"What is it—what does it mean? Where's Barker? In the name of Heaven tell me quickly what has happened?"
"I'll tell you in here," she said softly, and opening the door preceded me into the room.
It was evidently the dining-room of the house, a round table standing2 in the center, a sideboard with glass and china on it against the wall. A coal fire burned in the grate, and the blinds were raised showing the dazzling glitter of the snow outside. It was warm and bright, the one place in that sinister3 house that seemed to have a human note about it. She passed round the table to the fire and, standing there, made a gesture that swept the walls and unveiled windows:
"Last night in this room I at last understood the tragedy in which we've all been involved."
I stood like a post, still too bemused to have any questions ready. There were too many to ask. It was like a skein so tangled5 there was no loose thread to start with.
"Did you know Harland was here when you came?" was what I finally said.
She nodded:
"I suspected it on Sunday afternoon. I was certain of it on Sunday night before I left New York." She dropped into a chair by the fire, and pointed6 me to one near-by at the table. "Sit down and let me tell it to you as it happened to me, my side of it. When you've heard that, you can read the statement he gave, then you'll see it all. Straight from its beginning to its awful end here last night."
Before she began I told her of our interview with Mrs. Whitehall and that we knew her true relationship to Barker.
She seemed relieved and asked if her mother had also told us of her position with regard to Harland. When she saw how fully7 we'd been informed she gave a deep sigh and said:
"Now you can understand why I prevaricated8 that day in Mr. Whitney's office. I was trying to shield my father, to help him any way I could. Oh, if I'd known the truth then or you had—the truth you don't know even yet! It was Johnston Barker that was murdered and Hollings Harland who murdered him!"
I started forward, but she raised a silencing hand, her voice shaken and pleading:
"Don't, please, say anything. Let me go on in my own way. It's so hard to tell." She dropped the hand to its fellow and holding them tight-clenched in her lap, said slowly: "If my mother told you of that conversation I had with Mr. Harland you know what I discovered then—that he loved me. I never suspected it before, but when he pressed me with questions about Johnston Barker, so unlike himself, vehement10 and excited, I understood and was sorry for him. I told him as much as I could then, explained my feeling for the man he was jealous of without telling my relationship, said how I respected and trusted him, what any girl might say of her father. He seemed relieved but went on to ask if Mr. Barker and I were not interested in some scheme, some undertaking11 of a secret nature. That frightened me, it sounded as if he had found out about us, had been told something by someone. Taken by surprise, I answered with a half truth, that Mr. Barker had a plan on foot for my welfare, that he wanted to help me and my mother to a better financial position, but that I was not yet at liberty to tell what it was. I saw he thought I meant business, and as I go on, you'll see how that information gave him the confidence to do what he did later.
"I know now that the Whitney office discovered I had had a letter from Mr. Barker mailed from Toronto asking me to join him there and that I agreed to do so in a phone message that same day. That letter, directed to my office, was in typewriting and was signed with my father's initials. It was short, merely telling me that there was a reason for his disappearance12 which he would explain to me, that his whereabouts must be kept secret, and that he wanted me to come to him to make arrangements for a new business venture in which he hoped to set me up. As you know I attempted to do what he asked, and was followed by two men from the Whitney office."
She gave a slight smile, the first I had seen on her face:
"I'll tell you that later—it's not the least curious part of my story. Realizing by the papers that there was a general hue16 and cry for him I was very cautious, much more so than your detectives thought. I saw them, decided17 the move was too dangerous, and came back. At that time, and for some time afterward18, I believed that letter was from my father."
"Wasn't it?"
She shook her head:
"No—but wait. I had no other letter and no other communication of any sort. I searched the papers for any news of him, thinking he might put something for me in the personal columns, but there was not a sign. Days passed that way, my business was closed and I had time to think, and the more I thought the more strange and inexplicable19 it seemed. Why, in the letter, had he made no reference to the broken engagement, so vital to both of us, that night in the church. Why had he said nothing about my mother whose state of mind he would have guessed?
"From the first I had suspicions that something was wrong. I could not believe he would have done what they said he had. Even after I read in the papers of his carefully planned get-away I was not convinced. After that scene in the Whitney office, when I saw you were all watching me, eager to trip me into any admission, my suspicions grew stronger. There was more than showed on the surface. I sensed it, an instinct warned me.
"As days passed and I heard nothing more from him, the conviction grew that something had happened to him. If it was accident I was certain it would have been known; if, as many thought, he'd lost his memory and strayed away, I was equally certain he'd have been seen and recognized. What else could it be? Can you picture me, shut up with my poor distracted mother, ravaged20 by fear and anxiety? Those waiting days—how terrible they were—with that sense of dread21 always growing, growing. Finally it came to a climax22. If my father was dead as I thought, there was only one explanation—foul play. On Friday, when you came to see me, I was at the breaking point, afraid to speak, desperate for help and unable to ask for it.
"Now I come to the day when I learned everything, when all these broken forebodings of disaster fell together like the bits of glass in a kaleidoscope and took a definite shape. It was Sunday, can it be only two days ago? My mother had moved to the cottage and I was alone in the apartment packing up to follow her. About the middle of the afternoon while I was hard at work the telephone rang. I answered it and was told by the operator Long Distance was calling me, Quebec. At that my heart gave a great jump of joy and relief—my father was alive and sending for me again. It was like the wireless23 answer of help to a foundering24 vessel25.
"You know how often the Long Distance connection varies—one day you can recognize a voice a thousand miles off that on the next you can't make out at a hundred? The voice that had spoken to me from Toronto was no more than a vibration27 of the wire, thin and toneless. The one that spoke26 from Quebec was distinct and colored with a personality.
"The first words were that it was J. W. B. and at these words, as if the receiver had shot an electric current into me, I started and grew tense, for it did not sound like the voice of J. W. B. It went on, explaining why he had not communicated with me, and how he now again wanted me to come to him. I, listening, became more and more sure that the person speaking was not my father, but that, whoever he was, his voice stirred a faint memory, was dimly suggestive of a voice I did know.
"I was confused and agitated28, standing there with the receiver at my ear, while those sentences ran over the wire, every syllable29 clear and distinct. Then, suddenly, I thought of a way I could find out. My father was the only man in the world who knew of our secret, of the plan for our reunion. A simple question would test the knowledge of the person talking to me. When he had finished I said:
"'I've been longing30 to hear from you, not only for myself but for my mother—she's been in despair.'
"There was a slight pause before the voice answered:
"'Why should Mrs. Whitehall be so disturbed?'
"Then I knew it wasn't Johnston Barker. The reason for Mrs. Whitehall's disturbance31 was as well known to him as it was to me. Besides in our talks together he had never alluded32 to her as 'Mrs. Whitehall' but always as 'your mother' or by her Christian33 name, Serena.
"I said the mystery of his disappearance had upset her, she was afraid something had happened to him. A faint laugh—with again that curiously34 familiar echo in it—came along the wire:
"'You can set her mind at rest after you've seen me.'
"There was something ghastly about it—talking to this unknown being, listening to that whispering voice that called me to come and wasn't the voice I knew. It was like an evil spirit, close to me but invisible, and that I had no power to lay hold of.
"While I was thinking this he was telling me that he had a safe hiding place and that I must join him at once, the plans were now perfected for the new enterprise in which he was to launch me. I demurred35 and to gain time told him how I'd tried to go before and been followed. That caught his attention at once, his questions came quick and eager. Perhaps before that he had tried to disguise his voice, anyway now the familiar note in it grew stronger. I began to catch at something—inflexions, accent—till suddenly, like a runner who rounds a corner and sees his goal unexpectedly before him, my memory saw a name—Harland!
"I was so amazed, so staggered that for a moment I couldn't speak. The voice brought me back, saying sharply, 'Are you there?' I stammered36 a reply and said I couldn't make up my mind to come. He urged, but I wouldn't promise, till at length, feeling I might betray myself, I said I'd think it over and let him know later. He had to be satisfied with that and gave me his telephone number telling me to call him up as soon as I decided.
"What did I feel as I sat alone in that dismantled37 place? Can you realize the state of my thoughts? What did it mean—what was going on? The man was not Johnston Barker, but how could he be Harland, who was dead and buried? Ah, if you had come then instead of Friday I'd have told you for I was in waters too deep for me. All that I could grasp was that I was in the midst of something incomprehensible and terrible, from the darkness of which one thought stood out—my father had never sent for me, I had never heard from him—it had been this other man all along! I was then as certain as if his spirit had appeared before me that Johnston Barker was dead.
"And now I come to one of the strangest and finest things that ever happened to me in my life. Late on Sunday night a girl—unknown to me and refusing to give her name—came and told me of the murder, the whole of it, the evidence against me, and that I stood in danger of immediate38 arrest."
I jumped to my feet—I couldn't believe it:
"A girl—what kind of a girl?"
"Young and pretty, with dark brown eyes and brown curly hair. Oh, I can place her for you. She said she had been employed to help get the information against me and my father, and was the only woman acting39 in that capacity."
"You're right to invoke41 Heaven's name, for it was Heaven that sent her. She wouldn't tell me who she was or why she came, but I could see. What reason could there have been except that she believed me innocent and wanted to help me escape?"
For a moment I couldn't speak. I dropped my head and a silent oath went up from me to hold Molly sacred forever more. I could see it all—she'd found her heart, realized the cruelty of what was to be done, discovered in some way she'd given me wrong information, and done the thing herself. The gallant42, noble little soul! God bless her! God bless her!
Carol went on:
"I wonder now what she thought of me. I must have appeared utterly43 extraordinary to her. She thought she was telling me what I already knew, or at least knew something of. But as I sat there listening to her I was piecing together in my mind what she was saying with what I myself had found out. I was building up a complete story, fitting new and old together, and it held me dumb, motionless, as if I didn't care. It would take too long to tell you how I got at the main facts—the smaller points I didn't think of. It was as if what she said and what I knew jumped toward each other like the flame and the igniting gas, connecting the broken bits into a continuous line of fire. I knew that murder had been committed. I knew that the body was unrecognizable. I knew that had my father been living I would have heard from him. I knew that the voice on the phone was Harland's. Without all the details she gave me it would have been enough. Before she had finished my mind had grasped the truth. It was Johnston Barker who had been murdered and Harland—trying now to draw me to him—was the murderer.
"Do you guess what a flame of rage burst up in me—what a passion to trap and bring to justice the man who could conceive and execute such a devilish thing? I could hardly wait to go. I was too wrought44 up to think out a reasonable course. Looking back on it today it seems like an act of madness, but I suppose a person in that state is half mad. I never thought of getting anybody to go with me, of applying to the police. I only saw myself finding Harland and accusing him. It's inconceivable—the irrational45 action of a woman beside herself with grief and fury.
"I called up the number he'd given me and told him I was coming on the first train I could catch. He told me at what hour that morning it would leave New York and when it would reach Quebec. He said he would send his servant, a French woman, to meet me at the depot46 as he didn't like to risk going himself. Then I left the house and went to the Grand Central Station, where I sat in the women's waiting room for the rest of the night.
"I did not get to Quebec till after midnight. The servant met me, put me in a sleigh that was waiting for us, and together we drove here.
"The house was lit up, every lower window bright. As we walked up the path from the gate I saw a man moving behind the shrubbery and called her attention to him. While she was opening the door with her key I noticed another loitering along the footpath47 by the gate, obviously watching us. This time I asked her why there should be men about at such an hour and on such a freezing night. She seemed bewildered and frightened, muttering something in French about having noticed them when she went out. In the hallway she directed me to a room on the upper floor, telling me, when I was ready, to go down to the dining-room where supper was waiting.
"I went upstairs and she followed, showing me where I was to go and then walking down the passage to another room. As I took off my wraps and hat I could hear her voice, loud and excited, telling someone of the two men we had seen. Another voice answered it—a man's—but pitched too low for me to make out the words.
"When I was ready I went downstairs and into the room. No one was about, there was not a sound. The fire was burning as it is now, the curtains drawn48, and the table, set out with a supper, was brightly lit with candles and decorated with flowers. I stood here by the fire waiting, white, I suppose, as the tablecloth49, for I was at the highest climax of excitement a human being can reach and keep her senses.
"Suddenly I heard steps on the stairs. I turned and made ready, moistening my lips which were stiff and felt like leather. The steps came down the passage—the door opened. There he was!
"That first second, when he entered as the lover and conqueror50, he looked splendid. The worn and harassed51 air he had the last time I'd seen him was gone. He was at the highest pinnacle52 of his life, 'the very butt15 and sea mark of his sail,' and it was as if his spirit recognized it and flashed up in a last illuminating53 glow of fire and force.
"He was prepared for amazement54, horror, probably fear from me. The first shock he received was my face, showing none of these, quiet, and, I suppose, fierce with the hatred55 I felt. He stopped dead in the doorway56, the confidence stricken out of him—just staring. Then he stammered:
"'Carol—you—you—'
"'You think I didn't expect to see you. I did. I knew you were here—I came to find you. I came to tell you that I know how you killed Johnston Barker.'
"I don't think anyone has ever said he lacked courage. He was one of those bold and ruthless beings that came to their fullest flower during the Italian Renaissance—terrible and tremendous too. I've thought of him since as like one of the Borgias or Iago transplanted to our country and modern times. When he saw that I knew he went white, but he stood with the light of the candles bright on his ghastly face, straight and steady as a soldier before the cannon59.
"'Johnston Barker,' he said very quietly—'killed him? You bring me interesting news. I didn't know he was dead!'
"As I've told you I had come without plans, with no line of action decided upon. Now the futility60, the blind rashness of what I had done was borne in upon me. His stoney calm, his measured voice, showed me I was pitted against an antagonist61 whose strength was to mine as a lion's to a mouse. The thought maddened me, I was ready to say anything to break him, to conquer and crush him and in my desperation—guided by some flash of intuition—I said the right thing:
"'Oh, don't waste time denying it. It's too late for that now. It's not I alone who knows—they know in New York—everything. How you did it, how you stole away, and where you are now. The net is around you—they've got you. There's no use any more in lies and tricks, for you can't escape them.'
"He had listened without a movement or a sign of agitation62. But when I finished he straightened his shoulders and throwing up his head sent a glance of piercing question over the curtained windows. His whole being suggested something arrested and fiercely alert, not fear, but a wild concentration of energy, as if all his forces were aroused to meet a desperate call.
"Then suddenly he made a step forward, leaned across the table and spoke. I can't tell you all he said. It was so horrible and his face—it was like a demon's in its death throes! But it was about his love for me—that he'd done it all for me—that he could give me more than any woman ever had before—lay the world at my feet. And to come with him—now—we could get away—we had time yet. Oh!" she closed her eyes and shuddered63 at the memory—"I can't go on. He knew it was hopeless, he must have known then what the men outside meant. It was the last defiance—the last mad hope.
"And then I conquered him, not as I'd meant to do, not with any intention. All the horror and loathing64 I felt came out in what I said. Terrible words—how I hated him—all that had been locked up in me since I'd known the truth. His face grew so dreadful that I shrank back in this corner, and finally to hide it, hid my own in my hands.
"People do such strange things in life, not at all like what they do in books and plays. When I stopped speaking he said nothing, and dropping my hands I looked at him, not knowing what I'd see. He was standing very quiet, gazing straight in front of him, like a man thinking—deeply thinking, lost in thought.
"We were that way for a moment, so still you could hear the clock ticking, then, without a word or look at me, he turned and went out of the room.
"I was so paralyzed by the scene that for a space I stood where he'd left me, squeezed into the angle behind the mantelpiece, stunned65 and senseless. Then the sound of his feet on the stairs called me back to life. He was going, he was running away. I did not know myself then who the men outside were and thought he could easily make his escape.
"I ran out into the hall, calling to the French woman. She came, out of a door somewhere in the back part of the house, and I have a queer impression of her face by the light of a bracket lamp, almost ludicrous in its expression of fright. As I ran up the stairs I screamed to her to come, to follow me, and heard her steps racing66 along the passage and her panting exclamations67 of terror. At the stair head my ear caught the snap of a closing door and the click of a key turned in a lock. It came from the darkened end of the hall and as I ran down I cried to the woman, 'Get someone. Call. Get help.' Then and there she threw up a window and thrusting out her head screamed into the darkness, 'Au secours! Au secours!'
"A man's voice, close under the window, answered her and she flew past me to another staircase beyond in the darkness down which I could hear her clattering68 rush. Then there were the sound of steps, and the breaking of wood, sharp tearing noises mixed with the shouts of men. It all came together, for as I stood outside that locked door, listening to the woman's cries and the smashing of the wood below, sharp as a flash came the report of a pistol from the closed room.
"That's all. I didn't see him again, I couldn't. The police inspector—they've all been very kind, have done everything for me they could—let me see the statement. When you've read that you'll know everything—it'll be the last chapter. I can't tell it to you—it's more than I can bear."
She glanced at me and then suddenly looked away for tears, quick and unexpected, welled into her eyes. She put up one hand, pressing it against her eyelids69, while the other lay still on the table. I leaned forward and laid mine over it. As she sat speechless, struggling with her moment of weakness, I looked at the two hands—mine big and hard and brown, almost hid hers, closing round it, sheltering and guarding it, as my life, if God willed it, would close round and shelter and guard hers.
I am coming to the end of my part of the story and it's only up to me now to give the final explanation—furnished by Harland's statement—of the strangest crime that had ever come within the ken9 of the Whitney office.
We all read the statement that day and that night in our sitting-room70 at the Frontenac, O'Mally, Babbitts and I talked it over. A good deal had to be supplemented by our own inside information. For anyone who had not our fuller knowledge there would have been many broken links in the chain. But to us it read as a clear, consecutive71 sequence of events. One thing I drew from it—almost as if Harland had told me himself—its unconscious revelation of the development in him of sinister possibilities that had lain dormant72 during the struggle of his early years. In middle life, his world conquered, two master passions, love of gain and love of a woman, had seized him, and swept him to his ruin.
Harland had been the welcher in the Copper74 Pool and Barker had suspected him. This was the immediate cause of the murder. Back of that, the root from which the whole intricate crime grew, was his love of Carol Whitehall and determination to make her his wife.
Briefly75 outlined, his position with regard to her was as follows. His passion for her had started with the inauguration76 of the land company, but while she was grateful and friendly, he soon saw that she was nothing more. So he kept his counsel, making no attempt by word or look to disturb the harmony of their relations. But while he maintained the pose of a business partner he studied her and saw that she was ambitious, large in her aims, and aspiring77. This side of her character was the one he decided to lay siege to. If he could not win her heart, he would amass78 a fortune and tempt13 her with its vast possibilities. His membership in the Copper Pool gave him the opportunity, and he saw himself able to lay millions at her feet.
On January fifth, he met Barker on the street and in the course of a short conversation learned that the head of the pool suspected his treachery. That half-expressed suspicion, with its veiled hint of publicity79, planted the seed of murder in his mind.
It was not, however, till two days later that the seed sprouted80. How his idea came to him indicated the condition of morbidly81 acute perception and wild recklessness he had reached. Walking up Fifth Avenue after dark he had seen a man standing under a lamp, lighting82 a pipe. The man, Joseph Sammis, was so like Barker, that he moved nearer to address him. A closer view showed him his mistake, but also showed him that Sammis, feeble in health, shabby and impoverished83, was sufficiently84 like Barker to pass for him.
From that resemblance his idea expanded still further. He followed Sammis to his lodgings85, had a conference with him, and told him he had work in Philadelphia which he wanted Sammis to undertake. The man, down to his last dollar, flattered and amazed at his good fortune, agreed at once. Though the work had not developed, it was necessary for Sammis to be on the ground and stay there awaiting instructions. Money was given him for proper clothes and an advance of salary. The date when he was to leave would be communicated to him within a few days. It would appear that Sammis never knew his benefactor's real name, but accepted the luck that came to him eagerly and without question. In his case the chief had guessed right—he was a "plant."
From this point the plot mushroomed out into its full dimensions. Harland and Barker were of a size, small, light and wiry, both men had gray hair and dark eyes. The features obliterated86, clothes, personal papers and jewelry87 would be the only means of identification. The back office with its one egress88 through the other rooms was selected as the scene of the crime. Barker's body could be lowered from the cleat—tried and tested—to the floor below. Through his acquaintance with Ford89 and Miss Whitehall, Harland was familiar with the hours of the Azalea Woods Estates people. They would be gone when he went down, entered their office with the pass key he had procured90, and made the change of clothing with his victim. His own disguise was a very simple matter. Through an acquaintance with actors in his youth he had learned their method of building up the nose by means of an adhesive91 paste—that and the white mustache were all he needed. He took one chance and one only—a gambler's risk—that the body might not be sufficiently crushed to escape recognition. This chance, as we know, went his way.
Gone thus far he had only to wait his opportunity. Against that he bought and concealed92 the rope, the blackjack for the blow, and the articles for his own transformation—all the properties of the grisly drama he was about to stage.
Meantime his scheme to win Carol was working out less successfully and the strain was wearing on him. On January fifteenth, his nerves stretched to the breaking point, he went to her determined93 to find out how she stood with Barker. Her answer satisfied him. He knew her to be truthful94 and when she told him she had no other than a filial affection for the magnate he believed her. The information she gave about Barker's intention of helping95 her, of having plans afoot for her future welfare, he seized upon and subsequently used.
He also, in that interview, learned that she had had a phone message from the magnate saying he was coming to her office that afternoon and would later go to the floor above to see Mr. Harland. When he heard this he knew that his time had come.
From her he went straight to a telephone booth, called up Barker's garage and gave Heney the instructions to meet him that night and take him to the Elizabeth Depot. That done he returned to the Black Eagle Building, saw that his stenographer96 and clerk were disposed to his satisfaction, and made ready for the final event.
The quarrel with Barker was genuine. The head of the Copper Pool burst into accusations97 of treachery and threatened immediate exposure. Sitting at the desk, engrossed98 in his anger, he did not notice Harland slip behind him. One blow of the blackjack delivered below the temple resulted in death, as instantaneous as it was noiseless. Fastening the rope about the body, Harland swung it from the cleat to the floor below, where in the darkness it would have been invisible at a distance of ten feet.
He then passed through the outer offices and went downstairs. He must have missed Carol by a few seconds. His knock being unanswered, he let himself in with his pass key, and walked through to the back room. Here he drew in the body, then curtaining the window, turned on the lights and effected the change of clothes, shaving off the mustache, and looking for the scarf pin which he couldn't find. He had just completed this when Ford entered—a terrible moment for him.
When Ford left his nerve was shaken and he realized he must finish the job at once. After he had done so he went back to the private office, carefully arranged his own disguise, and after waiting for over an hour, put on Barker's hat and coat and went down the service stairs.
He met no person or obstacle, skirted the back of the block and picked up Heney at the place designated. At the Elizabeth Station he bought a ticket to Philadelphia, but when he saw his chance, crossed the lines to the Jersey100 Central platform and boarded a local for Jersey City, from which by a devious101 route he made his way to Canada. It was in the waiting-room at the Jersey City depot that he removed his disguise.
In Toronto he sublet102 a small apartment, only going out at night, and keeping a close watch on the developments in New York which he followed through the papers. By these he learned that everything had worked out as he hoped, that the crime was unsuspected, and the public interest centered on the chase for Barker. All that now remained to complete his enterprise was to get Carol.
That his continued success must have given him an almost insane confidence is proved by the way he went about this last and most difficult step. Criminals all slip up somewhere. He had attended to the details of the murder with amazing skill and thoroughness. It was in his estimate of the character of Carol that he showed that blind spot in the brain they all have.
The only way to explain it is that he was so sure of his own powers, so confident that she was heart whole and would be unable to resist the temptation of his enormous wealth, that he took the final risk—sent for her in Barker's name. Her response to his first summons encouraged him. When she didn't come he had many reasons with which to buoy103 himself up—fears, illness, the impossibility of leaving her mother.
But it made him more cautious and he didn't venture again till the hue and cry for Barker had subsided104 and he had made a move to the last port of call on the St. Lawrence. That he had expected to take her by storm, win her consent and leave her no time to deliberate was proved by the fact that "Henry Santley" had engaged accommodations for himself and "sister" on the Megantic, sailing from Quebec at ten the next morning.
What had he intended to say to her, how was he going to explain? If he had not mentioned it in his statement we never would have known, for Carol did not give him time to tell. The story was simple and in the face of her supposed ignorance of the murder, might have satisfied her.
He was going to admit his duplicity in the Copper Pool—his excuse being he had done it for her. In his last interview with Barker he saw that discovery was imminent105, and decided to drop out of sight. When he passed through his own office he was on his way out of the building, descending106 unseen by the stairs, and going immediately to Canada. When he read in the papers of the suicide, identified as Hollings Harland, no one was more surprised than he was.
How the mistake had been made he readily guessed. Some months before he had discharged one of his clerks for intemperance107. The man, unable to get another job and in the clutch of his vice99, had gone to the dogs, applying frequently to Harland for help. The lawyer, moved to pity, had given this in the form of clothing and money. On the afternoon of January fifteenth he had visited the Harland offices, in a suit of Harland's clothes, begging for money and threatening suicide. He was sunk to the lowest depths of degradation108, for, during a few moments when he was alone in the private office, he had evidently searched among his employer's papers and taken a watch and chain which was lying on the desk, to be sent to a jeweler's for repairs. Startled in his hunt among the papers he had had no time to replace them and had put them in his pocket. After the man had gone Harland noticed the missing documents and jewelry but in the stress of his own affairs paid no attention to the theft. The next day when he read of the suicide, he remembered the man's threat to kill himself and realized he had done it later that afternoon. That the body, crushed beyond recognition, had been identified through the clothes, papers and watch as himself, he regarded as a lucky chance. Without his intervention109 a thing had occurred which forever severed110 him from the life he wished to be done with.
Such was Harland's crime as explained in Harland's statement. How we talked it over! How we mused4 on the slight happening that had brought it to light—a child at a window! Strange and wonderful! The hotel noises, the traffic in the street, faded into the silence of the night as we sat there, pondering, speculating, and awed111 too by this modern fall of Lucifer.
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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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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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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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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tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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prevaricated
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| v.支吾( prevaricate的过去式和过去分词 )；搪塞；说谎 | |
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ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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butting
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| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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17
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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21
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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22
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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23
wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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24
foundering
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| v.创始人( founder的现在分词 ) | |
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25
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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26
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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vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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29
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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30
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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31
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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32
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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34
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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35
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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36
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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38
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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39
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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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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41
invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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42
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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43
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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44
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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45
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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46
depot
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| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
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47
footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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48
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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49
tablecloth
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| n.桌布，台布 | |
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50
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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51
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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52
pinnacle
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| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
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53
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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54
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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55
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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56
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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57
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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58
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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59
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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60
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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61
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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62
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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63
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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64
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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65
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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66
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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67
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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68
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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69
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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70
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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71
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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72
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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73
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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74
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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75
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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76
inauguration
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| n.开幕、就职典礼 | |
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77
aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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78
amass
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| vt.积累，积聚 | |
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79
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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80
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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81
morbidly
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| adv.病态地 | |
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82
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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83
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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84
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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85
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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86
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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87
jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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88
egress
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| n.出去；出口 | |
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89
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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90
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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91
adhesive
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| n.粘合剂；adj.可粘着的，粘性的 | |
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92
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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93
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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94
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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95
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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96
stenographer
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| n.速记员 | |
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97
accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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98
engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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99
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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100
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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101
devious
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| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
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102
sublet
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| v.转租；分租 | |
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103
buoy
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| n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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104
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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105
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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106
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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107
intemperance
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| n.放纵 | |
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108
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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109
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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110
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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111
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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