll, leaning on the sill of his window, looked down with interest to see what manner of travellers were these that went at so red-hot a pace. From the rumble64 a lackey65 swung himself to the rough cobbles of the yard. From within the inn came again landlady and chamberlain, and from the stable ostler and boy, obsequious66 all and of no interest to Mr. Caryll.
Then the door of the coach was opened, the steps were let down, and there emerged—his hand upon the shoulder of the servant—a very ferret of a man in black, with a parson's bands and neckcloth, a coal-black full-bottomed wig67, and under this a white face, rather drawn68 and haggard, and thin lips perpetually agrin to flaunt69 two rows of yellow teeth disproportionately large. After him, and the more remarkable70 by contrast, came a tall, black-faced fellow, very brave in buff-colored cloth, with a fortune in lace at wrist and throat, and a heavily powdered tie-wig.
Lackey, chamberlain and parson attended his alighting, and then he joined their ranks to attend in his turn—hat under arm—the last of these odd travellers.
The interest grew. Mr. Caryll felt that the climax71 was about to be presented, and he leaned farther forward that he might obtain a better view of the awaited personage. In the silence he caught a rustle72 of silk. A flowered petticoat appeared—as much of it as may be seen from the knee downwards—and from beneath this the daintiest foot conceivable was seen to grope an instant for the step. Another second and the rest of her emerged.
Mr. Caryll observed—and be it known that he had the very shrewdest eye for a woman, as became one of the race from which on his mother's side he sprang—that she was middling tall, chastely73 slender, having, as he judged from her high waist, a fine, clean length of limb. All this he observed and approved, and prayed for a glimpse of the face which her silken hood74 obscured and screened from his desiring gaze. She raised it at that moment—raised it in a timid, frightened fashion, as one who looks fearfully about to see that she is not remarked—and Mr. Caryll had a glimpse of an oval face, pale with a warm pallor—like the pallor of the peach, he thought, and touched, like the peach, with a faint hint of pink in either cheek. A pair of eyes, large, brown, and gentle as a saint's, met his, and Mr. Caryll realized that she was beautiful and that it might be good to look into those eyes at closer quarters.
Seeing him, a faint exclamation75 escaped her, and she turned away in sudden haste to enter the inn. The fine gentleman looked up and scowled76; the parson looked up and trembled; the ostler and his boy looked up and grinned. Then all swept forward and were screened by the porch from the wondering eyes of Mr. Caryll.
He turned from the window with a sigh, and stepped back to the table for the tinder-box, that for the eleventh time he might relight his pipe. He sat down, blew a cloud of smoke to the ceiling, and considered. His nature triumphed now over his recent preoccupation; the matter of the moment, which concerned him not at all, engrossed77 him beyond any other matter of his life. He was intrigued78 to know in what relation one to the other stood the three so oddly assorted79 travellers he had seen arrive. He bethought him that, after all, the odd assortment80 arose from the presence of the parson; and he wondered what the plague should any Christian—and seemingly a gentleman at that—be doing travelling with a parson. Then there was the wild speed at which they had come.
The matter absorbed and vexed81 him. I fear he was inquisitive82 by nature. There came a moment when he went so far as to consider making his way below to pursue his investigations83 in situ. It would have been at great cost to his dignity, and this he was destined84 to be spared.
A knock fell upon his door, and the landlady came in. She was genial85, buxom86 and apple-faced, as becomes a landlady.
“There is a gentleman below—” she was beginning, when Mr. Caryll interrupted her.
“I would rather that you told me of the lady,” said
“La, sir!” she cried, displaying ivory teeth, her eyes cast upwards87, hands upraised in gentle, mirthful protest. “La, sir! But I come from the lady, too.”
He looked at her. “A good ambassador,” said he, “should begin with the best news; not add it as an afterthought. But proceed, I beg. You give me hope, mistress.”
“They send their compliments, and would be prodigiously88 obliged if you was to give yourself the trouble of stepping below.”
“Of stepping below?” he inquired, head on one side, solemn eyes upon the hostess. “Would it be impertinent to inquire what they may want with me?”
“I think they want you for a witness, sir.”
“For a witness? Am I to testify to the lady's perfection of face and shape, to the heaven that sits in her eyes, to the miracle she calls her ankle? Are these and other things besides of the same kind what I am required to witness? If so, they could not have sent for one more qualified89. I am an expert, ma'am.”
Mr. Caryll opened his queer eyes a little wider. “Soho!” said he. “The parson is explained.” Then he fell thoughtful, his tone lost its note of flippancy91. “This gentleman who sends his compliments, does he send his name?”
“He does not, sir; but I overheard it.”
“Confide in me,” Mr. Caryll invited her.
“He is a great gentleman,” she prepared him.
“No matter. I love great gentlemen.”
“They call him Lord Rotherby.”
At that sudden and utterly92 unexpected mention of his half-brother's name—his unknown half-brother—Mr. Caryll came to his feet with an alacrity93 which a more shrewd observer would have set down to some cause other than mere94 respect for a viscount. The hostess was shrewd, but not shrewd enough, and if Mr. Caryll's expression changed for an instant, it resumed its habitual95 half-scornful calm so swiftly that it would have needed eyes of an exceptional quickness to have read it.
“Enough!” he said. “Who could deny his lordship?”
“Shall I tell them you are coming?” she inquired, her hand already upon the door.
Her full-hearted smile beamed on him again; she was a very woman, with a taste for the romantic, loving love. “What else, sir?” she laughed.
“And why, mistress,” he inquired, eying her, his fingers plucking at his nether97 lip, “do they desire my testimony98?”
“His lordship's own man will stand witness, for one; but they'll need another,” she explained, her voice reflecting astonishment at his question.
“True. But why do they need me?” he pressed her. “Heard you no reason given why they should prefer me to your chamberlain, your ostler or your drawer?”
She knit her brows and shrugged99 impatient shoulders. Here was a deal of pother about a trifling100 affair. “His lordship saw you as he entered, sir, and inquired of me who you might be.”
“His lordship flatters me by this interest. My looks pleased him, let us hope. And you answered him—what?”
“That your honor is a gentleman newly crossed from France.”
“You are well-informed, mistress,” said Mr. Caryll, a thought tartly101, for if his speech was tainted103 with a French accent it was in so slight a degree as surely to be imperceptible to the vulgar.
“Your clothes, sir,” the landlady explained, and he bethought him, then, that the greater elegance104 and refinement105 of his French apparel must indeed proclaim his origin to one who had so many occasions of seeing travelers from Gaul. That might even account for Mr. Green's attempts to talk to him of France. His mind returned to the matter of the bridal pair below.
“You told him that, eh?” said he. “And what said his lordship then?”
“He turned to the parson. 'The very man for us, Jenkins,' says he.”
“And the parson—this Jenkins—what answer did he make?”
“'Excellently thought,' he says, grinning.”
“Hum! And you yourself, mistress, what inference did you draw?”
“Inference, sir?”
“Aye, inference, ma'am. Did you not gather that this was not only a runaway match, but a clandestine106 one? My lord can depend upon the discretion107 of his servant, no doubt; for other witness he would prefer some passer-by, some stranger who will go his ways to-morrow, and not be like to be heard of again.”
“Lard, sir!” cried the landlady, her eyes wide with astonishment.
Mr. Caryll smiled enigmatically. “'Tis so, I assure ye, ma'am. My Lord Rotherby is of a family singularly cautious in the unions it contracts. In entering matrimony he prefers, no doubt, to leave a back door open for quiet retreat should he repent108 him later.”
“Your honor has his lordship's acquaintance, then?” quoth the landlady.
“It is a misfortune from which Heaven has hitherto preserved me, but which the devil, it seems, now thrusts upon me. It will, nevertheless, interest me to see him at close quarters. Come, ma'am.”
As they were going out, Mr. Caryll checked suddenly. “Why, what's o'clock?” said he.
He uttered a short laugh. “Decidedly,” said he, “his lordship must be viewed at closer quarters.” And he led the way downstairs.
In the passage he waited for her to come up with him. “You had best announce me by name,” he suggested. “It is Caryll.”
“Mr. Caryll,” she announced, obedient to his injunction, and as he went in she closed the door behind him.
From the group of three that had been sitting about the polished walnut112 table, the tall gentleman in buff and silver rose swiftly, and advanced to the newcomer; what time Mr. Caryll made a rapid observation of this brother whom he was meeting under circumstances so odd and by a chance so peculiar113.
He beheld114 a man of twenty-five, or perhaps a little more, tall and well made, if already inclining to heaviness, with a swarthy face, full-lipped, big-nosed, black-eyed, an obstinate115 chin, and a deplorable brow. At sight, by instinct, he disliked his brother. He wondered vaguely116 was Lord Rotherby in appearance at all like their common father; but beyond that he gave little thought to the tie that bound them. Indeed, he has placed it upon record that, saving in such moments of high stress as followed in their later connection, he never could remember that they were the sons of the same parent.
“I thought,” was Rotherby's greeting, a note almost of irritation117 in his voice, “that the woman said you were from France.”
It was an odd welcome, but its oddness at the moment went unheeded. His swift scrutiny118 of his brother over, Mr. Caryll's glance passed on to become riveted119 upon the face of the lady at the table's head. In addition to the beauties which from above he had descried120, he now perceived that her mouth was sensitive and kindly121, her whole expression one of gentle wistfulness, exceeding sweet to contemplate122. What did she in this galley123, he wondered; and he has confessed that just as at sight he had disliked his brother, so from that hour—from the very instant of his eyes' alighting on her there—he loved the lady whom his brother was to wed110, felt a surpassing need of her, conceived that in the meeting of their eyes their very souls had met, so that it was to him as if he had known her since he had known anything. Meanwhile there was his lordship's question to be answered. He answered it mechanically, his eyes upon the lady, and she returning the gaze of those queer, greenish eyes with a sweetness that gave place to no confusion.
“I am from France, sir.”
“But not French?” his lordship continued.
Mr. Caryll fetched his eyes from the lady's to meet Lord Rotherby's. “More than half French,” he replied, the French taint102 in his accent growing slightly more pronounced. “It was but an accident that my father was an Englishman.”
Rotherby laughed softly, a thought contemptuously. Foreigners were things which in his untraveled, unlettered ignorance he despised. The difference between a Frenchman and a South Sea Islander was a thing never quite appreciated by his lordship. Some subtle difference he had no doubt existed; but for him it was enough to know that both were foreigners; therefore, it logically followed, both were kin1.
“Your words, sir, might be oddly interpreted. 'Pon honor, they might!” said he, and laughed softly again with singular insolence124.
“If they have amused your lordship I am happy,” said Mr. Caryll in such a tone that Rotherby looked to see whether he was being roasted. “You wanted me, I think. I beg that you'll not thank me for having descended125. It was an honor.”
It occurred to Rotherby that this was a veiled reproof126 for the ill manners of the omission127. Again he looked sharply at this man who was scanning him with such interest, but he detected in the calm, high-bred face nothing to suggest that any mockery was intended. Belatedly he fell to doing the very thing that Mr. Caryll had begged him to leave undone128: he fell to thanking him. As for Mr. Caryll himself, not even the queer position into which he had been thrust could repress his characteristics. What time his lordship thanked him, he looked about him at the other occupants of the room, and found that, besides the parson, sitting pale and wide-eyed at the table, there was present in the background his lordship's man—a quiet fellow, quietly garbed129 in gray, with a shrewd face and shrewd, shifty eyes. Mr. Caryll saw, and registered, for future use, the reflection that eyes that are overshrewd are seldom wont130 to look out of honest heads.
“You are desired,” his lordship informed him, “to be witness to a marriage.”
“So much the landlady had made known to me.”
“None. On the contrary, it is the absence of the marriage might do that.” The smooth, easy tone so masked the inner meaning of the answer that his lordship scarce attended to the words.
“Then we had best get on. We are in haste.”
“'Tis the characteristic rashness of folk about to enter wedlock,” said Mr. Caryll, as he approached the table with his lordship, his eyes as he spoke132 turning full upon the bride.
My lord laughed, musically enough, but overloud for a man of brains or breeding. “Marry in haste, eh?” quoth he.
“You are penetration133 itself,” Mr. Caryll praised him.
“Yet an honest man might worst you. One never knows. But the lady's patience is being taxed.”
It was as well he added that, for his lordship had turned with intent to ask him what he meant.
“Aye! Come, Jenkins. Get on with your patter. Gaskell,” he called to his man, “stand forward here.” Then he took his place beside the lady, who had risen, and stood pale, with eyes cast down and—as Mr. Caryll alone saw—the faintest quiver at the corners of her lips. This served to increase Mr. Caryll's already considerable cogitations.
The parson faced them, fumbling135 at his book, Mr. Caryll's eyes watching him with that cold, level glance of theirs. The parson looked up, met that uncanny gaze, displayed his teeth in a grin of terror, fell to trembling, and dropped the book in his confusion. Mr. Caryll, smiling sardonically136, stooped to restore it him.
There followed a fresh pause. Mr. Jenkins, having lost his place, seemed at some pains to find it again—amazing, indeed, in one whose profession should have rendered him so familiar with its pages.
Mr. Caryll continued to watch him, in silence, and—as an observer might have thought, as, indeed, Gaskell did think, though he said nothing at the time—with wicked relish137.
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1
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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whetting
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| v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的现在分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等） | |
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whet
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| v.磨快，刺激 | |
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7
bespeaking
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| v.预定( bespeak的现在分词 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
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edibles
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| 可以吃的，可食用的( edible的名词复数 )； 食物 | |
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nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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10
sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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amending
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| 改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 ) | |
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12
ambled
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| v.（马）缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 )；从容地走，漫步 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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espies
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| v.看到( espy的第三人称单数 ) | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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brew
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| v.酿造，调制 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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beverage
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| n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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abased
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| 使谦卑( abase的过去式和过去分词 )； 使感到羞耻； 使降低（地位、身份等）； 降下 | |
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presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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brewer
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| n. 啤酒制造者 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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candidly
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| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
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chubbiness
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| n.圆胖，丰满 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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36
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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37
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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38
conceits
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| 高傲( conceit的名词复数 )； 自以为； 巧妙的词语； 别出心裁的比喻 | |
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39
mercurial
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| adj.善变的，活泼的 | |
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40
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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41
voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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42
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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43
voluptuousness
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| n.风骚，体态丰满 | |
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44
anticipatory
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| adj.预想的，预期的 | |
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45
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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46
obtruded
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| v.强行向前，强行，强迫( obtrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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48
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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49
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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50
sedulously
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| ad.孜孜不倦地 | |
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51
avenging
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| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
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52
fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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53
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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54
wreak
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| v.发泄；报复 | |
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55
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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56
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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57
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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58
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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59
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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60
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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61
obsessing
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| v.时刻困扰( obsess的现在分词 )；缠住；使痴迷；使迷恋 | |
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62
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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63
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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64
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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65
lackey
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| n.侍从；跟班 | |
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66
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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67
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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68
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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69
flaunt
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| vt.夸耀，夸饰 | |
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70
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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71
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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72
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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73
chastely
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| adv.贞洁地，清高地，纯正地 | |
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74
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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75
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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76
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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78
intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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79
assorted
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| adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的 | |
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80
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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81
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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82
inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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83
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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84
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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85
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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86
buxom
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| adj.（妇女）丰满的，有健康美的 | |
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87
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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88
prodigiously
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| adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地 | |
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89
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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90
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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91
flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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92
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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93
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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94
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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95
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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96
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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97
nether
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| adj.下部的，下面的；n.阴间；下层社会 | |
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98
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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99
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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100
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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101
tartly
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| adv.辛辣地，刻薄地 | |
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102
taint
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| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
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103
tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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104
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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105
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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106
clandestine
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| adj.秘密的，暗中从事的 | |
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107
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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108
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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109
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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110
wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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111
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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112
walnut
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| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
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113
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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114
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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115
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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116
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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117
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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118
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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119
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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120
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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121
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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122
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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123
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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124
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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125
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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126
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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127
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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128
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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129
garbed
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| v.（尤指某类人穿的特定）服装，衣服，制服( garb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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130
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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131
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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132
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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133
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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134
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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135
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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136
sardonically
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| adv.讽刺地，冷嘲地 | |
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137
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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