CHAPTER XLIV AN ODD SENSATION

It is, of course, impossible for a small boy to disappear from the face of the earth without a good deal of uneasiness being felt regarding his disappearance¹.

 

By midday the uneasiness had approached to something like alarm. The gardens, the paddocks, the park, had been searched unavailingly; inquiry² had been made of every villager. No clue was forthcoming; no possible reason for the disappearance.

 

A conscience-stricken Louisa kept a discreet³ silence on the matter. There was, to her mind, no occasion to incriminate herself unnecessarily. The cause could afford no solution of the effect; or, at any rate she told herself it could not, which, after all, came to the same thing as far as her silence was concerned.

 

A distraught Rosamund finally made swift way [Pg 321]to the White Cottage, there to seek aid from John.

 

Father Maloney went off to the Green Man to find David. He saw the scouting⁴ propensities⁵ he conceived men of his type to possess, standing⁶ them in good stead at the moment. Having enlisted⁷ his services, and likewise those of Elizabeth, as already seen, he set off once again for the Castle.

 

The day was as hot as the previous days had been. The earth lay panting and breathless. There was something almost ominous⁸ about the brazen⁹ blueness of the sky, the extraordinary stillness that hung over the earth.

 

Father Maloney, breasting the hill, wondered vaguely¹⁰ whether the world would ever again breathe in comfort. Personally he considered asphyxiation¹¹ a not remote possibility.

 

And then, all at once, he became aware of a subtle change in the atmosphere. It wasn’t that the sky was less blue, or the air less heavy, or the sun less brilliant. And, having said what it was not, I find myself at a loss to say what it was. It lay more in a curious foreboding, a certain indefinable prescience of change.

 

[Pg 322]

 

“I believe,” said Father Maloney, addressing himself to the sky, “that we are going to have a storm.”

1 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

2 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

3 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

4 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

5 propensities   

n.倾向，习性( propensity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This paper regarded AFT as a criterion to estimate slagging propensities. 文中以灰熔点作为判断煤灰结渣倾向的标准。 来自互联网
• Our results demonstrate that different types of authoritarian regime face different propensities to develop toward democracy. 本文研究结果显示，不同的威权主义政体所面对的民主发展倾向是不同的。 来自互联网

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

9 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

10 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

11 asphyxiation   

n. 窒息

参考例句：

• Objective Inquiry into the heavy asphyxiation rescues measure of the new born. 摘要目的探讨新生儿重度窒息抢救的措施。
• Self-contained breathing apparatus(SCBA) may be required to prevent asphyxiation of rescue personnel. 可能要求有自给式呼吸器(SCBA)，以防止救援人员窒息。