A Late Discovery.
Oh, torture me no more, I will confess.
King Lear.
WITH the cross-examination of Hickory, the defence rested, and the day being far advanced, the court adjourned1.
During the bustle2 occasioned by the departure of the prisoner, Mr. Byrd took occasion to glance at the faces of those most immediately concerned in the trial.
His first look naturally fell upon Mr. Orcutt. Ah! all was going well with the great lawyer. Hope, if not triumph, beamed in his eye and breathed in every movement of his alert and nervous form. He was looking across the court-room at Imogene Dare, and his features wore a faint smile that indelibly impressed itself upon Mr. Byrd’s memory. Perhaps because there was something really peculiar4 and remarkable5 in its expression, and perhaps because of the contrast it offered to his own feelings of secret doubt and dread6.
His next look naturally followed that of Mr. Orcutt and rested upon Imogene Dare. Ah! she was under the spell of awakening7 hope also. It was visible in her lightened brow, her calmer and less studied aspect, her eager and eloquently9 speaking gaze yet lingering on the door through which the prisoner had departed. As Mr. Byrd marked this look of hers and noted10 all it revealed, he felt his emotions rise till they almost confounded him. But strong as they were, they deepened still further when, in another moment, he beheld11 her suddenly drop her eyes from the door and turn them slowly, reluctantly but gratefully, upon Mr. Orcutt. All the story of her life was in that change of look; all the story of her future, too, perhaps, if —— Mr. Byrd dared not trust himself to follow the contingency12 that lurked13 behind that if, and, to divert his mind, turned his attention to Mr. Ferris.
But he found small comfort there. For the District Attorney was not alone. Hickory stood at his side, and Hickory was whispering in his ear, and Mr. Byrd, who knew what was weighing on his colleague’s mind, found no difficulty in interpreting the mingled14 expression of perplexity and surprise that crossed the dark, aquiline15 features of the District Attorney as he listened with slightly bended head to what the detective had to say. That look and the deep, anxious frown which crossed his brow as he glanced up and encountered Imogene’s eye, remained in Mr. Byrd’s mind long after the court-room was empty and he had returned to his hotel. It mingled with the smile of strange satisfaction which he had detected on Mr. Orcutt’s face, and awakened16 such a turmoil17 of contradictory18 images in his mind that he was glad when Hickory at last came in to break the spell.
Their meeting was singular, and revealed, as by a flash, the difference between the two men. Byrd contented19 himself with giving Hickory a look and saying nothing, while Hickory bestowed20 upon Byrd a hearty21 “Well, old fellow!” and broke out into a loud and by no means unenjoyable laugh.
“You didn’t expect to see me mounting the rostrum in favor of the defence, did you?” he asked, after he had indulged himself as long as he saw fit in the display of this somewhat unseasonable mirth. “Well, it was a surprise. But I’ve done it for Orcutt now!”
“You have?”
“Yes, I have.”
“But the prosecution22 has closed its case?”
“Bah! what of that?” was the careless reply. “The District Attorney can get it reopened. No Court would refuse that.”
Horace surveyed his colleague for a moment in silence.
“So Mr. Ferris was struck with the point you gave him?” he ventured, at last.
“Well, sufficiently23 so to be uneasy,” was Hickory’s somewhat dry response.
The look with which Byrd answered him was eloquent8. “And that makes you cheerful?” he inquired, with ill-concealed sarcasm24.
“Well, it has a slight tendency that way,” drawled the other, seemingly careless of the other’s expression, if, indeed, he had noted it. “You see,” he went on, with a meaning wink25 and a smile of utter unconcern, “all my energies just now are concentrated on getting myself even with that somewhat too wide-awake lawyer.” And his smile broadened till it merged26 into a laugh that was rasping enough to Byrd’s more delicate and generous sensibilities.
“Sufficiently so to be uneasy!” Yes, that was it. From the minute Mr. Ferris listened to the suggestion that Miss Dare had not told all she knew about the murder, and that a question relative to where she had been at the time it was perpetrated would, in all probability, bring strange revelations to light, he had been awakened to a most uncomfortable sense of his position and the duty that was possibly required of him. To be sure, the time for presenting testimony27 to the court was passed, unless it was in the way of rebuttal; but how did he know but what Miss Dare had a fact at her command which would help the prosecution in overturning the strange, unexpected, yet simple theory of the defence? At all events, he felt he ought to know whether, in giving her testimony she had exhausted29 her knowledge on this subject, or whether, in her sympathy for the accused, she had kept back certain evidence which if presented might bring the crime more directly home to the prisoner. Accordingly, somewhere toward eight o’clock in the evening, he sought her out with the bold resolution of forcing her to satisfy him on this point.
He did not find his task so easy, however, when he came into direct contact with her stately and far from encouraging presence, and met the look of surprise not unmixed with alarm with which she greeted him. She looked very weary, too, and yet unnaturally30 excited, as if she had not slept for many nights, if indeed she had rested at all since the trial began. It struck him as cruel to further disturb this woman, and yet the longer he surveyed her, the more he studied her pale, haughty32, inscrutable face, he became the more assured that he would never feel satisfied with himself if he did not give her an immediate3 opportunity to disperse33 at once and forever these freshly awakened doubts.
His attitude or possibly his expression must have betrayed something of his anxiety if not of his resolve, for her countenance34 fell as she watched him, and her voice sounded quite unnatural31 as she strove to ask to what she was indebted for this unexpected visit.
He did not keep her in suspense35.
“Miss Dare,” said he, not without kindness, for he was very sorry for this woman, despite the inevitable36 prejudice which her relations to the accused had awakened, “I would have given much not to have been obliged to disturb you to-night, but my duty would not allow it. There is a question which I have hitherto omitted to ask ——”
He paused, shocked; she was swaying from side to side before his eyes, and seemed indeed about to fall. But at the outreaching of his hand she recovered herself and stood erect37, the noblest spectacle of a woman triumphing over the weakness of her body by the mere38 force of her indomitable will, that he had ever beheld.
“Sit down,” he gently urged, pushing toward her a chair. “You have had a hard and dreary39 week of it; you are in need of rest.”
She did not refuse to avail herself of the chair, though, as he could not help but notice, she did not thereby40 relax one iota41 of the restraint she put upon herself.
“I do not understand,” she murmured; “what question?”
“Miss Dare, in all you have told the court, in all that you have told me, about this fatal and unhappy affair, you have never informed us how it was you first came to hear of it. You were ——”
“I heard it on the street corner,” she interrupted, with what seemed to him an almost feverish42 haste.
“First?”
“Yes, first.”
“Miss Dare, had you been in the street long? Were you in it at the time the murder happened, do you think?”
“I in the street?”
“Yes,” he repeated, conscious from the sudden strange alteration43 in her look that he had touched upon a point which, to her, was vital with some undefined interest, possibly that to which the surmises44 of Hickory had supplied a clue. “Were you in the street, or anywhere out-of-doors at the time the murder occurred? It strikes me that it would be well for me to know.”
“Sir,” she cried, rising in her sudden indignation, “I thought the time for questions had passed. What means this sudden inquiry46 into a matter we have all considered exhausted, certainly as far as I am concerned.”
“Shall I show you?” he cried, taking her by the hand and leading her toward the mirror near by, under one of those impulses which sometimes effect so much. “Look in there at your own face and you will see why I press this question upon you.”
Astonished, if not awed47, she followed with her eyes the direction of his pointing finger, and anxiously surveyed her own image in the glass. Then, with a quick movement, her hands went up before her face — which till that moment had kept its counsel so well — and, tottering48 back against a table, she stood for a moment communing with herself, and possibly summoning up her courage for the conflict she evidently saw before her.
“What is it you wish to know?” she faintly inquired, after a long period of suspense and doubt.
“Where were you when the clock struck twelve on the day Mrs. Clemmens was murdered?”
Instantly dropping her hands, she turned toward him with a sudden lift of her majestic49 figure that was as imposing50 as it was unexpected.
“I was at Professor Darling’s house,” she declared, with great steadiness.
Mr. Ferris had not expected this reply, and looked at her for an instant almost as if he felt inclined to repeat his inquiry.
“Do you doubt my word?” she queried51. “Is it possible you question my truth at a time like this?”
“No, Miss Dare,” he gravely assured her. “After the great sacrifice you have publicly made in the interests of justice, it would be worse than presumptuous52 in me to doubt your sincerity53 now.”
She drew a deep breath, and straightened herself still more proudly.
“Then am I to understand you are satisfied with the answer you have received?”
“Yes, if you will also add that you were in the observatory54 at Professor Darling’s house,” he responded quickly, convinced there was some mystery here, and seeing but one way to reach it.
“Very well, then, I was,” she averred55, without hesitation56.
“You were!” he echoed, advancing upon her with a slight flush on his middle-aged57 cheek, that evinced how difficult it was for him to pursue this conversation in face of the haughty and repellant bearing she had assumed. “You will, perhaps, tell me, then, why you did not see and respond to the girl who came into that room at this very time, with a message from a lady who waited below to see you?”
“Ah!” she cried, succumbing58 with a suppressed moan to the inexorable destiny that pursued her in this man, “you have woven a net for me!”
And she sank again into a chair, where she sat like one stunned59, looking at him with a hollow gaze which filled his heart with compassion60, but which had no power to shake his purpose as a District Attorney.
“Yes,” he acknowledged, after a moment, “I have woven a net for you, but only because I am anxious for the truth, and desirous of furthering the ends of justice. I am confident you know more about this crime than you have ever revealed, Miss Dare; that you are acquainted with some fact that makes you certain Mr. Mansell committed this murder, notwithstanding the defence advanced in his favor. What is this fact? It is my office to inquire. True,” he admitted, seeing her draw back with denial written on every line of her white face, “you have a right to refuse to answer me here, but you will have no right to refuse to answer me to-morrow when I put the same question to you in the presence of judge and jury.”
“And”— her voice was so husky he could but with difficulty distinguish her words —“do you intend to recall me to the stand to-morrow?”
“I am obliged to, Miss Dare.”
“But I thought the time for examination was over; that the witnesses had all testified, and that nothing remained now but for the lawyers to sum up.”
“When in a case like this the prisoner offers a defence not anticipated by the prosecution, the latter, of course, has the right to meet such defence with proof in rebuttal.”
“Proof in rebuttal? What is that?”
“Evidence to rebut28 or prove false the matters advanced in support of the defence.”
“Ah!”
“I must do it in this case — if I can, of course.”
She did not reply.
“And even if the testimony I desire to put in is not rebuttal in its character, no unbiassed judge would deny to counsel the privilege of reopening his case when any new or important fact has come to light.”
As if overwhelmed by a prospect62 she had not anticipated, she hurriedly arose and pointed63 down the room to a curtained recess64.
“Give me five minutes,” she cried; “five minutes by myself where no one can look at me, and where I can think undisturbed upon what I had better do.”
“Very well,” he acquiesced65; “you shall have them.”
She at once crossed to the small retreat.
“Five minutes,” she reiterated66 huskily, as she lifted the curtains aside; “when the clock strikes nine I will come out.”
“You will?” he repeated, doubtfully.
“I will.”
The curtains fell behind her, and for five long minutes Mr. Ferris paced the room alone. He was far from easy. All was so quiet behind that curtain — so preternaturally quiet. But he would not disturb her; no, he had promised, and she should be left to fight her battle alone. When nine o’clock struck, however, he started, and owned to himself some secret dread. Would she come forth67 or would he have to seek her in her place of seclusion68? It seemed he would have to seek her, for the curtains did not stir, and by no sound from within was any token given that she had heard the summons. Yet he hesitated, and as he did so, a thought struck him. Could it be there was any outlet69 from the refuge she had sought? Had she taken advantage of his consideration to escape him? Moved by the fear, he hastily crossed the room. But before he could lay his hand upon the curtains, they parted, and disclosed the form of Imogene.
“I am coming,” she murmured, and stepped forth more like a faintly-breathing image than a living woman.
His first glance at her face convinced him she had taken her resolution. His second, that in taking it she had drifted into a state of feeling different from any he had observed in her before, and of a sort that to him was wholly inexplicable70. Her words when she spoke71 only deepened this impression.
illustration
“The curtains parted and disclosed the form of Imogene. ‘I am coming,’ she murmured, and stepped forth.”
“Mr. Ferris,” said she, coming very near to him in evident dread of being overheard, “I have decided72 to tell you all. I hoped never to be obliged to do this. I thought enough had been revealed to answer your purpose. I— I believed Heaven would spare me this last trial, let me keep this last secret. It was of so strange a nature, so totally out of the reach of any man’s surmise45. But the finger of God is on me. It has followed this crime from the beginning, and there is no escape. By some strange means, some instinct of penetration73, perhaps, you have discovered that I know something concerning this murder of which I have never told you, and that the hour I spent at Professor Darling’s is accountable for this knowledge. Sir, I cannot struggle with Providence74. I will tell you all I have hitherto hidden from the world if you will promise to let me know if my words will prove fatal, and if he — he who is on trial for his life — will be lost if I give to the court my last evidence against him?”
“But, Miss Dare,” remonstrated75 the District Attorney, “no man can tell ——” He did not finish his sentence. Something in the feverish gaze she fixed77 upon him stopped him. He felt that he could not palter with a woman in the grasp of an agony like this. So, starting again, he observed: “Let me hear what you have to say, and afterward78 we will consider what the effect of it may be; though a question of expediency79 should not come into your consideration, Miss Dare, in telling such truths as the law demands.”
“No?” she broke out, giving way for one instant to a low and terrible laugh which curdled80 Mr. Ferris’ blood and made him wish his duty had led him into the midst of any other scene than this.
But before he could remonstrate76 with her, this harrowing expression of misery81 had ceased, and she was saying in quiet and suppressed tones:
“The reason I did not see and respond to the girl who came into the observatory on the morning of Mrs. Clemmens’ murder is, that I was so absorbed in the discoveries I was making behind the high rack which shuts off one end of the room, that any appeal to me at that time must have passed unnoticed. I had come to Professor Darling’s house, according to my usual custom on Tuesday mornings, to study astronomy with his daughter Helen. I had come reluctantly, for my mind was full of the secret intention I had formed of visiting Mrs. Clemmens in the afternoon, and I had no heart for study. But finding Miss Darling out, I felt a drawing toward the seclusion I knew I should find in the observatory, and mounting to it, I sat down by myself to think. The rest and quiet of the place were soothing82 to me, and I sat still a long time, but suddenly becoming impressed with the idea that it was growing late, I went to the window to consult the town-clock. But though its face could be plainly seen from the observatory, its hands could not, and I was about to withdraw from the window when I remembered the telescope, which Miss Darling and I had, in a moment of caprice a few days before, so arranged as to command a view of the town. Going to it, I peered through it at the clock.” Stopping, she surveyed the District Attorney with breathless suspense. “It was just five minutes to twelve,” she impressively whispered.
Mr. Ferris felt a shock.
“A critical moment!” he exclaimed. Then, with a certain intuition of what she was going to say next, inquired: “And what then, Miss Dare?”
“I was struck by a desire to see if I could detect Mrs. Clemmens’ house from where I was, and shifting the telescope slightly, I looked through it again, and ——”
“What did you see, Miss Dare?”
“I saw her dining-room door standing61 ajar and a man leaping headlong over the fence toward the bog83.”
The District Attorney started, looked at her with growing interest, and inquired:
“Did you recognize this man, Miss Dare?”
She nodded in great agitation84.
“Who was he?”
“Craik Mansell.”
“Miss Dare,” ventured Mr. Ferris, after a moment, “you say this was five minutes to twelve?”
“Yes, sir,” was the faint reply.
“Five minutes later than the time designated by the defence as a period manifestly too late for the prisoner to have left Mrs. Clemmens’ house and arrived at the Quarry85 Station at twenty minutes past one?”
“Yes,” she repeated, below her breath.
The District Attorney surveyed her earnestly, perceiving she had not only spoken the truth, but realized all which that truth implied, and drew back a few steps muttering ironically to himself:
“Ah, Orcutt! Orcutt!”
Breathlessly she watched him, breathlessly she followed him step by step like some white and haunting spirit.
“You believe, then, this fact will cost him his life?” came from her lips at last.
“Don’t ask me that, Miss Dare. You and I have no concern with the consequences of this evidence.”
“No concern?” she repeated, wildly. “You and I no concern? Ah!” she went on, with heart-piercing sarcasm, “I forgot that the sentiments of the heart have no place in judicial86 investigation87. A criminal is but lawful88 prey89, and it is every good citizen’s duty to push him to his doom90. No matter if one is bound to that criminal by the dearest ties which can unite two hearts; no matter if the trust he has bestowed upon you has been absolute and unquestioning, the law does not busy itself with that. The law says if you have a word at your command which can destroy this man, give utterance91 to it; and the law must be obeyed.”
“But, Miss Dare ——” the District Attorney hastily intervened, startled by the feverish gleam of her hitherto calm eye.
But she was not to be stopped, now that her misery had at last found words.
“You do not understand my position, perhaps,” she continued. “You do not see that it has been my hand, and mine only, which, from the first, has slowly, remorselessly pushed this man back from the point of safety, till now, now, I am called upon to drag from his hand the one poor bending twig92 to which he clings, and upon which he relies to support him above the terrible gulf93 that yawns at his feet. You do not see ——”
“Pardon me,” interposed Mr. Ferris again, anxious, if possible, to restore her to herself. “I see enough to pity you profoundly. But you must allow me to remark that your hand is not the only one which has been instrumental in hurrying this young man to his doom. The detectives ——”
“Sir,” she interrupted in her turn, “can you, dare you say, that without my testimony he would have stood at any time in a really critical position? — or that he would stand in jeopardy94 of his life even now, if it were not for this fact I have to tell?”
Mr. Ferris was silent.
“Oh, I knew it, I knew it!” she cried. “There will be no doubt concerning whose testimony it was that convicted him, if he is sentenced by the court for this crime. Ah, ah, what an enviable position is mine! What an honorable deed I am called upon to perform! To tell the truth at the expense of the life most dear to you. It is a Roman virtue95! I shall be held up as a model to my sex. All the world must shower plaudits upon the woman who, sooner than rob justice of its due, delivered her own lover over to the hangman.”
Pausing in her passionate96 burst, she turned her hot, dry eyes in a sort of desperation upon his face.
“Do you know,” she gurgled in his ear, “some women would kill themselves before they would do this deed.”
Struck to his heart in spite of himself, Mr. Ferris looked at her in alarm — saw her standing there with her arms hanging down at her sides, but with her two hands clinched97 till they looked as if carved from marble — and drew near to her with the simple hurried question of:
“But you?”
“I?” she laughed again — a low, gurgling laugh, that yet had a tone in it that went to the other’s heart and awoke strange sensations there. “Oh, I shall live to respond to your questions. Do not fear that I shall not be in the court-room to-morrow.”
There was something in her look and manner that was new. It awed him, while it woke all his latent concern.
“Miss Dare,” he began, “you can believe how painful all this has been to me, and how I would have spared you this misery if I could. But the responsibilities resting upon me are such ——”
He did not go on; why should he? She was not listening. To be sure, she stood before him, seemingly attentive98, but the eyes with which she met his were fixed upon other objects than any which could have been apparent to her in his face; and her form, which she had hitherto held upright, was shaking with long, uncontrollable shudders99, which, to his excited imagination, threatened to lay her at his feet.
He at once started toward the door for help. But she was alive to his movements if not to his words. Stopping him with a gesture, she cried:
“No — no! do not call for any one; I wish to be alone; I have my duty to face, you know; my testimony to prepare.” And rousing herself she cast a peculiar look about the room, like one suddenly introduced into a strange place, and then moving slowly toward the window, threw back the curtain and gazed without. “Night!” she murmured, “night!” and after a moment added, in a deep, unearthly voice that thrilled irresistibly100 upon Mr. Ferris’ ear: “And a heaven full of stars!”
Her face, as she turned it upward, wore so strange a look, Mr. Ferris involuntarily left his position and crossed to her side. She was still murmuring to herself in seeming unconsciousness of his presence. “Stars!” she was repeating; “and above them God!” And the long shudders shook her frame again, and she dropped her head and seemed about to fall into her old abstraction when her eye encountered that of the District Attorney, and she hurriedly aroused herself.
“Pardon me,” she exclaimed, with an ill-concealed irony101, particularly impressive after her tone of the moment before, “have you any thing further to exact of me?”
“No,” he made haste to reply; “only before I go I would entreat102 you to be calm ——”
“And say the word I have to say to-morrow without a balk103 and without an unnecessary display of feeling,” she coldly interpolated. “Thanks, Mr. Ferris, I understand you. But you need fear nothing from me. There will be no scene — at least on my part — when I rise before the court to give my testimony to-morrow. Since my hand must strike the fatal blow, it shall strike — firmly!” and her clenched104 fist fell heavily on her own breast, as if the blow she meditated105 must first strike there.
The District Attorney, more moved than he had deemed it possible for him to be, made her a low bow and withdrew slowly to the door.
“I leave you, then, till to-morrow,” he said.
“Till to-morrow.”
Long after he had passed out, the deep meaning which informed those two words haunted his memory and disturbed his heart. Till to-morrow! Alas106, poor girl! and after to-morrow, what then?
收听单词发音 |
1
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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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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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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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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contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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rebut
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| v.辩驳，驳回 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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31
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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32
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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33
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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34
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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35
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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36
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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iota
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| n.些微，一点儿 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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43
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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44
surmises
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的第三人称单数 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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46
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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49
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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presumptuous
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| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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observatory
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| n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台 | |
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averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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succumbing
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的现在分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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59
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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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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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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71
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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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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77
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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80
curdled
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| v.（使）凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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82
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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83
bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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84
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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85
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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86
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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87
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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88
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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89
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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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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92
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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93
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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94
jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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95
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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96
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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97
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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98
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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99
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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100
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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101
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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102
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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103
balk
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| n.大方木料；v.妨碍；不愿前进或从事某事 | |
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104
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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106
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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