The little serving maid was hovering2 about the garden. She was evidently curious and trying to get a peep. Mrs. Muldoon's voice could be heard calling to her from the kitchen. There was this question of clothes.
"You haven't brought anything with you?" asked the Professor. "I mean, in the way of a frock of any sort."
Malvina, with a smile, gave a little gesture. It implied that all there was of her and hers stood before him.
"We shall have to find you something," said the Professor. "Something in which you can go about—"
The Professor had intended to say "our world," but hesitated, not feeling positive at the moment to which he himself belonged; Malvina's or Mrs. Muldoon's. So he made it "the" world instead. Another gesture conveyed to him that Malvina was entirely3 in his hands.
"What really have you got on?" asked the Professor. "I mean underneath4. Is it anything possible—for a day or two?"
Now Commander Raffleton, for some reason of his own not at all clear to Malvina, had forbidden the taking off of the coat. But had said nothing about undoing5 it. So by way of response Malvina undid6 it.
Upon which the Professor, to Malvina's surprise, acted precisely7 as Commander Raffleton had done. That is to say, he hastily re-closed the coat, returning the buttons to their buttonholes.
The fear may have come to Malvina that she was doomed8 never to be rid of Commander Raffleton's coat.
"I wonder," mused9 the Professor, "if anyone in the village—" The little serving maid flittering among the gooseberry bushes—she was pretending to be gathering10 goose-berries—caught the Professor's eye.
"We will consult my chatelaine, Mrs. Muldoon," suggested the Professor. "I think we shall be able to manage."
The Professor tendered Malvina his arm. With her other hand she gathered up the skirts of the Commander's coat.
"I think," said the Professor with a sudden inspiration as they passed through the garden, "I think I shall explain to Mrs. Muldoon that you have just come straight from a fancy-dress ball."
They found Mrs. Muldoon in the kitchen. A less convincing story than that by which the Professor sought to account to Mrs. Muldoon for the how and the why of Malvina it would be impossible to imagine. Mrs. Muldoon out of sheer kindness appears to have cut him short.
"I'll not be asking ye any questions," said Mrs. Muldoon, "so there'll be no need for ye to imperil your immortal11 soul. If ye'll just give a thought to your own appearance and leave the colleen to me and Drusilla, we'll make her maybe a bit dacent."
The reference to his own appearance disconcerted the Professor. He had not anticipated, when hastening into his dressing12 gown and slippers13 and not bothering about his socks, that he was on his way to meet the chief lady-in-waiting of Queen Harbundia. Demanding that shaving water should be immediately sent up to him, he appears to have retired14 into the bathroom.
It was while he was shaving that Mrs. Muldoon, knocking at the door, demanded to speak to him. From her tone the Professor came to the conclusion that the house was on fire. He opened the door, and Mrs. Muldoon, seeing he was respectable, slipped in and closed it behind her.
"Where did ye find her? How did she get here?" demanded Mrs. Muldoon. Never before had the Professor seen Mrs. Muldoon other than a placid15, good-humoured body. She was trembling from head to foot.
"I told you," explained the Professor. "Young Arthur—"
"I'm not asking ye what ye told me," interrupted Mrs. Muldoon. "I'm asking ye for the truth, if ye know it."
The Professor put a chair for Mrs. Muldoon, and Mrs. Muldoon dropped down upon it.
"What's the matter?" questioned the Professor. "What's happened?"
Mrs. Muldoon glanced round her, and her voice was an hysterical16 whisper.
"It's no mortal woman ye've brought into the house," said Mrs. Muldoon. "It's a fairy."
Whether up to that moment the Professor had really believed Malvina's story, or whether lurking17 at the back of his mind there had all along been an innate18 conviction that the thing was absurd, the Professor himself is now unable to say. To the front of the Professor lay Oxford19—political economy, the higher criticism, the rise and progress of rationalism. Behind him, fading away into the dim horizon of humanity, lay an unmapped land where for forty years he had loved to wander; a spirit-haunted land of buried mysteries, lost pathways, leading unto hidden gates of knowledge.
"How do you know?" demanded the Professor.
"Shure, don't I know the mark?" replied Mrs. Muldoon almost contemptuously. "Wasn't my own sister's child stolen away the very day of its birth and in its place—"
The little serving maid tapped at the door.
Mademoiselle was "finished." What was to be done with her?
"Don't ask me," protested Mrs. Muldoon, still in a terrified whisper. "I couldn't do it. Not if all the saints were to go down upon their knees and pray to me."
Common-sense argument would not have prevailed with Mrs. Muldoon. The Professor felt that; added to which he had not any handy. He directed, through the door, that "Mademoiselle" should be shown into the dining-room, and listened till Drusilla's footsteps had died away.
"Have you ever heard of the White Ladies?" whispered the Professor to Mrs. Muldoon.
There was not much in the fairy line, one takes it, that Mrs. Muldoon had not heard of and believed. Was the Professor sure?
The Professor gave Mrs. Muldoon his word of honour as a gentleman. The "White Ladies," as Mrs. Muldoon was of course aware, belonged to the "good people." Provided nobody offended her there was nothing to fear.
"Shure, it won't be meself that'll cross her," said Mrs. Muldoon.
"She won't be staying very long," added the Professor. "We will just be nice to her."
"She's got a kind face," admitted Mrs. Muldoon, "and a pleasant way with her." The good body's spirits were perceptibly rising. The favour of a "White Lady" might be worth cultivating.
"We must make a friend of her," urged the Professor, seizing his opportunity.
"And mind," whispered the Professor as he opened the door for Mrs. Muldoon to slip out, "not a word. She doesn't want it known."
One is convinced that Mrs. Muldoon left the bathroom resolved that, so far as she could help it, no breath of suspicion that Malvina was other than what in Drusilla's holiday frock she would appear to be should escape into the village. It was quite a pleasant little frock of a summery character, with short sleeves and loose about the neck, and fitted Malvina, in every sense, much better than the most elaborate confection would have done. The boots were not so successful. Malvina solved the problem by leaving them behind her, together with the stockings, whenever she went out. That she knew this was wrong is proved by the fact that invariably she tried to hide them. They would be found in the most unlikely places; hidden behind books in the Professor's study, crammed21 into empty tea canisters in Mrs. Muldoon's storeroom. Mrs. Muldoon was not to be persuaded even to abstract them. The canister with its contents would be placed in silence upon the Professor's table. Malvina on returning would be confronted by a pair of stern, unsympathetic boots. The corners of the fairy mouth would droop22 in lines suggestive of penitence23 and contrition24.
Had the Professor been firm she would have yielded. But from the black accusing boots the Professor could not keep his eyes from wandering to the guilty white feet, and at once in his heart becoming "counsel for the defence." Must get a pair of sandals next time he went to Oxford. Anyhow, something more dainty than those grim, uncompromising boots.
Besides, it was not often that Malvina ventured beyond the orchard25. At least not during the day time—perhaps one ought to say not during that part of the day time when the village was astir. For Malvina appears to have been an early riser. Somewhere about the middle of the night, as any Christian26 body would have timed it, Mrs. Muldoon—waking and sleeping during this period in a state of high nervous tension—would hear the sound of a softly opened door; peeping from a raised corner of the blind, would catch a glimpse of fluttering garments that seemed to melt into the dawn; would hear coming fainter and fainter from the uplands an unknown song, mingling27 with the answering voices of the birds.
It was on the uplands between dawn and sunrise that Malvina made the acquaintance of the Arlington twins.
They ought, of course, to have been in bed—all three of them, for the matter of that. The excuse for the twins was their Uncle George. He had been telling them all about the Uffington spectre and Wayland Smith's cave, and had given them "Puck" as a birthday present. They were always given their birthday presents between them, because otherwise they did not care for them. They had retired to their respective bedrooms at ten o'clock and taken it in turns to lie awake. At the first streak28 of dawn Victoria, who had been watching by her window, woke Victor, as arranged. Victor was for giving it up and going to sleep again, but Victoria reminding him of the "oath," they dressed themselves quite simply, and let themselves down by the ivy29.
They came across Malvina close to the tail of the White Horse. They knew she was a fairy the moment they saw her. But they were not frightened—at least not very much. It was Victor who spoke30 first. Taking off his hat and going down on one knee, he wished Malvina good morning and hoped she was quite well. Malvina, who seemed pleased to see them, made answer, and here it was that Victoria took charge of the affair. The Arlington twins until they were nine had shared a French nurse between them; and then Victor, going to school, had gradually forgotten; while Victoria, remaining at home, had continued her conversations with "madame."
"Oh!" said Victoria. "Then you must be a French fairy."
Now the Professor had impressed upon Malvina that for reasons needless to be explained—anyhow, he never had explained them—she was not to mention that she was a fairy. But he had not told her to deny it. Indeed how could she? The most that could be expected from her was that she should maintain silence on the point. So in answer to Victoria she explained that her name was Malvina, and that she had flown across from Brittany in company with "Sir Arthur," adding that she had often heard of England and had wished to see it.
"How do you like it?" demanded Victoria.
Malvina confessed herself charmed with it. Nowhere had she ever met so many birds. Malvina raised her hand and they all three stood in silence, listening. The sky was ablaze31 and the air seemed filled with their music. The twins were sure that there were millions of them. They must have come from miles and miles and miles, to sing to Malvina.
Also the people. They were so good and kind and round. Malvina for the present was staying with—accepting the protection, was how she put it, of the wise and learned Christopher. The "habitation" could be seen from where they stood, its chimneys peeping from among the trees. The twins exchanged a meaning glance. Had they not all along suspected the Professor! His black skull32 cap, and his big hooked nose, and the yellow-leaved, worm-eaten books—of magic: all doubts were now removed—that for hours he would sit poring over through owlish gold-rimmed spectacles!
Victor's French was coming back to him. He was anxious to know if Malvina had ever met Sir Launcelot—"to talk to."
A little cloud gathered upon Malvina's face. Yes, she had known them all: King Uthur and Igraine and Sir Ulfias of the Isles33. Talked with them, walked with them in the fair lands of France. (It ought to have been England, but Malvina shook her head. Maybe they had travelled.) It was she who had saved Sir Tristram from the wiles34 of Morgan le Fay. "Though that, of course," explained Malvina, "was never known."
The twins were curious why it should have been "of course," but did not like to interrupt again. There were others before and after. Most of them the twins had never heard of until they came to Charlemagne, beyond which Malvina's reminiscences appeared to fade.
One gathers they had never been to Malvina more than mere36 acquaintances, such as one passes the time with while waiting—and longing37.
"But you liked Sir Launcelot," urged Victor. He was wishful that Malvina should admire Sir Launcelot, feeling how much there was in common between that early lamented38 knight39 and himself. That little affair with Sir Bedivere. It was just how he would have behaved himself.
Ah! yes, admitted Malvina. She had "liked" him. He was always so—so "excellent."
"But he was not—none of them were my own people, my own dear companions." The little cloud had settled down again.
It was Bruno who recalled the three of them to the period of contemporary history.
Polley the cowman's first duty in the morning was to let Bruno loose for a run. He arrived panting and breathless, and evidently offended at not having been included in the escapade. He could have given them both away quite easily if he had not been the most forgiving of black-and-tan collies. As it was, he had been worrying himself crazy for the last half-hour, feeling sure they had forgotten the time. "Don't you know it's nearly six o'clock? That in less than half an hour Jane will be knocking at your doors with glasses of hot milk, and will probably drop them and scream when she finds your beds empty and the window wide open." That is what he had intended should be his first words, but on scenting40 Malvina they went from him entirely. He gave her one look and flopped41 down flat, wriggling42 towards her, whining43 and wagging his tail at the same time. Malvina acknowledged his homage44 by laughing and patting his head with her foot, and that sent him into the seventh heaven of delight. They all four descended the hill together and parted at the orchard gate. The twins expressed a polite but quite sincere hope that they would have the pleasure of seeing Malvina again; but Malvina, seized maybe with sudden doubts as to whether she had behaved with discretion45, appears to have replied evasively. Ten minutes later she was lying asleep, the golden head pillowed on the round white arm; as Mrs. Muldoon on her way down to the kitchen saw for herself. And the twins, fortunate enough to find a side door open, slipped into the house unnoticed and scrambled46 back into their beds.
It was quarter past nine when Mrs. Arlington came in herself and woke them up. She was short-tempered with them both and had evidently been crying. They had their breakfast in the kitchen.
During lunch hardly a word was spoken. And there was no pudding. Mr. Arlington, a stout47, florid gentleman, had no time for pudding. The rest might sit and enjoy it at their leisure, but not so Mr. Arlington. Somebody had to see to things—that is, if they were not to be allowed to go to rack and ruin. If other people could not be relied upon to do their duty, so that everything inside the house and out of it was thrown upon one pair of shoulders, then it followed as a natural consequence that that pair of shoulders could not spare the necessary time to properly finish its meals. This it was that was at the root of the decay of English farming. When farmers' wives, to say nothing of sons and daughters old enough one might imagine to be anxious to do something in repayment48 for the money and care lavished49 upon them, had all put their shoulders to the wheel, then English farming had prospered50. When, on the other hand, other people shirked their fair share of labour and responsibility, leaving to one pair of hands...
It was the eldest51 Arlington girl's quite audible remark that pa could have eaten two helpings52 of pudding while he had been talking, that caused Mr. Arlington to lose the thread of his discourse53. To put it quite bluntly, what Mr. Arlington meant to say was this: He had never wanted to be a farmer—at least not in the beginning. Other men in his position, having acquired competency by years of self-sacrificing labour, would have retired to a well-earned leisure. Having yielded to persuasion54 and taken on the job, he was going to see it through; and everybody else was going to do their share or there would be trouble.
Mr. Arlington, swallowing the remains55 of his glass in a single gulp56, spoilt a dignified57 exit by violently hiccoughing, and Mrs. Arlington rang the bell furiously for the parlourmaid to clear away. The pudding passed untouched from before the very eyes of the twins. It was a black-currant pudding with brown sugar.
That night Mrs. Arlington appears to have confided58 in the twins, partly for her own relief and partly for their moral benefit. If Mrs. Arlington had enjoyed the blessing59 in disguise of a less indulgent mother, all might have been well. By nature Mrs. Arlington had been endowed with an active and energetic temperament60. "Miss Can't-sit-still-a-minute," her nurse had always called her. Unfortunately it had been allowed to sink into disuse; was now in all probability beyond hope of recovery. Their father was quite right. When they had lived in Bayswater and the business was in Mincing61 Lane it did not matter. Now it was different. A farmer's wife ought to be up at six; she ought to see that everybody else was up at six; servants looked after, kept up to the mark; children encouraged by their mother's example. Organisation62. That was what was wanted. The day mapped out; to every hour its appointed task. Then, instead of the morning being gone before you could turn yourself round, and confusion made worse confounded by your leaving off what you were doing and trying to do six things at once that you couldn't remember whether you had done or whether you hadn't...
Here Mrs. Arlington appears to have dissolved into tears. Generally speaking, she was a placid, smiling, most amiable63 lady, quite delightful64 to have about the house provided all you demanded of her were pleasant looks and a sunny disposition65. The twins appear to have joined their tears to hers. Tucked in and left to themselves, one imagines the problem being discussed with grave seriousness, much whispered conversation, then slept upon, the morning bringing with it ideas. The result being that the next evening, between high tea and supper, Mrs. Muldoon, answering herself the knock at the door, found twin figures standing66 hand in hand on the Professor's step.
They asked her if "the Fairy" was in.
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1
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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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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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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droop
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| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
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penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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31
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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40
scenting
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| vt.闻到（scent的现在分词形式） | |
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41
flopped
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| v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
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42
wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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43
whining
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| n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚 | |
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44
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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45
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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46
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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48
repayment
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| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
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49
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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52
helpings
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| n.（食物）的一份( helping的名词复数 )；帮助，支持 | |
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53
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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54
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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55
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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56
gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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57
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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58
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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59
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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60
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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61
mincing
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| adj.矫饰的；v.切碎；切碎 | |
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62
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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63
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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64
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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65
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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66
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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