Mr. Caryll found the situation redolent with comedy. He had a quick eye for such matters; so quick an eye that he deplored2 on the present occasion her ladyship's entire lack of a sense of humor. But for that lamentable3 shortcoming, she might have enjoyed with him the grotesqueness4 of her having—she, who disliked him so exceedingly—toiled and anguished6, robbed herself of sleep, and hoped and prayed with more fervor7, perhaps, than she had ever yet hoped and prayed for anything, that his life might be spared.
Her glance shifted presently from him to Hortensia, who had risen and who stood in deep confusion at having been so found by her ladyship, and in deep agitation8 still arising from the things he had said and from those which he had been hindered from adding by the coming of the countess.
The explanations that had been interrupted might never be renewed; she felt they never would be; he would account that he had said enough; since he was determined9 to ask for nothing. And unless the matter were broached10 again, what chance had she of combatting his foolish scruples11; for foolish she accounted them; they were of no weight with her, unless, indeed, to heighten the warm feeling that already she had conceived for him.
Her ladyship moved forward a step or two, her fan going gently to and fro, stirring the barbs13 of the white plume15 that formed part of her tall head-dress.
“What were you doing here, child?” she inquired, very coldly.
Mistress Winthrop looked up—a sudden, almost scared glance it was.
“I, madam? Why—I was walking in the garden, and seeing Mr. Caryll here, I came to ask him how he did; to offer to read to him if he would have me.”
“And the Maidstone matter not yet cold in its grave!” commented her ladyship sourly. “As I'm a woman, it is monstrous16 I should be inflicted17 with the care of you that have no care for yourself.”
Hortensia bit her lip, controlling herself bravely, a spot of red in either cheek. Mr. Caryll came promptly18 to her rescue.
“Your ladyship must confess that Mistress Winthrop has assisted nobly in the care of me, and so, has placed your ladyship in her debt.”
“In my clumsy way, ma'am, I have already attempted to convey my thanks to her. It might be graceful21 in your ladyship to follow my example.”
Mentally Mr. Caryll observed that it is unwise to rouge22 so heavily as did Lady Ostermore when prone23 to anger and to paling under it. The false color looks so very false on such occasions.
Her ladyship struck the ground with her cane. “For what have I to thank her, sir? Will you tell me that, you who seem so very well informed.”
“Why, for her part in saving your son's life, ma'am, if you must have it. Heaven knows,” he continued in his characteristic, half-bantering manner, under which it was so difficult to catch a glimpse of his real feelings, “I am not one to throw services done in the face of folk, but here have Mistress Winthrop and I been doing our best for your son in this matter; she by so diligently24 nursing me; I by responding to her nursing—and your ladyship's—and so, recovering from my wound. I do not think that your ladyship shows us a becoming gratitude25. It is but natural that we fellow-workers in your ladyship's and Lord Rotherby's interests, should have a word to say to each other on the score of those labors27 which have made us colleagues.”
He shrugged29 and smiled. “It has been alleged30 against me on occasion. But I think it was pure spite.” Then he waved his hand towards the long seat that stood at the back of the arbor31. “Will your ladyship not sit? You will forgive that I urge it in my own interest. They tell me that it is not good for me to stand too long just yet.”
It was his hope that she would depart. Not so. “I cry you mercy!” said she acidly, and rustled32 to the bench. “Be seated, pray.” She continued to watch them with her baleful glance. “We have heard fine things from you, sir, of what you have both done for my Lord Rotherby,” she gibed33, mocking him with the spirit of his half-jest. “Shall I tell you more precisely34 what 'tis he owes you?”
“Can there be more?” quoth Mr. Caryll, smiling so amiably35 that he must have disarmed36 a Gorgon37.
Her ladyship ignored him. “He owes it to you both that you have estranged38 him from his father, set up a breach39 between them that is never like to be healed. 'Tis what he owes you.”
“Does he not owe it, rather, to his abandoned ways?” asked Hortensia, in a calm, clear voice, bravely giving back her ladyship look for look.
“Abandoned ways?” screamed the countess. “Is't you that speak of abandoned ways, ye shameless baggage? Faith, ye may be some judge of them. Ye fooled him into running off with you. 'Twas that began all this. Just as with your airs and simpers, and prettily-played innocences you fooled this other, here, into being your champion.”
“Madam, you insult me!” Hortensia was on her feet, eyes flashing, cheeks aflame.
“I am witness to that,” said Lord Ostermore, coming in through the side-entrance.
Mr. Caryll was the only one who had seen him approach. The earl's face that had wont40 to be so florid, was now pale and careworn41, and he seemed to have lost flesh during the past month. He turned to her ladyship.
“Poor child!” sneered44 her ladyship, eyes raised to heaven to invoke45 its testimony46 to this absurdity47. “Poor child.”
“Let there be an end to it, madam,” he said with attempted sternness. “It is unjust and unreasonable48 in you.”
“If it were that—which it is not—it would be but following the example that you set me. What are you but unreasonable and unjust—to treat your son as you are treating him?”
His lordship crimsoned49. On the subject of his son he could be angry in earnest, even with her ladyship, as already we have seen.
“I have no son,” he declared, “there is a lewd50, drunken, bullying51 profligate52 who bears my name, and who will be Lord Ostermore some day. I can't strip him of that. But I'll strip him of all else that's mine, God helping53 me. I beg, my lady, that you'll let me hear no more of this, I beg it. Lord Rotherby leaves my house to-day—now that Mr. Caryll is restored to health. Indeed, he has stayed longer than was necessary. He leaves to-day. He has my orders, and my servants have orders to see that he obeys them. I do not wish to see him again—never. Let him go, and let him be thankful—and be your ladyship thankful, too, since it seems you must have a kindness for him in spite of all he has done to disgrace and discredit54 us—that he goes not by way of Holborn Hill and Tyburn.”
She looked at him, very white from suppressed fury. “I do believe you had been glad had it been so.”
“And for his own?”
“Pshaw!”
“Are you a father?” she wondered contemptuously.
“To my eternal shame, ma'am!” he flung back at her. He seemed, indeed, a changed man in more than body since Mr. Caryll's duel56 with Lord Rotherby. “No more, ma'am—no more!” he cried, seeming suddenly to remember the presence of Mr. Caryll, who sat languidly drawing figures on the ground with the ferrule of his cane. He turned to ask the convalescent how he did. Her ladyship rose to withdraw, and at that moment Leduc made his appearance with a salver, on which was a bowl of soup, a flask57 of Hock, and a letter. Setting this down in such a manner that the letter was immediately under his master's eyes, he further proceeded to draw Mr. Caryll's attention to it. It was addressed in Sir Richard Everard's hand. Mr. Caryll took it, and slipped it into his pocket. Her ladyship's eyebrows went up.
“Will you not read your letter, Mr. Caryll?” she invited him, with an amazingly sudden change to amiability58.
“It will keep, ma'am, to while away an hour that is less pleasantly engaged.” And he took the napkin Leduc was proffering59.
“You pay your correspondent a poor compliment,” said she.
“My correspondent is not one to look for them or need them,” he answered lightly, and dipped his spoon in the broth60.
“Is she not?” quoth her ladyship.
Mr. Caryll laughed. “So feminine!” said he. “Ha, ha! So very feminine—to assume the sex so readily.”
Mr. Caryll, the picture of amiability, smiled between spoonfuls. “Your ladyship's eyes preserve not only their beauty but a keenness beyond belief.”
“How could you have seen it from that distance, Sylvia?” inquired his practical lordship.
“Then again,” said her ladyship, ignoring both remarks, “there is the assiduity of this fair writer since Mr. Caryll has been in case to receive letters. Five billets in six days! Deny it if you can, Mr. Caryll.”
Her playfulness, so ill-assumed, sat more awkwardly upon her than her usual and more overt62 malice63 towards him.
“To what end should I deny it?” he replied, and added in his most ingratiating manner another of his two-edged compliments. “Your ladyship is the model chatelaine. No happening in your household can escape your knowledge. His lordship is greatly to be envied.”
“Yet, you see,” she cried, appealing to her husband, and even to Hortensia, who sat apart, scarce heeding64 this trivial matter of which so much was being made, “you see that he evades the point, avoids a direct answer to the question that is raised.”
“Since your ladyship perceives it, it were more merciful to spare my invention the labor26 of fashioning further subterfuges66. I am a sick man still, and my wits are far from brisk.” He took up the glass of wine Leduc had poured for him.
The countess looked at him again through narrowing eyelids67, the playfulness all vanished. “You do yourself injustice68, sir, as I am a woman. Your wits want nothing more in briskness69.” She rose, and looked down upon him engrossed70 in his broth. “For a dissembler, sir,” she pronounced upon him acidly, “I think it would be difficult to meet your match.”
He dropped his spoon into the bowl with a clatter71. He looked up, the very picture of amazement72 and consternation73.
“A dissembler, I?” quoth he in earnest protest; then laughed and quoted, adapting,
Or carry smiles and sunshine in my face
Should discontent sit heavy at my heart.”
She looked him over, pursing her lips. “I've often thought you might have been a player,” said she contemptuously.
“Ay; but you make a toil of play, sir.”
“Compassionate me, ma'am,” he implored75 in the best of humors. “I am but a sick man. Your ladyship's too keen for me.”
She moved across to the exit without answering him. “Come, child,” she said to Hortensia. “We are tiring Mr. Caryll, I fear. Let us leave him to his letter, ere it sets his pocket afire.”
Hortensia rose. Loath76 though she might be to depart, there was no reason she could urge for lingering.
“Is not your lordship coming?” said she.
“Of course he is,” her ladyship commanded. “I need to speak with you yet concerning Rotherby,” she informed him.
“Hem!” His lordship coughed. Plainly he was not at his ease. “I will follow soon. Do not stay for me. I have a word to say to Mr. Caryll.”
“Will it not keep? What can you have to say to him that is so pressing?”
“But a word—no more.”
“Why, then, we'll stay for you,” said her ladyship, and threw him into confusion, hopeless dissembler that he was.
“Nay, nay! I beg that you will not.”
Her ladyship's brows went up; her eyes narrowed again, and a frown came between them. “You are mighty77 mysterious,” said she, looking from one to the other of the men, and bethinking her that it was not the first time she had found them so; bethinking her, too—jumping, woman-like, to rash conclusions—that in this mystery that linked them might lie the true secret of her husband's aversion to his son and of his oath a month ago to see that same son hang if Mr. Caryll succumbed78 to the wound he had taken. With some women, to suspect a thing is to believe that thing. Her ladyship was of these. She set too high value upon her acumen79, upon the keenness of her instincts.
And if aught were needed to cement her present suspicions, Mr. Caryll himself afforded that cement, by seeming to betray the same eagerness to be alone with his lordship that his lordship was betraying to be alone with him; though, in truth, he no more than desired to lend assistance to the earl out of curiosity to learn what it was his lordship might have to say.
“Indeed,” said he, “if you could give his lordship leave, ma'am, for a few moments, I should myself be glad on't.”
“Come, Hortensia,” said her ladyship shortly, and swept out, Mistress Winthrop following.
In silence they crossed the lawn together. Once only ere they reached the house, her ladyship looked back. “I would I knew what they are plotting,” she said through her teeth.
“Plotting?” echoed Hortensia.
“Ay—plotting, simpleton. I said plotting. I mind me 'tis not the first time I have seen them so mysterious together. It began on the day that first Mr. Caryll set foot at Stretton House. There's a deal of mystery about that man—too much for honesty. And then these letters touching80 which he is so close—one a day—and his French lackey81 always at hand to pounce82 upon them the moment they arrive. I wonder what's at bottom on't! I wonder! And I'd give these ears to know,” she snapped in conclusion as they went indoors.
In the arbor, meanwhile, his lordship had taken the rustic83 seat her ladyship had vacated. He sat down heavily, like a man who is weary in body and in mind, like a man who is bearing a load too heavy for his shoulders. Mr. Caryll, watching him, observed all this.
“A glass of Hock?” he suggested, waving his hand towards the flask. “Let me play host to you out of the contents of your own cellar.”
His lordship's eye brightened at the suggestion, which confirmed the impression Mr. Caryll had formed that all was far from well with his lordship. Leduc brimmed a glass, and handed it to my lord, who emptied it at a draught84. Mr. Caryll waved an impatient hand. “Away with you, Leduc. Go watch the goldfish in the pond. I'll call you if I need you.”
After Leduc had departed a silence fell between them, and endured some moments. His lordship was leaning forward, elbows on knees, his face in shadow. At length he sat back, and looked at his companion across the little intervening space.
“I have hesitated to speak to you before, Mr. Caryll, upon the matter that you know of, lest your recovery should not be so far advanced that you might bear the strain and fatigue85 of conversing86 upon serious topics. I trust that that cause is now so far removed that I may put aside my scruples.”
“Assuredly—I am glad to say—thanks to the great care you have had of me here at Stretton House.”
“There is no debt between us on that score,” answered his lordship shortly, brusquely almost. “Well, then—” He checked, and looked about him. “We might be approached without hearing any one,” he said.
Mr. Caryll smiled, and shook his head. “I am not wont to neglect such details,” he observed. “The eyes of Argus were not so vigilant87 as my Leduc's; and he understands that we are private. He will give us warning should any attempt to approach. Be assured of that, and believe, therefore, that we are more snug88 here than we should be even in your lordship's closet.”
“That being so, sir—hem! You are receiving letters daily. Do they concern the business of King James?”
“In a measure; or, rather, they are from one concerned in it.”
Ostermore's eyes were on the ground again. There fell a pause, Mr. Caryll frowning slightly and full of curiosity as to what might be coming.
“How soon, think you,” asked his lordship presently, “you will be in case to travel?”
“In a week, I hope,” was the reply.
“Good.” The earl nodded thoughtfully. “That may be in time. I pray it may be. 'Tis now the best that we can do. You'll bear a letter for me to the king?”
Mr. Caryll passed a hand across his chin, his face very grave. “Your answer to the letter that I brought you?”
“My answer. My acceptance of his majesty's proposals.”
“Ha!” Mr. Caryll seemed to be breathing hard.
“Your letters, sir—the letters that you have been receiving will have told you, perhaps, something of how his majesty's affairs are speeding here?”
“Very little; and from that little I fear that they speed none too well. I would counsel your lordship,” he continued slowly—he was thinking as he went—“to wait a while before you burn your boats. From what I gather, matters are in the air just now.”
Mr. Caryll looked askance at him.
“Pho, sir! While you have been abed, I have been up and doing; up and doing. Matters are being pushed forward rapidly. I have seen Atterbury. He knows my mind. There lately came an agent from the king, it seems, to enjoin90 the bishop91 to abandon this conspiracy92, telling him that the time was not yet ripe. Atterbury scorns to act upon that order. He will work in the king's interests against the king's own commands even.”
“Then, 'tis possible he may work to his own undoing,” said Mr. Caryll, to whom this was, after all, no news.
“Nay, nay; you have been sick; you do not know how things have sped in this past month. Atterbury holds, and he is right, I dare swear—he holds that never will there be such another opportunity. The finances of the country are still in chaos93, in spite of all Walpole's efforts and fine promises. The South Sea bubble has sapped the confidence in the government of all men of weight. The very Whigs themselves are shaken. 'Tis to King James, England begins to look for salvation94 from this topsy-turveydom. The tide runs strongly in our favor. Strongly, sir! If we stay for the ebb95, we may stay for good; for there may never be another flow within our lifetime.”
“Your lordship is grown strangely hot upon this question,” said Caryll, very full of wonder.
As he understood Ostermore, the earl was scarcely the sentimentalist to give way to such a passion of loyalty96 for a weaker side. Yet his lordship had spoken, not with the cold calm of the practical man who seeks advantage, but with all the fervor of the enthusiast97.
“Such is my interest,” answered his lordship. “Even as the fortunes of the country are beggared by the South Sea Company, so are my own; even as the country must look to King James for its salvation, so must I. At best 'tis but a forlorn hope, I confess; yet 'tis the only hope I see.”
Mr. Caryll looked at him, smiled to himself, and nodded. So! All this fire and enthusiasm was about the mending of his personal fortunes—the grubbing of riches for himself. Well, well! It was good matter wasted on a paltry98 cause. But it sorted excellently with what Mr. Caryll knew of the nature of this father of his. It never could transcend99 the practical; there was no imagination to carry it beyond those narrow sordid100 confines, and Mr. Caryll had been a fool to have supposed that any other springs were pushing here. Egotism, egotism, egotism! Its name, he thought, was surely Ostermore. And again, as once before, under the like circumstances, he found more pity than scorn awaking in his heart. The whole wasted, sterile101 life that lay behind this man; the unhappy, loveless home that stood about him now in his declining years were the fruits he had garnered102 from that consuming love of self with which the gods had cursed him.
The only ray to illumine the black desert of Ostermore's existence was the affection of his ward12, Hortensia Winthrop, because in that one instance he had sunk his egotism a little, sparing a crumb103 of pity—for once in his life—for the child's orphanhood104. Had Ostermore been other than the man he was, his existence must have proved a burden beyond his strength. It was so barren of good deeds, so sterile of affection. Yet encrusted as he was in that egotism of his—like the limpet in its shell—my lord perceived nothing of this, suffered nothing of it, understanding nothing. He was all-sufficient to himself. Giving nothing, he looked for nothing, and sought his happiness—without knowing the quest vain—in what he had. The fear of losing this had now in his declining years cast, at length, a shadow upon his existence.
Mr. Caryll looked at him almost sorrowfully. Then he put by his thoughts, and broke the silence. “All this I had understood when first I sought you out,” said he. “Yet your lordship did not seem to realize it quite so keenly. Is it that Atterbury and his friends—?”
“No, no,” Ostermore broke in. “Look'ee! I will be frank—quite frank and open with you, Mr. Caryll. Things were bad when first you came to me. Yet not so bad that I was driven to a choice of evils. I had lost heavily. But enough remained to bear me through my time, though Rotherby might have found little enough left after I had gone. While that was so, I hesitated to take a risk. I am an old man. It had been different had I been young with ambitions that craved105 satisfying. I am an old man; and I desired peace and my comforts. Deeming these assured, I paused ere I risked their loss against the stake which in King James's name you set upon the board. But it happens to-day that these are assured no longer,” he ended, his voice breaking almost, his eyes haggard. “They are assured no longer.”
“You mean?” inquired Caryll.
“I mean that I am confronted by the danger of beggary, ruin, shame, and the sponging-house, at best.”
Mr. Caryll was stirred out of his calm. “My lord!” he cried. “How is this possible? What can have come to pass?”
The earl was silent for a long while. It was as if he pondered how he should answer, or whether he should answer at all. At last, in a low voice, a faint tinge106 reddening his face, his eyes averted107, he explained. It shamed him so to do, yet must he satisfy that craving108 of weak minds to unburden, to seek relief in confession109. “Mine is the case of Craggs, the secretary of state,” he said. “And Craggs, you'll remember, shot himself.”
“My God,” said Mr. Caryll, and opened wide his eyes. “Did you-?” He paused, not knowing what euphemism110 to supply for the thing his lordship must have done.
His lordship looked up, sneering111 almost in self-derision. “I did,” he answered. “To tell you all—I accepted twenty thousand pounds' worth of South Sea stock when the company was first formed, for which I did not pay other than by lending the scheme the support of my name at a time when such support was needed. I was of the ministry112, then, you will remember.”
Mr. Caryll considered him again, and wondered a moment at the confession, till he understood by intuition that the matter and its consequences were so deeply preying113 upon the man's mind that he could not refrain from giving vent65 to his fears.
“And now you know,” his lordship added, “why my hopes are all in King James. Ruin stares me in the face. Ruin and shame. This forlorn Stuart hope is the only hope remaining me. Therefore, am I eager to embrace it. I have made all plain to you. You should understand now.”
“Yet not quite all. You did this thing. But the inspection114 of the company's books is past. The danger of discovery, at least, is averted. Or is it that your conscience compels you to make restitution115?”
His lordship stared and gaped116. “Do you suppose me mad?” he inquired, quite seriously. “Pho! Others were overlooked at the time. We did not all go the way of Craggs and Aislabie and their fellow-sufferers. Stanhope was assailed117 afterward118, though he was innocent. That filthy119 fellow, the Duke of Wharton, from being an empty fop turned himself on a sudden into a Crown attorney to prosecute120 the peculators. It was an easy road to fame for him, and the fool had a gift of eloquence121. Stanhope's death is on his conscience—or would be if he had one. That was six months ago. When he discovered his error in the case of Stanhope and saw the fatal consequences it had, he ceased his dirty lawyer's work. But he had good grounds upon which to suspect others as highly placed as Stanhope, and had he followed his suspicions he might have turned them into certainties and discovered evidence. As it was, he let the matter lie, content with the execution he had done, and the esteem122 into which he had so suddenly hoisted123 himself—the damned profligate!”
Mr. Caryll let pass, as typical, the ludicrous want of logic124 in Ostermore's strictures of his Grace of Wharton, and the application by him to the duke of opprobrious125 terms that were no whit14 less applicable to himself.
“Then, that being so, what cause for these alarms some six months later?”
“Because,” answered his lordship in a sudden burst of passion that brought him to his feet, empurpled his face and swelled126 the veins127 of his forehead, “because I am cursed with the filthiest128 fellow in England for my son.”
He said it with the air of one who throws a flood of light where darkness has been hitherto, who supplies the key that must resolve at a turn a whole situation. But Mr. Caryll blinked foolishly.
“My wits are very dull, I fear,” said he. “I still cannot understand.”
“Then I'll make it all clear to you,” said his lordship.
Leduc appeared at the arbor entrance.
“What now?” asked Mr. Caryll.
“Her ladyship is approaching, sir,” answered Leduc the vigilant.
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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grotesqueness
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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anguished
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| adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式) | |
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fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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broached
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| v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 )；打开并开始用；用凿子扩大（或修光）；（在桶上）钻孔取液体 | |
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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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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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barbs
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| n.（箭头、鱼钩等的）倒钩( barb的名词复数 )；带刺的话；毕露的锋芒；钩状毛 | |
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whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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26
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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27
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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29
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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30
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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31
arbor
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| n.凉亭；树木 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
gibed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄( gibe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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35
amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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36
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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37
gorgon
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| n.丑陋女人，蛇发女怪 | |
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38
estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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39
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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40
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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41
careworn
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| adj.疲倦的，饱经忧患的 | |
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42
testily
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| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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43
chide
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| v.叱责；谴责 | |
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44
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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46
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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47
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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48
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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49
crimsoned
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| 变为深红色（crimson的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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50
lewd
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| adj.淫荡的 | |
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51
bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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52
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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53
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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54
discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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55
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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56
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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57
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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58
amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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59
proffering
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的现在分词 ) | |
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60
broth
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| n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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61
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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62
overt
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| adj.公开的，明显的，公然的 | |
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63
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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64
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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subterfuges
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| n.（用说谎或欺骗以逃脱责备、困难等的）花招，遁词( subterfuge的名词复数 ) | |
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67
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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briskness
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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71
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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72
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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73
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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78
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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79
acumen
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| n.敏锐，聪明 | |
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80
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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81
lackey
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| n.侍从；跟班 | |
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82
pounce
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| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
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83
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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84
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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85
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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86
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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87
vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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88
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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89
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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90
enjoin
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| v.命令；吩咐；禁止 | |
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91
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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92
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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93
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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94
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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95
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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96
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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97
enthusiast
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| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
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98
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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99
transcend
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| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
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100
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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101
sterile
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| adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的 | |
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102
garnered
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| v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103
crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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104
orphanhood
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| 孤儿的身份，孤儿状态 | |
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105
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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106
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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107
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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108
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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109
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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110
euphemism
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| n.婉言，委婉的说法 | |
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111
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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112
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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113
preying
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| v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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114
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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115
restitution
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| n.赔偿；恢复原状 | |
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116
gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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117
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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118
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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119
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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120
prosecute
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| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
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121
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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122
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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123
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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125
opprobrious
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| adj.可耻的，辱骂的 | |
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126
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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127
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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128
filthiest
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| filthy（肮脏的，污秽的）的最高级形式 | |
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