On the dish were six pieces of bacon. He put one piece on a plate, and set it carefully in front of Agnes's vacant chair, two he passed to Anna, three he kept for himself.
'Where's Agnes?' he inquired.
'Coming—she's finishing her arithmetic.'
In the middle of the table was an unaccustomed small jug2 containing gilly-flowers. Mr. Tellwright noticed it instantly.
'What an we gotten here?' he said, indicating the jug.
'Agnes gave me them first thing when she got up. She's grown them herself, you know,' Anna said, and then added: 'It's my birthday.'
No further remark on that matter was made during the meal.
Agnes ran in, all pinafore and legs. With a toss backwards4 of her light golden hair she slipped silently into her seat, cautiously glancing at the master of the house. Then she began to stir her coffee.
She looked a startled interrogative.
'We're waiting,' he explained.
'Oh!' said Agnes, confused. 'I thought you'd said it. "God sanctify this food to our use and us to His service for Christ's sake, Amen."'
The breakfast proceeded in silence. Breakfast at eight, dinner at noon, tea at four, supper at eight: all the meals in this house occurred with absolute precision and sameness. Mr. Tellwright seldom spoke6, and his example imposed silence on the girls, who felt as nuns7 feel when assisting at some grave but monotonous8 and perfunctory rite9. The room was not a cheerful one in the morning, since the window was small and the aspect westerly. Besides the table and three horse-hair chairs, the furniture consisted of an arm-chair, a bent10-wood rocking chair, and a sewing-machine. A fatigued11 Brussels carpet covered the floor. Over the mantelpiece was an engraving12 of 'The Light of the World,' in a frame of polished brown wood. On the other walls were some family photographs in black frames. A two-light chandelier hung from the ceiling, weighed down on one side by a patent gas-saving mantle13 and a glass shade; over this the ceiling was deeply discoloured. On either side of the chimney-breast were cupboards about three feet high; some cardboard boxes, a work-basket, and Agnes's school books lay on the tops of these cupboards. On the window-sill was a pot of mignonette in a saucer. The window was wide open, and flies buzzed to and fro, constantly rebounding14 from the window panes15 with terrible thuds. In the blue-paved yard beyond the cat was licking himself in the sunlight with an air of being wholly absorbed in his task.
Mr. Tellwright demanded a second and last cup of coffee, and having drunk it pushed away his plate as a sign that he had finished. Then he took from the mantelpiece at his right hand a bundle of letters and opened them methodically. When he had arranged the correspondence in a flattened16 pile, he put on his steel-rimmed spectacles and began to read.
'Can I return thanks, father?' Agnes asked, and he nodded, looking at her fixedly17 over his spectacles.
'Thank God for our good breakfast, Amen.'
In two minutes the table was cleared, and Mr. Tellwright was alone. As he read laboriously18 through communications from solicitors19, secretaries of companies, and tenants21, he could hear his daughters talking together in the kitchen. Anna was washing the breakfast things while Agnes wiped. Then there were flying steps across the yard: Agnes had gone to school.
After he had mastered his correspondence, Mr. Tellwright took up the trowel again and finished the tile-setting in the lobby. Then he resumed his coat, and, gathering22 together the letters from the table in the back parlour, went into the front parlour and shut the door. This room was his office. The principal things in it were an old oak bureau and an old oak desk-chair which had come to him from his first wife's father; on the walls were some sombre landscapes in oil, received from the same source; there was no carpet on the floor, and only one other chair. A safe stood in the corner opposite the door. On the mantelpiece were some books—Woodfall's 'Landlord and Tenant20,' Jordan's 'Guide to Company Law,' Whitaker's Almanack, and a Gazetteer23 of the Five Towns. Several wire files, loaded with papers, hung from the mantelpiece. With the exception of a mahogany what-not with a Bible on it, which stood in front of the window, there was nothing else whatever in the room. He sat down to the bureau and opened it, and took from one of the pigeon-holes a packet of various documents: these he examined one by one, from time to time referring to a list. Then he unlocked the safe and extracted from it another bundle of documents which had evidently been placed ready. With these in his hand, he opened the door, and called out:
'Anna.'
'Yes, father;' her voice came from the kitchen.
'I want ye.'
'In a minute. I'm peeling potatoes.'
When she came in, she found him seated at the bureau as usual. He did not look round.
'Yes, father.'
She stood there in her print dress and white apron24, full in the eye of the sun, waiting for him. She could not guess what she had been summoned for. As a rule, she never saw her father between breakfast and dinner. At length he turned.
'Anna,' he said in his harsh, abrupt25 tones, and then stopped for a moment before continuing. His thick, short fingers held the list which he had previously26 been consulting. She waited in bewilderment. 'It's your birthday, ye told me. I hadna' forgotten. Ye're of age to-day, and there's summat for ye. Your mother had a fortune of her own, and under your grandfeyther's will it comes to you when you're twenty-one. I'm the trustee. Your mother had eighteen thousand pounds i' Government stock.' He laid a slight sneering27 emphasis on the last two words. 'That was near twenty-five year ago. I've nigh on trebled it for ye, what wi' good investments and interest accumulating. Thou'rt worth'—here he changed to the second personal singular, a habit with him—'thou'rt worth this day as near fifty thousand as makes no matter, Anna. And that's a tidy bit.'
'Fifty thousand—pounds!' she exclaimed aghast.
'Ay, lass.'
She tried to speak calmly. 'Do you mean it's mine, father?'
'It's thine, under thy grandfeyther's will—haven't I told thee? I'm bound by law for to give it to thee this day, and thou mun give me a receipt in due form for the securities. Here they are, and here's the list. Tak' the list, Anna, and read it to me while I check off.'
She mechanically took the blue paper and read: 'Toft End Colliery and Brickworks Limited, five hundred shares of ten pounds.'
'They paid ten per cent. last year,' he said, 'and with coal up as it is they'll pay fiftane this. Let's see what thy arithmetic is worth, lass. How much is fiftane per cent. on five thousand pun?'
'Seven hundred and fifty pounds,' she said, getting the correct answer by a superhuman effort worthy28 of that occasion.
'North Staffordshire Railway Company ordinary stock, ten thousand and two hundred pounds.'
'Right. Th' owd North Stafford's getting up i' th' world. It'll be a five per cent. line yet. Then thou mun sell out.'
She had only a vague idea of his meaning, and continued: 'Five Towns Waterworks Company Limited consolidated30 stock, eight thousand five hundred pounds.'
'That's a tit-bit, lass,' he interjected, looking absently over his spectacles at something outside in the road. 'You canna' pick that up on shardrucks.'
'Twenty per cent.,' said the old man. 'Twenty per cent. regular.' He made no attempt to conceal32 his pride in these investments. And he had the right to be proud of them. They were the finest in the market, the aristocracy of investments, based on commercial enterprises of which every business man in the Five Towns knew the entire soundness. They conferred distinction on the possessor, like a great picture or a rare volume. They stifled33 all questions and insinuations. Put before any jury of the Five Towns as evidence of character, they would almost have exculpated34 a murderer.
Anna continued reading the list, which seemed endless: long before she had reached the last item her brain was a menagerie of monstrous35 figures. The list included, besides all sorts of shares English and American, sundry36 properties in the Five Towns, and among these was the earthenware37 manufactory in Edward Street occupied by Titus Price, the Sunday-school superintendent39. Anna was a little alarmed to find herself the owner of this works; she knew that her father had had some difficult moments with Titus Price, and that the property was not without grave disadvantages.
'That all!' Tellwright asked, at length.
'That's all.'
'Total face value,' he went on, 'as I value it, forty-eight thousand and fifty pounds, producing a net annual income of three thousand two hundred and ninety pounds or thereabouts. There's not many in this district as 'as gotten that to their names, Anna—no, nor half that—let 'em be who they will.'
Anna had sensations such as a child might have who has received a traction-engine to play with in a back yard. 'What am I to do with it?' she asked plaintively40.
'Do wi' it?' he repeated, and stood up and faced her, putting his lips together: 'Do wi' it, did ye say?'
'Yes.'
'Tak' care on it, my girl. Tak' care on it. And remember it's thine. Thou mun sign this list, and all these transfers and fal-lals, and then thou mun go to th' Bank, and tell Mester Lovatt I've sent thee. There's four hundred pound there. He'll give thee a cheque-book. I've told him all about it. Thou'll have thy own account, and be sure thou keeps it straight.'
'I shan't know a bit what to do, father, and so it's no use talking,' she said quietly.
'I'll learn ye,' he replied. 'Here, tak' th' pen, and let's have thy signature.'
She signed her name many times and put her finger on many seals. Then Tellwright gathered up everything into a bundle, and gave it to her to hold.
'That's the lot,' he said. 'Have ye gotten 'em?'
'Yes,' she said.
They both smiled, self-consciously. As for Tellwright, he was evidently impressed by the grandeur41 of this superb renunciation on his part. 'Shall I keep 'em for ye?'
'Yes, please.'
'Then give 'em me.'
He took back all the documents.
'When shall I call at the Bank, father?'
'Better call this afternoon—afore three, mind ye.'
'Very well. But I shan't know what to do.'
'You've gotten a tongue in that noddle of yours, haven't ye?' he said. 'Now go and get along wi' them potatoes.'
Anna returned to the kitchen. She felt no elation42 or ferment43 of any kind; she had not begun to realise the significance of what had occurred. Like the soldier whom a bullet has struck, she only knew vaguely44 that something had occurred. She peeled the potatoes with more than her usual thrifty45 care; the peel was so thin as to be almost transparent46. It seemed to her that she could not arrange or examine her emotions until after she had met Henry Mynors again. More than anything else she wished to see him: it was as if out of the mere47 sight of him something definite might emerge, as if when her eyes had rested on him, and not before, she might perceive some simple solution of the problems which she had obscurely discerned ahead of her.
During dinner a boy brought a note for her father. He read it, snorted, and threw it across the table to Anna.
'Here,' he said, 'that's your affair.'
The letter was from Titus Price: it said that he was sorry to be compelled to break his promise, but it was quite impossible for him to pay twenty pounds on account of rent that day; he would endeavour to pay at least twenty pounds in a week's time.
'You'd better call there, after you've been to th' Bank,' said Tellwright, 'and get summat out of him, if it's only ten pun.'
'Must I go to Edward Street?'
'Yes.'
'What am I to say? I've never been there before.'
'Well, it's high time as ye began to look after your own property. You mun see owd Price, and tell him ye canna accept any excuses.'
'How much does he owe?'
'A hundred and——! Well, I never!' Anna was aghast. The sum appeared larger to her than all the thousands and tens of thousands which she had received in the morning. She reflected that the weekly bills of the household amounted to about a sovereign, and that the total of this debt of Price's would therefore keep them in food for two years. The idea of being in debt was abhorrent49 to her. She could not conceive how a man who was in debt could sleep at nights. 'Mr. Price ought to be ashamed of himself,' she said warmly. 'I'm sure he's quite able to pay.' The image of the sleek50 and stout51 superintendent of the Sunday-school, arrayed in his rich, almost voluptuous52, broadcloth, offended her profoundly. That he, debtor53 and promise-breaker, should have the effrontery54 to pray for the souls of children, to chastise55 their petty furtive56 crimes, was nearly incredible.
'Oh! Price is all right,' her father remarked, with an apparent benignity57 which surprised her. 'He'll pay when he can.'
'I think it's a shame,' she repeated emphatically.
Agnes looked with a mystified air from one to the other, instinctively58 divining that something very extraordinary had happened during her absence at school.
'Ye mun'na be too hard, Anna,' said Tellwright. 'Supposing ye sold owd Titus up? What then? D'ye reckon ye'd get a tenant for them ramshackle works? A thousand pound spent wouldn't 'tice a tenant. That Edward Street property was one o' ye grandfeyther's specs; 'twere none o' mine. You'd best tak' what ye can get.'
Anna felt a little ashamed of herself, not because of her bad policy, but because she saw that Mr. Price might have been handicapped by the faults of her property.
That afternoon it was a shy and timid Anna who swung back the heavy polished and glazed59 portals of the Bursley branch of the Birmingham, Sheffield and district Bank, the opulent and spacious60 erection which stands commandingly at the top of St. Luke's Square. She looked about her, across broad counters, enormous ledgers61, and rows of bent heads, and wondered whom she should address. Then a bearded gentleman, who was weighing gold in a balance, caught sight of her: he slid the gold into a drawer, and whisked round the end of the counter with a celerity which was, at any rate, not born of practice, for he, the cashier, had not done such a thing for years.
'Good afternoon, Miss Tellwright.'
'Good afternoon. I——'
'May I trouble you to step into the manager's room?' and he drew her forward, while every clerk's eye watched. Anna tried not to blush, but she could feel the red mounting even to her temples.
'Delightful62 weather we're having. But of course we've the right to expect it at this time of year.' He opened a door on the glass of which was painted 'Manager,' and bowed. 'Mr. Lovatt—Miss Tellwright.'
Mr. Lovatt greeted his new customer with a formal and rather fatigued politeness, and invited her to sit in a large leather armchair in front of a large table; on this table lay a large open book. Anna had once in her life been to the dentist's; this interview reminded her of that experience.
'Your father told me I might expect you to-day,' said Mr. Lovatt in his high-pitched, perfunctory tones. Richard Lovatt was probably the most influential63 man in Bursley. Every Saturday morning he irrigated64 the whole town with fertilising gold. By a single negative he could have ruined scores of upright merchants and manufacturers. He had only to stop a man in the street and murmur65, 'By the way, your overdraft——,' in order to spread discord66 and desolation through a refined and pious67 home. His estimate of human nature was falsified by no common illusions; he had the impassive and frosty gaze of a criminal judge. Many men deemed they had cause to hate him, but no one did hate him: all recognised that he was set far above hatred68.
'Kindly69 sign your full name here,' he said, pointing to a spot on the large open page of the book, 'and your ordinary signature, which you will attach to cheques, here.'
Anna wrote, but in doing so she became aware that she had no ordinary signature; she was obliged to invent one.
'Do you wish to draw anything out now? There is already a credit of four hundred and twenty pounds in your favour,' said Mr. Lovatt, after he had handed her a cheque-book, a deposit-book, and a pass-book.
'Oh, no, thank you,' Anna answered quickly. She keenly desired some money, but she well knew that courage would fail her to demand it without her father's consent; moreover, she was in a whirl of uncertainty70 as to the uses of the three books, though Mr. Lovatt had expounded71 them severally to her in simple language.
'Good-day.'
'Good-day, Miss Tellwright.'
'My compliments to your father.'
His final glance said half cynically72, half in pity: 'You are naïve and unspoilt now, but these eyes will see yours harden like the rest. Wretched victim of gold, you are only one in a procession, after all.'
Outside, Anna thought that everyone had been very agreeable to her. Her complacency increased at a bound. She no longer felt ashamed of her shabby cotton dress. She surmised73 that people would find it convenient to ignore any difference which might exist between her costume and that of other girls.
She went on to Edward Street, a short steep thoroughfare at the eastern extremity74 of the town, leading into a rough road across unoccupied land dotted with the mouths of abandoned pits: this road climbed up to Toft End, a mean annexe of the town about half a mile east of Bleakridge. From Toft End, lying on the highest hill in the district, one had a panoramic75 view of Hanbridge and Bursley, with Hillport to the west, and all the moorland and mining villages to the north and north-east. Titus Price and his son lived in what had once been a farm-house at Toft End; every morning and evening they traversed the desolate76 and featureless grey road between their dwelling78 and the works.
Anna had never been in Edward Street before. It was a miserable79 quarter—two rows of blackened infinitesimal cottages, and her manufactory at the end—a frontier post of the town. Price's works was small, old-fashioned, and out of repair—one of those properties which are forlorn from the beginning, which bring despair into the hearts of a succession of owners, and which, being ultimately deserted80, seem to stand for ever in pitiable ruin. The arched entrance for carts into the yard was at the top of the steepest rise of the street, when it might as well have been at the bottom; and this was but one example of the architect's fine disregard for the principle of economy in working—that principle to which in the scheming of manufactories everything else is now so strictly81 subordinated. Ephraim Tellwright used to say (but not to Titus Price) that the situation of that archway cost five pounds a year in horseflesh, and that five pounds was the interest on a hundred. The place was badly located, badly planned and badly constructed. Its faults defied improvement. Titus Price remained in it only because he was chained there by arrears82 of rent; Tellwright hesitated to sell it only because the rent was a hundred a year, and the whole freehold would not have fetched eight hundred. He promised repairs in exchange for payment of arrears which he knew would never be paid, and his policy was to squeeze the last penny out of Price without forcing him into bankruptcy83. Such was the predicament when Anna assumed ownership. As she surveyed the irregular and huddled84 frontage from the opposite side of the street, her first feeling was one of depression at the broken and dirty panes of the windows. A man in shirt-sleeves was standing85 on the weighing platform under the archway; his back was towards her, but she could see the smoke issuing in puffs86 from his pipe. She crossed the road. Hearing her footfalls, the man turned round: it was Titus Price himself. He was wearing an apron, but no cap; the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, exposing forearms covered with auburn hair. His puffed87, heavy face, and general bigness and untidiness, gave the idea of a vast and torpid88 male slattern. Anna was astounded89 by the contrast between the Titus of Sunday and the Titus of Monday: a single glance compelled her to readjust all her notions of the man. She stammered90 a greeting, and he replied, and then they were both silent for a moment: in the pause Mr. Price thrust his pipe between apron and waistcoat.
'Come inside, Miss Tellwright,' he said, with a sickly, conciliatory smile. 'Come into the office, will ye?'
She followed him without a word through the archway. To the right was an open door into the packing-house, where a man surrounded by straw was packing basins in a crate91: with swift, precise movements, twisting straw between basin and basin, he forced piles of ware38 into a space inconceivably small. Mr. Price lingered to watch him for a few seconds, and passed on. They were in the yard, a small quadrangle paved with black, greasy92 mud. In one corner a load of coal had been cast; in another lay a heap of broken saggars. Decrepit93 doorways94 led to the various 'shops' on the ground floor; those on the upper floor were reached by narrow wooden stairs, which seemed to cling insecurely to the exterior95 walls. Up one of these stairways Mr. Price climbed with heavy, elephantine movements: Anna prudently96 waited till he had reached the top before beginning to ascend97. He pushed open a flimsy door, and with a nod bade her enter. The office was a long narrow room, the dirtiest that Anna had ever seen. If such was the condition of the master's quarters, she thought, what must the workshops be like? The ceiling, which bulged98 downwards99, was as black as the floor, which sank away in the middle till it was hollow like a saucer. The revolution of an engine somewhere below shook everything with a periodic muffled100 thud. A greyish light came through one small window. By the window was a large double desk, with chairs facing each other. One of these chairs was occupied by Willie Price. The youth did not observe at first that another person had come in with his father. He was casting up figures in an account book, and murmuring numbers to himself. He wore an office coat, short at the wrists and torn at the elbows, and a battered101 felt hat was thrust far back over his head so that the brim rested on his dirty collar. He turned round at length, and, on seeing Anna, blushed brilliant crimson102, and rose, scraping the legs of his chair horribly across the floor. Tall, thin, and ungainly in every motion, he had the look of a ninny: it was the fact that at school all the boys by a common instinct had combined to tease him, and that on the works the young paintresses continually made private sport of him. Anna, however, had not the least impulse to mock him in her thoughts. For her there was nothing in his blue eyes but simplicity103 and good intentions. Beside him she felt old, sagacious, crafty104: it seemed to her that some one ought to shield that transparent and confiding105 soul from his father and the intriguing106 world.
He spoke to her and lifted his hat, holding it afterwards in his great bony hand.
'Get down to th' entry, Will,' said his father, and Willie, with an apologetic sort of cough, slipped silently away through the door.
'Sit down, Miss Tellwright,' said old Price, and she took the Windsor chair that had been occupied by Willie. Her tenant fell into the seat opposite—a leathern chair from which the stuffing had exuded107, and with one of its arms broken. 'I hear as ye father is going into partnership108 with young Mynors—Henry Mynors.'
Anna started at this surprising item of news, which was entirely109 fresh to her. 'Father has said nothing to me about it,' she replied, coldly.
'Oh! Happen I've said too much. If so, you'll excuse me, Miss. A smart fellow, Mynors. Now you should see his little works: not very much bigger than this, but there's everything you can think of there—all the latest machinery110 and dodges111, and not over-rented, I'm told. The biggest fool i' Bursley couldn't help but make money there. This 'ere works 'ere, Miss Tellwright, wants mendin' with a new 'un.'
'It looks very dirty, I must say,' said Anna.
'Yes, father asked me to call.'
'Let me see, this place belongs to you i' your own right, doesn't it, Miss?'
'Yes,' said Anna. 'It's mine—from my grandfather, you know.'
'Ah! Well, I'm sorry for to tell ye as I can't pay anything now—no, not a cent. But I'll pay twenty pounds in a week. Tell ye father I'll pay twenty pound in a week.'
'That's what you said last week,' Anna remarked, with more brusqueness than she had intended. At first she was fearful at her own temerity113 in thus addressing a superintendent of the Sunday-school; then, as nothing happened, she felt reassured114, and strong in the justice of her position.
'Yes,' he admitted obsequiously115. 'But I've been disappointed. One of our best customers put us off, to tell ye the truth. Money's tight, very tight. It's got to be give and take in these days, as ye father knows. And I may as well speak plain to ye, Miss Tellwright. We canna' stay here; we shall be compelled to give ye notice. What's amiss with this bank[1] is that it wants pullin' down.' He went off into a rapid enumeration116 of ninety-and-nine alterations117 and repairs that must be done without the loss of a moment, and concluded: 'You tell ye father what I've told ye, and say as I'll send up twenty pounds next week. I can't pay anything now; I've nothing by me at all.'
'Father said particularly I was to be sure and get something on account.' There was a flinty hardness in her tone which astonished herself perhaps more than Titus Price. A long pause followed, and then Mr. Price drew a breath, seeming to nerve himself to a tremendous sacrificial deed.
'I tell ye what I'll do. I'll give ye ten pounds now, and I'll do what I can next week. I'll do what I can. There!'
'Thank you,' said Anna. She was amazed at her success.
He unlocked the desk, and his head disappeared under the lifted lid. Anna gazed through the window. Like many women, and not a few men, in the Five Towns, she was wholly ignorant of the staple118 manufacture. The interior of a works was almost as strange to her as it would have been to a farm-hand from Sussex. A girl came out of a door on the opposite side of the quadrangle: the creature was clothed in clayey rags, and carried on her right shoulder a board laden119 with biscuit[2] cups. She began to mount one of the wooden stairways, and as she did so the board, six feet in length, swayed alarmingly to and fro. Anna expected to see it fall with a destructive crash, but the girl went up in safety, and with a nonchalant jerk of the shoulder aimed the end of the board through another door and vanished from sight. To Anna it was a thrilling feat77, but she noticed that a man who stood in the yard did not even turn his head to watch it. Mr. Price recalled her to the business of her errand.
'Here's two fives,' he said, shutting down the desk with the sigh of a crocodile.
'Liar120! You said you had nothing!' her unspoken thought ran, and at the same instant the Sunday-school and everything connected with it grievously sank in her estimation; she contrasted this scene with that on the previous day with the peccant schoolgirl: it was an hour of disillusion121. Taking the notes, she gave a receipt and rose to go.
'Tell ye father'—it seemed to Anna that this phrase was always on his lips—'tell ye father he must come down and look at the state this place is in,' said Mr. Price, enheartened by the heroic payment of ten pounds. Anna said nothing; she thought a fire would do more good than anything else to the foul122, squalid buildings: the passing fancy coincided with Mr. Price's secret and most intense desire.
Outside she saw Willie Price superintending the lifting of a crate on to a railway lorry. After twirling in the air, the crate sank safely into the waggon123. Young Price was perspiring124.
'Warm afternoon, Miss Tellwright,' he called to her as she passed, with his pleasant bashful smile. She gave an affirmative. Then he came to her, still smiling, his face full of an intention to say something, however insignificant125.
'I suppose you'll be at the Special Teachers' Meeting to-morrow night,' he remarked.
'I hope to be,' she said. That was all: William had achieved his small-talk: they parted.
'So father and Mr. Mynors are going into partnership,' she kept saying to herself on the way home.
该作者的其它作品
《How to Live on 24 Hours a Day》
《Hilda Lessways》
《老妇人的故事 The Old Wives' Tale》
该作者的其它作品
《How to Live on 24 Hours a Day》
《Hilda Lessways》
《老妇人的故事 The Old Wives' Tale》
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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curtly
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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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nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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fatigued
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engraving
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| n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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rebounding
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| 蹦跳运动 | |
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panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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17
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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19
solicitors
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| 初级律师( solicitor的名词复数 ) | |
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20
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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21
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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22
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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23
gazetteer
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| n.地名索引 | |
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24
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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25
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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26
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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27
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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28
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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29
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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30
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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31
brewery
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| n.啤酒厂 | |
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32
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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33
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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34
exculpated
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| v.开脱，使无罪( exculpate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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36
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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37
earthenware
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| n.土器，陶器 | |
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38
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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39
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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40
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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41
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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42
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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43
ferment
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| vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱 | |
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44
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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45
thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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46
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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47
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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48
arrear
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| n.欠款 | |
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49
abhorrent
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| adj.可恶的，可恨的，讨厌的 | |
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50
sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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52
voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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53
debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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54
effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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55
chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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56
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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57
benignity
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| n.仁慈 | |
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58
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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59
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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60
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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61
ledgers
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| n.分类账( ledger的名词复数 ) | |
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62
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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63
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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64
irrigated
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| [医]冲洗的 | |
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65
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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66
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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67
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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68
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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69
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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70
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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71
expounded
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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73
surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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74
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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75
panoramic
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| adj. 全景的 | |
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76
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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77
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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78
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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79
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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80
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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81
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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82
arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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83
bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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84
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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85
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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86
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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87
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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88
torpid
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| adj.麻痹的，麻木的，迟钝的 | |
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89
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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90
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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92
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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93
decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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94
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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95
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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96
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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97
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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98
bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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99
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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100
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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101
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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102
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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103
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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104
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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105
confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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106
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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107
exuded
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| v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的过去式和过去分词 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情 | |
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108
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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109
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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110
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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111
dodges
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| n.闪躲( dodge的名词复数 )；躲避；伎俩；妙计v.闪躲( dodge的第三人称单数 )；回避 | |
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112
acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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113
temerity
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| n.鲁莽，冒失 | |
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114
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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115
obsequiously
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116
enumeration
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| n.计数，列举；细目；详表；点查 | |
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117
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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118
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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119
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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120
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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121
disillusion
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| vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭 | |
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122
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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123
waggon
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| n.运货马车，运货车；敞篷车箱 | |
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124
perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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125
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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