The three brothers and the sister sat round the desolate3 breakfast table, attempting some sort of desultory4 consultation5. The morning’s post had given the final tap to the family fortunes, and all was over. The dreary6 dining-room itself, with its heavy mahogany furniture, looked as if it were waiting to be done away with.
But the consultation amounted to nothing. There was a strange air of ineffectuality about the three men, as they sprawled7 at table, smoking and reflecting vaguely8 on their own condition. The girl was alone, a rather short, sullen9-looking young woman of twenty-seven. She did not share the same life as her brothers. She would have been good-looking, save for the impassive fixity of her face, “bull-dog”, as her brothers called it.
There was a confused tramping of horses’ feet outside. The three men all sprawled round in their chairs to watch. Beyond the dark holly10-bushes that separated the strip of lawn from the highroad, they could see a cavalcade11 of shire horses swinging out of their own yard, being taken for exercise. This was the last time. These were the last horses that would go through their hands. The young men watched with critical, callous12 look. They were all frightened at the collapse13 of their lives, and the sense of disaster in which they were involved left them no inner freedom.
Yet they were three fine, well-set fellows enough. Joe, the eldest14, was a man of thirty-three, broad and handsome in a hot, flushed way. His face was red, he twisted his black moustache over a thick finger, his eyes were shallow and restless. He had a sensual way of uncovering his teeth when he laughed, and his bearing was stupid. Now he watched the horses with a glazed15 look of helplessness in his eyes, a certain stupor16 of downfall.
The great draught-horses swung past. They were tied head to tail, four of them, and they heaved along to where a lane branched off from the highroad, planting their great hoofs17 floutingly in the fine black mud, swinging their great rounded haunches sumptuously18, and trotting19 a few sudden steps as they were led into the lane, round the corner. Every movement showed a massive, slumbrous strength, and a stupidity which held them in subjection. The groom20 at the head looked back, jerking the leading rope. And the calvalcade moved out of sight up the lane, the tail of the last horse, bobbed up tight and stiff, held out taut21 from the swinging great haunches as they rocked behind the hedges in a motionlike sleep.
Joe watched with glazed hopeless eyes. The horses were almost like his own body to him. He felt he was done for now. Luckily he was engaged to a woman as old as himself, and therefore her father, who was steward22 of a neighbouring estate, would provide him with a job. He would marry and go into harness. His life was over, he would be a subject animal now.
He turned uneasily aside, the retreating steps of the horses echoing in his ears. Then, with foolish restlessness, he reached for the scraps23 of bacon-rind from the plates, and making a faint whistling sound, flung them to the terrier that lay against the fender. He watched the dog swallow them, and waited till the creature looked into his eyes. Then a faint grin came on his face, and in a high, foolish voice he said:
“You won’t get much more bacon, shall you, you little b——?”
The dog faintly and dismally24 wagged its tail, then lowered his haunches, circled round, and lay down again.
There was another helpless silence at the table. Joe sprawled uneasily in his seat, not willing to go till the family conclave25 was dissolved. Fred Henry, the second brother, was erect26, clean-limbed, alert. He had watched the passing of the horses with more sang-froid. If he was an animal, like Joe, he was an animal which controls, not one which is controlled. He was master of any horse, and he carried himself with a well-tempered air of mastery. But he was not master of the situations of life. He pushed his coarse brown moustache upwards27, off his lip, and glanced irritably28 at his sister, who sat impassive and inscrutable.
“You’ll go and stop with Lucy for a bit, shan’t you?” he asked. The girl did not answer.
“I don’t see what else you can do,” persisted Fred Henry.
“Go as a skivvy,” Joe interpolated laconically29.
The girl did not move a muscle.
“If I was her, I should go in for training for a nurse,” said Malcolm, the youngest of them all. He was the baby of the family, a young man of twenty-two, with a fresh, jaunty30 museau.
But Mabel did not take any notice of him. They had talked at her and round her for so many years, that she hardly heard them at all.
The marble clock on the mantel-piece softly chimed the half-hour, the dog rose uneasily from the hearthrug and looked at the party at the breakfast table. But still they sat on in ineffectual conclave.
“Oh, all right,” said Joe suddenly, à propos of nothing. “I’ll get a move on.”
He pushed back his chair, straddled his knees with a downward jerk, to get them free, in horsy fashion, and went to the fire. Still he did not go out of the room; he was curious to know what the others would do or say. He began to charge his pipe, looking down at the dog and saying, in a high, affected32 voice:
“Going wi’ me? Going wi’ me are ter? Tha’rt goin’ further than tha counts on just now, dost hear?”
The dog faintly wagged its tail, the man stuck out his jaw33 and covered his pipe with his hands, and puffed34 intently, losing himself in the tobacco, looking down all the while at the dog with an absent brown eye. The dog looked up at him in mournful distrust. Joe stood with his knees stuck out, in real horsy fashion.
“Have you had a letter from Lucy?” Fred Henry asked of his sister.
“Last week,” came the neutral reply.
“And what does she say?”
There was no answer.
“Does she ask you to go and stop there?” persisted Fred Henry.
“She says I can if I like.”
“Well, then, you’d better. Tell her you’ll come on Monday.”
This was received in silence.
“That’s what you’ll do then, is it?” said Fred Henry, in some exasperation35.
But she made no answer. There was a silence of futility36 and irritation37 in the room. Malcolm grinned fatuously38.
“You’ll have to make up your mind between now and next Wednesday,” said Joe loudly, “or else find yourself lodgings39 on the kerbstone.”
“Where?” exclaimed Joe, loudly.
“Just gone past.”
“Coming in?”
Malcolm craned his neck to see the gate.
“Yes,” he said.
There was a silence. Mabel sat on like one condemned42, at the head of the table. Then a whistle was heard from the kitchen. The dog got up and barked sharply. Joe opened the door and shouted:
“Come on.”
After a moment a young man entered. He was muffled43 up in overcoat and a purple woollen scarf, and his tweed cap, which he did not remove, was pulled down on his head. He was of medium height, his face was rather long and pale, his eyes looked tired.
“Hello, Jack! Well, Jack!” exclaimed Malcolm and Joe. Fred Henry merely said, “Jack.”
“What’s doing?” asked the newcomer, evidently addressing Fred Henry.
“Same. We’ve got to be out by Wednesday.—Got a cold?”
“I have—got it bad, too.”
“Why don’t you stop in?”
“Me stop in? When I can’t stand on my legs, perhaps I shall have a chance.” The young man spoke45 huskily. He had a slight Scotch46 accent.
“It’s a knock-out, isn’t it,” said Joe, boisterously47, “if a doctor goes round croaking48 with a cold. Looks bad for the patients, doesn’t it?”
The young doctor looked at him slowly.
“Anything the matter with you, then?” he asked sarcastically49.
“Not as I know of. Damn your eyes, I hope not. Why?”
“I thought you were very concerned about the patients, wondered if you might be one yourself.”
“Damn it, no, I’ve never been patient to no flaming doctor, and hope I never shall be,” returned Joe.
At this point Mabel rose from the table, and they all seemed to become aware of her existence. She began putting the dishes together. The young doctor looked at her, but did not address her. He had not greeted her. She went out of the room with the tray, her face impassive and unchanged.
“When are you off then, all of you?” asked the doctor.
“Yes, I’ve told you I’m going down wi’ th’ trap, haven’t I?”
“We’d better be getting her in then.—So long, Jack, if I don’t see you before I go,” said Malcolm, shaking hands.
He went out, followed by Joe, who seemed to have his tail between his legs.
“Well, this is the devil’s own,” exclaimed the doctor, when he was left alone with Fred Henry. “Going before Wednesday, are you?”
“That’s the orders,” replied the other.
“Where, to Northampton?”
“That’s it.”
And there was silence between the two.
“All settled up, are you?” asked Fergusson.
“About.”
There was another pause.
“Well, I shall miss yer, Freddy, boy,” said the young doctor.
“And I shall miss thee, Jack,” returned the other.
Fred Henry turned aside. There was nothing to say. Mabel came in again, to finish clearing the table.
“What are you going to do, then, Miss Pervin?” asked Fergusson. “Going to your sister’s, are you?”
Mabel looked at him with her steady, dangerous eyes, that always made him uncomfortable, unsettling his superficial ease.
“No,” she said.
“Well, what in the name of fortune are you going to do? Say what you mean to do,” cried Fred Henry, with futile53 intensity54.
But she only averted55 her head, and continued her work. She folded the white table-cloth, and put on the chenille cloth.
“The sulkiest bitch that ever trod!” muttered her brother.
But she finished her task with perfectly56 impassive face, the young doctor watching her interestedly all the while. Then she went out.
Fred Henry stared after her, clenching57 his lips, his blue eyes fixing in sharp antagonism58, as he made a grimace59 of sour exasperation.
“You could bray60 her into bits, and that’s all you’d get out of her,” he said, in a small, narrowed tone.
The doctor smiled faintly.
“What’s she going to do, then?” he asked.
“Strike me if I know!” returned the other.
There was a pause. Then the doctor stirred.
“I’ll be seeing you tonight, shall I?” he said to his friend.
“Ay—where’s it to be? Are we going over to Jessdale?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got such a cold on me. I’ll come round to the Moon and Stars, anyway.”
“Let Lizzie and May miss their night for once, eh?”
“That’s it—if I feel as I do now.”
“All’s one—”
The two young men went through the passage and down to the back door together. The house was large, but it was servantless now, and desolate. At the back was a small bricked house-yard, and beyond that a big square, gravelled fine and red, and having stables on two sides. Sloping, dank, winter-dark fields stretched away on the open sides.
But the stables were empty. Joseph Pervin, the father of the family, had been a man of no education, who had become a fairly large horse dealer61. The stables had been full of horses, there was a great turmoil62 and come-and-go of horses and of dealers63 and grooms64. Then the kitchen was full of servants. But of late things had declined. The old man had married a second time, to retrieve65 his fortunes. Now he was dead and everything was gone to the dogs, there was nothing but debt and threatening.
For months, Mabel had been servantless in the big house, keeping the home together in penury66 for her ineffectual brothers. She had kept house for ten years. But previously67, it was with unstinted means. Then, however brutal68 and coarse everything was, the sense of money had kept her proud, confident. The men might be foul69-mouthed, the women in the kitchen might have bad reputations, her brothers might have illegitimate children. But so long as there was money, the girl felt herself established, and brutally70 proud, reserved.
No company came to the house, save dealers and coarse men. Mabel had no associates of her own sex, after her sister went away. But she did not mind. She went regularly to church, she attended to her father. And she lived in the memory of her mother, who had died when she was fourteen, and whom she had loved. She had loved her father, too, in a different way, depending upon him, and feeling secure in him, until at the age of fifty-four he married again. And then she had set hard against him. Now he had died and left them all hopelessly in debt.
She had suffered badly during the period of poverty. Nothing, however, could shake the curious sullen, animal pride that dominated each member of the family. Now, for Mabel, the end had come. Still she would not cast about her. She would follow her own way just the same. She would always hold the keys of her own situation. Mindless and persistent71, she endured from day to day. Why should she think? Why should she answer anybody? It was enough that this was the end, and there was no way out. She need not pass any more darkly along the main street of the small town, avoiding every eye. She need not demean herself any more, going into the shops and buying the cheapest food. This was at an end. She thought of nobody, not even of herself. Mindless and persistent, she seemed in a sort of ecstasy72 to be coming nearer to her fulfilment, her own glorification73, approaching her dead mother, who was glorified74.
In the afternoon she took a little bag, with shears75 and sponge and a small scrubbing brush, and went out. It was a grey, wintry day, with saddened, dark-green fields and an atmosphere blackened by the smoke of foundries not far off. She went quickly, darkly along the causeway, heeding76 nobody, through the town to the churchyard.
There she always felt secure, as if no one could see her, although as a matter of fact she was exposed to the stare of everyone who passed along under the churchyard wall. Nevertheless, once under the shadow of the great looming77 church, among the graves, she felt immune from the world, reserved within the thick churchyard wall as in another country.
Carefully she clipped the grass from the grave, and arranged the pinky-white, small chrysanthemums78 in the tin cross. When this was done, she took an empty jar from a neighbouring grave, brought water, and carefully, most scrupulously79 sponged the marble headstone and the coping-stone.
It gave her sincere satisfaction to do this. She felt in immediate80 contact with the world of her mother. She took minute pains, went through the park in a state bordering on pure happiness, as if in performing this task she came into a subtle, intimate connexion with her mother. For the life she followed here in the world was far less real than the world of death she inherited from her mother.
The doctor’s house was just by the church. Fergusson, being a mere44 hired assistant, was slave to the countryside. As he hurried now to attend to the outpatients in the surgery, glancing across the graveyard81 with his quick eye, he saw the girl at her task at the grave. She seemed so intent and remote, it was like looking into another world. Some mystical element was touched in him. He slowed down as he walked, watching her as if spell-bound.
She lifted her eyes, feeling him looking. Their eyes met. And each looked again at once, each feeling, in some way, found out by the other. He lifted his cap and passed on down the road. There remained distinct in his consciousness, like a vision, the memory of her face, lifted from the tombstone in the churchyard, and looking at him with slow, large, portentous82 eyes. It was portentous, her face. It seemed to mesmerise him. There was a heavy power in her eyes which laid hold of his whole being, as if he had drunk some powerful drug. He had been feeling weak and done before. Now the life came back into him, he felt delivered from his own fretted83, daily self.
He finished his duties at the surgery as quickly as might be, hastily filling up the bottles of the waiting people with cheap drugs. Then, in perpetual haste, he set off again to visit several cases in another part of his round, before teatime. At all times he preferred to walk, if he could, but particularly when he was not well. He fancied the motion restored him.
The afternoon was falling. It was grey, deadened, and wintry, with a slow, moist, heavy coldness sinking in and deadening all the faculties84. But why should he think or notice? He hastily climbed the hill and turned across the dark-green fields, following the black cinder-track. In the distance, across a shallow dip in the country, the small town was clustered like smouldering ash, a tower, a spire85, a heap of low, raw, extinct houses. And on the nearest fringe of the town, sloping into the dip, was Oldmeadow, the Pervins’ house. He could see the stables and the outbuildings distinctly, as they lay towards him on the slope. Well, he would not go there many more times! Another resource would be lost to him, another place gone: the only company he cared for in the alien, ugly little town he was losing. Nothing but work, drudgery86, constant hastening from dwelling87 to dwelling among the colliers and the iron-workers. It wore him out, but at the same time he had a craving88 for it. It was a stimulant89 to him to be in the homes of the working people, moving as it were through the innermost body of their life. His nerves were excited and gratified. He could come so near, into the very lives of the rough, inarticulate, powerfully emotional men and women. He grumbled90, he said he hated the hellish hole. But as a matter of fact it excited him, the contact with the rough, strongly-feeling people was a stimulant applied91 direct to his nerves.
Below Oldmeadow, in the green, shallow, soddened93 hollow of fields, lay a square, deep pond. Roving across the landscape, the doctor’s quick eye detected a figure in black passing through the gate of the field, down towards the pond. He looked again. It would be Mabel Pervin. His mind suddenly became alive and attentive94.
Why was she going down there? He pulled up on the path on the slope above, and stood staring. He could just make sure of the small black figure moving in the hollow of the failing day. He seemed to see her in the midst of such obscurity, that he was like a clairvoyant95, seeing rather with the mind’s eye than with ordinary sight. Yet he could see her positively96 enough, whilst he kept his eye attentive. He felt, if he looked away from her, in the thick, ugly falling dusk, he would lose her altogether.
He followed her minutely as she moved, direct and intent, like something transmitted rather than stirring in voluntary activity, straight down the field towards the pond. There she stood on the bank for a moment. She never raised her head. Then she waded97 slowly into the water.
He stood motionless as the small black figure walked slowly and deliberately98 towards the centre of the pond, very slowly, gradually moving deeper into the motionless water, and still moving forward as the water got up to her breast. Then he could see her no more in the dusk of the dead afternoon.
“There!” he exclaimed. “Would you believe it?”
And he hastened straight down, running over the wet, soddened fields, pushing through the hedges, down into the depression of callous wintry obscurity. It took him several minutes to come to the pond. He stood on the bank, breathing heavily. He could see nothing. His eyes seemed to penetrate99 the dead water. Yes, perhaps that was the dark shadow of her black clothing beneath the surface of the water.
He slowly ventured into the pond. The bottom was deep, soft clay, he sank in, and the water clasped dead cold round his legs. As he stirred he could smell the cold, rotten clay that fouled100 up into the water. It was objectionable in his lungs. Still, repelled101 and yet not heeding, he moved deeper into the pond. The cold water rose over his thighs102, over his loins, upon his abdomen103. The lower part of his body was all sunk in the hideous104 cold element. And the bottom was so deeply soft and uncertain, he was afraid of pitching with his mouth underneath105. He could not swim, and was afraid.
He crouched106 a little, spreading his hands under the water and moving them round, trying to feel for her. The dead cold pond swayed upon his chest. He moved again, a little deeper, and again, with his hands underneath, he felt all around under the water. And he touched her clothing. But it evaded107 his fingers. He made a desperate effort to grasp it.
And so doing he lost his balance and went under, horribly, suffocating108 in the foul earthy water, struggling madly for a few moments. At last, after what seemed an eternity109, he got his footing, rose again into the air and looked around. He gasped110, and knew he was in the world. Then he looked at the water. She had risen near him. He grasped her clothing, and drawing her nearer, turned to take his way to land again.
He went very slowly, carefully, absorbed in the slow progress. He rose higher, climbing out of the pond. The water was now only about his legs; he was thankful, full of relief to be out of the clutches of the pond. He lifted her and staggered on to the bank, out of the horror of wet, grey clay.
He laid her down on the bank. She was quite unconscious and running with water. He made the water come from her mouth, he worked to restore her. He did not have to work very long before he could feel the breathing begin again in her; she was breathing naturally. He worked a little longer. He could feel her live beneath his hands; she was coming back. He wiped her face, wrapped her in his overcoat, looked round into the dim, dark-grey world, then lifted her and staggered down the bank and across the fields.
It seemed an unthinkably long way, and his burden so heavy he felt he would never get to the house. But at last he was in the stable-yard, and then in the house-yard. He opened the door and went into the house. In the kitchen he laid her down on the hearthrug, and called. The house was empty. But the fire was burning in the grate.
Then again he kneeled to attend to her. She was breathing regularly, her eyes were wide open and as if conscious, but there seemed something missing in her look. She was conscious in herself, but unconscious of her surroundings.
He ran upstairs, took blankets from a bed, and put them before the fire to warm. Then he removed her saturated111, earthy-smelling clothing, rubbed her dry with a towel, and wrapped her naked in the blankets. Then he went into the dining-room, to look for spirits. There was a little whisky. He drank a gulp112 himself, and put some into her mouth.
The effect was instantaneous. She looked full into his face, as if she had been seeing him for some time, and yet had only just become conscious of him.
“Dr. Fergusson?” she said.
“What?” he answered.
He was divesting113 himself of his coat, intending to find some dry clothing upstairs. He could not bear the smell of the dead, clayey water, and he was mortally afraid for his own health.
“What did I do?” she asked.
“Walked into the pond,” he replied. He had begun to shudder114 like one sick, and could hardly attend to her. Her eyes remained full on him, he seemed to be going dark in his mind, looking back at her helplessly. The shuddering115 became quieter in him, his life came back in him, dark and unknowing, but strong again.
“Maybe, for the moment,” he replied. He felt quiet, because his strength had come back. The strange fretful strain had left him.
“Am I out of my mind now?” she asked.
“Are you?” he reflected a moment. “No,” he answered truthfully, “I don’t see that you are.” He turned his face aside. He was afraid now, because he felt dazed, and felt dimly that her power was stronger than his, in this issue. And she continued to look at him fixedly117 all the time. “Can you tell me where I shall find some dry things to put on?” he asked.
“Did you dive into the pond for me?” she asked.
“No,” he answered. “I walked in. But I went in overhead as well.”
There was silence for a moment. He hesitated. He very much wanted to go upstairs to get into dry clothing. But there was another desire in him. And she seemed to hold him. His will seemed to have gone to sleep, and left him, standing118 there slack before her. But he felt warm inside himself. He did not shudder at all, though his clothes were sodden92 on him.
“Why did you?” she asked.
“Because I didn’t want you to do such a foolish thing,” he said.
“It wasn’t foolish,” she said, still gazing at him as she lay on the floor, with a sofa cushion under her head. “It was the right thing to do. I knew best, then.”
“I’ll go and shift these wet things,” he said. But still he had not the power to move out of her presence, until she sent him. It was as if she had the life of his body in her hands, and he could not extricate119 himself. Or perhaps he did not want to.
Suddenly she sat up. Then she became aware of her own immediate condition. She felt the blankets about her, she knew her own limbs. For a moment it seemed as if her reason were going. She looked round, with wild eye, as if seeking something. He stood still with fear. She saw her clothing lying scattered120.
“Who undressed me?” she asked, her eyes resting full and inevitable121 on his face.
“I did,” he replied, “to bring you round.”
“Do you love me then?” she asked.
He only stood and stared at her, fascinated. His soul seemed to melt.
She shuffled123 forward on her knees, and put her arms round him, round his legs, as he stood there, pressing her breasts against his knees and thighs, clutching him with strange, convulsive certainty, pressing his thighs against her, drawing him to her face, her throat, as she looked up at him with flaring124, humble125 eyes, of transfiguration, triumphant126 in first possession.
“You love me,” she murmured, in strange transport, yearning128 and triumphant and confident. “You love me. I know you love me, I know.”
And she was passionately129 kissing his knees, through the wet clothing, passionately and indiscriminately kissing his knees, his legs, as if unaware130 of everything.
He looked down at the tangled131 wet hair, the wild, bare, animal shoulders. He was amazed, bewildered, and afraid. He had never thought of loving her. He had never wanted to love her. When he rescued her and restored her, he was a doctor, and she was a patient. He had had no single personal thought of her. Nay132, this introduction of the personal element was very distasteful to him, a violation133 of his professional honour. It was horrible to have her there embracing his knees. It was horrible. He revolted from it, violently. And yet—and yet—he had not the power to break away.
She looked at him again, with the same supplication134 of powerful love, and that same transcendent, frightening light of triumph. In view of the delicate flame which seemed to come from her face like a light, he was powerless. And yet he had never intended to love her. He had never intended. And something stubborn in him could not give way.
Her hands were drawing him, drawing him down to her. He was afraid, even a little horrified135. For he had, really, no intention of loving her. Yet her hands were drawing him towards her. He put out his hand quickly to steady himself, and grasped her bare shoulder. A flame seemed to burn the hand that grasped her soft shoulder. He had no intention of loving her: his whole will was against his yielding. It was horrible. And yet wonderful was the touch of her shoulders, beautiful the shining of her face. Was she perhaps mad? He had a horror of yielding to her. Yet something in him ached also.
He had been staring away at the door, away from her. But his hand remained on her shoulder. She had gone suddenly very still. He looked down at her. Her eyes were now wide with fear, with doubt, the light was dying from her face, a shadow of terrible greyness was returning. He could not bear the touch of her eyes’ question upon him, and the look of death behind the question.
With an inward groan136 he gave way, and let his heart yield towards her. A sudden gentle smile came on his face. And her eyes, which never left his face, slowly, slowly filled with tears. He watched the strange water rise in her eyes, like some slow fountain coming up. And his heart seemed to burn and melt away in his breast.
He could not bear to look at her any more. He dropped on his knees and caught her head with his arms and pressed her face against his throat. She was very still. His heart, which seemed to have broken, was burning with a kind of agony in his breast. And he felt her slow, hot tears wetting his throat. But he could not move.
He felt the hot tears wet his neck and the hollows of his neck, and he remained motionless, suspended through one of man’s eternities. Only now it had become indispensable to him to have her face pressed close to him; he could never let her go again. He could never let her head go away from the close clutch of his arm. He wanted to remain like that for ever, with his heart hurting him in a pain that was also life to him. Without knowing, he was looking down on her damp, soft brown hair.
Then, as it were suddenly, he smelt137 the horrid138 stagnant139 smell of that water. And at the same moment she drew away from him and looked at him. Her eyes were wistful and unfathomable. He was afraid of them, and he fell to kissing her, not knowing what he was doing. He wanted her eyes not to have that terrible, wistful, unfathomable look.
When she turned her face to him again, a faint delicate flush was glowing, and there was again dawning that terrible shining of joy in her eyes, which really terrified him, and yet which he now wanted to see, because he feared the look of doubt still more.
“Yes.” The word cost him a painful effort. Not because it wasn’t true. But because it was too newly true, the saying seemed to tear open again his newly-torn heart. And he hardly wanted it to be true, even now.
She lifted her face to him, and he bent141 forward and kissed her on the mouth, gently, with the one kiss that is an eternal pledge. And as he kissed her his heart strained again in his breast. He never intended to love her. But now it was over. He had crossed over the gulf142 to her, and all that he had left behind had shrivelled and become void.
After the kiss, her eyes again slowly filled with tears. She sat still, away from him, with her face drooped143 aside, and her hands folded in her lap. The tears fell very slowly. There was complete silence. He too sat there motionless and silent on the hearthrug. The strange pain of his heart that was broken seemed to consume him. That he should love her? That this was love! That he should be ripped open in this way!—Him, a doctor!—How they would all jeer144 if they knew!—It was agony to him to think they might know.
In the curious naked pain of the thought he looked again to her. She was sitting there drooped into a muse31. He saw a tear fall, and his heart flared145 hot. He saw for the first time that one of her shoulders was quite uncovered, one arm bare, he could see one of her small breasts; dimly, because it had become almost dark in the room.
“Why are you crying?” he asked, in an altered voice.
She looked up at him, and behind her tears the consciousness of her situation for the first time brought a dark look of shame to her eyes.
“I’m not crying, really,” she said, watching him half frightened.
He reached his hand, and softly closed it on her bare arm.
“I love you! I love you!” he said in a soft, low vibrating voice, unlike himself.
She shrank, and dropped her head. The soft, penetrating146 grip of his hand on her arm distressed147 her. She looked up at him.
“I want to go,” she said. “I want to go and get you some dry things.”
“Why?” he said. “I’m all right.”
“But I want to go,” she said. “And I want you to change your things.”
He released her arm, and she wrapped herself in the blanket, looking at him rather frightened. And still she did not rise.
“Kiss me,” she said wistfully.
Then, after a second, she rose nervously149, all mixed up in the blanket. He watched her in her confusion, as she tried to extricate herself and wrap herself up so that she could walk. He watched her relentlessly150, as she knew. And as she went, the blanket trailing, and as he saw a glimpse of her feet and her white leg, he tried to remember her as she was when he had wrapped her in the blanket. But then he didn’t want to remember, because she had been nothing to him then, and his nature revolted from remembering her as she was when she was nothing to him.
A tumbling, muffled noise from within the dark house startled him. Then he heard her voice:—“There are clothes.” He rose and went to the foot of the stairs, and gathered up the garments she had thrown down. Then he came back to the fire, to rub himself down and dress. He grinned at his own appearance when he had finished.
The fire was sinking, so he put on coal. The house was now quite dark, save for the light of a street-lamp that shone in faintly from beyond the holly trees. He lit the gas with matches he found on the mantel-piece. Then he emptied the pockets of his own clothes, and threw all his wet things in a heap into the scullery. After which he gathered up her sodden clothes, gently, and put them in a separate heap on the copper-top in the scullery.
It was six o’clock on the clock. His own watch had stopped. He ought to go back to the surgery. He waited, and still she did not come down. So he went to the foot of the stairs and called:
“I shall have to go.”
Almost immediately he heard her coming down. She had on her best dress of black voile, and her hair was tidy, but still damp. She looked at him—and in spite of herself, smiled.
“I don’t like you in those clothes,” she said.
“Do I look a sight?” he answered.
They were shy of one another.
“I’ll make you some tea,” she said.
“No, I must go.”
“Must you?” And she looked at him again with the wide, strained, doubtful eyes. And again, from the pain of his breast, he knew how he loved her. He went and bent to kiss her, gently, passionately, with his heart’s painful kiss.
“And my hair smells so horrible,” she murmured in distraction151. “And I’m so awful, I’m so awful! Oh, no, I’m too awful.” And she broke into bitter, heart-broken sobbing152. “You can’t want to love me, I’m horrible.”
“Don’t be silly, don’t be silly,” he said, trying to comfort her, kissing her, holding her in his arms. “I want you, I want to marry you, we’re going to be married, quickly, quickly—tomorrow if I can.”
“I feel awful. I feel awful. I feel I’m horrible to you.”
“No, I want you, I want you,” was all he answered, blindly, with that terrible intonation154 which frightened her almost more than her horror lest he should not want her.
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收听单词发音
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1
flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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2
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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3
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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4
desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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5
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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6
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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7
sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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8
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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9
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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10
holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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12
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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13
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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14
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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15
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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16
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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17
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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18
sumptuously
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| 奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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19
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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20
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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21
taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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22
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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23
scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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24
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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25
conclave
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| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
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26
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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27
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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28
irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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29
laconically
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| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
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30
jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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31
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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32
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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33
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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34
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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35
exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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36
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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37
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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38
fatuously
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| adv.愚昧地，昏庸地，蠢地 | |
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39
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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40
immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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41
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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42
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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43
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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44
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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45
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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46
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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47
boisterously
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| adv.喧闹地，吵闹地 | |
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48
croaking
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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49
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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50
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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51
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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52
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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53
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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54
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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55
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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56
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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57
clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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58
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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59
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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60
bray
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| n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫 | |
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61
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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62
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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63
dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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64
grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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65
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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66
penury
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| n.贫穷，拮据 | |
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67
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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68
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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69
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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70
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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71
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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72
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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73
glorification
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| n.赞颂 | |
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74
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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75
shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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76
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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77
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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78
chrysanthemums
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| n.菊花( chrysanthemum的名词复数 ) | |
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79
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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80
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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81
graveyard
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| n.坟场 | |
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82
portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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83
fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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84
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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85
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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86
drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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87
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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88
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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89
stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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90
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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91
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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92
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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93
soddened
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| v.（液体）沸腾( seethe的过去分词 )( sodden的过去分词 )；激动，大怒；强压怒火；生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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94
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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95
clairvoyant
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| adj.有预见的；n.有预见的人 | |
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96
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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97
waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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99
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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100
fouled
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| v.使污秽( foul的过去式和过去分词 )；弄脏；击球出界；（通常用废物）弄脏 | |
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101
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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102
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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103
abdomen
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| n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
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104
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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105
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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106
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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107
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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108
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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109
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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110
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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111
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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112
gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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113
divesting
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| v.剥夺( divest的现在分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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114
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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115
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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116
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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117
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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118
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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119
extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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120
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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121
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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122
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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123
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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124
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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125
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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126
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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127
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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128
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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129
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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130
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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131
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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132
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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133
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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134
supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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135
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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136
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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137
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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138
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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139
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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140
faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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141
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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142
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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143
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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144
jeer
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| vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评 | |
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145
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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146
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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147
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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148
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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149
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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150
relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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151
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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152
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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153
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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154
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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