AT the very moment that Deacon Baxter was I starting out on his quest for a housekeeper1, Patty and Mark drove into the Mason dooryard and the sisters flew into each other's arms. The dress that Mark had bought for Patty was the usual charting and unsuitable offering of a man's spontaneous affection, being of dark violet cloth with a wadded cape2 lined with satin. A little brimmed hat of violet velvet3 tied under her chin with silk ribbons completed the costume, and before the youthful bride and groom4 had left the ancestral door Mrs. Wilson had hung her own ermine victorine (the envy of all Edgewood) around Patty's neck and put her ermine willow5 muff into her new daughter's hands; thus she was as dazzling a personage, and as improperly6 dressed for the journey, as she could well be.
Waitstill, in her plain linsey-woolsey, was entranced with Patty's beauty and elegance7, and the two girls had a few minutes of sisterly talk, of interchange of radiant hopes and confidences before Mark tore them apart, their cheeks wet with happy tears.
As the Mason house faded from view, Patty having waved her muff until the last moment, turned in her seat and said:--
"Mark, dear, do you think your father would care if I spent the twenty-dollar gold-piece he gave me, for Waitstill? She will be married in a fortnight, and if my father does not give her the few things she owns she will go to her husband more ill-provided even than I was. I have so much, dear Mark, and she so little."
"It's your own wedding-present to use as you wish," Mark answered, "and it's exactly like you to give it away. Go ahead and spend it if you want to; I can always earn enough to keep you, without anybody's help!" and Mark, after cracking the whip vaingloriously, kissed his wife just over the violet ribbons, and with sleigh-bells jingling8 they sped over the snow towards what seemed Paradise to them, the New Hampshire village where they had been married and where--
So a few days later, Waitstill received a great parcel which relieved her of many feminine anxieties and she began to shape and cut and stitch during all the hours she had to herself. They were not many, for every day she trudged9 to the Boynton farm and began with youthful enthusiasm the household tasks that were so soon to be hers by right.
"Don't waste too much time and strength here, my dearest," said Ivory. "Do you suppose for a moment I shall keep you long on this lonely farm? I am ready for admission to the Bar or I am fitted to teach in the best school in New England. Nothing has held me here but my mother, and in her present condition of mind we can safely take her anywhere. We will never live where there are so many memories and associations to sadden and hamper10 us, but go where the best opportunity offers, and as soon as may be. My wife will be a pearl of great price," he added fondly, "and I intend to provide a right setting for her!"
This was all said in a glow of love and joy, pride and ambition, as Ivory paced up and down before the living-room fireplace while Waitstill was hanging the freshly laundered11 curtains.
Ivory was right; Waitstill Baxter was, indeed, a jewel of a woman. She had little knowledge, but much wisdom, and after all, knowledge stands for the leaves on a tree and wisdom for the fruit. There was infinite richness in the girl, a richness that had been growing and ripening12 through the years that she thought so gray and wasted. The few books she owned and loved had generally lain unopened, it is true, upon her bedroom table, and she held herself as having far too little learning to be a worthy13 companion for Ivory Boynton; but all the beauty and cheer a comfort that could ever be pressed into the arid14 life of the Baxter household had come from Waitstill's heart, and that heart had grown in warmth and plenty year by year.
Those lonely tasks, too hard for a girl's hands, those unrewarded drudgeries, those days of faithful labor15 in and out of doors, those evenings of self-sacrifice over the mending-basket; the quiet avoidance of all that might vex16 her father's crusty temper, her patience with his miserly exactions; the hourly holding back of the hasty word,--all these had played their part; all these had been somehow welded into a strong, sunny, steady, life-wisdom, there is no better name for it; and so she had unconsciously the best of all harvests to bring as dower to a husband who was worthy of her. Ivory's strength called to hers and answered it, just as his great need awoke such a power of helpfulness in her as she did not know she possessed17. She loved the man, but she loved the task that beckoned18 her, too. The vision of it was like the breath of wind from a hill-top, putting salt and savor19 into the new life that opened before her.
These were quietly happy days at the farm, for Mrs. Boynton took a new, if transient, hold upon life that deceived even the doctor. Rodman was nearly as ardent20 a lover as Ivory, hovering21 about Waitstill and exclaiming, "You never stay to supper and it's so lonesome evenings without you! Will it never be time for you to come and live with us, Waity dear? The days crawl so slowly!" At which Ivory would laugh, push him away and draw Waitstill nearer to his own side, saying: "If you are in a hurry, you young cormorant22, what do you think of me?" And Waitstill would look from one to the other and blush at the heaven of love that surrounded her on every side.
"I believe you are longing23 to begin on my cooking, you two big greedy boys!" she said teasingly. "What shall we have for New Year's dinner, Rod? Do you like a turkey, roasted brown and crispy, with giblet gravy24 and cranberry25 jelly? Do you fancy an apple dumpling afterwards,--an apple dumpling with potato crust,--or will you have a suet pudding with foamy26 sauce?"
"Stop, Waitstill!" cried Ivory. "Don't put hope into us until you are ready to satisfy it; we can't bear it!"
"And I have a box of goodies from my own garden safely stowed away in Uncle Bart's shop," Waitstill went on mischievously27. "They were to be sold in Portland, but I think they'll have to be my wedding-present to my husband, though a very strange one, indeed! There are peaches floating in sweet syrup28; there are tumblers of quince jelly; there are jars of tomato and citron preserves, and for supper you shall eat them with biscuits as light as feathers and white as snowdrifts."
"We can never wait two more days, Rod; let us kidnap her! Let us take the old bob-sled and run over to New Hampshire where one can be married the minute one feels like it. We could do it between sunrise and moonrise and be at home for a late supper. Would she be too tired to bake the biscuits for us, do you think? What do you say, Rod, will you be best man?" And there would be youthful, unaccustomed laughter floating out from the kitchen or living-room, bringing a smile of content to Lois Boynton's face as she lay propped29 up in bed with her open Bible beside her. "He binds30 up the broken-hearted," she whispered to herself. "He gives unto them a garland for ashes; the oil of joy for mourning; the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."
The quiet wedding was over. There had been neither feasting, nor finery, nor presents, nor bridal journey; only a home-coming that meant deep and sacred a joy, as fervent31 gratitude32 as any four hearts ever contained in all the world. But the laughter ceased, though the happiness flowed silently underneath33, almost forgotten in the sudden sorrow that overcame them, for it fell out that Lois Boynton had only waited, as it were, for the marriage, and could stay no longer.
"... There are two heavens...
Both made of love,--one, inconceivable
Ev'n by the other, so divine it is;
The other, far on this side of the stars,
By men called home."
And these two heavens met, over at Boyntons', during these cold, white, glistening34 December days.
Lois Boynton found hers first. After a windy moonlit night a morning dawned in which a hush35 seemed to be on the earth. The cattle huddled36 together in the farmyards and the fowls37 shrank into their feathers. The sky was gray, and suddenly the first white heralds38 came floating down like scouts39 seeking for paths and camping-places.
Waitstill turned Mrs. Boynton's bed so that she could look out of the window. Slope after slope, dazzling in white crust, rose one upon another and vanished as they slipped away into the dark green of the pine forests. Then,
"... there fell from out the skies
A feathery whiteness over all the land;
A strange, soft, spotless something, pure as light."
It could not be called a storm, for there had been no wind since sunrise, no whirling fury, no drifting; only a still, steady, solemn fall of crystal flakes40, hour after hour, hour after hour.
Mrs. Boynton's Book of books was open on the bed and her finger marked a passage in her favorite Bible-poet.
"Here it is, daughter," she whispered. "I have found it, in the same chapter where the morning stars sing together and the sons of God shout for joy. The Lord speaks to Job out of the whirlwind and says: 'HAST THOU ENTERED INTO THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW? OR HAST THOU SEEN THE TREASURES OF THE HAIL?' Sit near me, Waitstill, and look out on the hills. 'HAST THOU ENTERED INTO THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW?' No, not yet, but please God, I shall, and into many other treasures, soon"; and she closed her eyes.
All day long the air-ways were filled with the glittering army of the snowflakes; all day long the snow grew deeper and deeper on the ground; and on the breath of some white-winged wonder that passed Lois Boynton's window her white soul forsook41 its "earth-lot" and took flight at last.
They watched beside her, but never knew the moment of her going; it was just a silent flitting, a ceasing to be, without a tremor42, or a flutter that could be seen by mortal eye. Her face was so like an angel's in its shining serenity43 that the few who loved her best could not look upon her with anything but reverent44 joy. On earth she had known nothing but the "broken arcs," but in heaven she would find the "perfect round"; there at last, on the other side of the stars, she could remember right, poor Lois Boynton!
For weeks afterwards the village was shrouded45 in snow as it had never been before within memory, but in every happy household the home-life deepened day by day. The books came out in the long evenings; the grandsires told old tales under the inspiration of the hearth-fire: the children gathered on their wooden stools to roast apples and pop corn; and hearts came closer together than when summer called the housemates to wander here and there in fields and woods and beside the river.
Over at Boyntons', when the snow was whirling and the wind howling round the chimneys of the high-gabled old farmhouse46; when every window had its frame of ermine and fringe of icicles, and the sleet47 rattled48 furiously against the glass, then Ivory would throw a great back log on the bank of coals between the fire-dogs, the kettle would begin to sing, and the eat come from some snug49 corner to curl and purr on the braided hearth-rug.
School was in session, and Ivory and Rod had their textbooks of an evening, but oh! what a new and strange joy to study when there was a sweet woman sitting near with her workbasket; a woman wearing a shining braid of hair as if it were a coronet; a woman of clear eyes and tender lips, one who could feel as well as think, one who could be a man's comrade as well as his dear love.
Truly the second heaven, the one on "this side of the stars, by men called home," was very present over at Boyntons'.
Sometimes the broad-seated old haircloth sofa would be drawn50 in front of the fire, and Ivory, laying his pipe and his Greek grammar on the table, would take some lighter51 book and open it on his knee. Waitstill would lift her eyes from her sewing to meet her husband's glance that spoke52 longing for her closer companionship, and gladly leaving her work, and slipping into the place by his side, she would put her elbow on his shoulder and read with him.
Once, Rod, from his place at a table on the other side of the room, looked and looked at them with a kind of instinct beyond his years, and finally crept up to Waitstill, and putting an arm through hers, nestled his curly head on her shoulder with the quaint53 charm and grace that belonged to him.
It was a young and beautiful shoulder, Waitstill's, and there had always been, and would always be, a gracious curve in it where a child's head might lie in comfort. Presently with a shy pressure, Rod whispered: "Shall I sit in the other room, Waitstill and Ivory?--Am I in the way?"
Ivory looked up from his book quietly shaking his head, while Waitstill put her arm around the boy and drew him closer.
"Our little brother is never in the way," she said, as she bent54 and kissed him.
Men may come and men may go; Saco Water still tumbles tumultuously over the dam and rushes under the Edgewood bridge on its way to the sea; and still it listens to the story of to-day that will sometime be the history of yesterday.
On midsummer evenings the windows of the old farmhouse over at Boyntons' gleam with unaccustomed lights and voices break the stillness, lessening55 the gloom of the long grass-grown lane of Lois Boynton's watching in days gone by. On sunny mornings there is a merry babel of children's chatter56, mingled57 with gentle maternal58 warnings, for this is a new brood of young things and the river is calling them as it has called all the others who ever came within the circle of its magic. The fragile harebells hanging their blue heads from the crevices59 of the rocks; the brilliant columbines swaying to and fro on their tall stalks; the patches of gleaming sand in shallow places beckoning60 little bare feet to come and tread them; the glint of silver minnows darting61 hither and thither62 in some still pool; the tempestuous63 journey of some weather-beaten log, fighting its way downstream;--here is life in abundance, luring64 the child to share its risks and its joys.
When Waitstill's boys and Patty's girls come back to the farm, they play by Saco Water as their mothers and their fathers did before them. The paths through the pine woods along the river's brink65 are trodden smooth by their restless, wandering feet; their eager, curious eyes search the waysides for adventure, but their babble66 and laughter are oftenest heard from the ruins of an old house hidden by great trees. The stones of the cellar, all overgrown with blackberry vines, are still there; and a fragment of the brick chimney, where swallows build their nests from year to year. A wilderness67 of weeds, tall and luxuriant, springs up to hide the stone over which Jacob Cochrane stepped daily when he issued from his door; and the polished stick with which three-year-old Patty beats a tattoo68 may be a round from the very chair in which he sat, expounding69 the Bible according to his own vision. The thickets70 of sweet clover and red-tipped grasses, of waving ferns and young alder71 bushes hide all of ugliness that belongs to the deserted72 spot and serve as a miniature forest in whose shade the younglings foreshadow the future at their play of home-building and housekeeping. In a far corner, altogether concealed73 from the passer-by, there is a secret treasure, a wonderful rosebush, its green leaves shining with health and vigor74. When the July sun is turning the hay-fields yellow, the children part the bushes in the leafy corner and little Waitstill Boynton steps cautiously in, to gather one splendid rose, "for father and mother."
Jacob Cochrane's heart, with all its faults and frailties75 has long been at peace. On a chill, dreary76 night in November, all that was mortal of him was raised from its unhonored resting-place not far from the ruins of his old abode77, and borne by three of his disciples78 far away to another state. The gravestones were replaced, face downward, deep, deep in the earth, and the sod laid back upon them, so that no man thence forward could mark the place of the prophet's transient burial amid the scenes of his first and only triumphant79 ministry80.
"It is a sad story, Jacob Cochrane's," Waitstill said to her husband when she first discovered that her children had chosen the deserted spot for their play; "and yet, Ivory, the red rose blooms and blooms in the ruins of the man's house, and perhaps, somewhere in the world, he has left a message that matches the rose."
The End
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1
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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improperly
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| 不正确地，不适当地 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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hamper
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| vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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laundered
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| v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的过去式和过去分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入） | |
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12
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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vex
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| vt.使烦恼，使苦恼 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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savor
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| vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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cormorant
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| n.鸬鹚，贪婪的人 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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cranberry
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| n.梅果 | |
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foamy
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| adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的 | |
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mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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syrup
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| n.糖浆，糖水 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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binds
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| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
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31
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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34
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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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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heralds
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| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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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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40
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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41
forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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42
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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43
serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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45
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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sleet
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| n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹 | |
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48
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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49
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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50
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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51
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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52
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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53
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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55
lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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62
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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63
tempestuous
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| adj.狂暴的 | |
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64
luring
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式） | |
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65
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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66
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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67
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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68
tattoo
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| n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于 | |
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69
expounding
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的现在分词 ) | |
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70
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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71
alder
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| n.赤杨树 | |
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72
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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74
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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75
frailties
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| n.脆弱( frailty的名词复数 )；虚弱；（性格或行为上的）弱点；缺点 | |
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76
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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77
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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78
disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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79
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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80
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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