For the sea, at last, was satisfying this young man; he savoured now what he had longed for as a little boy, guiding a home-made raft on the waters of Neeland’s mill pond in the teeth of a summer breeze. Before he had ever seen the ocean he wanted all it had to give short of shipwreck9 and early decease. He had experienced it on the Channel during the night.
There was only one other passenger aboard—a tall, lean, immaculately dressed man with a ghastly pallor, a fox face, and ratty eyes, who looked like an American and who had been dreadfully sick. Not caring for his appearance, Neeland did not speak to him. Besides, he was having too good a time to pay attention to anybody or anything except the sea.
A sailor had lent Neeland some oilskins and a sou’-wester; and he hated to put them off—hated the calmer waters inside the basin where the tender now lay 262rocking; longed for the gale10 and the heavy seas again, sorry the crossing was ended.
He cast a last glance of regret at the white fury raging beyond the breakwater as he disembarked among a crowd of porters, gendarmes11, soldiers, and assorted12 officials; then, following his porter to the customs, he prepared to submit to the unvarying indignities13 incident to luggage examination in France.
He had leisure, while awaiting his turn, to buy a novel, “Les Bizarettes,” of Maurice Bertrand; time, also, to telegraph to the Princess Mistchenka. The fox-faced man, who looked like an American, was now speaking French like one to a perplexed14 official, inquiring where the Paris train was to be found. Neeland listened to the fluent information on his own account, then returned to the customs bench.
But the unusually minute search among his effects did not trouble him; the papers from the olive-wood box were buttoned in his breast pocket; and after a while the customs officials let him go to the train which stood beside an uncovered concrete platform beyond the quai, and toward which the fox-faced American had preceded him on legs that still wobbled with seasickness15.
There were no Pullmans attached to the train, only the usual first, second, and third class carriages with compartments17; and a new style corridor car with central aisle18 and lettered doors to compartments holding four.
Into one of these compartments Neeland stepped, hoping for seclusion19, but backed out again, the place being full of artillery20 officers playing cards.
In vain he bribed21 the guard, who offered to do his best; but the human contents of a Channel passenger 263steamer had unwillingly22 spent the night in the quaint23 French port, and the Paris-bound train was already full.
The best Neeland could do was to find a seat in a compartment16 where he interrupted conversation between three men who turned sullen24 heads to look at him, resenting in silence the intrusion. One of them was the fox-faced man he had already noticed on the packet, tender, and customs dock.
But Neeland, whose sojourn25 in a raw and mannerless metropolis26 had not blotted27 out all memory of gentler cosmopolitan28 conventions, lifted his hat and smilingly excused his intrusion in the fluent and agreeable French of student days, before he noticed that he had to do with men of his own race.
None of the men returned his salute29; one of them merely emitted an irritated grunt30; and Neeland recognised that they all must be his own delightful31 country-men—for even the British are more dignified32 in their stolidity34.
A second glance satisfied him that all three were undoubtedly35 Americans; the cut of their straw hats and apparel distinguished36 them as such; the nameless grace of Mart, Haffner and Sharx marked the tailoring of the three; only Honest Werner could have manufactured such headgear; only New York such footwear.
And Neeland looked at them once more and understood that Broadway itself sat there in front of him, pasty, close-shaven, furtive37, sullen-eyed, the New York Paris Herald38 in its seal-ringed fingers; its fancy waistcoat pockets bulging39 with cigars.
“Sports,” he thought to himself; and decided40 to maintain incognito41 and pass as a Frenchman, if 264necessary, to escape conversation with the three tired-eyed ones.
So he hung up his hat, opened his novel, and settled back to endure the trip through the rain, now beginning to fall from a low-sagging cloud of watery42 grey.
After a few minutes the train moved. Later the guard passed and accomplished43 his duties. Neeland inquired politely of him in French whether there was any political news, and the guard replied politely that he knew of none. But he looked very serious when he said it.
Half an hour from the coast the rain dwindled44 to a rainbow and ceased; and presently a hot sun was gilding45 wet green fields and hedges and glistening46 roofs which steamed vapour from every wet tile.
Without asking anybody’s opinion, one of the men opposite raised the window. But Neeland did not object; the rain-washed air was deliciously fragrant47; and he leaned his elbow on his chair arm and looked out across the loveliest land in Europe.
“Say, friend,” said an East Side voice at his elbow, “does smoking go?”
He glanced back over his shoulder at the speaker—a little, pallid48, sour-faced man with the features of a sick circus clown and eyes like two holes burnt in a lump of dough49.
“Pardon, monsieur?” he said politely.
“Can’t you even pick a Frenchman, Ben?” sneered50 one of the men opposite—a square, smoothly51 shaven man with slow, heavy-lidded eyes of a greenish tinge52.
The fox-faced man said:
“He had me fooled, too, Eddie. If Ben Stull didn’t get his number it don’t surprise me none, becuz he was 265on the damn boat I crossed in, and I certainly picked him for New York.”
“Aw,” said the pasty-faced little man referred to as Ben Stull, “Eddie knows it all. He never makes no breaks, of course. You make ’em, Doc, but he doesn’t. That’s why me and him and you is travelling here—this minute—because the great Eddie Brandes never makes no breaks––”
“Go on and smoke and shut up,” said Brandes, with a slow, sidewise glance at Neeland, whose eyes remained fastened on the pages of “Les Bizarettes,” but whose ears were now very wide open.
“Smoke,” repeated Stull, “when this here Frenchman may make a holler?”
“Wait till I ask him,” said the man addressed as Doc, with dignity. And to Neeland:
“Mais comment, donc, monsieur! Je vous en prie––”
“He says politely,” translated Doc, “that we can smoke and be damned to us.”
They lighted three obese54 cigars; Neeland, his eyes on his page, listened attentively55 and stole a glance at the man they called Brandes.
So this was the scoundrel who had attempted to deceive the young girl who had come to him that night in his studio, bewildered with what she believed to be her hopeless disgrace!
This was the man—this short, square, round-faced individual with his minutely shaven face and slow greenish eyes, and his hair combed back and still reeking56 with perfumed tonic—this shiny, scented57, and overgroomed sport with rings on his fat, blunt fingers and the silk 266laces on his tan oxfords as fastidiously tied as though a valet had done it!
Ben Stull began to speak; and presently Neeland discovered that the fox-faced man’s name was Doc Curfoot; that he had just arrived from London on receipt of a telegram from them; and that they themselves had landed the night before from a transatlantic liner to await him here.
Doc Curfoot checked the conversation, which was becoming general now, saying that they’d better be very sure that the man opposite understood no English before they became careless.
“Je parle Français, monsieur.”
“I get him,” said Stull, sourly. “I knew it anyway. He’s got the sissy manners of a Frenchy, even if he don’t look the part. No white man tips his lid to nobody except a swell60 skirt.”
“I seen two dudes do it to each other on Fifth Avenue,” remarked Curfoot, and spat61 from the window.
Brandes, imperturbable62, rolled his cigar into the corner of his mouth and screwed his greenish eyes to narrow slits63.
“You got our wire, Doc?”
“Why am I here if I didn’t!”
“Sure. Have an easy passage?”
Doc Curfoot’s foxy visage still wore traces of the greenish pallor; he looked pityingly at Brandes—self-pityingly:
“Say, Eddie, that was the worst I ever seen. A freight boat, too. God! I was that sick I hoped she’d turn turtle! And nab it from me; if you hadn’t wired 267me S O S, I’d have waited over for the steamer train and the regular boat!”
“Well, it’s S O S all right, Doc. I got a cable from Quint this morning saying our place in Paris is ready, and we’re to be there and open up tonight––”
“What place?” demanded Curfoot.
“Sure, I forgot. You don’t know anything yet, do you?”
“Eddie,” interrupted Stull, “let me do the talking this time, if you please.”
And, to Curfoot:
“Listen, Doc. We was up against it. You heard. Every little thing has went wrong since Eddie done what he done—every damn thing! Look what’s happened since Maxy Venem got sore and he and Minna started out to get him! Morris Stein takes away the Silhouette64 Theatre from us and we can’t get no time for ‘Lilith’ on Broadway. We go on the road and bust65. All our Saratoga winnings goes, also what we got invested with Parson Smawley when the bulls pulled Quint’s––!”
“Ah, f’r the lov’ o’ Mike!” began Brandes. “Can that stuff!”
“All right, Eddie. I’m tellin’ Doc, that’s all. I ain’t aiming to be no crape-hanger; I only want you both to listen to me this time. If you’d listened to me before, we’d have been in Saratoga today in our own machines. But no; you done what you done—God! Did anyone ever hear of such a thing!—taking chances with that little rube from Brookhollow—that freckled66-faced mill-hand—that yap-skirt! And Minna and Max having you watched all the time! You big boob! No—don’t interrupt! Listen to me! Where are you now? You had good money; you had a theaytre, you had backing! 268Quint was doing elegant; Doc and Parson and you and me had it all our way and comin’ faster every day. Wait, I tell you! This ain’t a autopsy67. This is business. I’m tellin’ you two guys all this becuz I want you to realise that what Eddie done was against my advice. Come on, now; wasn’t it?”
“It sure was,” admitted Curfoot, removing his cigar from his lean, pointed68 visage of a greyhound, and squinting69 thoughtfully at the smoke eddying70 in the draught71 from the open window.
“Well, go on,” returned the latter between thin lips that scarcely moved.
“All right, then. Here’s the situation, Doc. We’re broke. If Quint hadn’t staked us to this here new game we’re playin’, where’d we be, I ask you?
“We got no income now. Quint’s is shut up; Maxy Venem and Minna Minti fixed73 us at Saratoga so we can’t go back there for a while. They won’t let us touch a card on the liners. Every pug is leery of us since Eddie flimflammed that Battling Smoke; and I told you he’d holler, too! Didn’t I?” turning on Brandes, who merely let his slow eyes rest on him without replying.
“Go on, Ben,” said Curfoot.
“I’m going on. We guys gotta do something––”
“We ought to have fixed Max Venem,” said Curfoot coolly.
There was a silence; all three men glanced stealthily at Neeland, who quietly turned the page of his book as though absorbed in his story.
“That squealer75, Max,” continued Curfoot with placid76 ferocity blazing in his eyes, “ought to have been put 269away. Quint and Parson wanted us to have it done. Was it any stunt77 to get that dirty little shyster in some roadhouse last May?”
Brandes said:
“I’m not mixing with any gunmen after the Rosenthal business.”
“Becuz a lot of squealers done a amateur job like that, does it say that a honest job can’t be pulled?” demanded Curfoot. “Did Quint and me ask you to go to Dopey or Clabber or Pete the Wop, or any of them cheap gangsters78?”
“Ah, can the gun-stuff,” said Brandes. “I’m not for it. It’s punk.”
“What’s punk?”
“Gun-play.”
“Didn’t you pull a pop on Maxy Venem the night him and Hyman Adams and Minna beat you up in front of the Knickerbocker?”
“Eddie was stalling,” interrupted Stull, as Brandes’ face turned a dull beef-red. “You talk like a bad actor, Doc. There’s other ways of getting Max in wrong. Guns ain’t what they was once. Gun-play is old stuff. But listen, now. Quint has staked us and we gotta make good. And this is a big thing, though it looks like it was out of our line.”
“Go on; what’s the idea?” inquired Curfoot, interested.
Brandes, the dull red still staining his heavy face, watched the flying landscape from the open window.
Stull leaned forward; Curfoot bent79 his lean, narrow head nearer; Neeland, staring fixedly80 at his open book, pricked81 up his ears.
“Now,” said Stull in a low voice, “I’ll tell you guys all Eddie and I know about this here business of 270Captain Quint’s. It’s like this, Doc: Some big feller comes to Quint after they close him up—he won’t tell who—and puts up this here proposition: Quint is to open a elegant place in Paris on the Q. T. In fact, it’s ready now. There’ll be all the backing Quint needs. He’s to send over three men he can trust—three men who can shoot at a pinch! He picks us three and stakes us. Get me?”
Doc nodded.
Brandes said in his narrow-eyed, sleepy way:
“There was a time when they called us gunmen—Ben and me. But, so help me God, Doc, we never did any work like that ourselves. We never fired a shot to croak82 any living guy. Did we, Ben?”
“All right,” said Stull impatiently. And, to Curfoot: “Eddie and I know what we’re to do. If it’s on the cards that we shoot—well, then, we’ll shoot. The place is to be small, select, private, and first class. Doc, you act as capper. You deal, too. Eddie sets ’em up. I deal or spin. All right. We three guys attend to anything American that blows our way. Get that?”
Curfoot nodded.
“Then for the foreigners, there’s to be a guy called Karl Breslau.”
Neeland managed to repress a start, but the blood tingled83 in his cheeks, and he turned his head a trifle as though seeking better light on the open pages in his hands.
“This here man Breslau,” continued Stull, “speaks all kinds of languages. He is to have two friends with him, a fellow named Kestner and one called Weishelm. They trim the foreigners, they do; and––”
“Well, I don’t see nothing new about this––” began Curfoot; but Stull interrupted:271
“Wait, can’t you! This ain’t the usual. We run a place for Quint. The place is like Quint’s. We trim guys same as he does—or did. But there’s more to it.”
He let his eyes rest on Neeland, obliquely84, for a full minute. The others watched him, too. Presently the young man cut another page of his book with his pen-knife and turned it with eager impatience85, as though the story absorbed him.
Stull laid one hand on Curfoot’s shoulder, drawing that gentleman a trifle nearer and sinking his voice:
“Here’s the new stuff, Doc,” he said. “And it’s brand new to us, too. There’s big money into it. Quint swore we’d get ours. And as we was on our uppers we went in. It’s like this: We lay for Americans from the Embassy or from any of the Consulates87. They are our special game. It ain’t so much that we trim them; we also get next to them; we make ’em talk right out in church. Any political dope they have we try to get. We get it any way we can. If they’ll accelerate we accelerate ’em; if not, we dope ’em and take their papers. The main idee is to get a holt on ’em!
“That’s what Quint wants; that’s what he’s payin’ for and gettin’ paid for—inside information from the Embassy and Consulates––”
“What does Quint want of that?” demanded Curfoot, astonished.
“How do I know? Blackmail88? Graft89? I can’t call the dope. But listen here! Don’t forget that it ain’t Quint who wants it. It’s the big feller behind him who’s backin’ him. It’s some swell guy higher up who’s payin’ Quint. And Quint, he pays us. So where’s the squeal74 coming?”272
“Yes, but––”
“Where’s the holler?” insisted Stull.
“I ain’t hollerin’, am I? Only this here is new stuff to me––”
“Listen, Doc. I don’t know what it is, but all these here European kings is settin’ watchin’ one another like toms in a back alley90. I think that some foreign political high-upper wants dope on what our people are finding out over here. Like this, he says to himself: ‘I hear this Kink is building ten sooper ferry boats. If that’s right, I oughta know. And I hear that the Queen of Marmora has ordered a million new nifty fifty-shot bean-shooters for the boy scouts91! That is indeed serious news!’ So he goes to his broker92, who goes to a big feller, who goes to Quint, who goes to us. Flag me?”
“Sure.”
“That’s all. There’s nothing to it, Doc. Says Quint to us: ‘Trim a few guys for me and get their letters,’ says Quint; ‘and there’s somethin’ in it for me and you!’ And that’s the new stuff, Doc.”
“You mean we’re spies?”
“Spies? I don’t know. We’re on a salary. We get a big bonus for every letter we find on the carpet––” He winked93 at Curfoot and relighted his cigar.
“It’s politics like they play ’em in Albany, only it’s ambassadors and kinks we trim, not corporations.”
“We can’t do it! What the hell do we know about kinks and attachés?”
“No; Weishelm, Breslau and Kestner do that. We lay for the attachés or spin or deal or act handy at the bar and buffet95 with homesick Americans. No; the fine 273work—the high-up stuff, is done by Breslau and Weishelm. And I guess there’s some fancy skirts somewhere in the game. But they’re silent partners; and anyway Weishelm manages that part.”
Curfoot, one lank96 knee over the other, swung his foot thoughtfully to and fro, his ratty eyes lost in dreamy revery. Brandes tossed his half-consumed cigar out of the open window and set fire to another. Stull waited for Curfoot to make up his mind. After several minutes the latter looked up from his cunning abstraction:
“Well, Ben, put it any way you like, but we’re just plain political spies. And what the hell do they hand us over here if we’re pinched?”
“I don’t know. What of it?”
“Nothing. If there’s good money in it, I’ll take a chance.”
“There is. Quint backs us. When we get ’em coming––”
“Ah,” said Doc with a wry97 face, “that’s all right for the cards or the wheel. But this pocket picking––”
“Say; that ain’t what I mean. It’s like this: Young Fitznoodle of the Embassy staff gets soused and starts out lookin’ for a quiet game. We furnish the game. We don’t go through his pockets; we just pick up whatever falls out and take shorthand copies. Then back go the letters into Fitznoodle’s pocket––”
“Yes. Who reads ’em first?”
“Breslau. Or some skirt, maybe.”
“What’s Breslau?”
“Search me. He’s a Dutchman or a Rooshian or some sort of Dodo. What do you care?”
“I don’t. All right, Ben. You’ve got to show me; that’s all.”274
“Show you what?”
“Spot cash!”
“You’re in when you handle it?”
“If you show me real money—yes.”
“You’re on. I’ll cash a cheque of Quint’s for you at Monroe’s soon as we hit the asphalt! And when you finish counting out your gold nickels put ’em in your pants and play the game! Is that right?”
“Yes.”
They exchanged a wary98 handshake; then, one after another, they leaned back in their seats with the air of honest men who had done their day’s work.
“You look prosperous, Eddie.”
“It’s his business to,” remarked Stull.
Brandes yawned:
“It would be a raw deal if there’s a war over here,” he said listlessly.
“Ah,” said Curfoot, “there won’t be none.”
“Why?”
“The Jews and bankers won’t let these kinks mix it.”
“That’s right, too,” nodded Brandes.
But Stull said nothing and his sour, pasty visage turned sourer. It was the one possibility that disturbed him—the only fly in the amber—the only mote99 that troubled his clairvoyance100. Also, he was the only man among the three who didn’t think a thing was certain to happen merely because he wanted it to happen.
There was another matter, too, which troubled him. Brandes was unreliable. And who but little Stull should know how unreliable?
For Brandes had always been that. And now Stull 275knew him to be more than that—knew him to be treacherous101.
Whatever in Brandes had been decent, or had, blindly perhaps, aspired102 toward decency103, was now in abeyance104. Something within him had gone to smash since Minna Minti had struck him that night in the frightened presence of Rue105 Carew.
And from that night, when he had lost the only woman who had ever stirred in him the faintest aspiration106 to better things, the man had gradually changed. Whatever in his nature had been unreliable became treacherous; his stolidity became sullenness107. A slow ferocity burned within him; embers of a rage which no brooding ever quenched108 slumbered109 red in his brain until his endless meditation110 became a monomania. And his monomania was the ruin of this woman who had taken from him in the very moment of consummation all that he had ever really loved in the world—a thin, awkward, freckled, red-haired country girl, in whom, for the first and only time in all his life, he saw the vague and phantom111 promise of that trinity which he had never known—a wife, a child, and a home.
He sat there by the car window glaring out of his dull green eyes at the pleasant countryside, his thin lips tightening112 and relaxing on his cigar.
Curfoot, still pondering over the “new stuff” offered him, brooded silently in his corner, watching the others out of his tiny, bright eyes.
“Do anything in London?” inquired Stull.
“No.”
“Who was you working for?”
“A jock and a swell skirt. But Scotland Yard got next and chased the main guy over the water.”
“What was your lay?”276
“Same thing. I dealt for the jock and the skirt trimmed the squabs.”
“Anybody holler?”
“Aw—the kind we squeezed was too high up to holler. Them young lords take their medicine like they wanted it. They ain’t like the home bunch that is named after swell hotels.”
After a silence he looked up at Brandes:
“What ever become of Minna Minti?” he asked.
“She got her divorce, didn’t she?” insisted Curfoot.
“Yes.”
“Alimony?”
“No. She didn’t ask any.”
“How about Venem?”
Brandes remained silent, but Stull said:
“I guess she chucked him. She wouldn’t stand for that snake. I got to hand it to her; she ain’t that kind.”
“What kind is she?”
“I tell you I got to hand it to her. I can’t complain of her. She acted white all right until Venem stirred her up. Eddie’s got himself to blame; he got in wrong and Venem had him followed and showed him up to Minna.”
“You got tired of her, didn’t you?” said Curfoot to Brandes. But Stull answered for him again:
“Like any man, Eddie needed a vacation now and then. But no skirt understands.”
Brandes said slowly:
“I’ll live to fix Minna yet.”
“What fixed you,” snapped Stull, “was that there Brookhollow stuff––”
“Can it!” retorted Brandes, turning a deep red.277
“Aw—don’t hand me the true-love stuff, Eddie! If you’d meant it with that little haymaker you’d have respected her––”
“You say another word about her and I’ll push your block off—you little dough-faced kike!”
“That’s the play he always makes. I’ve waited two years, but he won’t ring down on the love stuff. I guess he was hit hard that trip. It took a little red-headed, freckled country girl to stop him. But it was comin’ to Eddie Brandes, and it certainly looks like it was there to stay a while.”
“He’s still stuck on her?”
“I guess she’s still the fly paper,” nodded Stull.
Suddenly Brandes turned on Stull such a look of concentrated hatred115 that the little gambler’s pallid features stiffened116 with surprise:
“Ben,” said Brandes in a low voice, which was too indistinct for Neeland to catch, “I’ll tell you something now that you don’t know. I saw Quint alone; I talked with him. Do you know who is handling the big stuff in this deal?”
“Who?” asked Stull, amazed.
“The Turkish Embassy in Paris. And do you know who plays the fine Italian hand for that bunch of Turks?”
“No.”
“Minna!”
“You’re crazy!”
Brandes took no notice, but went on with a sort of hushed ferocity that silenced both Stull and Curfoot:
“That’s why I went in. To get Minna. And I’ll get her if it costs every cent I’ve got or ever hope to get. 278That’s why I’m in this deal; that’s why I came; that’s why I’m here telling you this. I’m in it to get Minna, not for the money, not for anything in all God’s world except to get the woman who has done what Minna did to me.”
Neeland listened in vain to the murmuring voice; he could not catch a word.
Stull whispered:
“Aw, f’r God’s sake, Eddie, that ain’t the game. Do you want to double-cross Quint?”
“I have double-crossed him.”
“What! Do you mean to sell him out?”
“I have sold him out.”
“Jesus! Who to?”
“To the British Secret Service. And there’s to be one hundred thousand dollars in it, Doc, for you and me to divide. And fifty thousand more when we put the French bulls on to Minna and Breslau. Now, how does one hundred and fifty thousand dollars against five thousand apiece strike you two poor, cheap guys?”
But the magnitude of Brandes’ treachery and the splendour of the deal left the two gamblers stunned117.
Only by their expressions could Neeland judge that they were discussing matters of vital importance to themselves and probably to him. He listened; he could not hear what they were whispering. And only at intervals118 he dared glance over his book in their direction.
“Well,” said Brandes under his breath, “go on. Spit it out. What’s the squeal?”
“My God!” whispered Stull. “Quint will kill you.”
Brandes laughed unpleasantly:
“Not me, Ben. I’ve got that geezer where I want him on a dirty deal he pulled off with the police.”279
A few minutes later, far across the rolling plain set with villas120 and farms, and green with hedgerows, gardens, bouquets121 of trees and cultivated fields, he caught sight of a fairy structure outlined against the sky. Turning to Brandes:
“There’s the Eiffel Tower,” remarked Curfoot. “Where are we stopping, Eddie?”
“Caffy des Bulgars.”
“Where’s that?”
“It’s where we go to work—Roo Vilna.”
Stull’s smile was ghastly, but Curfoot winked at Brandes.
Neeland listened, his eyes following the printed pages of his book.
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drenched
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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eddied
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| 起漩涡，旋转( eddy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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frantic
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enchanted
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shipwreck
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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gendarmes
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| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
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assorted
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| adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的 | |
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indignities
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| n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 ) | |
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14
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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15
seasickness
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| n.晕船 | |
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16
compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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17
compartments
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| n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层 | |
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18
aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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19
seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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20
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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21
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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22
unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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23
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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24
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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25
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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26
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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27
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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28
cosmopolitan
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| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
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29
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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30
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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31
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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32
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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33
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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34
stolidity
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| n.迟钝，感觉麻木 | |
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35
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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36
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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37
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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38
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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39
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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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
incognito
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| adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的 | |
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42
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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43
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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44
dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
gilding
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| n.贴金箔，镀金 | |
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46
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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47
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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48
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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49
dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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50
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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52
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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53
fumy
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| 冒烟的，多蒸汽的 | |
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54
obese
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| adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的 | |
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55
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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56
reeking
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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57
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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58
groomed
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| v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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59
suavely
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60
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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61
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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62
imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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63
slits
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| n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子 | |
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64
silhouette
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| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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65
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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66
freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
autopsy
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| n.尸体解剖；尸检 | |
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68
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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69
squinting
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| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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70
eddying
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| 涡流，涡流的形成 | |
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71
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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72
smeary
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| 弄脏的 | |
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73
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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74
squeal
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| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
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75
squealer
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| 发出尖叫声的人；雏鸽；小松鸡；小鹌鹑 | |
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76
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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77
stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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78
gangsters
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| 匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 ) | |
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79
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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80
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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81
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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82
croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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83
tingled
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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84
obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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85
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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86
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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87
consulates
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| n.领事馆( consulate的名词复数 ) | |
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88
blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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89
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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90
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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91
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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92
broker
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| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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93
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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94
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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95
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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96
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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97
wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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98
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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99
mote
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| n.微粒；斑点 | |
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100
clairvoyance
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| n.超人的洞察力 | |
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101
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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102
aspired
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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104
abeyance
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| n.搁置，缓办，中止，产权未定 | |
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105
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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106
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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107
sullenness
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| n. 愠怒, 沉闷, 情绪消沉 | |
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108
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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109
slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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110
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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111
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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112
tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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113
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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114
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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115
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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116
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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117
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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118
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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119
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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120
villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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121
bouquets
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| n.花束( bouquet的名词复数 )；（酒的）芳香 | |
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