After waiting to hold a preliminary consultation1 with his son, Mr. Pedgift the elder set forth2 alone for his interview with Allan at the great house.
Allowing for the difference in their ages, the son was, in this instance, so accurately3 the reflection of the father, that an acquaintance with either of the two Pedgifts was almost equivalent to an acquaintance with both. Add some little height and size to the figure of Pedgift Junior, give more breadth and boldness to his humor, and some additional solidity and composure to his confidence in himself, and the presence and character of Pedgift Senior stood, for all general purposes, revealed before you.
The lawyer’s conveyance4 to Thorpe Ambrose was his own smart gig, drawn5 by his famous fast-trotting mare6. It was his habit to drive himself; and it was one among the trifling7 external peculiarities8 in which he and his son differed a little, to affect something of the sporting character in his dress. The drab trousers of Pedgift the elder fitted close to his legs; his boots, in dry weather and wet alike, were equally thick in the sole; his coat pockets overlapped9 his hips10, and his favorite summer cravat11 was of light spotted12 muslin, tied in the neatest and smallest of bows. He used tobacco like his son, but in a different form. While the younger man smoked, the elder took snuff copiously13; and it was noticed among his intimates that he always held his “pinch” in a state of suspense16 between his box and his nose when he was going to clinch17 a good bargain or to say a good thing. The art of diplomacy18 enters largely into the practice of all successful men in the lower branch of the law. Mr. Pedgift’s form of diplomatic practice had been the same throughout his life, on every occasion when he found his arts of persuasion19 required at an interview with another man. He invariably kept his strongest argument, or his boldest proposal, to the last, and invariably remembered it at the door (after previously20 taking his leave), as if it was a purely21 accidental consideration which had that instant occurred to him. Jocular friends, acquainted by previous experience with this form of proceeding22, had given it the name of “Pedgift’s postscript23.” There were few people in Thorpe Ambrose who did not know what it meant when the lawyer suddenly checked his exit at the opened door; came back softly to his chair, with his pinch of snuff suspended between his box and his nose; said, “By-the-by, there’s a point occurs to me;” and settled the question off-hand, after having given it up in despair not a minute before.
This was the man whom the march of events at Thorpe Ambrose had now thrust capriciously into a foremost place. This was the one friend at hand to whom Allan in his social isolation24 could turn for counsel in the hour of need.
“Good-evening, Mr. Armadale. Many thanks for your prompt attention to my very disagreeable letter,” said Pedgift Senior, opening the conversation cheerfully the moment he entered his client’s house. “I hope you understand, sir, that I had really no choice under the circumstances but to write as I did?”
“I have very few friends, Mr. Pedgift,” returned Allan, simply. “And I am sure you are one of the few.”
“Much obliged, Mr. Armadale. I have always tried to deserve your good opinion, and I mean, if I can, to deserve it now. You found yourself comfortable, I hope, sir, at the hotel in London? We call it Our hotel. Some rare old wine in the cellar, which I should have introduced to your notice if I had had the honor of being with you. My son unfortunately knows nothing about wine.”
Allan felt his false position in the neighborhood far too acutely to be capable of talking of anything but the main business of the evening. His lawyer’s politely roundabout method of approaching the painful subject to be discussed between them rather irritated than composed him. He came at once to the point, in his own bluntly straightforward26 way.
“The hotel was very comfortable, Mr. Pedgift, and your son was very kind to me. But we are not in London now; and I want to talk to you about how I am to meet the lies that are being told of me in this place. Only point me out any one man,” cried Allan, with a rising voice and a mounting color —“any one man who says I am afraid to show my face in the neighborhood, and I’ll horsewhip him publicly before another day is over his head!”
Pedgift Senior helped himself to a pinch of snuff, and held it calmly in suspense midway between his box and his nose.
“You can horsewhip a man, sir; but you can’t horsewhip a neighborhood,” said the lawyer, in his politely epigrammatic manner. “We will fight our battle, if you please, without borrowing our weapons of the coachman yet a while, at any rate.”
“But how are we to begin?” asked Allan, impatiently. “How am I to contradict the infamous27 things they say of me?”
“There are two ways of stepping out of your present awkward position, sir — a short way, and a long way,” replied Pedgift Senior. “The short way (which is always the best) has occurred to me since I have heard of your proceedings28 in London from my son. I understand that you permitted him, after you received my letter, to take me into your confidence. I have drawn various conclusions from what he has told me, which I may find it necessary to trouble you with presently. In the meantime I should be glad to know under what circumstances you went to London to make these unfortunate inquiries29 about Miss Gwilt? Was it your own notion to pay that visit to Mrs. Mandeville? or were you acting30 under the influence of some other person?”
Allan hesitated. “I can’t honestly tell you it was my own notion,” he replied, and said no more.
“I thought as much!” remarked Pedgift Senior, in high triumph. “The short way out of our present difficulty, Mr. Armadale, lies straight through that other person, under whose influence you acted. That other person must be presented forthwith to public notice, and must stand in that other person’s proper place. The name, if you please, sir, to begin with — we’ll come to the circumstances directly.”
“I am sorry to say, Mr. Pedgift, that we must try the longest way, if you have no objection,” replied Allan, quietly. “The short way happens to be a way I can’t take on this occasion.”
The men who rise in the law are the men who decline to take No for an answer. Mr. Pedgift the elder had risen in the law; and Mr. Pedgift the elder now declined to take No for an answer. But all pertinacity31 — even professional pertinacity included — sooner or later finds its limits; and the lawyer, doubly fortified32 as he was by long experience and copious14 pinches of snuff, found his limits at the very outset of the interview. It was impossible that Allan could respect the confidence which Mrs. Milroy had treacherously33 affected34 to place in him. But he had an honest man’s regard for his own pledged word — the regard which looks straightforward at the fact, and which never glances sidelong at the circumstances — and the utmost persistency35 of Pedgift Senior failed to move him a hairbreadth from the position which he had taken up. “No” is the strongest word in the English language, in the mouth of any man who has the courage to repeat it often enough, and Allan had the courage to repeat it often enough on this occasion.
“Very good, sir,” said the lawyer, accepting his defeat without the slightest loss of temper. “The choice rests with you, and you have chosen. We will go the long way. It starts (allow me to inform you) from my office; and it leads (as I strongly suspect) through a very miry road to — Miss Gwilt.”
Allan looked at his legal adviser36 in speechless astonishment37.
“If you won’t expose the person who is responsible in the first instance, sir, for the inquiries to which you unfortunately lent yourself,” proceeded Mr. Pedgift the elder, “the only other alternative, in your present position, is to justify38 the inquiries themselves.”
“And how is that to be done?” inquired Allan.
“By proving to the whole neighborhood, Mr. Armadale, what I firmly believe to be the truth — that the pet object of the public protection is an adventuress of the worst class; an undeniably worthless and dangerous woman. In plainer English still, sir, by employing time enough and money enough to discover the truth about Miss Gwilt.”
Before Allan could say a word in answer, there was an interruption at the door. After the usual preliminary knock, one of the servants came in.
“I told you I was not to be interrupted,” said Allan, irritably39. “Good heavens! am I never to have done with them? Another letter!”
“Yes, sir,” said the man, holding it out. “And,” he added, speaking words of evil omen25 in his master’s ears, “the person waits for an answer.”
Allan looked at the address of the letter with a natural expectation of encountering the handwriting of the major’s wife. The anticipation40 was not realized. His correspondent was plainly a lady, but the lady was not Mrs. Milroy.
“Who can it be?” he said, looking mechanically at Pedgift Senior as he opened the envelope.
Pedgift Senior gently tapped his snuff-box, and said, without a moment’s hesitation41, “Miss Gwilt.”
Allan opened the letter. The first two words in it were the echo of the two words the lawyer had just pronounced. It was Miss Gwilt!
Once more, Allan looked at his legal adviser in speechless astonishment.
“I have known a good many of them in my time, sir,” explained Pedgift Senior, with a modesty42 equally rare and becoming in a man of his age. “Not as handsome as Miss Gwilt, I admit. But quite as bad, I dare say. Read your letter, Mr. Armadale — read your letter.”
Allan read these lines:
“Miss Gwilt presents her compliments to Mr. Armadale and begs to know if it will be convenient to him to favor her with an interview, either this evening or to-morrow morning. Miss Gwilt offers no apology for making her present request. She believes Mr. Armadale will grant it as an act of justice toward a friendless woman whom he has been innocently the means of injuring, and who is earnestly desirous to set herself right in his estimation.”
Allan handed the letter to his lawyer in silent perplexity and distress43.
The face of Mr. Pedgift the elder expressed but one feeling when he had read the letter in his turn and had handed it back — a feeling of profound admiration44. “What a lawyer she would have made,” he exclaimed, fervently45, “if she had only been a man!”
“I can’t treat this as lightly as you do, Mr. Pedgift,” said Allan. “It’s dreadfully distressing46 to me. I was so fond of her,” he added, in a lower tone —“I was so fond of her once.”
Mr. Pedgift Senior suddenly became serious on his side.
“Do you mean to say, sir, that you actually contemplate47 seeing Miss Gwilt?” he asked, with an expression of genuine dismay.
“I can’t treat her cruelly,” returned Allan. “I have been the means of injuring her — without intending it, God knows! I can’t treat her cruelly after that! ”
“Mr. Armadale,” said the lawyer, “you did me the honor, a little while since, to say that you considered me your friend. May I presume on that position to ask you a question or two, before you go straight to your own ruin?”
“Any questions you like,” said Allan, looking back at the letter — the only letter he had ever received from Miss Gwilt.
“You have had one trap set for you already, sir, and you have fallen into it. Do you want to fall into another?”
“You know the answer to that question, Mr. Pedgift, as well as I do.”
“I’ll try again, Mr. Armadale; we lawyers are not easily discouraged. Do you think that any statement Miss Gwilt might make to you, if you do see her, would be a statement to be relied on, after what you and my son discovered in London?”
“She might explain what we discovered in London,” suggested Allan, still looking at the writing, and thinking of the hand that had traced it.
“Might explain it? My dear sir, she is quite certain to explain it! I will do her justice: I believe she would make out a case without a single flaw in it from beginning to end.”
That last answer forced Allan’s attention away from the letter. The lawyer’s pitiless common sense showed him no mercy.
“If you see that woman again, sir,” proceeded Pedgift Senior, “you will commit the rashest act of folly48 I ever heard of in all my experience. She can have but one object in coming here — to practice on your weakness for her. Nobody can say into what false step she may not lead you, if you once give her the opportunity. You admit yourself that you have been fond of her; your attentions to her have been the subject of general remark; if you haven’t actually offered her the chance of becoming Mrs. Armadale, you have done the next thing to it; and knowing all this, you propose to see her, and to let her work on you with her devilish beauty and her devilish cleverness, in the character of your interesting victim! You, who are one of the best matches in England! You, who are the natural prey49 of all the hungry single women in the community! I never heard the like of it; I never, in all my professional experience, heard the like of it! If you must positively50 put yourself in a dangerous position, Mr. Armadale,” concluded Pedgift the elder, with the everlasting51 pinch of snuff held in suspense between his box and his nose, “there’s a wild-beast show coming to our town next week. Let in the tigress, sir; don’t let in Miss Gwilt!”
For the third time Allan looked at his lawyer. And for the third time his lawyer looked back at him quite unabashed.
“You seem to have a very bad opinion of Miss Gwilt,” said Allan.
“The worst possible opinion, Mr. Armadale,” retorted Pedgift Senior, coolly. “We will return to that when we have sent the lady’s messenger about his business. Will you take my advice? Will you decline to see her?”
“I would willingly decline — it would be so dreadfully distressing to both of us,” said Allan. “I would willingly decline, if I only knew how.”
“Bless my soul, Mr. Armadale, it’s easy enough! Don’t commit you yourself in writing. Send out to the messenger, and say there’s no answer.”
The short course thus suggested was a course which Allan positively declined to take. “It’s treating her brutally,” he said; “I can’t and won’t do it.”
Once more the pertinacity of Pedgift the elder found its limits, and once more that wise man yielded gracefully52 to a compromise. On receiving his client’s promise not to see Miss Gwilt, he consented to Allan’s committing himself in writing under his lawyer’s dictation. The letter thus produced was modeled in Allan’s own style; it began and ended in one sentence. “Mr. Armadale presents his compliments to Miss Gwilt, and regrets that he cannot have the pleasure of seeing her at Thorpe Ambrose.” Allan had pleaded hard for a second sentence, explaining that he only declined Miss Gwilt’s request from a conviction that an interview would be needlessly distressing on both sides. But his legal adviser firmly rejected the proposed addition to the letter. “When you say No to a woman, sir,” remarked Pedgift Senior, “always say it in one word. If you give her your reasons, she invariably believes that you mean Yes.”
Producing that little gem53 of wisdom from the rich mine of his professional experience, Mr. Pedgift the elder sent out the answer to Miss Gwilt’s messenger, and recommended the servant to “see the fellow, whoever he was, well clear of the house.”
“Now, sir,” said the lawyer, “we will come back, if you like, to my opinion of Miss Gwilt. It doesn’t at all agree with yours, I’m afraid. You think her an object of pity — quite natural at your age. I think her an object for the inside of a prison — quite natural at mine. You shall hear the grounds on which I have formed my opinion directly. Let me show you that I am in earnest by putting the opinion itself, in the first place, to a practical test. Do you think Miss Gwilt is likely to persist in paying you a visit, Mr. Armadale, after the answer you have just sent to her?”
“Quite impossible!” cried Allan, warmly. “Miss Gwilt is a lady; after the letter I have sent to her, she will never come near me again.”
“There we join issue, sir,” cried Pedgift Senior. “I say she will snap her fingers at your letter (which was one of the reasons why I objected to your writing it). I say, she is in all probability waiting her messenger’s return, in or near your grounds at this moment. I say, she will try to force her way in here, before four-and-twenty hours more are over your head. Egad, sir!” cried Mr. Pedgift, looking at his watch, “it’s only seven o’clock now. She’s bold enough and clever enough to catch you unawares this very evening. Permit me to ring for the servant — permit me to request that you will give him orders immediately to say you are not at home. You needn’t hesitate, Mr. Armadale! If you’re right about Miss Gwilt, it’s a mere54 formality. If I’m right, it’s a wise precaution. Back your opinion, sir,” said Mr. Pedgift, ringing the bell; “I back mine!”
Allan was sufficiently55 nettled56 when the bell rang to feel ready to give the order. But when the servant came in, past remembrances got the better of him, and the words stuck in his throat. “You give the order,” he said to Mr. Pedgift, and walked away abruptly57 to the window. “You’re a good fellow!” thought the old lawyer, looking after him, and penetrating58 his motive59 on the instant. “The claws of that she-devil shan’t scratch you if I can help it.”
The servant waited inexorably for his orders.
“If Miss Gwilt calls here, either this evening, or at any other time,” said Pedgift Senior, “Mr. Armadale is not at home. Wait! If she asks when Mr. Armadale will be back, you don’t know. Wait! If she proposes coming in and sitting down, you have a general order that nobody is to come in and sit down unless they have a previous appointment with Mr. Armadale. Come!” cried old Pedgift, rubbing his hands cheerfully when the servant had left the room, “I’ve stopped her out now, at any rate! The orders are all given, Mr. Armadale. We may go on with our conversation.”
Allan came back from the window. “The conversation is not a very pleasant one,” he said. “No offense60 to you, but I wish it was over.”
“We will get it over as soon as possible, sir,” said Pedgift Senior, still persisting, as only lawyers and women can persist, in forcing his way little by little nearer and nearer to his own object. “Let us go back, if you please, to the practical suggestion which I offered to you when the servant came in with Miss Gwilt’s note. There is, I repeat, only one way left for you, Mr. Armadale, out of your present awkward position. You must pursue your inquiries about this woman to an end — on the chance (which I consider next to a certainty) that the end will justify you in the estimation of the neighborhood.”
“I wish to God I had never made any inquiries at all!” said Allan. “Nothing will induce me, Mr. Pedgift, to make any more.”
“Why?” asked the lawyer.
“Can you ask me why,” retorted Allan, hotly, “after your son has told you what we found out in London? Even if I had less cause to be — to be sorry for Miss Gwilt than I have; even if it was some other woman, do you think I would inquire any further into the secret of a poor betrayed creature — much less expose it to the neighborhood? I should think myself as great a scoundrel as the man who has cast her out helpless on the world, if I did anything of the kind. I wonder you can ask me the question — upon my soul, I wonder you can ask me the question!”
“Give me your hand, Mr. Armadale!” cried Pedgift Senior, warmly; “I honor you for being so angry with me. The neighborhood may say what it pleases; you’re a gentleman, sir, in the best sense of the word. Now,” pursued the lawyer, dropping Allan’s hand, and lapsing61 back instantly from sentiment to business, “just hear what I have got to say in my own defense62. Suppose Miss Gwilt’s real position happens to be nothing like what you are generously determined63 to believe it to be?”
“We have no reason to suppose that,” said Allan, resolutely64.
“Such is your opinion, sir,” persisted Pedgift. “Mine, founded on what is publicly known of Miss Gwilt’s proceedings here, and on what I have seen of Miss Gwilt herself, is that she is as far as I am from being the sentimental65 victim you are inclined to make her out. Gently, Mr. Armadale! remember that I have put my opinion to a practical test, and wait to condemn66 it off-hand until events have justified67 you. Let me put my points, sir — make allowances for me as a lawyer — and let me put my points. You and my son are young men; and I don’t deny that the circumstances, on the surface, appear to justify the interpretation68 which, as young men, you have placed on them. I am an old man — I know that circumstances are not always to be taken as they appear on the surface — and I possess the great advantage, in the present case, of having had years of professional experience among some of the wickedest women who ever walked this earth.”
Allan opened his lips to protest, and checked himself, in despair of producing the slightest effect. Pedgift Senior bowed in polite acknowledgment of his client’s self-restraint, and took instant advantage of it to go on.
“All Miss Gwilt’s proceedings,” he resumed, “since your unfortunate correspondence with the major show me that she is an old hand at deceit. The moment she is threatened with exposure — exposure of some kind, there can be no doubt, after what you discovered in London — she turns your honorable silence to the best possible account, and leaves the major’s service in the character of a martyr69. Once out of the house, what does she do next? She boldly stops in the neighborhood, and serves three excellent purposes by doing so. In the first place, she shows everybody that she is not afraid of facing another attack on her reputation. In the second place, she is close at hand to twist you round her little finger, and to become Mrs. Armadale in spite of circumstances, if you (and I) allow her the opportunity. In the third place, if you (and I) are wise enough to distrust her, she is equally wise on her side, and doesn’t give us the first great chance of following her to London, and associating her with her accomplices70. Is this the conduct of an unhappy woman who has lost her character in a moment of weakness, and who has been driven unwillingly71 into a deception72 to get it back again?”
“You put it cleverly,” said Allan, answering with marked reluctance73; “I can’t deny that you put it cleverly.”
“Your own common sense, Mr. Armadale, is beginning to tell you that I put it justly,” said Pedgift Senior. “I don’t presume to say yet what this woman’s connection may be with those people at Pimlico. All I assert is that it is not the connection you suppose. Having stated the facts so far, I have only to add my own personal impression of Miss Gwilt. I won’t shock you, if I can help it; I’ll try if I can’t put it cleverly again. She came to my office (as I told you in my letter), no doubt to make friends with your lawyer, if she could; she came to tell me, in the most forgiving and Christian74 manner, that she didn’t blame you .”
“Do you ever believe in anybody, Mr. Pedgift?” interposed Allan.
“Sometimes, Mr. Armadale,” returned Pedgift the elder, as unabashed as ever. “I believe as often as a lawyer can. To proceed, sir. When I was in the criminal branch of practice, it fell to my lot to take instructions for the defense of women committed for trial from the women’s own lips. Whatever other difference there might be among them, I got, in time, to notice, among those who were particularly wicked and unquestionably guilty, one point in which they all resembled each other. Tall and short, old and young, handsome and ugly, they all had a secret self-possession that nothing could shake. On the surface they were as different as possible. Some of them were in a state of indignation; some of them were drowned in tears; some of them were full of pious15 confidence; and some of them were resolved to commit suicide before the night was out. But only put your finger suddenly on the weak point in the story told by any one of them, and there was an end of her rage, or her tears, or her piety75, or her despair; and out came the genuine woman, in full possession of all her resources with a neat little lie that exactly suited the circumstances of the case. Miss Gwilt was in tears, sir — becoming tears that didn’t make her nose red — and I put my finger suddenly on the weak point in her story. Down dropped her pathetic pocket-handkerchief from her beautiful blue eyes, and out came the genuine woman with the neat little lie that exactly suited the circumstances! I felt twenty years younger, Mr. Armadale, on the spot. I declare I thought I was in Newgate again, with my note-book in my hand, taking my instructions for the defense!”
“The next thing you’ll say, Mr. Pedgift,” cried Allan, angrily, “is that Miss Gwilt has been in prison!”
Pedgift Senior calmly rapped his snuff-box, and had his answer ready at a moment’s notice.
“She may have richly deserved to see the inside of a prison, Mr. Armadale; but, in the age we live in, that is one excellent reason for her never having been near any place of the kind. A prison, in the present tender state of public feeling, for a charming woman like Miss Gwilt! My dear sir, if she had attempted to murder you or me, and if an inhuman76 judge and jury had decided77 on sending her to a prison, the first object of modern society would be to prevent her going into it; and, if that couldn’t be done, the next object would be to let her out again as soon as possible. Read your newspaper, Mr. Armadale, and you’ll find we live in piping times for the black sheep of the community — if they are only black enough. I insist on asserting, sir, that we have got one of the blackest of the lot to deal with in this case. I insist on asserting that you have had the rare luck, in these unfortunate inquiries, to pitch on a woman who happens to be a fit object for inquiry78, in the interests of the public protection. Differ with me as strongly as you please, but don’t make up your mind finally about Miss Gwilt until events have put those two opposite opinions of ours to the test that I have proposed. A fairer test there can’t be. I agree with you that no lady worthy79 of the name could attempt to force her way in here, after receiving your letter. But I deny that Miss Gwilt is worthy of the name; and I say she will try to force her way in here in spite of you.”
“And I say she won’t!” retorted Allan, firmly.
Pedgift Senior leaned back in his chair and smiled. There was a momentary80 silence, and in that silence the door-bell rang.
The lawyer and the client both looked expectantly in the direction of the hall.
“No,” cried Allan, more angrily than ever.
“Yes!” cried Pedgift Senior, contradicting him with the utmost politeness.
They waited the event. The opening of the house door was audible, but the room was too far from it for the sound of voices to reach the ear as well. After a long interval81 of expectation, the closing of the door was heard at last. Allan rose impetuously and rang the bell. Mr. Pedgift the elder sat sublimely82 calm, and enjoyed, with a gentle zest83, the largest pinch of snuff he had taken yet.
“Anybody for me?” asked Allan, when the servant came in.
The man looked at Pedgift Senior, with an expression of unutterable reverence84, and answered, “Miss Gwilt.”
“I don’t want to crow over you, sir,” said Mr. Pedgift the elder, when the servant had withdrawn85. “But what do you think of Miss Gwilt now ?”
Allan shook his head in silent discouragement and distress.
“Time is of some importance, Mr. Armadale. After what has just happened, do you still object to taking the course I have had the honor of suggesting to you?”
“I can’t, Mr. Pedgift,” said Allan. “I can’t be the means of disgracing her in the neighborhood. I would rather be disgraced myself — as I am.”
“Let me put it in another way, sir. Excuse my persisting. You have been very kind to me and my family; and I have a personal interest, as well as a professional interest, in you. If you can’t prevail on yourself to show this woman’s character in its true light, will you take common precautions to prevent her doing any more harm? Will you consent to having her privately86 watched as long as she remains87 in this neighborhood?”
For the second time Allan shook his head.
“Is that your final resolution, sir?”
“It is, Mr. Pedgift; but I am much obliged to you for your advice, all the same.”
Pedgift Senior rose in a state of gentle resignation, and took up his hat “Good-evening, sir,” he said, and made sorrowfully for the door. Allan rose on his side, innocently supposing that the interview was at an end. Persons better acquainted with the diplomatic habits of his legal adviser would have recommended him to keep his seat. The time was ripe for “Pedgift’s postscript,” and the lawyer’s indicative snuff-box was at that moment in one of his hands, as he opened the door with the other.
“Good-evening,” said Allan.
Pedgift Senior opened the door, stopped, considered, closed the door again, came back mysteriously with his pinch of snuff in suspense between his box and his nose, and repeating his invariable formula, “By-the-by, there’s a point occurs to me,” quietly resumed possession of his empty chair
Allan, wondering, took the seat, in his turn, which he had just left. Lawyer and client looked at each other once more, and the inexhaustible interview began again.
收听单词发音 |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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drawn
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mare
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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overlapped
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| _adj.重叠的v.部分重叠( overlap的过去式和过去分词 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠 | |
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hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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copiously
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| adv.丰富地，充裕地 | |
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copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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clinch
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| v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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postscript
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| n.附言，又及；(正文后的)补充说明 | |
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isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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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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pertinacity
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| n.执拗，顽固 | |
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fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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nettled
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| v.拿荨麻打，拿荨麻刺（nettle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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lapsing
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| v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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accomplices
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| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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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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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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sublimely
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| 高尚地，卓越地 | |
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zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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84
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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85
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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