After Buford had left, Dominick called up his friend on the telephone telling him that he would be unable to meet him at dinner. He knew that Berny could hear every word he uttered, and with indescribable dread3 he expected that she would open her door and accost4 him. But again she preserved an inviolate5 invisibility, though beneath her portal he could see a crack of light and could hear her moving about in the room.
[466]He went into his own room, lit the gas, and began packing his trunks. He was dazed and stupefied by what had occurred, and almost the only clearly-defined idea he had was to leave the house and get far from the presence of the woman who had so ruthlessly poisoned his life. He was in the midst of his packing when the Chinaman summoned him to dinner, but he told the man he cared for nothing and would want no breakfast on the following morning. The servant, who by this time was well aware that the household was a strange one, shrugged6 his shoulders without comment and passed on to the door of his mistress’ room, upon which he knocked with the low, deferential7 rap of the Chinese domestic. Berny’s voice sounded shrilly8, through the silence of the flat:
“Go away! Let me alone! If that’s dinner I don’t want any.”
The sound of her voice pierced Dominick with a sense of loathing9 and horror. He stopped in his packing, suddenly deciding to leave everything and go, go from the house and from her as soon as he could get away. He thrust into a valise such articles as he would want for the night and set the bag by the stair-head while he went into the parlor10 to find some bills and letters of his that he remembered to have left in the desk. As he passed Berny’s door, it flew open and she appeared in the aperture11. The room[467] behind her was a blaze of light, every gas-jet lit and pouring a flood of radiance over the clothes outspread on the bed, the chairs, and the floor. She, herself, in a lace-trimmed petticoat and loose silk dressing-sack, stood in the doorway12 staring at Dominick, her face pinched, white, and fierce.
“Where are you going?” she demanded.
He gave her a cold look and made no answer.
“Are you going to your mother’s?” she cried.
He moved forward toward the parlor door and she came out into the passage, looking after him and repeating with a tremulous, hoarse16 persistence17, “Dominick, answer me. Are you going to your mother’s?”
“Yes, I am,” he said over his shoulder.
He had an unutterable dread that she would begin to speak of the situation, of Buford, of her past life; that she would try to explain and exonerate18 herself and they would be plunged19 into a long and profitless discussion of all the sickening, irremediable wretchedness of the past. He could not bear the thought of it; he would have done anything to avoid it. He wanted to escape from her, from the house where she had tortured him, where he seemed to have laid down his manhood, his honor, his faith, and seen her[468] trample20 on them. The natural supposition that he would want to confront her with her deception21 and hear her explanation was the last thing he desired doing.
“Don’t go to your mother’s,” she cried, following him up the hall, “for to-night, Dominick, please. And don’t tell her. I beg, I pray of you, don’t tell her till to-morrow.”
Her manner was so pleadingly, so imploringly22 insistent23, that he turned and looked somberly at her. She was evidently deeply in earnest, her face lined with anxiety.
“This is the last thing I’ll ever ask of you. I know I’ve got no right to ask anything, but you’re generous, you’ve been kind to me in the past, and it’ll not cost you much to be kind just once again. Go to a hotel, or the club, or anywhere you like, but not to your mother’s and don’t tell her till to-morrow afternoon.”
He stared at her without speaking, wishing she would be silent and leave him.
“I’ll not trouble you after to-morrow. I’ll go, I’ll get out. You’ll never be bothered by me any more.”
“All right,” he said, “I’ll go to the club. Let me alone, that’s all, and let me go.”
“And—and,” she persisted, “you won’t tell her till to-morrow, to-morrow afternoon?”
He had entered the parlor in which the Chinaman had lit the lamps, and opening the desk[469] began hunting for his papers. To her last words he returned no answer, and she crept in after him and stood in the doorway, leaning against the woodwork of the door-frame.
“You won’t tell her till to-morrow—to-morrow, say, after three?”
He found the letters and drew them out of their pigeonhole24.
“All right,” he almost shouted. “I won’t tell her. But, for God’s sake, leave me alone and let me go. If you keep on following me round this way I won’t answer for what I’ll do.”
“You promise then,” she said, ignoring his heat. “You promise you’ll not tell her till after three?”
He turned from the desk, gave her a look of restrained passion, and said, “I promise,” then passed by her as she stood in the doorway and walked to the stair-head. Here his valise stood, and snatching it up he ran down the stairs and out of the house.
Bernice, hearing the door shut, returned to her room and went on with the work of sorting her wardrobe and packing her trunks. She did it deliberately25 and carefully, looking over each garment, and folding the choicer articles between sheets of tissue paper. At midnight she had not yet finished, and under the blaze of the gases, looking very tired, she went on smoothing skirts and pinching up the lace on bodices as she laid[470] them tenderly on the trays that stood on the bed, the table, and the sofa. The night was far spent before everything was arranged to her satisfaction and she went to bed.
She was up betimes in the morning. Eight o’clock had not struck when she was making a last tour of the parlor, picking up small articles of silver and glass that she crowded down into cracks in the tightly-packed trunks. At breakfast the Chinaman, an oblique26, observant eye on her, asked her what he should prepare for lunch. Conscious that if she told him she would not be back he might become alarmed at the general desertion and demand his wages, she ordered an even more elaborate menu than usual, telling him she would bring home a friend.
She breakfasted in her wrapper and after the meal finished her toilet with the extremest solicitude27. Never had she taken more pains with herself. Though anxiety and strain had thinned and sharpened her, the fever of excitement which burnt in her temporarily repaired these ravages28. Her eyes were brilliant without artificial aid; her cheeks a hot dry crimson29 that needed no rouge30. The innate31 practicality of her character asserted itself even in this harassed32 hour. Last night she had put the purple orchid33 in a glass of water on the bureau. Now, as she pinned it on her breast, she congratulated herself for her foresight34, the pale lavender petals35 of the rare blossom toning[471] altogether harmoniously36 with her dress of dark purple cloth.
Before she left the room she locked the trunks and left beside them a dress suit-case packed for a journey. Standing37 in the doorway she took a hurried look about the apartment—a last, farewell survey, not of sentiment but of investigation38, to see if she had forgotten anything. A silver photograph frame set in rhinestones39 caught her eye and she went back and took it up, weighing it uncertainly in her hand. Some of the rhinestones had fallen out, and she finally decided40 it was not worth while opening the trunks to put in such a damaged article.
It was only a quarter past nine when she emerged from the flat. She took the down-town car and twenty minutes later was mounting the steps to Bill Cannon41’s office. She had been motionless and rigidly42 preoccupied43 on the car, but, as she approached the office, a change was visible in her gait and mien44. She moved with a light, perky assurance, a motion as of a delicate, triumphant45 buoyancy seeming to impart itself to her whole body from her shoulders to her feet. A slight, mild smile settled on her lips, suggesting gaiety tempered with good humor. Her eye was charged with the same expression rendered more piquant46 by a gleam—the merest suggestion—of coquettish challenge.
The Bonanza47 King was already in his office.[472] The same obsequious48 clerk who had shown her in on a former occasion took her card in to the inner sanctum where the great man, even at this early hour, was shut away with the business which occupied his crowded days. In a moment the young man returned smiling and quite as murmurously polite as he had been on her former visit, and Berny was once again ushered49 into the presence of the enemy.
The old man had read the name on the card with a lowering glance. His command to admit the visitor had been hardly more than an inarticulate growl50 which the well-trained clerk understood, as those about deaf mutes can read their half-made signs. Cannon was not entirely51 surprised at her reappearance, and mingled52 feelings stirred in him as he turned his swivel chair away from the table, and sat hunched53 in it, his elbows on its arms, his hands clasped over his stomach.
She came in with an effect of dash, confidence, and brilliancy that astonished him. He had expected her almost to sidle in in obvious, guilty fear of him, her resistance broken, humbly54 coming to sue for the money. Instead, a rustling55, scented56 apparition appeared in the doorway, more gracious, handsome, and smiling than he had ever thought she could be. She stood for a moment, as if waiting for his invitation to enter, the whole effect of her rich costume, her feverishly57 high coloring, and her debonair58 and self-confident[473] demeanor59, surprising him into silence. A long white feather on her hat made a background for her darkly-flushed face and auburn hair. There were some amethysts60 round her neck, their purple lights harmonizing richly with the superb flower pinned on her breast. Her eyes looked very black, laughing, and provocative61 through her spotted62 veil.
“Well,” she said in a gay voice, “here I am again! Is it a surprise?”
She advanced into the room, and the old man, almost unconsciously, rose from his chair.
“Yes, sort of,” he said dryly.
She stopped by the desk, looked at him sidewise, and said,
“Do we shake hands?”
His glance on her was hard and cold. Berny met it and could not restrain a sinking of the courage that was her most admirable characteristic and that she had screwed far past its ordinary sticking-point that morning. She sank down into the same arm-chair that she had occupied on her former visit and said, with a little languid effect of indifference63,
“Oh, well, never mind. We don’t have to waste time being polite. That’s one of the most convenient things about our interviews. We just say what we really think and there’s no need bothering about humbug64.”
“So glad to hear it,” said the old man with[474] his most ironical65 air. “Suppose then you let me know what you’ve come down to say.”
“Can’t you guess?” she answered, with an expression that was almost one of flirtatious67 interrogation.
“Nup,” he answered, looking steadily68 at her. “I have to have it said in that plain style with no politeness that you say is the way we always talk.”
“All right,” she answered briskly. “Here it is as plain as A B C. I’ve decided to accept your offer and take the money.”
She looked up at him, smiling gallantly70. But as her eye caught his her smile, try as she would to keep it, died. He suddenly realized that she was extremely nervous, that her lips were dry, and the hand she put up to adjust her veil, and thus hide her intractable mouth, was shaking. The admiration71 he had of late felt for her insolent72 fearlessness increased, also he began to feel that now, at last, he was rising to the position of master of the situation. He leaned back in the swivel chair and glowered73 at her.
“You know,” he said slowly, “you’ve a gall69 that beats anything I’ve ever seen. Two days ago you busted74 this business higher than a kite by stopping my daughter on the public street and telling her the whole story. You did the one thing you knew I’d never forgive; and you ended the affair, hammered the nails in its coffin75 and buried it. Now you come flourishing into my[475] office as if nothing had happened and say you’ll take the money. It beats me how you’ve got the nerve to dare to show your face in here.”
Berny listened with the hand holding the veil pressed against her mouth and her eyes staring over it.
“It’s all straight enough,” she burst out, “what you say about telling your daughter. I did it and I was crazy. I’ll admit that. But you’ll have to admit on your side that it was pretty rough the way I was treated here, ordered out like a peddler. I was sore, and it was you that made me so. And I’ll not deny that I wanted to hit you back. But you brought it on yourself. And, anyway, what does it matter if I go? Maybe your daughter’s mad and disgusted now, but women don’t stay that way for ever. If I get out, drop out of sight, the way I intend to do, give Dominick his freedom, isn’t she going to forget all about what I said? Wouldn’t any woman?”
The Bonanza King made no answer. He had no intention of talking with this objectionable woman about his daughter. But in his heart hope sprang at the words. They were an echo of his own desires and opinions. If this woman took the money and went, would not Rose, in the course of time, relent in her attitude of iron disapproval76, and smile on the man she loved? Could any woman hold out for ever in such a position?
[476]“See here,” Berny went on, “I’ll leave a statement. I’ll put it in your hands that I changed my mind and voluntarily left. I’ll draw it up before a notary77 if you want. And it’s true. She needn’t think that I’m being forced out to make a place for her. I’m glad to go.”
She had leaned nearer to him from the chair, one finger tapping the corner of the desk to emphasize her words. Scrutinizing78 her as she spoke79, he became more than ever impressed with the conviction that she was held in a tremor80 of febrile excitement. Her voice had an under note of vibration81 in it, like the voice of one who breathes quickly. The orchid on her breast trembled with the trembling of her frame.
“Look here,” he said quietly, “I want to understand this thing. What’s made you change your mind so suddenly? A few days ago you were all up on fiddle-strings at the suggestion of taking that money. Here, this morning, in you pop, and you’re all of a tremble to get it. What’s the meaning of it?”
“I can’t stand it any more,” she said. “When you said I couldn’t the other day, that I’d break down, you were right. I can’t stand it. Nobody could. It’s broken me to pieces. I want to get away from it all. I want to go somewhere where I’m at peace, where the people don’t hate me and hound me——”
Her voice suddenly grew hoarse and she[477] stopped. He looked at her in surprise. She bent82 her face down, biting her under lip, and picked tremulously at the leaves of the purple orchid as if arranging them.
“You’ve beaten me,” she said in a suddenly strangled voice, “you’ve beaten me. I can’t fight any longer. Give me some money and let me go. I’m beaten.”
She lowered her head still farther and burst into tears. So unexpected were they that she had no preparations for them. Her handkerchief was in the bead83 purse that hung on her wrist, and, blinded by tears, she could not find the clasp. Her fumbling84 hand tried for a possible reserve supply in her belt, and then in despair went up to her face and lifted her veil trying to brush away the falling drops. The Bonanza King stared at her amazed, as much surprised as if he had seen a man weep. Finally he felt in his own pocket, produced a crisply-laundered square of white linen85 and handed it to her, observing soothingly86,
“Here, take mine. You’re all broke up, aren’t you?”
She seized his offering and mopped her cheeks with it, sniffing87 and gasping88, while he watched her in genuine solicitude.
“What’s wore you down to this state?” he said. “You’re the nerviest woman I ever saw.”
[478]“It’s—it’s—all this thing,” she answered in a stifled89 voice. “I’m just worn out. I haven’t slept for nights,”—a memory of those miserable90 nights of perturbation and uncertainty91 swept over her and submerged her in a wave of self-pity. The tears gushed92 out again, and she held the old man’s large handkerchief against her eyes, uttering small, sobbing93 noises, sunk in abandoned despondence in the hollow of the chair.
The Bonanza King was moved. The facile tears of women did not affect him, but the tears of this bold, hard, unbreakable creature, whom he had regarded only as an antagonist94 to be vanquished95, stirred him to a sort of abashed96 sympathy. There was something singularly pathetic about the completeness of her breakdown97. She, who had been so audacious an adversary98, now in all her crumpled99 finery weeping into his handkerchief, was so entirely and utterly100 a feeble, crushable thing.
“Come, brace101 up,” he said cheeringly. “We can’t do any talking while you’re acting102 this way. What’s the proposition again?”
“I want some money and I want to go.” She raised her head and lowered the handkerchief, speaking with a strained, throaty insistence103 like a child. “I can’t live here any more. I can’t bear it. It would give a prize fighter nervous prostration104. I can’t bear it.” Her voice grew small and high. “Really I can’t,” she managed[479] to articulate, and then dissolved into another flood.
The old man, high in his swivel chair, sat with his hands in his pockets, his lips pursed and his eyes on the floor. Once or twice he whirled the chair slightly from one side to the other. After a pause of some minutes he said,
“Are you prepared to agree to everything Mrs. Ryan and I demanded?”
After the last outbreak she had completely abandoned herself to the hysterical105 condition that was beyond her control. Now she made an effort to recover herself, sat up, swallowing and gasping, while she wiped her eyes.
“I’m ready to do it all,” she sniffed106, “only—only—” she paused on the verge107 of another collapse108, suppressed it, and said with some show of returning animation109, “only I must have some money now—a guarantee.”
“Oh,” he said with the descending110 note of comprehension. “As I remember, we agreed to pay you seven thousand dollars for the first year, the year of desertion.”
She lowered the handkerchief entirely, presenting to him a disfigured face, all its good looks gone, but showing distinct signs of attention.
“I don’t want the seven thousand. I’ll waive111 it. I want a sum down, a guarantee, an advance. You offered me at first fifty thousand dollars. Give me that down and I’ll go this afternoon.”
[480]“That wasn’t our original arrangement,” he said to gain time.
“Deduct it from the rest. I must have it. I can’t go without it. If you give me the check now I’ll leave for New York to-night.”
Her reviving interest and force seemed to have quenched112 the sources of her tears as suddenly as her exhausted113 nerves had made them flow. But her disfigured face, her figure which seemed to have shrunken in its fine clothes, were extremely pathetic.
“If you don’t trust me send one of your clerks with me to buy my ticket, send one to see me off. I’ve left my husband for good, for ever. I can’t live here any longer. Give me the money and let me go.”
“I don’t see that I’m going to have any security that you’re going to carry out the whole plan. How do I know that you’re not going to New York to have a good time and then, when you’ve spent the money, come back here?”
She sat up and sent a despairing look about the room as if in a wild search for something that would convince him of her sincerity114.
“I swear, I promise,” she cried with almost frantic115 emphasis, “that I’ll never come back. I’m going for good and I’m going to set Dominick free. Oh, do believe me. Please. I’m telling the truth.”
He was impressed by her manner, as he had[481] been by her tears. Something undoubtedly116 had happened which had suddenly caused her to change her mind and decide to leave her husband. He did not think that it was what she had told him. Her excitement, her overwrought condition suggested a cause less gradual, more like a shock. He ran over in his mind the advantages of giving her the money. Nothing would be jeopardized117 by it. It would simply be an advance made on the sum they had agreed upon.
“Fifty thousand’s too much,” he said slowly. “But I’ll be square to you and I’ll split the difference and give you twenty-five. I’ll give you the check now and you can take it and go to-night.”
She shook her head obstinately118.
“It won’t do,” she said. “What difference does it make to you whether you give it to me now or next year? I’ll give you a receipt for it. There won’t be any trouble about it. It’s as broad as it’s long. It’s simply an advance on the main sum.”
He looked moodily119 at her and then down. Her demand seemed reasonable enough, but he distrusted her.
“If you don’t believe me,” she insisted, “send out that clerk of yours to buy my ticket to New York. Tell him to go up to the flat and he’ll see my trunks all packed and ready. I tell you you’ve beaten me. You and Mrs. Ryan are one too many for me.”
[482]He again looked at her, his lips pressed together, his eye coldly considering.
“I’ll give you thirty thousand dollars and it’s understood that you’re to leave the city to-night.”
She demurred120, but with less show of vigor121, and, for a space, they haggled122 over the sum till they finally agreed upon thirty-five thousand dollars.
As the old man drew the check she watched him with avid123 eagerness, restraining by force the hand that trembled in its anxiety to become possessed124 of the slip of paper. He noticed, as she bent over the desk to sign the receipt, that her fingers shook so they could hardly direct the pen. She remarked it herself, setting it down to her upset nerves, and laughing at the sprawling125 signature.
With the check in her hand she rose, something of the airy buoyancy of demeanor that had marked her on her entrance returning to her.
“Well,” she said, opening her purse, “this is the real beginning of our business relations. I feel as if we were partners.”
The old man gave a short, dry laugh. He could not rid his mind of suspicions of her and the whole proceeding126, though he did not see just how she could be deceiving him.
“Wait till next year,” he said. “When I see the divorce papers I’ll feel a lot surer of the partnership127.”
She snapped the clasp of her purse, laughing[483] and moving to the door. She was wild to get away, to escape from the dark room that held such unpleasant memories, and the old man, whose steely penetrating128 eye, fastened on her, was full of unsatisfied query129.
“Well, so long!” she cried, opening the door. “Next time we meet it will be more sociable130, I hope. We really ought to be old friends by this time.”
She hardly knew what she was saying, but she laughed with a natural gaiety, and in the doorway turned and bowed her jaunty131 good-bys to him. He stood back and nodded good-humoredly at her, his face showing puzzlement under its slight, ironic66 smile.
Once in the street her demeanor again changed. Her step became sharp and quick, her expression keenly absorbed and concentrated. A clock showed her that it was nearly half-past ten, and she walked, with a speed that was as rapid a mode of progression as it could be without attracting attention, to the great bank on which the check was drawn132. On the way down on the car she had thought out all her movements, just what she would do, and where she would go. Her mind was as clear, her movements as systematic133 as though she were moved by mechanism134.
“In one-thousand dollar bills, if you please,”[484] she said, trying not to speak breathlessly, “all but five hundred, and you can give me that in one-hundreds.”
The man knew her, made some vaguely-polite remark, and took the slip of paper back into unseen regions. Berny stood waiting, throbbing136 from head to foot with excitement. She was not afraid they would refuse to cash the check. Her sole fear was that Cannon, as soon as she was gone, might have regretted his action and telephoned from his office to stop the payment on it. She knew that once the money was hers he would not make any attempt to get it back. His own reputation and that of his daughter were too inextricably bound up with the transaction for him to dare to apprehend137 or punish Berny for her deception.
Her heart gave a wild leap as she saw the teller returning, and then pause behind the netting of his golden cage while he counted out the bills. She tried to speak lightly to him as he laid them one by one on the glass slab138. She was hardly conscious of what she said; all she realized was that the crisp roll of paper in her fingers was her possession, if not of great fortune, at least of something to stand between her and the world.
When she left the bank she walked forward slowly, the excitement which had carried her on to this point having suddenly left her feeling weak and tired. She entered the railway office[485] and bought her ticket for New York for that evening’s train. Then once more emerging into the sunshine she directed her steps to the car which would take her to her sisters. She had decided to spend her last day in San Francisco with them. As the car whisked her up the hills she carefully pondered on how much she would tell them, where truth was advisable and where fiction would serve a better purpose.
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1
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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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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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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4
accost
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| v.向人搭话，打招呼 | |
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inviolate
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| adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的 | |
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6
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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deferential
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| adj. 敬意的，恭敬的 | |
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8
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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9
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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exonerate
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| v.免除责任，确定无罪 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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imploringly
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| adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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pigeonhole
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| n.鸽舍出入口；v.把...归类 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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33
orchid
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| n.兰花，淡紫色 | |
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34
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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35
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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36
harmoniously
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| 和谐地，调和地 | |
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37
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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38
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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39
rhinestones
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| n.莱茵石，人造钻石( rhinestone的名词复数 ) | |
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40
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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41
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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42
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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43
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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44
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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45
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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46
piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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47
bonanza
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| n.富矿带，幸运，带来好运的事 | |
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48
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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49
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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51
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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52
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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53
hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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54
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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55
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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56
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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57
feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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58
debonair
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| adj.殷勤的，快乐的 | |
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59
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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60
amethysts
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| n.紫蓝色宝石( amethyst的名词复数 )；紫晶；紫水晶；紫色 | |
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61
provocative
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| adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的 | |
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62
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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63
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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64
humbug
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| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
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65
ironical
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| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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66
ironic
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| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
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67
flirtatious
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| adj.爱调情的，调情的，卖俏的 | |
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68
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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69
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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70
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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71
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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72
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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73
glowered
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| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74
busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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75
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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76
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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77
notary
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| n.公证人，公证员 | |
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78
scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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79
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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80
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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81
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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82
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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83
bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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84
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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85
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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86
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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87
sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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88
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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89
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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90
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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91
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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92
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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93
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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94
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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95
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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96
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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98
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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99
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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100
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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101
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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102
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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103
insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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104
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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105
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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106
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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107
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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108
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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109
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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110
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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111
waive
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| vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等) | |
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112
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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113
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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114
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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115
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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116
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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117
jeopardized
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| 危及，损害( jeopardize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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119
moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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120
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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122
haggled
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| v.讨价还价( haggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
avid
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| adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的 | |
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124
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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125
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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126
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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127
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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128
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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129
query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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130
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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131
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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132
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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133
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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134
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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135
teller
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| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
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136
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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137
apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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138
slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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