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首页 » 经典英文小说 » The wooing of Leola » CHAPTER VIII. WINDING A WEB.
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CHAPTER VIII. WINDING A WEB.
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When Miss Tuttle and Leola were alone together they talked over the news, and neither one was very well pleased, the girl, since their coming would break up her happy days with Ray, and the governess, because the Stirlings were always supercilious1 with her, and naturally made more work for the household.
 
“I do not see why I should put myself out to wait on pretentious2 fine ladies this warm weather, especially when my employer has not paid a dollar of my salary for five months,” she complained, and Leola added:
 
“There will be no more good times with Ray, for like as not they will join hands with Uncle Hermann in persecuting3 him, and try to have me marry old Bennett because he is rich. Oh, dear! I’m sorry Ray isn’t coming back to-night, so I could tell him not to come to-morrow.”
 
“You might send word to him in the morning before they come,” suggested Miss Tuttle, and Leola agreed to the plan, which would have worked itself out all right had not fate decreed that Leola’s little black messenger should lose the note and Widower4 Bennett find it.
 
He was riding briskly toward Wheatlands when his fine bay mare5 shied, wildly, at a square white envelope blowing about in the dusty road, and an impulse of curiosity made him dismount and pick it up.
 
When he saw Leola’s familiar writing on the sealed envelope, he was seized with such poignant6 wrath7 and jealousy8 that no scruple9 of honor prevailed to prevent his becoming master of the contents.
 
“To Ray Chester, the young dandy—wonder if she’s giving him the mitten10 as she did me yesterday!” he muttered, wrathfully, and broke the pretty seal of blue wax with a ruthless hand.
 
The blood bounded hotly through his veins11 as he read:
 
“My Own Darling Ray:
“You must not come in the morning as usual, because the Stirlings are coming, Uncle Hermann says, and I do not want them to know of our engagement yet, for they both are very mercenary, and would take sides against you, and want me to marry old Bennett, because he is rich, while you are poor! As if I would have that dumpy old fright on any terms—no, not even if he were President of the United States! Oh, why didn’t the old silly lose his heart to dear Miss Tuttle instead of me, when she loves the very ground he walks on, and would make him such a suitable wife? Fate seems to play at cross purposes with us, my darling Ray, but we will outwit our enemies and be happy yet.
 
“You had better not come to Wheatlands to-day, but if you will stay in all afternoon, I will try to make an errand to Widow Gray’s, and we can talk things over and make plans for the future.
 
“Oh, isn’t it just hateful the way things seem to work against our happiness? Just think, if only Jessie Stirling hadn’t got engaged to a fortune already, we might get my rotund suitor in love with her, and she could have all the money she craves12.
 
“Be sure to stay in until I come this afternoon.
 
Your own loving
“Leola.”
Widower Bennett stamped upon the ground in a fury, hissing13 out the epithets14 she had used in writing of him in the bitterest voice ever heard:
 
“‘Old Bennett!’ ‘Dumpy old fright!’ ‘Old silly!’ ‘My rotund suitor!’ She would not marry me if I were President of the United States! Why, now, I swear I will marry the little spitfire if it costs me my fortune!”
 
In this rage he remounted his mare and galloped15 on to Wheatlands, between whose master and himself there ensued an excited interview.
 
Leola’s letter refusing Bennett’s hand was exhibited in furious anger by the slighted recipient16.
 
“She would prefer to marry a younger man than me, and she recommends me to take Miss Tuttle—that skinny, homely17 old maid, almost as old as I am!” he blustered18, wrathfully, adding:
 
“You promised faithfully she should marry me, Hermann, but instead of watching her as you ought, you go poking19 among your old chemicals, as blind as a bat, and let her get engaged to a pretty-faced young jackanapes from the city—a pauper20 without a dollar to support his wife on, sir, and yet it lacks only a few days of the time set for my marriage to that saucy21 girl, and, mind you, if the ceremony is not pulled off in due time, I’ll lose not a day, I swear, in foreclosing the mortgage.”
 
It was in vain that Wizard Hermann tried to pacify22 him, saying that he would certainly keep his promise, and that he was sure that there was some mistake about Leola’s engagement to young Chester, who was almost a stranger.
 
But at this point Bennett produced his proof in the shape of Leola’s letter to Ray.
 
[Pg 15]
 
“This is worse than I thought, but it does not alter the fact that the girl shall be your wife, Bennett, for I have sworn to keep my promise, and I will not fail you, by Heaven!” vowed23 Hermann, continuing:
 
“As for neglecting to get matters into shape, that is false, for I have been quietly working to the promised end all these weeks, but, having encountered such determined24 opposition25 from the girl, I thought it expedient26 not to press her too hard, but to depend on force and cunning, since fair means failed. In fact, one of my objects in going to New York was to enlist27 the aid of my clever half-sister, Mrs. Stirling, in accomplishing the end in view. She will arrive with her daughter this morning, and although I admit that the case looks unpromising now, I believe we will soon wind a web around Leola from which she cannot escape. Go home, Bennett, and rest easy in the thought that before the end of a week she will be your charming bride.”
 
The prospective28 bridegroom beamed with joy and assured Hermann that he was ready to co-operate in any plan proposed for Leola’s subjugation29.
 
“I will go to any length now to punish her for her contempt, and for advising me to marry a skinny old maid like Amanda Tuttle when I’m rich enough to buy a lovely young girl for a bride!” he vowed, coarsely, and took leave with renewed hope.
 
In the hall, as he was going out, he encountered Miss Tuttle, and fancied she might have been eavesdropping30 from her air of confusion, but he stalked past her with a curt31 nod that cut to her tender heart like a knife.
 
“Oh, what has come over him when he used to be so friendly? Can it be that he is angry at Leola’s suggestion that he should court me?” sighed the poor thing, deprecatingly.
 
It would have been well indeed if she had been listening, as Bennett suspected, for then she might have been able to inform Leola of the perils32 that threatened her in the joining of forces of Wizard Hermann and his worldly-wise sister, but she had only been loitering about the hall in hopes of a little interview when he came out, and tears of disappointment brimmed over in her kind gray eyes, when he passed her with so indifferent a greeting.
 
As she followed to the door and watched him galloping33 away toward home, she saw the carriage coming with the Stirlings, and ran to tell Leola the news.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 supercilious 6FyyM     
adj.目中无人的,高傲的;adv.高傲地;n.高傲
参考例句:
  • The shop assistant was very supercilious towards me when I asked for some help.我要买东西招呼售货员时,那个售货员对我不屑一顾。
  • His manner is supercilious and arrogant.他非常傲慢自大。
2 pretentious lSrz3     
adj.自命不凡的,自负的,炫耀的
参考例句:
  • He is a talented but pretentious writer.他是一个有才华但自命不凡的作家。
  • Speaking well of yourself would only make you appear conceited and pretentious.自夸只会使你显得自负和虚伪。
3 persecuting 668e268d522d47306d7adbfe4e26738d     
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人
参考例句:
  • This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him. 当老恩萧发现他的儿子这样虐待他所谓的可怜的孤儿时,这种逆来顺受使老恩萧冒火了。
  • He is possessed with the idea that someone is persecuting him. 他老是觉得有人要害他。
4 widower fe4z2a     
n.鳏夫
参考例句:
  • George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
  • Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后,他终于决定二婚了。
5 mare Y24y3     
n.母马,母驴
参考例句:
  • The mare has just thrown a foal in the stable.那匹母马刚刚在马厩里产下了一只小马驹。
  • The mare foundered under the heavy load and collapsed in the road.那母马因负载过重而倒在路上。
6 poignant FB1yu     
adj.令人痛苦的,辛酸的,惨痛的
参考例句:
  • His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
  • It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了,这尤其令人悲恸。
7 wrath nVNzv     
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒
参考例句:
  • His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
  • The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。
8 jealousy WaRz6     
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌
参考例句:
  • Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
  • I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。
9 scruple eDOz7     
n./v.顾忌,迟疑
参考例句:
  • It'seemed to her now that she could marry him without the remnant of a scruple.她觉得现在她可以跟他成婚而不需要有任何顾忌。
  • He makes no scruple to tell a lie.他说起谎来无所顾忌。
10 mitten aExxv     
n.连指手套,露指手套
参考例句:
  • There is a hole in the thumb of his mitten.他的手套的姆指上有个洞。
  • He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live.I want to see your brother and meet your parents".他一手接过她的钱,一手抓起她的连指手套,“带我去你住的地方,我想见见你的弟弟和你的父母。
11 veins 65827206226d9e2d78ea2bfe697c6329     
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理
参考例句:
  • The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的,感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 craves dcdf03afe300a545d69a1e6db561c77f     
渴望,热望( crave的第三人称单数 ); 恳求,请求
参考例句:
  • The tree craves calm but the wind will not drop. 树欲静而风不止。
  • Victory would give him a passport to the riches he craves. 胜利将使他有机会获得自己梦寐以求的财富。
13 hissing hissing     
n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
  • His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕
14 epithets 3ed932ca9694f47aefeec59fbc8ef64e     
n.(表示性质、特征等的)词语( epithet的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He insulted me, using rude epithets. 他用粗话诅咒我。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He cursed me, using a lot of rude epithets. 他用上许多粗鲁的修饰词来诅咒我。 来自辞典例句
15 galloped 4411170e828312c33945e27bb9dce358     
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事
参考例句:
  • Jo galloped across the field towards him. 乔骑马穿过田野向他奔去。
  • The children galloped home as soon as the class was over. 孩子们一下课便飞奔回家了。
16 recipient QA8zF     
a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器
参考例句:
  • Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
  • Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。
17 homely Ecdxo     
adj.家常的,简朴的;不漂亮的
参考例句:
  • We had a homely meal of bread and cheese.我们吃了一顿面包加乳酪的家常便餐。
  • Come and have a homely meal with us,will you?来和我们一起吃顿家常便饭,好吗?
18 blustered a9528ebef8660f51b060e99bf21b6ae5     
v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 );咆哮;(风)呼啸;狂吹
参考例句:
  • He blustered his way through the crowd. 他吆喝着挤出人群。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • The wind blustered around the house. 狂风呼啸着吹过房屋周围。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
19 poking poking     
n. 刺,戳,袋 vt. 拨开,刺,戳 vi. 戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢
参考例句:
  • He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
  • He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。
20 pauper iLwxF     
n.贫民,被救济者,穷人
参考例句:
  • You lived like a pauper when you had plenty of money.你有大把钱的时候,也活得像个乞丐。
  • If you work conscientiously you'll only die a pauper.你按部就班地干,做到老也是穷死。
21 saucy wDMyK     
adj.无礼的;俊俏的;活泼的
参考例句:
  • He was saucy and mischievous when he was working.他工作时总爱调皮捣蛋。
  • It was saucy of you to contradict your father.你顶撞父亲,真是无礼。
22 pacify xKFxa     
vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒);抚慰
参考例句:
  • He tried to pacify the protesters with promises of reform.他试图以改革的承诺安抚抗议者。
  • He tried to pacify his creditors by repaying part of the money.他为安抚债权人偿还了部分借款。
23 vowed 6996270667378281d2f9ee561353c089     
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
  • I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。
24 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
25 opposition eIUxU     
n.反对,敌对
参考例句:
  • The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
  • The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
26 expedient 1hYzh     
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计
参考例句:
  • The government found it expedient to relax censorship a little.政府发现略微放宽审查是可取的。
  • Every kind of expedient was devised by our friends.我们的朋友想出了各种各样的应急办法。
27 enlist npCxX     
vt.谋取(支持等),赢得;征募;vi.入伍
参考例句:
  • They come here to enlist men for the army.他们来这儿是为了召兵。
  • The conference will make further efforts to enlist the support of the international community for their just struggle. 会议必将进一步动员国际社会,支持他们的正义斗争。
28 prospective oR7xB     
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的
参考例句:
  • The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
  • They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。
29 subjugation yt9wR     
n.镇压,平息,征服
参考例句:
  • The Ultra-Leftist line was a line that would have wrecked a country, ruined the people, and led to the destruction of the Party and national subjugation. 极左路线是一条祸国殃民的路线,亡党亡国的路线。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • This afflicted German intelligence with two fatal flaws: inefficiency, and subjugation to a madman. 这给德国情报工作造成了两个致命的弱点,一个是缺乏效率,另一个是让一个疯子总管情报。 来自辞典例句
30 eavesdropping 4a826293c077353641ee3f86da957082     
n. 偷听
参考例句:
  • We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。
  • Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间,一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。
31 curt omjyx     
adj.简短的,草率的
参考例句:
  • He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
  • He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。
32 perils 3c233786f6fe7aad593bf1198cc33cbe     
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境)
参考例句:
  • The commander bade his men be undaunted in the face of perils. 指挥员命令他的战士要临危不惧。
  • With how many more perils and disasters would he load himself? 他还要再冒多少风险和遭受多少灾难?
33 galloping galloping     
adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The horse started galloping the moment I gave it a good dig. 我猛戳了马一下,它就奔驰起来了。
  • Japan is galloping ahead in the race to develop new technology. 日本在发展新技术的竞争中进展迅速,日新月异。


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