Dialogue Round the Subject of a Portrait, with Some Indications of the Task for Diana
An enamoured Egeria who is not a princess in her worldly state nor a goddess by origin has to play one of those parts which strain the woman’s faculties1 past naturalness. She must never expose her feelings to her lover; she must make her counsel weighty—otherwise she is little his nymph of the pure wells, and what she soon may be, the world will say. She has also, most imperatively2, to dazzle him without the betrayal of artifice4, where simple spontaneousness is beyond conjuring5. But feelings that are constrained6 becloud the judgement besides arresting the fine jet of delivery wherewith the mastered lover is taught through his ears to think himself prompted, and submit to be controlled, by a creature super-feminine. She must make her counsel so weighty in poignant7 praises as to repress impulses that would rouse her own; and her betraying impulsiveness8 was a subject of reflection to Diana after she had given Percy Dacier, metaphorically9, the key of her house. Only as true Egeria could she receive him. She was therefore grateful, she thanked and venerated10 this noblest of lovers for his not pressing to the word of love, and so strengthening her to point his mind, freshen his moral energies and inspirit him. His chivalrous11 acceptance of the conditions of their renewed intimacy12 was a radiant knightliness14 to Diana, elevating her with a living image for worship:—he so near once to being the absolute lord of her destinies! How to reward him, was her sole dangerous thought. She prayed and strove that she might give him of her best, to practically help him; and she had reason to suppose she could do it, from the visible effect of her phrases. He glistened15 in repeating them; he had fallen into the habit; before witnesses too; in the presence of Miss Paynham, who had taken earnestly to the art of painting, and obtained her dear Mrs. Warwick’s promise of a few sittings for the sketch17 of a portrait, near the close of the season. ‘A very daring thing to attempt,’ Miss Paynham said, when he was comparing her first outlines and the beautiful breathing features. ‘Even if one gets the face, the lips will seem speechless, to those who know her.’
‘If they have no recollection,’ said Dacier.
‘I mean, the endeavour should be to represent them at the moment of speaking.’
‘Put it into the eyes.’ He looked at the eyes.
She looked at the mouth. ‘But it is the mouth, more than the eyes.’
He looked at the face. ‘Where there is character, you have only to study it to be sure of a likeness18.’
‘That is the task, with one who utters jewels, Mr. Dacier.’
‘Bright wit, I fear, is above the powers of your art.’
‘Still I feel it could be done. See—now—that!’
Diana’s lips had opened to say: ‘Confess me a model model: I am dissected19 while I sit for portrayal20. I must be for a moment like the frog of the two countrymen who were disputing as to the manner of his death, when he stretched to yawn, upon which they agreed that he had defeated the truth for both of them. I am not quite inanimate.’
‘Irish countrymen,’ said Dacier.
‘The story adds, that blows were arrested; so confer the nationality as you please.’
Diana had often to divert him from a too intent perusal21 of her features with sparkles and stories current or invented to serve the immediate22 purpose.
Miss Paynham was Mrs. Warwick’s guest for a fortnight, and observed them together. She sometimes charitably laid down her pencil and left them, having forgotten this or that. They were conversing23 of general matters with their usual crisp precision on her return, and she was rather like the two countrymen, in debating whether it was excess of coolness or discreetness24; though she was convinced of their inclinations25, and expected love some day to be leaping up. Diana noticed that she had no reminder26 for leaving the room when it was Mr. Redworth present. These two had become very friendly, according to her hopes; and Miss Paynham was extremely solicitous27 to draw suggestions from Mr. Redworth and win his approval.
‘Do I appear likely to catch the mouth now, do you think, Mr. Redworth?’
He remarked, smiling at Diana’s expressive28 dimple, that the mouth was difficult to catch. He did not gaze intently. Mr. Redworth was the genius of friendship, ‘the friend of women,’ Mrs. Warwick had said of him. Miss Paynham discovered it, as regarded herself. The portrait was his commission to her, kindly29 proposed, secretly of course, to give her occupation and the chance of winning a vogue30 with the face of a famous Beauty. So many, however, were Mrs. Warwick’s visitors, and so lively the chatter31 she directed, that accurate sketching32 was difficult to an amateurish33 hand. Whitmonby, Sullivan Smith, Westlake, Henry Wilmers, Arthur Rhodes, and other gentlemen, literary and military, were almost daily visitors when it became known that the tedium34 of the beautiful sitter required beguiling35 and there was a certainty of finding her at home. On Mrs. Warwick’s Wednesday numerous ladies decorated the group. Then was heard such a rillet of dialogue without scandal or politics, as nowhere else in Britain; all vowed36 it subsequently; for to the remembrance it seemed magical. Not a breath of scandal, and yet the liveliest flow. Lady Pennon came attended by a Mr. Alexander Hepburn, a handsome Scot, at whom Dacier shot one of his instinctive37 keen glances, before seeing that the hostess had mounted a transient colour. Mr. Hepburn, in settling himself on his chair rather too briskly, contrived38 the next minute to break a precious bit of China standing39 by his elbow; and Lady Pennon cried out, with sympathetic anguish40: ‘Oh, my dear, what a trial for you!’
‘Brittle is foredoomed,’ said Diana, unruffled.
She deserved compliments, and would have had them if she had not wounded the most jealous and petulant41 of her courtiers.
‘Then the Turk is a sapient42 custodian43!’ said Westlake, vexed44 with her flush at the entrance of the Scot.
Diana sedately45 took his challenge. ‘We, Mr. Westlake, have the philosophy of ownership.’
Mr. Hepburn penitentially knelt to pick up the fragments, and Westlake murmured over his head: ‘As long as it is we who are the cracked.’
‘Did we not start from China?’
‘We were consequently precipitated46 to Stamboul.’
‘You try to elude47 the lesson.’
‘I remember my first paedagogue telling me so when he rapped the book on my cranium.’
‘The mark of the book is not a disfigurement.’
It was gently worded, and the shrewder for it. The mark of the book, if not a disfigurement, was a characteristic of Westlake’s fashion of speech. Whitmonby nodded twice, for signification of a palpable hit in that bout48; and he noted49 within him the foolishness of obtruding50 the remotest allusion51 to our personality when crossing the foils with a woman. She is down on it like the lightning, quick as she is in her contracted circle, politeness guarding her from a riposte.
Mr. Hepburn apologized very humbly52, after regaining53 his chair. Diana smiled and said: ‘Incidents in a drawing-room are prize-shots at Dulness.’
‘And in a dining-room too,’ added Sullivan Smith. ‘I was one day at a dinner-party, apparently54 of undertakers hired to mourn over the joints55 and the birds in the dishes, when the ceiling came down, and we all sprang up merry as crickets. It led to a pretty encounter and a real prize-shot.’
‘Does that signify a duel57?’ asked Lady Pennon.
”Twould be the vulgar title, to bring it into discredit58 with the populace, my lady.’
‘Rank me one of the populace then! I hate duelling and rejoice that it is discountenanced.’
‘The citizens, and not the populace, I think Mr. Sullivan Smith means,’ Diana said. ‘The citizen is generally right in morals. My father also was against the practice, when it raged at its “prettiest.” I have heard him relate a story of a poor friend of his, who had to march out for a trifle, and said, as he accepted the invitation, “It’s all nonsense!” and walking to the measured length, “It’s all nonsense, you know!” and when lying on the ground, at his last gasp59, “I told you it was all nonsense!”’
Sullivan Smith leaned over to Whitmonby and Dacier amid the ejaculations, and whispered: ‘A lady’s way of telling the story!—and excuseable to her:—she had to Jonah the adjective. What the poor fellow said was—’ He murmured the sixty-pounder adjective, as in the belly60 of the whale, to rightly emphasize his noun.
Whitmonby nodded to the superior relish61 imparted by the vigour62 of masculine veracity63 in narration64. ‘A story for its native sauce piquante,’ he said.
‘Nothing without it!’
They had each a dissolving grain of contempt for women compelled by their delicacy66 to spoil that kind of story which demands the piquant65 accompaniment to flavour it racily and make it passable. For to see insipid67 mildness complacently68 swallowed as an excellent thing, knowing the rich smack69 of savour proper to the story, is your anecdotal gentleman’s annoyance70. But if the anecdote71 had supported him, Sullivan Smith would have let the expletive rest.
Major Carew Mahoney capped Mrs. Warwick’s tale of the unfortunate duellist72 with another, that confessed the practice absurd, though he approved of it; and he cited Lord Larrian’s opinion: ‘It keeps men braced73 to civil conduct.’
‘I would not differ with the dear old lord; but no! the pistol is the sceptre of the bully74,’ said Diana.
Mr. Hepburn, with the widest of eyes on her in perpetuity, warmly agreed; and the man was notorious among men for his contrary action.
‘Most righteously our Princess Egeria distinguishes her reign75 by prohibiting it,’ said Lady Singleby.
‘And how,’ Sullivan Smith sighed heavily, ‘how, I’d ask, are ladies to be protected from the bully?’
He was beset76: ‘So it was all for us? all in consideration for our benefit?’
He mournfully exclaimed: ‘Why, surely!’
‘That is the funeral apology of the Rod, at the close of every barbarous chapter,’ said Diana.
‘Too fine in mind, too fat in body; that is a consequence with men, dear madam. The conqueror77 stands to his weapons, or he loses his possessions.’
‘Mr. Sullivan Smith jumps at his pleasure from the special to the general, and will be back, if we follow him, Lady Pennon. It is the trick men charge to women, showing that they can resemble us.’
Lady Pennon thumped78 her knee. ‘Not a bit. There’s no resemblance, and they know nothing of us.’
‘Women are a blank to them, I believe,’ said Whitmonby, treacherously79 bowing;—and Westlake said:
‘Traces of a singular scrawl80 have been observed when they were held in close proximity81 to the fire.’
‘Once, on the top of a coach,’ Whitmonby resumed, ‘I heard a comely82 dame83 of the period when summers are ceasing threatened by her husband with a divorce, for omitting to put sandwiches in their luncheon-basket. She made him the inscrutable answer: “Ah, poor man! you will go down ignorant to your grave!” We laughed, and to this day I cannot tell you why.’
‘That laugh was from a basket lacking provision; and I think we could trace our separation to it,’ Diana said to Lady Pennon, who replied: ‘They expose themselves; they get no nearer to the riddle84.’
Miss Courtney, a rising young actress, encouraged by a smile from Mrs. Warwick, remarked: ‘On the stage, we have each our parts equally.’
‘And speaking parts; not personae mutae.’
‘The stage has advanced in verisimilitude,’ Henry Wilmers added slyly; and Diana rejoined: ‘You recognize a verisimilitude of the mirror when it is in advance of reality. Flatter the sketch, Miss Paynham, for a likeness to be seen. Probably there are still Old Conservatives who would prefer the personation of us by boys.’
‘I don’t know,’ Westlake affected85 dubiousness86. ‘I have heard that a step to the riddle is gained by a serious contemplation of boys.’
‘Serious?’
‘That is the doubt.’
‘The doubt throws its light on the step!’
‘I advise them not to take any leap from their step,’ said Lady Pennon.
‘It would be a way of learning that we are no wiser than our sires; but perhaps too painful a way,’ Whitmonby observed. ‘Poor Mountford Wilts87 boasted of knowing women; and—he married. To jump into the mouth of the enigma88, is not to read it.’
‘You are figures of conceit89 when you speculate on us, Mr. Whitmonby.’
‘An occupation of our leisure, my lady, for your amusement.’
‘The leisure of the humming-top, a thousand to the minute, with the pretence90 that it sleeps!’ Diana said.
‘The sacrilegious hand to strip you of your mystery is withered91 as it stretches,’ exclaimed Westlake. ‘The sage92 and the devout93 are in accord for once.’
‘And whichever of the two I may be, I’m one of them, happy to do my homage94 blindfold95!’ Sullivan Smith waved the sign of it.
Diana sent her eyes over him and Mr. Hepburn, seeing Dacier. ‘That rosy96 mediaevalism seems the utmost we can expect.’ An instant she saddened, foreboding her words to be ominous97, because of suddenly thirsting for a modern cry from him, the silent. She quitted her woman’s fit of earnestness, and took to the humour that pleased him. ‘Aslauga’s knight13, at his blind man’s buff of devotion, catches the hem16 of the tapestry98 and is found by his lady kissing it in a trance of homage five hours long! Sir Hilary of Agincourt, returned from the wars to his castle at midnight, hears that the chitellaine is away dancing, and remains99 with all his men mounted in the courtyard till the grey morn brings her back! Adorable! We had a flag flying in those days. Since men began to fret100 the riddle, they have hauled it down half-mast. Soon we shall behold101 a bare pole and hats on around it. That is their solution.’
A smile circled at the hearing of Lady Singleby say: ‘Well, I am all for our own times, however literal the men.’
‘We are two different species!’ thumped Lady Pennon, swimming on the theme. ‘I am sure, I read what they write of women! And their heroines!’
Lady Esquart acquiesced102: ‘We are utter fools or horrid103 knaves104.’
‘Nature’s original hieroglyphs—which have that appearance to the peruser,’ Westlake assented105.
‘And when they would decipher us, and they hit on one of our “arts,” the literary pirouette they perform is memorable106.’ Diana looked invitingly107 at Dacier. ‘But I for one discern a possible relationship and a likeness.’
‘I think it exists—behind a curtain,’ Dacier replied.
‘Before the era of the Nursery. Liberty to grow; independence is the key of the secret.’
‘And what comes after the independence?’ he inquired.
Whitmonby, musing108 that some distraction109 of an earnest incentive110 spoilt Mrs. Warwick’s wit, informed him: ‘The two different species then break their shallow armistice111 and join the shock of battle for possession of the earth, and we are outnumbered and exterminated112, to a certainty. So I am against independence.’
‘Socially a Mussulman, subject to explosions!’ Diana said. ‘So the eternal duel between us is maintained, and men will protest that they are for civilization. Dear me, I should like to write a sketch of the women of the future—don’t be afraid!—the far future. What a different earth you will see!’
And very different creatures! the gentlemen unanimously surmised113. Westlake described the fairer portion, no longer the weaker; frightful114 hosts.
Diana promised him a sweeter picture, if ever she brought her hand to paint it.
‘You would be offered up to the English national hangman, Jehoiachim Sneer115,’ interposed Arthur Rhodes, evidently firing a gun too big for him, of premeditated charging, as his patroness perceived; but she knew him to be smarting under recent applications of the swish of Mr. Sneer, and that he rushed to support her. She covered him by saying: ‘If he has to be encountered, he kills none but the cripple,’ wherewith the dead pause ensuing from a dose of outlandish speech in good company was bridged, though the youth heard Westlake mutter unpleasantly: ‘Jehoiachim,’ and had to endure a stare of Dacier’s, who did not conceal116 his want of comprehension of the place he occupied in Mrs. Warwick’s gatherings117.
‘They know nothing of us whatever!’ Lady Pennon harped118 on her dictum.
‘They put us in a case and profoundly study the captive creature,’ said Diana: ‘but would any man understand this...?’ She dropped her voice and drew in the heads of Lady Pennon, Lady Singleby, Lady Esquart and Miss Courtney: ‘Real woman’s nature speaks. A maid of mine had a “follower119.” She was a good girl; I was anxious about her and asked her if she could trust him. “Oh, yes, ma’am,” she replied, “I can; he’s quite like a female.” I longed to see the young man, to tell him he had received the highest of eulogies120.’
The ladies appreciatingly declared that such a tale was beyond the understandings of men. Miss Paynham primmed121 her mouth, admitting to herself her inability to repeat such a tale; an act that she deemed not ‘quite like a lady.’ She had previously122 come to the conclusion that Mrs. Warwick, with all her generous qualities, was deficient123 in delicate sentiment—owing perhaps to her coldness of temperament124. Like Dacier also, she failed to comprehend the patronage125 of Mr. Rhodes: it led to suppositions; indefinite truly, and not calumnious126 at all; but a young poet, rather good-looking and well built, is not the same kind of wing-chick as a young actress, like Miss Courtney—Mrs. Warwick’s latest shieldling: he is hardly enrolled127 for the reason that was assumed to sanction Mrs. Warwick’s maid in the encouragement of her follower. Miss Paynham sketched128 on, with her thoughts in her bosom129: a damsel castigatingly pursued by the idea of sex as the direct motive130 of every act of every person surrounding, her; deductively therefore that a certain form of the impelling131 passion, mild or terrible, or capricious, or it might be less pardonable, was unceasingly at work among the human couples up to decrepitude132. And she too frequently hit the fact to doubt her gift of reading into them. Mr. Dacier was plain, and the state of young Mr. Rhodes; and the Scottish gentleman was at least a vehement133 admirer. But she penetrated134 the breast of Mr. Thomas Redworth as well, mentally tore his mask of friendship to shreds135. He was kind indeed in commissioning her to do the portrait. His desire for it, and his urgency to have the features exactly given, besides the infrequency of his visits of late, when a favoured gentleman was present, were the betraying signs. Deductively, moreover, the lady who inspired the passion in numbers of gentlemen and set herself to win their admiration136 with her lively play of dialogue, must be coquettish; she could hold them only by coldness. Anecdotes137, epigrams, drolleries, do not bubble to the lips of a woman who is under an emotional spell: rather they prove that she has the spell for casting. It suited Mr. Dacier, Miss Paynham thought: it was cruel to Mr. Redworth; at whom, of all her circle, the beautiful woman looked, when speaking to him, sometimes tenderly.
‘Beware the silent one of an assembly!’ Diana had written. She did not think of her words while Miss Paynham continued mutely sketching. The silent ones, with much conversation around them, have their heads at work, critically perforce; the faster if their hands are occupied; and the point they lean to do is the pivot138 of their thoughts. Miss Paynham felt for Mr. Redworth.
Diana was unaware139 of any other critic present than him she sought to enliven, not unsuccessfully, notwithstanding his English objection to the pitch of the converse140 she led, and a suspicion of effort to support it:—just a doubt, with all her easy voluble run, of the possibility of naturalness in a continuous cleverness. But he signified pleasure, and in pleasing him she was happy: in the knowledge that she dazzled, was her sense of safety. Percy hated scandal; he heard none. He wanted stirring, cheering; in her house he had it. He came daily, and as it was her wish that new themes, new flights of converse, should delight him and show her exhaustless, to preserve her ascendancy141, she welcomed him without consulting the world. He was witness of Mr. Hepburn’s presentation of a costly142 China vase, to repair the breach143 in her array of ornaments144, and excuse a visit. Judging by the absence of any blow within, he saw not a sign of coquettry. Some such visit had been anticipated by the prescient woman, so there was no reddening. She brought about an exchange of sentences between him and her furious admirer, sparing either of them a glimpse of which was the sacrifice to the other, amusing them both. Dacier could allow Mr. Hepburn to outsit him; and he left them, proud of his absolute confidence in her.
She was mistaken in imagining that her social vivacity146, mixed with comradeship of the active intellect, was the charm which kept Mr. Percy Dacier temperate147 when he well knew her to distinguish him above her courtiers. Her powers of dazzling kept him tame; they did not stamp her mark on him. He was one of the order of highly polished men, ignorant of women, who are impressed for long terms by temporary flashes, that hold them bound until a fresh impression comes, to confirm or obliterate148 the preceding. Affairs of the world he could treat competently; he had a head for high politics and the management of men; the feminine half of the world was a confusion and a vexation to his intelligence, characterless; and one woman at last appearing decipherable, he fancied it must be owing to her possession of character, a thing prized the more in women because of his latent doubt of its existence. Character, that was the mark he aimed at; that moved him to homage as neither sparkling wit nor incomparable beauty, nor the unusual combination, did. To be distinguished149 by a woman of character (beauty and wit for jewellery), was his minor150 ambition in life, and if Fortune now gratified it, he owned to the flattery. It really seemed by every test that she had the quality. Since the day when he beheld151 her by the bedside of his dead uncle, and that one on the French sea-sands, and again at Copsley, ghostly white out of her wrestle152 with death, bleeding holy sweat of brow for her friend, the print of her features had been on him as an index of depth of character, imposing153 respect and admiration—a sentiment imperilled by her consent to fly with him. Her subsequent reserve until they met—by an accident that the lady at any rate was not responsible for, proved the quality positively154. And the nature of her character, at first suspected, vanquished155 him more, by comparison, than her vivid intellect, which he originally, and still lingeringly, appreciated in condescension156, as a singular accomplishment157, thrilling at times, now and then assailably feminine. But, after her consent to a proposal that caused him retrospective worldly shudders158, and her composed recognition of the madness, a character capable of holding him in some awe159 was real majesty160, and it rose to the clear heights, with her mental attributes for satellites. His tendency to despise women was wholesomely161 checked by the experience to justify162 him in saying, Here is a worthy163 one! She was health to him, as well as trusty counsel. Furthermore, where he respected, he was a governed man, free of the common masculine craze to scale fortresses164 for the sake of lowering flags. Whilst under his impression of her character, he submitted honourably165 to the ascendancy of a lady whose conduct suited him and whose preference flattered; whose presence was very refreshing166; whose letters were a stimulant167. Her letters were really running well-waters, not a lover’s delusion168 of the luminous169 mind of his lady. They sparkled in review and preserved their integrity under critical analysis. The reading of them hurried him in pursuit of her from house to house during the autumn; and as she did not hint at the shadow his coming cast on her, his conscience was easy. Regarding their future, his political anxieties were a mountainous defile170, curtaining the outlook. They met at Lockton, where he arrived after a recent consultation171 with his Chief, of whom, and the murmurs172 of the Cabinet, he spoke173 to Diana openly, in some dejection.
‘They might see he has been breaking with his party for the last four years,’ she said. ‘The plunge174 to be taken is tremendous.’
‘But will he? He appears too despondent175 for a header.’
‘We cannot dance on a quaking floor.’
‘No; it ‘s exactly that quake of the floor which gives “much qualms,” to me as well,’ said Dacier.
‘A treble Neptune’s power!’ she rejoined, for his particular delectation. ‘Enough if he hesitates. I forgive him his nausea176. He awaits the impetus177, and it will reach him, and soon. He will not wait for the mob at his heels, I am certain. A Minister who does that, is a post, and goes down with the first bursting of the dam. He has tried compromise and discovered that it does not appease178 the Fates; is not even a makeshift-mending at this hour. He is a man of nerves, very sensitively built; as quick—quicker than a woman, I could almost say, to feel the tremble of the air-forerunner of imperative3 changes.’
Dacier brightened fondly. ‘You positively describe him; paint him to the life, without knowing him!’
‘I have seen him; and if I paint, whose are the colours?’
‘Sometimes I repeat you to him, and I get all the credit,’ said Dacier.
‘I glow with pride to think of speaking anything that you repeat,’ said Diana, and her eyes were proudly lustreful.
Their love was nourished on these mutual179 flatteries. Thin food for passion! The innocence180 of it sanctioned the meetings and the appointments to meet. When separated they were interchanging letters, formally worded in the apostrophe and the termination, but throbbingly full: or Diana thought so of Percy’s letters, with grateful justice; for his manner of opening his heart in amatory correspondence was to confide145 important, secret matters, up to which mark she sprang to reply in counsel. He proved his affection by trusting her; his respect by his tempered style: ‘A Greenland style of writing,’ she had said of an unhappy gentleman’s epistolary compositions resembling it; and now the same official baldness was to her mind Italianly rich; it called forth181 such volumes.
Flatteries that were thin food for passion appeared the simplest exchanges of courtesy, and her meetings with her lover, judging by the nature of the discourse182 they held, so, consequent to their joint56 interest in the great crisis anticipated, as to rouse her indignant surprise and a turn for downright rebellion when the Argus world signified the fact of its having one eye, or more, wide open.
Debit183 and Credit, too, her buzzing familiars, insisted on an audience at each ear, and at the house-door, on her return to London.
收听单词发音 |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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imperatively
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| adv.命令式地 | |
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imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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artifice
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| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
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conjuring
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| n.魔术 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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impulsiveness
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metaphorically
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venerated
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| 敬重（某人或某事物），崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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knightliness
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| 骑士的，勋爵士的，骑士似的 | |
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glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hem
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| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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dissected
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| adj.切开的，分割的，（叶子）多裂的v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的过去式和过去分词 )；仔细分析或研究 | |
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portrayal
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| n.饰演；描画 | |
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perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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discreetness
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| 谨慎，用心深远 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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26
reminder
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| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
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27
solicitous
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| adj.热切的，挂念的 | |
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28
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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29
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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30
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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31
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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32
sketching
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| n.草图 | |
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33
amateurish
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| n.业余爱好的，不熟练的 | |
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34
tedium
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| n.单调；烦闷 | |
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35
beguiling
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| adj.欺骗的，诱人的v.欺骗( beguile的现在分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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36
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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37
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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38
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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39
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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40
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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41
petulant
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| adj.性急的，暴躁的 | |
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42
sapient
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| adj.有见识的，有智慧的 | |
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43
custodian
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| n.保管人，监护人；公共建筑看守 | |
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44
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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45
sedately
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| adv.镇静地，安详地 | |
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46
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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47
elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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48
bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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49
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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50
obtruding
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| v.强行向前，强行，强迫( obtrude的现在分词 ) | |
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51
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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52
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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53
regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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54
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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55
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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56
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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57
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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58
discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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59
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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60
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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61
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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62
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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63
veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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64
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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65
piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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66
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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67
insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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68
complacently
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| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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69
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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70
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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71
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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72
duellist
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| n.决斗者；[体]重剑运动员 | |
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73
braced
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|
| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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74
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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75
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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76
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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77
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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78
thumped
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| v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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80
scrawl
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| vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写 | |
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81
proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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82
comely
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|
| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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83
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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84
riddle
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|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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85
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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86
dubiousness
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| n.dubious（令人怀疑的）的变形 | |
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87
wilts
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| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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88
enigma
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| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
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89
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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90
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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91
withered
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|
| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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92
sage
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|
| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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93
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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94
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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95
blindfold
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|
| vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物 | |
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96
rosy
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|
| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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97
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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98
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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99
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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100
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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101
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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102
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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104
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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105
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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107
invitingly
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| adv. 动人地 | |
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108
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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109
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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110
incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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111
armistice
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| n.休战，停战协定 | |
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112
exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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113
surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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114
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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115
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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116
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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117
gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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118
harped
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| vi.弹竖琴（harp的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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119
follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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120
eulogies
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| n.颂词，颂文( eulogy的名词复数 ) | |
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121
primmed
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| v.循规蹈矩的( prim的过去式和过去分词 )；整洁的；（人）一本正经；循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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122
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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123
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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124
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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125
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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126
calumnious
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| adj.毁谤的，中伤的 | |
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127
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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128
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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129
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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130
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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131
impelling
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| adj.迫使性的，强有力的v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的现在分词 ) | |
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132
decrepitude
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| n.衰老；破旧 | |
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133
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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134
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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135
shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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136
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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137
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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138
pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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139
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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140
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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141
ascendancy
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| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
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142
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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143
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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144
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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145
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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146
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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147
temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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148
obliterate
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| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
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149
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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150
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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151
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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152
wrestle
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| vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付 | |
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153
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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154
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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155
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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156
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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157
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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158
shudders
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| n.颤动，打颤，战栗( shudder的名词复数 )v.战栗( shudder的第三人称单数 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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159
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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160
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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161
wholesomely
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| 卫生地，有益健康地 | |
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162
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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163
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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164
fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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165
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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166
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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167
stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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168
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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169
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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170
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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171
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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172
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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173
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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174
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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175
despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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176
nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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177
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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178
appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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179
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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180
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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181
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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182
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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183
debit
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| n.借方，借项，记人借方的款项 | |
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