The next morning, Mrs. Tarns1, the charwoman whom Rachel had expressly included in the dogma that all charwomen are alike, was cleaning the entranceway to Mrs. Maldon's house. She had washed and stoned the steep, uneven2 flight of steps leading up to the front door, and the flat space between them and the gate; and now, before finishing the step down to the footpath3, she was wiping the grimy ledges4 of the green iron gate itself.
Mrs. Tarns was a woman of nearly sixty, stout5 and—in appearance—untidy and dirty. The wet wind played with grey wisps of her hair, and with her coarse brown apron6, beneath which her skirt was pinned up. Human eye so seldom saw her without a coarse brown apron that, apronless, she would have almost seemed (like Eve) to be unattired. It and a pail were the insignia of her vocation7.
She was accomplished8 and conscientious9; she could be trusted; despite appearances, her habits were cleanly. She was also a woman of immense experience. In addition to being one of the finest exponents10 of the art of step-stoning and general housework that the Five Towns could show, she had numerous other talents. She was thoroughly11 accustomed to the supreme12 spectacles of birth and death, and could assist thereat with dignity and skill. She could turn away the wrath13 of rent-collectors, rate-collectors, school-inspectors, and magistrates14. She was an adept15 in enticing16 an inebriated17 husband to leave a public-house. She could feed four children for a day on sevenpence, and rise calmly to her feet after having been knocked down by one stroke of a fist. She could go without food, sleep, and love, and yet thrive. She could give when she had nothing, and keep her heart sweet amid every contagion18. Lastly, she could coax19 extra sixpences out of a pawnbroker20. She had never had a holiday, and almost never failed in her duty. Her one social fault was a tendency to talk at great length about babies, corpses21, and the qualities of rival soaps. All her children were married. Her husband had gone in a box to a justice whose anger Mrs. Tam's simple tongue might not soothe22. She lived alone. Six half-days a week she worked about the house of Mrs. Maldon from eight to one o'clock, for a shilling per half-day and her breakfast. But if she chose to stay for it she could have dinner—and a good one—on condition that she washed up afterwards. She often stayed. After over forty years of incessant23 and manifold expert labour she was happy and content in this rich reward.
A long automobile24 came slipping with noiseless stealth down the hill, and halted opposite the gate, in silence, for the engine had been stopped higher up. Mrs. Tams, intimidated25 by the august phenomenon, ceased to rub, and in alarm watched the great Thomas Batchgrew struggle unsuccessfully with the handle of the door that imprisoned26 him. Mrs. Tams was a born serf, and her nature was such that she wanted to apologize to Thomas Batchgrew for the naughtiness of the door. For her there was something monstrous27 in a personage like Thomas Batchgrew being balked28 in a desire, even for a moment, by a perverse29 door-catch. Not that she really respected Thomas Batchgrew! She did not, but he was a member of the sacred governing class. The chauffeur30—not John's Ernest, but a professional—flashed round the front of the car and opened the door with obsequious31 haste. For Thomas Batchgrew had to be appeased32. Already a delay of twenty minutes—due to a defective34 tire and to the inexcusable absence of the spanner with which the spare wheel was manipulated—had aroused his just anger.
Mrs. Tarns pulled the gate towards herself and, crushed behind it, curtsied to Thomas Batchgrew. This curtsy, the most servile of all Western salutations, and now nearly unknown in Five Towns, consisted in a momentary35 shortening of the stature36 by six inches, and in nothing else. Mrs. Tams had acquired it in her native village of Sneyd, where an earl held fast to that which was good, and she had never been able to quite lose it. It did far more than the celerity of the chauffeur to appease33 Thomas Batchgrew.
Snorting and self-conscious, and with his white whiskers flying behind him, he stepped in his two overcoats across the narrow, muddy pavement and on to Mrs. Tarn's virgin37 stonework, and with two haughty38 black footmarks he instantly ruined it. The tragedy produced no effect on Mrs. Tams. And indeed nobody in the Five Towns would have been moved by it. For the social convention as to porticoes40 enjoined41, not that they should remain clean, but simply that they should show evidence of having been clean at some moment early in each day. It mattered not how dirty they were in general, provided that the religious and futile42 rite43 of stoning had been demonstrably performed during the morning.
Mrs. Tams adroitly44 moved her bucket, aside, though there was plenty of room for feet even larger than those of Thomas Batchgrew, and then waited to be spoken to. She was not spoken to. Mr. Batchgrew, after hesitating and clearing his throat, proceeded up the steps, defiling46 them. As he did so Mrs. Tams screwed together all her features and clenched47 her hands as if in agony, and stared horribly at the open front door, which was blowing to. It seemed that she was trying to arrest the front door by sheer force of muscular contraction48. She did not succeed. Gently the door closed, with a firm click of its latch49, in face of Mr. Batchgrew.
And Mr. Batchgrew, once more justly angered, raised his hand to the heavy knocker.
"Dunna' knock, mester! Dunna' knock!" Mrs. Tarns implored53 in a whisper. "Missis is asleep. Miss Rachel's been up aw night wi' her, seemingly, and now her's gone off in a doze54 like, and Miss Rachel's resting, too, on th' squab i' th' parlor55. Doctor was fetched."
Apparently56 charging Mrs. Tarns with responsibility for the illness, Mr. Batchgrew demanded severely—
"What was it?"
"One o' them attacks as her has," said Mrs. Tarns with a meekness57 that admitted she could offer no defence, "only wuss!"
"Hurry round to th' back door and let me in."
"This is ridiculous," said Mr. Batchgrew, truly. "Am I to stand here all day?" And raised his hand to the knocker.
Mrs. Tarns with swiftness darted59 up the steps and inserted a large, fat, wet hand between the raised knocker and its bed. It was the sublime60 gesture of a martyr61, and her large brown eyes gazed submissively, yet firmly, at Mr. Batchgrew with the look of a martyr. She had nothing to gain by the defiance62 of a great man, but she could not permit her honoured employer to be wakened. She was accustomed to emergencies, and to desperate deeds therein, and she did not fail now in promptly63 taking the right course, regardless of consequences. Somewhat younger than Mr. Batchgrew in years, she was older in experience and in wisdom. She could do a thousand things well; Mr. Batchgrew could do nothing well. At that very moment she conquered, and he was beaten. Yet her brown eyes and even the sturdy uplifted arm cringed to him, and asked in abasement64 to be forgiven for the impiety65 committed. From her other hand a cloth dripped foul66 water on to the topmost step.
And then the door yielded. Thomas Batchgrew and Mrs. Tarns both abandoned the knocker. Rachel, pale as a lily, stern, with dilated67 eyes, stood before them. And Mr. Batchgrew realized, as he looked at her against the dark, hushed background of the stairs, that Mrs. Maldon was indeed ill. Mrs. Tams respectfully retired68 down the steps. A mightier69 than she, the young, naïve, ignorant girl, to whom she could have taught everything save possibly the art of washing cutlery, had relieved her of responsibility.
"You can't see her," said Rachel in a low tone, trembling.
"But—but—" Thomas Batchgrew spluttered, ineffectively. "D'you know I'm her trustee, miss? Let me come in."
Rachel would not take her hand off the inner knob.
There was the thin, far-off sound of an electric bell, breaking the silence of the house. It was the bell in Rachel's bedroom, rung from Mrs. Maldon's bedroom. And at this mysterious signal from the invalid70, this faint proof that the hidden sufferer had consciousness and volition71, Rachel started and Thomas Batchgrew started.
"Her bell!" Rachel exclaimed, and fled upstairs.
In the large bedroom Mrs. Maldon lay apparently at ease.
"Did they waken you?" cried Rachel, distressed72.
"Who is there, dear?" Mrs. Maldon asked, in a voice that had almost recovered from the weakness of the night, Rachel was astounded73.
"Mr. Batchgrew."
"I must see him," said the old lady.
"But—"
"I must see him at once," Mrs. Maldon repeated. "At once. Kindly74 bring him up." And she added, in a curiously75 even and resigned tone, "I've lost all that money!"
II
"Nay," said Mrs. Maldon to Thomas Batchgrew, "I'm not going to die just yet."
Her voice was cheerful, even a little brisk, and she spoke45 with a benign76 smile in the tranquil77 accents of absolute conviction. But she did not move her head; she waited to look at Thomas Batchgrew until he came within her field of vision at the foot of the bed. This quiescence78 had a disconcerting effect, contradicting her voice.
She was lying on her back, in the posture79 customary to her, the arms being stretched down by the sides under the bed-quilt. Her features were drawn80 slightly askew81; the skin was shiny; the eyes stared as though Mrs. Maldon had been a hysterical82 subject. It was evident that she had passed through a tremendous physical crisis. Nevertheless, Rachel was still astounded at the change for the better in her, wrought83 by sleep and the force of her obstinate84 vitality85.
The contrast between the scene which Thomas Batchgrew now saw and the scene which had met Rachel in the night was so violent as to seem nearly incredible. Not a sign of the catastrophe86 remained, except in Mrs. Maldon's face, and in some invalid gear on the dressing-table, for Rachel had gradually got the room into order. She had even closed and locked the wardrobe.
On answering Mrs. Maldon's summons in the night, Rachel had found the central door of the wardrobe swinging and the sacred big drawer at the bottom of that division only half shut, and Mrs. Maldon in a peignoir lying near it on the floor, making queer inhuman87 noises, not moans, but a kind of anxious, inarticulate entreaty88, and shaking her head constantly to the left—never to the right. Mrs. Maldon had recognized Rachel, and had seemed to implore52 with agonized89 intensity90 her powerful assistance in some nameless and hopeless tragic91 dilemma92. The sight—especially of the destruction of the old woman's dignity—was dreadful to such an extent that Rachel did not realize its effect on herself until several hours afterwards. At the moment she called on the immense reserves of her self-confidence to meet the situation—and she met it, assisting her pride with the curious pretence93, characteristic of the Five Towns race, that the emergency was insufficient94 to alarm in the slightest degree a person of sagacity and sang-froid.
She had restored Mrs. Maldon to her bed and to some of her dignity. But the horrid95 symptoms were not thereby96 abated97. The inhuman noises and the distressing98, incomprehensible appeal had continued. Immediately Rachel's back was turned Mrs. Maldon had fallen out of bed. This happened three times, so that clearly the sufferer was falling out of bed under the urgency of some half-conscious purpose. Rachel had soothed99 her. And once she had managed to say with some clearness the words, "I've been downstairs." But when Rachel went back to the room from dispatching Louis for the doctor, she was again on the floor. Louis' absence from the house had lasted an intolerable age, but the doctor had followed closely on the messenger, and already the symptoms had become a little less acute. The doctor had diagnosed with rapidity. Supervening upon her ordinary cardiac attack after supper, Mrs. Maldon had had, in the night, an embolus in one artery100 of the brain. The way in which the doctor announced the fact showed to Rachel that nothing could easily have been more serious. And yet the mere101 naming of the affliction eased her, although she had no conception of what an embolus might be. Dr. Yardley had remained until four o'clock, when Mrs. Maldon, surprisingly convalescent, dropped off to sleep. He remarked that she might recover.
At eight o'clock he had come back. Mrs. Maldon was awake, but had apparently no proper recollection of the events of the night, which even to Rachel had begun to seem unreal, like a waning102 hallucination. The doctor gave orders, with optimism, and left, sufficiently103 reassured104 to allow himself to yawn. At a quarter past eight Louis had departed to his own affairs, on Rachel's direct suggestion. And when Mrs. Tams had been informed of the case so full of disturbing enigmas105, while Rachel and she drank tea together in the kitchen, the daily domestic movement of the house was partly resumed, from vanity, because Rachel could not bear to sit idle nor to admit to herself that she had been scared to a standstill.
And now Mrs. Maldon, in full possession of her faculties106, faced Thomas Batchgrew for the interview which she had insisted on having. And Rachel waited with an uncanny apprehension107, her ears full of the mysterious and frightful108 phrase, "I've lost all that money."
III
Mrs. Maldon, after a few words had passed as to her illness, used exactly the same phrase again—"I've lost all that money!"
Mr. Batchgrew snorted, and glanced at Rachel for an explanation.
"Yes. It's all gone," proceeded Mrs. Maldon with calm resignation. "But I'm too old to worry. Please listen to me. We lost my serviette and ring last evening at supper. Couldn't find it anywhere. And in the night it suddenly occurred to me where it was. I've remembered everything now, almost, and I'm quite sure. You know you first told me to put the money in my wardrobe. Now before you said that, I had thought of putting it on the top of the cupboard to the right of the fireplace in the back room downstairs. I thought that would be a good place for it in case burglars did come. No burglar would ever think of looking there."
"God bless me!" Mr. Batchgrew muttered, scornfully protesting.
"It couldn't possibly be seen, you see. However, I thought I ought to respect your wish, and so I decided109 I'd put part of it on the top of the cupboard, and part of it underneath110 a lot of linen111 at the bottom of the drawer in my wardrobe. That would satisfy both of us."
"Would it!" exclaimed Mr. Batchgrew, without any restraint upon his heavy, rolling voice.
"Well, I must have picked up the serviette and ring with the bank-notes, you see. I fear I'm absent-minded like that sometimes. I know I went out of the sitting-room112 with both hands full. I know both hands were occupied, because I remember when I went into the back room I didn't turn the gas up, and I pushed a chair up to the cupboard with my knee, for me to stand on. I'm certain I put some of the notes on the top of the cupboard. Then I came upstairs. The window on the landing was rattling113, and I put the other part of the money on the chair while I tried to fasten the window. However, I couldn't fasten it. So I left it. And then I thought I picked up the money again off the chair and came in here and hid it at the bottom of the drawer and locked the wardrobe."
"You thought!" said Thomas Batchgrew, gazing at the aged39 weakling as at an insane criminal. "Was this just after I left?"
Mrs. Maldon nodded apologetically.
"When I woke up the first time in the night, it struck me like a flash: Had I taken the serviette and ring up with the notes? I am liable to do that sort of thing. I'm an old woman—it's no use denying it." She looked plaintively114 at Rachel, and her voice trembled. "I got up. I was bound to get up, and I turned the gas on, and there the serviette and ring were at the bottom of the drawer, but no money! I took everything out of the drawer, piece by piece, and put it back again. I simply cannot tell you how I felt! I went out to the landing with a match. There was no money there. And then I went downstairs in the dark. I never knew it to be so dark, in spite of the street-lamp. I knocked against the clock. I nearly knocked it over. I managed to light the gas in the back room. I made sure that I must have left all the notes on the top of the cupboard instead of only part of them. But there was nothing there at all. Nothing! Then I looked all over the sitting-room floor with a candle. When I got upstairs again I didn't know what I was doing. I knew I was going to be ill, and I just managed to ring the bell for dear Rachel, and the next thing I remember was I was in bed here, and Rachel putting something hot to my feet—the dear child!"
Her eyes glistened115 with tears. And Rachel too, as she pictured the enfeebled and despairing incarnation of dignity colliding with grandfather's clocks in the night and climbing on chairs and groping over carpets, had difficulty not to cry, and a lump rose in her throat. She was so moved by compassion116 that she did not at first feel the full shock of the awful disappearance117 of the money.
Mr. Batchgrew, for the second time that morning unequal to a situation, turned foolishly to the wardrobe, clearing his throat and snorting.
"It's on one of the sliding trays," said Mrs. Maldon.
"What's on one of the sliding trays?"
"The serviette."
Rachel, who was nearest, opened the wardrobe and immediately discovered the missing serviette and ring, which had the appearance of a direct dramatic proof of Mrs. Maldon's story.
Mr. Batchgrew exclaimed, indignant—
"I never heard such a rigmarole in all my born days." And then, angrily to Rachel, "Go down and look on th' top o' th' cupboard, thee!"
Rachel hesitated.
"I'm quite resigned," said Mrs. Maldon placidly118. "It's a punishment on me for hardening my heart to Julian last night. It's a punishment for my pride."
"Now, then!" Mr. Batchgrew glared bullyingly at Rachel, who vanished.
In a few moments she returned.
"There's nothing at all on the top of the cupboard."
"But th' money must be somewhere," said Mr. Batchgrew savagely120. "Nine hundred and sixty-five pun. And I've arranged to lend out that money again, at once! What am I to say to th' mortgagor? Am I to tell him as I've lost it?... No! I never!"
Mrs. Maldon murmured—
"Nay, nay! It's no use looking at me. I thought I should never get over it in the night. But I'm quite resigned now."
Rachel, standing121 near the door, could observe both Mrs. Maldon and Thomas Batchgrew, and was regarded by neither of them. And while, in the convulsive commotion122 of her feelings, her sympathy for and admiration123 of Mrs. Maldon became poignant124, she was thrilled by the most intense scorn and disgust for Thomas Batchgrew. The chief reason for her abhorrence125 was the old man's insensibility to the angelic submission126, the touching127 fragility, the heavenly meekness and tranquillity128, of Mrs. Maldon as she lay there helpless, victimized by a paralytic129 affliction. (Rachel wanted to forget utterly130 the souvenir of Mrs. Maldon's paroxysm in the night, because it slurred131 the unmatched dignity of the aged creature.) Another reason was the mere fact that Mr. Batchgrew had insisted on leaving the money in the house. Who but Mr. Batchgrew would have had the notion of saddling poor old Mrs. Maldon with the custody132 of a vast sum of money? It was a shame; it was positively133 cruel! Rachel was indignantly convinced that he alone ought to be made responsible for the money. And lastly, she loathed134 and condemned135 him for the reason that he was so obviously unequal to the situation. He could not handle it. He was found out. He was disproved, He did not know what to do. He could only mouth, strut136, bully119, and make rude noises. He could not even keep decently around him the cloak of self-importance. He stood revealed to Mrs. Maldon and Rachel as he had sometimes stood revealed to his dead wife and to his elder children and to some of his confidential137, faithful employees. He was an offence in the delicacy138 of the bedroom. If the rancour of Rachel's judgment139 had been fierce enough to strike him to the floor, assuredly his years would not have saved him! And yet Mrs. Maldon gazed at him with submissive and apologetic gentleness! Foolish saint! Fancy her (thought Rachel) hardening her heart to Julian! Rachel longed to stiffen140 her with some backing of her own harsh common sense. And her affection for Mrs. Maldon grew passionate141 and half maternal142.
IV
Thomas Batchgrew was saying—
"It beats me how anybody in their senses could pick up a serviette and put it way for a pile o' bank-notes." He scowled143. "However, I'll go and see Snow. I'll see what Snow says. I'll get him to come up with one of his best men—Dickson, perhaps."
"Thomas Batchgrew!" cried Mrs. Maldon with sudden disturbing febrile excitement. "You'll do no such thing. I'll have no police prying144 into this affair. If you do that I shall just die right off."
And her manner grew so imperious that Mr. Batchgrew was intimidated.
"But—but—"
"I'd sooner lose all the money!" said Mrs. Maldon, almost wildly.
She blushed. And Rachel also felt herself to be blushing, and was not sure whether she knew why she was blushing. An atmosphere of constraint145 and shame seemed to permeate146 the room.
Mr. Batchgrew growled—
"The money must be in the house. The truth is, Elizabeth, ye don't know no more than that bedpost where ye put it."
And Rachel agreed eagerly—
"Of course it must be in the house! I shall set to and turn everything out. Everything!"
"Ye'd better!" said Thomas Batchgrew.
"That will be the best thing, dear—perhaps," said Mrs. Maldon, indifferent, and now plainly fatigued147.
Every one seemed determined149 to be convinced that the money was in the house, and to employ this conviction as a defence against horrible dim suspicions that had inexplicably150 emerged from the corners of the room and were creeping about like menaces.
"Where else should it be?" muttered Batchgrew, sarcastically151, after a pause, as if to say, "Anybody who fancies the money isn't in the house is an utter fool."
Mrs. Maldon had closed her eyes.
There was a faint knock at the door. Rachel turned instinctively152 to prevent a possible intruder from entering and catching153 sight of those dim suspicions before they could be driven back into their dark corners. Then she remembered that she had asked Mrs. Tams to bring up some Revalenta Arabica food for Mrs. Maldon as soon as it should be ready. And she sedately154 opened the door. Mrs. Tams, with her usual serf-like diffidence, remained invisible, except for the hand holding forth155 the cup. But her soft voice, charged with sensational156 news, was heard—
"Mrs. Grocott's boy next door but one has just been round to th' back to tell me as there was a burglary down the Lane last night."
As Rachel carried the food across to the bed, she could not help saying, though with feigned157 deference158, to Mr. Batchgrew—
"You told us last night that there wouldn't be any more burglaries, Mr. Batchgrew."
The burning tightness round the top of her head, due to fatigue148 and lack of sleep, seemed somehow to brace159 her audacity160, and to make her careless of consequences.
The trustee and celebrity161, though momentarily confounded, was recovering himself now. He determined to crush the pert creature whose glance had several times incommoded him. He said severely—
"What's a burglary down the Lane got to with us and this here money?"
"Us and the money!" Rachel repeated evenly. "Nothing, only when I came downstairs in the night the greenhouse door was open." (The scullery was still often called the greenhouse.) "And I'd locked it myself!"
A troubling silence followed, broken by Mr. Batchgrew's uneasy grunts162 as he turned away to the window, and by the clink of the spoon as Rachel helped Mrs. Maldon to take the food.
At length Mr. Batchgrew asked, staring through the window—
"Did ye notice the dust on top o' that cupboard? Was it disturbed?"
Hesitating an instant, Rachel answered firmly, without turning her head—
"I did ... It was ... Of course."
Mrs. Maldon made no sign of interest.
Mr. Batchgrew's boots creaked to and fro in the room.
"And what's Julian got to say for himself?" he asked, not addressing either woman in particular.
"Julian wasn't here. He didn't stay the night. Louis stayed instead," answered Mrs. Maldon, faintly, without opening her eyes.
"What? What? What's this?"
"Tell him, dear, how it was," said Mrs. Maldon, still more faintly.
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tarns
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| n.冰斗湖，山中小湖( tarn的名词复数 ) | |
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uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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9
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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exponents
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| n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 )；说明者；指数；能手 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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adept
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| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
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enticing
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| adj.迷人的；诱人的 | |
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inebriated
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| adj.酒醉的 | |
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contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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pawnbroker
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| n.典当商，当铺老板 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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balked
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| v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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34
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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35
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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36
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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37
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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38
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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39
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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40
porticoes
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| n.柱廊，（有圆柱的）门廊( portico的名词复数 ) | |
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41
enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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43
rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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44
adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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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
defiling
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| v.玷污( defile的现在分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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47
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
contraction
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| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
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49
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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50
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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51
desolated
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| adj.荒凉的，荒废的 | |
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52
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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53
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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55
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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56
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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57
meekness
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| n.温顺，柔和 | |
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58
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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59
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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60
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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61
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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62
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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63
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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64
abasement
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| n.滥用 | |
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65
impiety
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| n.不敬；不孝 | |
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66
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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67
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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69
mightier
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| adj. 强有力的，强大的，巨大的 adv. 很，极其 | |
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70
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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71
volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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72
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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73
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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74
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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75
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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76
benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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77
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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78
quiescence
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| n.静止 | |
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79
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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80
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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81
askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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82
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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83
wrought
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|
| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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84
obstinate
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|
| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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85
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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86
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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87
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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88
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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89
agonized
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|
| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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90
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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91
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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92
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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93
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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94
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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95
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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96
thereby
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|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
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97
abated
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|
| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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98
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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99
soothed
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|
| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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100
artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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101
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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102
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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103
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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104
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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105
enigmas
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| n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 ) | |
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106
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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107
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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108
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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109
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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110
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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111
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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112
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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113
rattling
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|
| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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114
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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115
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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117
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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118
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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119
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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120
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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121
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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122
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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123
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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124
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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125
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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126
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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127
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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128
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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129
paralytic
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| adj. 瘫痪的 n. 瘫痪病人 | |
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130
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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131
slurred
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| 含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
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132
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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133
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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134
loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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135
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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136
strut
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| v.肿胀，鼓起；大摇大摆地走；炫耀；支撑；撑开；n.高视阔步；支柱，撑杆 | |
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137
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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138
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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139
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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140
stiffen
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| v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬 | |
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141
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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142
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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143
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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144
prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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145
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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146
permeate
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| v.弥漫，遍布，散布；渗入，渗透 | |
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147
fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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148
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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149
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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150
inexplicably
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| adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是 | |
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151
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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152
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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153
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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154
sedately
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| adv.镇静地，安详地 | |
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155
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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156
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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157
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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158
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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159
brace
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|
| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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160
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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161
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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162
grunts
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说； 石鲈 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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