ON Alfred’s leaving Silverton, Mrs. Archbold was prostrated2. It was a stunning3 blow to her young passion, and left her weary, desolate4.
But she was too strong to lie helpless under disappointed longings6. Two days she sat stupefied with the heartache; after that she bustled7 about her work in a fervour of half-crazy restlessness, and ungovernable irritability8, quenched9 at times by fits of weeping. As she wept apart, but raged and tyrannised in public, she soon made Silverton House Silverton Oven, especially to those who had the luck to be of her sex. Then Baker10 timidly remonstrated11; at the first word she snapped him up and said a change would be good for both of them. He apologised; in vain: that very day she closed by letter with Dr. Wolf, who had often invited her to be his “Matron.” Her motive12, half hidden from herself, was to be anywhere near her favourite.
Installed at Drayton House, she waited some days, and coquetted woman-like with her own desires, then dressed neatly13 but soberly, and called at Dr. Wycherley’s; sent in a note explaining who she was with a bit of soft sawder, and asked to see Alfred.
She was politely but peremptorily14 refused. She felt this rebuff bitterly. She went home stung and tingling15 to the core. But Bitters wholesome16 be: offended pride now allied17 with strong good sense to wither18 a wild affection; and, as it was no longer fed by the presence of its object, her wound healed, all but the occasional dull throbbing19 that precedes a perfect cure.
At this stage of her convalescence20 Dr. Wolf told her in an off-hand way that Mr. Hardie, a patient of doubtful insanity21, was coming to his asylum23, to be kept there by hook or by crook24. (She was entirely25 in Wolf’s confidence, and he talked of these things to her in English.) The impenetrable creature assented26 outwardly, with no sign of emotion whatever, but one flash of the eye, and one heave of the bosom27 swiftly suppressed. She waited calmly and patiently till she was alone; then yielded to joy and triumph; they seemed to leap inside her. But this very thing alarmed her. “Better for me never to see him again,” she thought. “His power over me is too terrible. Ah, good-bye to the peace and comfort I have been building up! He will scatter28 them to the winds. He has.”
She tried not to think of him too much. And, while she was so struggling, Wolf let out that Alfred was to have morphia at dinner the first day — morphia, the accursed drug with which these dark men in these dark places coax29 the reason away out of the head by degrees, or with a potent30 dose stupefy the victim, then act surprise, alarm; and make his stupor31 the ground for applying medical treatment to the doomed33 wretch34. Edith Archbold knew the game, and at the word morphia, Pity and Passion rose in her bosom irresistible35. She smiled in Dr. Wolf’s face, and hated him; and secretly girt herself up to baffle him, and protect Alfred’s reason, and win his heart through his gratitude36.
She received him as I have related, to throw dust in Dr. Wolf’s eyes: but she acted so admirably that some went into Alfred’s. “Ah,” thought he, “she is angry with herself for her amorous37 folly38; and, with the justice of her sex, she means to spite poor me for it.” He sighed; for he felt her hostility39 would be fatal to him. To give her no fresh offence, he fell into her manner, and treated her with a world of distant respect. Then again, who else but she could have warned him against poison? Then again, if so, why look so cold and stern at him? He cast one or two wistful glances at her; but the artful woman of thirty was impenetrable in public to the candid40 man of twenty-one. Even her passion could not put them on an equality.
That night he could not sleep. He lay wondering what would be the next foul41 practice, and how he should parry it.
He wrote next morning to the Commissioners42 that two of their number, unacquainted with the previous proceedings43 of the Board, had been surprised into endorsing44 an order of transfer to an asylum bearing a very inferior character to Dr. Wycherley’s; the object of this was clearly foul play. Accordingly, Dr. Wolf had already tried to poison his reason, by drugging his beer at dinner. He added that Dr. Wycherley had now signed a certificate of his sanity22, and implored45 the Board to inspect it, and discharge him at once, or else let a solicitor46 visit him at once, and take the requisite47 steps towards a public inquiry48.
While waiting anxiously for the answer, it cost him all his philosophy to keep his heart from eating itself. But he fought the good fight of Reason; he invited the confidences of the quieter mad people, and established a little court, and heard their grievances49, and by impartial50 decisions and good humour won the regard of the moderate patients and of the attendants, all but three; Rooke, the head keeper, a morose51 burly ruffian; Hayes, a bilious52 subordinate, Rooke’s shadow; and Vulcan, a huge mastiff that would let nobody but Rooke touch him; he was as big as a large calf53, and formidable as a small lion, though nearly toothless with age. He was let loose in the yard at night, and was an element in the Restraint system; many a patient would have tried to escape but for Vulcan. He was also an invaluable54 howler at night, and so cooperated with Dr. Wolf’s bugs55 and fleas56 to avert57 sleep, that vile58 foe59 to insanity and all our diseases, private asylums60 included.
Alfred treated Mrs. Archbold with a distant respect that tried her hard. But that able woman wore sweetness and unobtrusive kindness, and bided62 her time.
In Drayton House the keeperesses eclipsed the keepers in cruelty to the poorer patients. No men except Dr. Wolf and his assistant had a pass-key into their department, so there was nobody they could deceive, nobody they held worth the trouble. In the absence of male critics they showed their real selves, and how wise it is to trust that gentle sex in the dark with irresponsible power over females. With unflagging patience they applied63 the hourly torture of petty insolence64, needless humiliation65, unreasonable66 refusals to the poor madwomen; bored them with the poisoned gimlet, and made their hearts bleeding pin-cushions. But minute cruelty and wild caprice were not enough for them, though these never tired nor rested; they must vilify67 them too with degrading and savage68 names. Billingsgate might have gone to school to Drayton House. Inter69 alia, they seemed in love with a term that Othello hit upon; only they used it not once, but fifty times a day, and struck decent women with it on the face, like a scorpion70 whip; and then the scalding tears were sure to run in torrents71 down their silly, honest, burning cheeks. But this was not all; they had got a large tank in a flagged room, nominally72 for cleanliness and cure, but really for bane and torture. For the least offence, or out of mere73 wantonness, they would drag a patient stark74 naked across the yard, and thrust her bodily under water again and again, keeping her down till almost gone with suffocation75, and dismissing her more dead than alive with obscene and insulting comments ringing in her ears, to get warm again in the cold. This my ladies called “tanking.”
In the ordinary morning ablutions they tanked without suffocating76. But the immersion77 of the whole body in cold water was of itself a severe trial to those numerous patients in whom the circulation was weak; and as medical treatment, hurtful and even dangerous. Finally, these keeperesses, with diabolical78 insolence and cruelty, would bathe twenty patients in this tank, and then make them drink that foul water for their meals.
“The dark places of the land are full of horrible cruelty.”
One day they tanked so savagely79 that Nurse Eliza, after months of sickly disapproval80, came to the new redresser81 of grievances, and told.
What was he to do? He seized the only chance of redress82; he ran panting with indignation to Mrs. Archbold, and blushing high, said imploringly83, “Mrs. Archbold, you used to be kindhearted ——” and could say no more for something rising in his throat.
Mrs. Archbold smiled encouragingly on him, and said softly, “I am the same I always was — to you Alfred.”
“Oh, thank you; then pray send for Nurse Eliza, and hear the cruelties that are being done to the patients within a yard of us.”
“You had better tell me yourself, if you want me to pay any attention.”
“I can’t. I don’t know how to speak to a lady of such things as are done here. The brutes84! the cowardly she-devils! Oh, how I should like to kill them.”
Mrs. Archbold laughed a little at his enthusiasm (fancy caring so what was done to a pack of women), and sent for Nurse Eliza. She came and being questioned told Mrs. Archbold more than she had Alfred. “And, ma’am,” said she, whimpering, “they have just been tanking one they had no business to touch; it is Mrs. Dale, her that is so close on her confinement85. They tanked her cruel they did, and kept her under water till she was nigh gone. I came away; I couldn’t stand it.”
Alfred was walking about in a fury, and Nurse Eliza, in making this last revolting communication, lowered her voice for him not to hear, but his senses were quick. I think he heard, for he turned and came quickly to them.
“Mrs. Archbold, you are strong and brave — for a woman; oh, do go in to them and take them by the throat and shake the life out of them, the merciless, cowardly beasts! Oh that I could be a woman for an hour, or they could be men, I’d soon have my foot on some of the wretches86.”
Mrs. Archbold acted Ignition. “Come with me both of you,” she said, and they were soon in the female department. Up came keeperesses directly, smirking87 and curtseying to her, and pretending not to look at Adonis. “Which of you nurses tanked Mrs. Dale?” said she sternly.
“‘Twasn’t I, ma’am, ‘twasn’t I.”
“Oh, fie!” said Eliza to one, “you know you were at the head of it.”
She pointed5 out two as the leaders. The Archbold instantly had them seized by the others — who, with treachery equal to their cowardice88, turned eagerly against their fellow-culprits, to make friends with Power — and, inviting89 all the sensible maniacs90 who had been tanked, to assist or inspect, she bared her own statuesque arms, and, ably aided, soon plunged91 the offenders92, screaming, crying, and whining93, like spaniel bitches whipped, under the dirty water. They swallowed some, and appreciated their own acts. Then she forced them to walk twice round the yard with their wet clothes clinging to them, hooted94 by the late victims.
“There,” said Alfred, “let that teach you men will not own hyaenas in petticoats for women.”
Poor Alfred took all the credit of this performance; but in fact, when the Archbold invited him to bear a hand, he showed the white feather.
“I won’t touch the blackguardesses,” said he, haughtily95 turning it off on the score of contempt. “You give it them! Again, again! Brava!”
Mosaic96 retribution completed, Mrs. Archbold told the nurses if ever “tanking recurred97 she would bundle the whole female staff into the street, and then have them indicted98 by the Commissioners.”
These virtuous99 acts did Edith Archbold for love for a young man. Whether mad women or sane100, women pregnant, or the reverse, were tanked or not, she cared at heart no more than whether sheep were washed or no in Ettrick’s distant dale. She was retiring with a tender look at Alfred, and her pulse secretly unaccelerated by sheep-washing of she-wolves, when her grateful favourite appealed to her again:
“Dear Mrs. Archbold, shall we punish and not comfort? This poor Mrs. Dale!”
The Archbold could have boxed his ears. “Dear boy,” she murmured tenderly, “you teach us all our duty.” She visited the tanked one, found her in a cold room after it, shivering like ague, and her teeth chattering101. Mrs. Archbold had her to the fire, and got her warm clothes and a pint102 of wine, and probably saved her life and her child’s — for love of a young man.
Why I think Mrs. Dale would otherwise have left this shifting scene, Mrs. Carey, the last woman in her condition they tanked and then turned into a flagged cell that only wanted one frog of a grotto103, was found soon after moribund104; on which they bundled her out of the asylum to die. She did die next day, at home, but murdered by the asylum; and they told the Commissioners she died through her friends taking her away from the asylum too soon. The Commissioners had nothing to do but believe this, and did believe it. Inspectors105 who visit a temple of darkness, lies, cunning, and hypocrisy106, four times a year, know mighty107 little of what goes on there the odd three hundred and sixty-one days, five hours, forty-eight minutes, and fifty-seven seconds.23
23 Arithmetic of my boyhood. I hear the world revolves108 some minutes quicker now.
“Now, Alfred,” said Mrs. Archbold, “I can’t be everywhere, or know everything; so you come to me when anything grieves you, and let me be the agent of your humanity.”
She said this so charmingly he was surprised into kissing her fair hand; then blushed, and thanked her warmly. Thus she established a chain between them. When he let too long elapse without appealing to her, she would ask his advice about the welfare of this or that patient; and so she cajoled him by the two foibles she had discerned in him — his vanity and his humanity.
Besides Alfred, there were two patients in Drayton House who had never been insane; a young man, and an old woman; of whom anon. There were also three ladies and one gentleman, who had been deranged110, but had recovered years ago. This little incident, Recovery, is followed in a public asylum by instant discharge; but, in a private one, Money, not Sanity, is apt to settle the question of egress111. The gentleman’s case was scarce credible112 in the nineteenth century: years ago, being undeniably cracked, he had done what Dr. Wycherley told Alfred was a sure sign of sanity: i.e., he had declared himself insane; and had even been so reasonable as to sign his own order and certificates, and so imprison113 himself illegally, but with perfect ease; no remonstrance114 against that illegality from the guardians115 of the law! When he got what plain men call sane, he naturally wanted to be free, and happening to remember he alone had signed the order of imprisonment116, and the imaginary doctor’s certificates, he claimed his discharge from illegal confinement. Answer: “First obtain a legal order for your discharge.” On this he signed an order for his discharge. “That is not a legal order.”—“It is as legal as the order on which I am here.” “Granted; but, legally or not, the asylum has got you; the open air has not got you. Possession is ninety-nine points of Lunacy law. Die your own illegal prisoner, and let your kinsfolk eat your land, and drink your consols, and bury you in a pauper117’s shroud” All that Alfred could do for these victims was to promise to try and get them out some day, D.V. But there was a weak-minded youth, Francis Beverley, who had the honour to be under the protection of the Lord Chancellor118. Now a lunatic or a Softy, protected by that functionary119, is literally120 a lamb protected by a wolf, and that wolf ex officio the cruellest, cunningest old mangler121 and fleecer of innocents in Christendom. Chancery lunatics are the richest class, yet numbers of them are flung among pauper and even criminal lunatics, at a few pounds a year, while their committees bag four-fifths of the money that has been assigned to keep the patient in comfort.
Unfortunately the protection of the Chancellor extends to Life and Reason, as well as Fleece; with the following result:
In public asylums about forty per cent. are said to be cured.
In private ones twenty-five per cent, at least; most of them poorish.
Of Chancery Lunatics not five per cent.
Finally, one-third of all the Chancery Lunatics do every six years exchange the living tombs they are fleeced and bullied122 in for dead tombs where they rest; and go from the sham123 protection of the Lord Chancellor of England to the real protection of their Creator and their Judge.
These statistics have been long before the world, and are dead figures to the Skimmer of things, but tell a dark tale to the Reader of things, so dark, that I pray Heaven to protect me, and all other weak inoffensive persons, from the protection of my Lord Chancellor in this kind.
Beverley was so unfortunate as to exist before the date of the above petition: and suffered the consequences.
He was an aristocrat124 by birth, noble on both sides of his house, and unluckily had money. But for that he would have been a labouring man, and free. My Lord Protector committed him with six hundred pounds a year maintenance money to the care of his committee, the Honourable125 Fynes Beverley.
Now this corporate126, yet honourable individual, to whom something was committed, and so Chancery Lane called him in its own sweet French the thing committed, was a gentleman of birth, breeding, and intelligence. He undertook to take care of his simple cousin; and what he did take care of was himself.
THE SUB-LETTING SWINDLE.
I. The Honourable Fynes Beverley, Anglo–French committee, or crown tenant127, sub-let soft Francis for L. 300 a year, pocketed L. 300, and washed his hands of Frank.
2. Mr. Heselden, the sub-tenant, sub-let the Softy of high degree for L. 150, pocketed the surplus, and washed his hands of him.
3. The L. 150 man sub-let him to Dr. Wolf at L. 60 a year, pouched128 the surplus, and washed his hands of him.
And now what on earth was left for poor Dr. Wolf to do? Could he sub-embezzle a Highlander’s breeks? Could he subtract more than her skin from off the singed129 cat? Could he peel the core of a rotten apple? Could he pare a grated cheese rind? Could he flay130 a skinned flint? Could he fleece a hog131 after Satan had shaved it as clean as a bantam’s egg?
Let no man dare to limit genius; least of all the genius of extortion.
Dr. Wolf screwed comparatively more out of young Frank than did any of the preceding screws. He turned him into a servant of all work and half starved him; money profit, L. 45 out of the L. 60, or three-fourths, whereas the others had only bagged one-half. But by this means he got a good servant without wages, and on half a servant’s food, clearing L. 22 and L. 12 in these two items.
Victim of our great national vice109 and foible, Vicariousness, this scion132 of a noble house, protected in theory by the Crown, vicariously sub-protected by the Chancellor, sub-vicariously sub-sham protected by his kin61, was really flung unprotected into the fleece market, and might be seen — at the end of the long chain of subs. pros1, vices133, locos, shams134, shuffles135, swindles, and lies — shaking the carpets, making the beds, carrying the water, sweeping136 the rooms, and scouring137 the sordid138 vessels139, of thirty patients in Drayton House, not one of whom was his equal either in birth or wealth; and of four menials, who were all his masters and hard ones. His work was always doing, never done. He was not the least mad nor bad, but merely of feeble intellect all round. Fifty thousand gentlemen’s families would have been glad of him at L. 300 a year, and made a son and a brother of him. But he was under the vicarious protection of the Lord Chancellor. Thin, half-starved, threadbare, out at elbows, the universal butt140, scoffed141 at by the very lunatics, and especially ill treated by the attendants whose work he did gratis142, he was sworn at, jeered143, insulted, cuffed144 and even kicked, every day of his hard, hard life. And yet he was a gentleman, though a soft one; his hands, his features, his carriage, his address, had all an indefinable stamp of race. How had it outlived such crushing, degrading usage? I don’t know; how does a daisy survive the iron roller? Alfred soon found him out, and to everybody’s amazement145, especially Frank’s, remonstrated gently but resolutely146 and eloquently147, and soon convinced the majority, sane and insane, that a creature so meek148 and useful merited special kindness, not cruelty. One keeper, The Robin149, alias150 Tom Wales, an ex-prize fighter, was a warm convert to this view. Among the maniacs only one held out, and said contemptuously he couldn’t see it.
“Well,” said Alfred, “lay a finger on him after this, and I’ll lay a hand on you, and aid your intellectual vision.”
Rooke and Hayes treated remonstrance with open and galling151 contempt. Yet the tide of opinion changed so, they did not care to defy it openly: but they bullied poor Beverley now and then on the sly, and he never told. He was too inoffensive for this world. But one day, as Alfred was sitting with his door ajar, writing a letter of earnest expostulation to the Commissioners, who had left his first unanswered, he heard Hayes at the head of the stairs call roughly, “Frank! Frank!”
“Sir,” replied the soft little voice of young Beverley.
“Come, be quick, young shaver.”
“I’m coming, sir,” and up ran Beverley.
“Here, take this tray downstairs.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stop, there’s a bit of bread for you.” And Hayes chucked him a crust, as one throws it to another man’s dog.
“Thank you, sir,” said Mr. Beverley, stooping down for it, and being habitually152 as hungry as a ratcatcher’s tyke, took an eager bite in that position.
“How dare you eat it there,” said Hayes brutally153: “take it to your own crib: come, mizzle.” And with that lent him a contemptuous kick behind, which owing to his position sent him off his balance flat on the tray; a glass broke under him. Poor young Mr. Beverley uttered a cry of dismay, for he knew Hayes would not own himself the cause. Hayes cursed him for an awkward idiot, and the oath went off into a howl, for Alfred ran out at him brimful of Moses, and with a savage kick in the back and blow on the neck, administered simultaneously154, hurled155 him head foremost down the stairs. Alighting on the seventh step, he turned a somersault, and bounded like a ball on to the landing below, and there lay stupefied. He picked himself up by slow degrees, and glared round with speechless awe156 and amazement up at the human thunderbolt that had shot out on him and sent him flying like a feather. He shook his fist, and limped silently away all bruises157 and curses, to tell Rooke and concert vengeance158. Alfred, trembling still with ire, took Beverley to his room (the boy was as white as a sheet), and encouraged him, and made him wash properly, brushed his hair, dressed him in a decent tweed suit he had outgrown159, and taking him under his arm, and walking with his own nose haughtily in the air, paraded him up and down the asylum, to show them all the best man in the house respected the poor soft gentleman. Ah, what a grand thing it is to be young! Beverley clung to his protector too much like a girl, but walked gracefully160 and kept step, and every now and then looked up at Alfred with a loving adoration161, that was sweet, yet sad to see. Alfred marched him to Mrs. Archbold, and told his tale; for he knew Hayes would misrepresent it, and get him into trouble. She smiled on the pair; gently deplored162 her favourite’s impetuosity, entreated163 him not to go fighting with that great monster Rooke, and charmed him by saying, “Well, and Frank is a gentleman, when he is dressed like one.”
“Isn’t he?” said Alfred eagerly. “And whose fault is it he is not always dressed like one? Whose fault that here’s an earl’s nephew, ‘Boots in Hell’?”
“Not yours, Alfred, nor mine,” was the honeyed reply.
In vain did Mr. Hayes prefer his complaint to Dr. Wolf. The Archbold had been before him, and the answer was, “Served you right.”
These and many other good deeds did Alfred Hardie in Drayton House. But, as the days rolled on, and no answer came from the Commissioners, his own anxiety, grief, and dismay left him less and less able to sympathise with the material but smaller wrongs around him. He became silent, dejected.
At last he came to Mrs. Archbold, and said sternly his letters to the Commissioners were intercepted164.
“I can’t believe that,” said she. “It is against the law.”
So it was: but law and custom are two.
“I am sure of it,” said he; “and may the eternal curse of Heaven light on the cowardly traitor165 and miscreant166 who has done it.” And he stalked gloomily away.
When he left her, she sighed at this imprecation from his lips; but did not repent167. “I can’t part with him,” she said despairingly; “and if I did not stop his poor dear letters, Wolf would:” and the amorous crocodile shed a tear, and persisted in her double-faced course.
By-and-by, when she saw him getting thinner and paler, and his bright face downcast and inexpressibly sad, she shared his misery168: ay, shed scalding tears for him: yet could not give him up; for her will was as strong as the rest of her was supple169; and hers was hot love, but not true love like Julia’s.
Perhaps a very subtle observer, seeing this man and woman wax pale and spiritless together in one house, might have divined her secret. Dr. Wolf, then, was no such observer, for she made him believe she had a rising penchant170 for him. He really had a strong one for her.
While Alfred’s visible misery pulled at her heart-strings171, and sometimes irritated, sometimes melted her, came curious complications; one of which requires preface.
Mrs. Dodd then was not the wife to trust blindly where her poor husband was concerned. She bribed173 so well that a keeperess in David’s first asylum told her David had been harshly used by an attendant. She instantly got Eve Dodd to take him away: and transfer him to a small asylum nearer London, and kept by a Mrs. Ellis. “Women are not cruel to men,” said the sagacious Lucy Dodd.
But, alas174! if women are not cruel where sex comes in and mimics175 that wider sentiment, Humanity, women are deadly economical. Largely gifted with that household virtue176, Mrs. Ellis kept too few servants, and, sure consequence in a madhouse, too many straitjackets, hobbles, muffs, leg-locks, bodybelts, &c. &c. Hence half her patients were frequently kept out of harm’s way by cruel restraints administered, not out of hearty177 cruelty, but female parsimony178. Mrs. and Miss Dodd invaded the house one day when the fair economist179 was out, and found seven patients out of the twelve kept out of mischief180 thus: one in a restraint chair, two hobbled like asses181, two chained like dogs, and two in straight-waistcoats, and fastened to beds by webbing and straps182; amongst the latter, David, though quiet as a lamb.
Mrs. Dodd cried over him as if her heart would break, and made Miss Dodd shift him to a large asylum, where I believe he was very well used. But here those dreadful newspapers interfered183; a prying185 into sweet secluded186 spots. They diversified187 Mrs. Dodd’s breakfast by informing her that the doctor of this asylum had just killed a patient; the mode of execution bloodless and sure, as became fair science. It was a man between sixty and seventy; an age at which the heart can seldom stand very much shocking, or lowering, especially where the brain is diseased. So they placed him in a shower-bath, narrow enough to impede188 respiration189, without the falling water, which of necessity drives out air. In short a vertical190 box with holes all round the top.
Here the doctor ordered him a cold shower-bath of unparalleled duration: half an hour. To be followed by an unprecedented191 dose of tartar emetic192. This double-barrelled order given, the doctor went away. (Formula.)
The water was down to forty-five degrees Fahrenheit193. Half an hour’s shower-bath at that temperature in a roomy bath would kill the youngest and strongest man in her Majesty’s dominions194.
For eight-and-twenty mortal minutes the poor old man stood in this vertical coffin195 under this cold cascade196. Six hundred gallons of icy water were in that his last hour, his last half-hour, discharged upon his devoted197 head and doomed body.
He had to be helped away from this death-torrent he had walked into in high spirits, poor soul.
Even this change awakened198 no misgivings199, no remorse200; though you or I, or any man or woman picked at hazard out of the streets, would at once have seen that he was dying, he was duly dozed201 by the fire with four spoonfuls of antimonial tincture —to mak’ sicker. But even the “Destructive Art of Healing” cannot slay202 the slain203. The old man cheated the emetic; for, before it could hurt him, he died of the bath; And his body told its own sad tale; to use the words of a medical eye-witness, it was “A PIECE OF ALABASTER204.” The death-torrent had driven the whole circulation from the surface.24
24 This mode of execution is well known in the United States. They settle refractory205 prisoners with it periodically. But half an hour is not needed; twenty minutes will do the trick. “Harper’s Weekly,” a year or two ago, contained an admirable woodcut of a negro’s execution by water. In this remarkable206 picture you see the poor darkie seated powerless, howling and panting his life away under the deadly cascade, and there stands the stolid207 turnkey, erect208, formal, stiff as a ramrod, pulling the deadly string with a sort of drill exercise air, and no more compunction nor reflection than if he himself was a machine constructed to pull strings or triggers on his own string being pulled by butcher or fool. A picture well studied, and so worth study.
Mrs. Dodd was terrified, and in spite of Sampson’s assurance that this was the asylum of all others they would not settle another patient in until the matter should have blown over, got Eve Dodd to write to Dr. Wolf, and offer L. 300 a year if he would take David at once, and treat him with especial consideration.
He showed this letter triumphantly209 to Mrs. Archbold, and she, blinded for a moment by feeling, dissuaded210 him from receiving Captain Dodd. He stared at her. “What, turn away a couple of thousand pounds?”
“But they will come to visit him; and perhaps see him.”
“Oh, that can be managed. You must be on your guard: and I’ll warn Rooke. I can’t turn away money on a chance.”
One day Alfred found himself locked into his room. This was unusual: for, though they called him a lunatic in words, they called him sane by all their acts. He half suspected that the Commissioners were in the house.
Had he known who really was in the house, he would have beaten himself to pieces against the door.
At dinner there was a new patient, very mild and silent, with a beautiful large brown eye, like some gentle animal’s.
Alfred was very much struck with this eye, and contrived211 to say a kind word to him after dinner. Finding himself addressed by a gentleman, the new comer handled his forelock and made a sea scrape, and announced himself as William Thompson; he added with simple pride, “Able Seaman212;” then touching213 his forelock again, “Just come aboard, your honour.” After this, which came off glibly214, he was anything but communicative. However, Alfred contrived to extract from him that he was rather glad to leave his last ship, on account of having been constantly impeded215 there in his duties by a set of lubbers, that clung round him and kept him on deck whenever the first lieutenant216 ordered him into the top.
The very next day, pacing sadly the dull gravel217 of his prison yard, Alfred heard a row; and there was the able seaman struggling with the Robin and two other keepers. He wanted to go to his duties in the foretop: to wit, the fork of a high elm-tree in the court-yard. Alfred had half a mind not to interfere184. “Who cares for my misery?” he said. But his better nature prevailed, and he told the Robin he was sure going up imaginary rigging would do Thompson more good than harm.
On this the men reluctantly gave him a trial, and he went up the tree with wonderful strength and agility218, but evident caution. Still Alfred quaked when he crossed his thighs219 tight over a limb of the tree forty feet from earth, and went carefully and minutely through the whole process of furling imaginary sails. However, he came down manifestly soothed220 by the performance, and, singular phenomenon, he was quite cool; and it was the spectators on deck who perspired221.
“And what a pleasant voice he has,” said Alfred; “it quite charms my ear; it is not like a mad voice. It is like — I’m mad myself.”
“And he has got a fiddle222, and plays it like a hangel, by all accounts,” said the Robin; “only he won’t touch it but when he has a mind.”
At night Alfred dreamed he heard Julia’s sweet mellow223 voice speaking to him; and he looked, and lo! it was the able seaman. He could sleep no more, but lay sighing.
Ere the able seaman had been there three days, Mrs. Dodd came unexpectedly to see him; and it was with the utmost difficulty Alfred was smuggled224 out of the way. Mrs. Archbold saw by her loving anxiety these visits would be frequent, and, unless Alfred was kept constantly locked up, which was repugnant to her, they would meet some day. She knew there are men who ply32 the trade of spies, and where to find them; she set one of them to watch Mrs. Dodd’s house, and learn her habits, in hopes of getting some clue as to when she might be expected.
Now it so happened that, looking for one thing, she found another which gave her great hopes and courage. And then the sight of Alfred’s misery tried her patience, and then he was beginning half to suspect her of stopping his letters. Passion, impatience225, pity, and calculation, all drove her the same road, and led to an extraordinary scene, so impregnated with the genius of the madhouse — a place where the passions run out to the very end of their tether — that I feel little able to describe it. I will try and indicate it.
One fine Sunday afternoon, then, she asked Alfred languidly would he like to walk in the country.
“Would I like? Ah, don’t trifle with a prisoner,” said he sorrowfully.
She shook her head. “No, no, it will not be a happy walk. Rooke, who hates you, is to follow us with that terrible mastiff, to pull you down if you try to escape. I could not get Dr. Wolf to consent on any other terms. Alfred, let us give up the idea. I fear your rashness.”
“No, no, I won’t try to escape — from you. I have not seen a blade of grass this six months.”
The accomplished226 dissembler hesitated, yielded. They passed through the yard and out at the back door, which Alfred had so often looked wistfully at; and by-and-by reached a delicious pasture. A light golden haze227 streamed across it. Nature never seemed so sweet, so divine, to Alfred before; the sun as bright as midsummer, though not the least hot, the air fresh, yet genial228, and perfumed with Liberty and the smaller flowers of earth. Beauty glided229 rustling230 by his side, and dark eyes subdued231 their native fire into softness whenever they turned on him; and scarce fifty yards in the rear hung a bully232 and a mastiff ready to tear him down if he should break away from beauty’s light hand, that rested so timidly on his. He was young, and stout-hearted, and relished233 his peep of liberty and nature, though blotted234 by Vulcan and Rooke. He chatted to Mrs. Archbold in good spirits. She answered briefly235, and listlessly.
At last she stopped under a young chestnut-tree as if overcome with a sudden reflection, and turning half away from him leaned her head and hand upon a bough236, and sighed. The attitude was pensive237 and womanly. He asked her with innocent concern what was the matter; then faintly should he take her home. All her answer was to press his hand with hers that was disengaged, and, instead of sighing, to cry.
The novice238 in woman’s wiles239 set himself to comfort her — in vain; to question her — in vain at first; but by degrees she allowed him to learn that it was for him she mourned; and so they proceeded on the old, old plan, the man extorting240 from the woman bit by bit just so much as she wanted all along to say, and would have poured in a stream if let quite alone.
He drew from his distressed241 friend that Dr. Wolf for reasons of his own had made special inquiries242 about the Dodds; that she had fortunately or unfortunately heard of this, and had questioned the person employed, hoping to hear something that might comfort Alfred. “Instead of that,” said she, “I find Miss Dodd is like most girls; out of sight is out of mind with her.”
“What do you mean?” said Alfred, trembling suddenly.
“Do not ask me. What a weak fool I was to let you see I was unhappy for you.”
“The truth is the truth,” gasped243 Alfred; “tell me at once.”
“Must I? I am afraid you will hate me; for I should hate any one who told me your faults. Well, then — if I must — Miss Dodd has a beau.”
“It is a lie!” cried Alfred furiously.
“I wish it was. But she has two in fact, both of them clergymen. However, one seems the favourite; at least they are engaged to be married; it is Mr. Hurd, the curate of the parish she lives in. By what I hear she is one of the religious ones; so perhaps that has brought the pair to an understanding.”
At these words a cold sickness rushed all over Alfred, beginning at his heart. He stood white and stupefied a moment; then, in the anguish245 of his heart, broke out into a great and terrible cry; it was like a young lion wounded with a poisoned shaft246.
Then he was silent, and stood stock still, like petrified247 despair.
Mrs. Archbold was prepared for an outburst: but not of this kind. His anguish was so unlike a woman’s that it staggered her. Her good and bad angels, to use an expressive248 though somewhat too poetical249 phrase, battled for her. She had an impulse to earn his gratitude for life, to let him out of the asylum ere Julia should be Mrs. Hurd, and even liberty come too late for true love. She looked again at the statue of grief by her side; and burst out crying in earnest.
This was unfortunate. Shallow pity exuding250 in salt water leaves not enough behind to gush251 forth252 in good deeds.
She only tried to undo253 her own work in part; to comfort him a little with commonplaces. She told him in a soothing254 whisper there were other women in the world besides this inconstant girl, others who could love him as he deserved.
He made no answer to all she could say, but just waved his hand once impatiently. Petty consolation255 seemed to sting him.
She drew back discouraged; but only for a while. He was silent.
With one grand serpentine256 movement she came suddenly close to him, and, standing244 half behind him, laid her hand softly on his shoulder, and poured burning love in his ear. “Alfred,” she murmured, “we are both unhappy; let us comfort one another. I had pity on you at Silverton House, I pity you now: pity me a little in turn: take me out of this dreadful house, out of this revolting life, and let me be with you. Let me be your housekeeper257, your servant, your slave. This news that has shocked you so has torn the veil from my eyes. I thought I had cooled my love down to friendship and tender esteem258; but no, now I see you as unhappy as myself, now I can speak and wrong no one, I own I— oh Alfred my heart burns for you, bleeds for you, yearns259 for you, sickens for you, dies for you.”
“Oh, hush260! hush! Mrs. Archbold. You are saying things you will blush for the next moment.”
“I blush now, but cannot hush; I have gone too far. And your happiness as well as mine is at stake. No young girl can understand or value such a man as you are: but I, like you, have suffered; I, like you, am constant; I, like you, am warm and tender; at my age a woman’s love is bliss261 to him who can gain it; and I love you with all my soul, Alfred. I worship the ground you walk on, my sweet, sweet boy. Say you the word, dearest, and I will bribe172 the servants, and get the keys, and sacrifice my profession for ever to give you liberty (see how sweet the open face of nature is, sweeter than anything on earth, but love); and all I ask is a little, little of your heart in return. Give me a chance to make you mine for ever; and, if I fail, treat me as I shall deserve; desert me at once; and then I’ll never reproach you; I’ll only die for you; as I have lived for you ever since I first saw your heavenly face.”
The passionate262 woman paused at last, but her hot cheek and heaving bosom and tender convulsive hand prolonged the pleading.
I am afraid few men of her own age would have resisted her; for voice and speech and all burning, melting, and winning; and then, so reasonable, lads; she did not stipulate263 for constancy.
But Alfred turned round to her blushing and sorrowful. “For shame!” he said; “this is not love: you abuse that sacred word. Indeed, if you had ever really loved, you would have pitied me and Julia long ago, and respected our love; and saved us by giving me my freedom long ago. I am not a fool: do you think I don’t know that you are my jailer, and the cunningest and most dangerous of them all?”
“You cruel, ungrateful!” she sobbed264.
“No; I am not ungrateful either,” said he more gently. “You have always come between me and that kind of torture which most terrifies vulgar souls: and I thank you for it. Only if you had also pitied the deeper anguish of my heart, I should thank you more still. As it is, I forgive you for the share you have had in blasting my happiness for life; and nobody shall ever know what you have been mad enough in an unguarded moment to say; but for pity’s sake talk no more of love, to mock my misery.”
Mrs. Archbold was white with ire long before he had done this sentence. “You insolent265 creature,” said she; “you spurn266 my love; you shall feel my hate.”
“So I conclude,” said he coldly: “such love as yours is hard by hate.”
“It is,” said she: “and I know how I’ll combine the two. To-day I loved you, and you spurned267 me; ere long you shall love me and I’ll despise you; and not spurn you.”
“I don’t understand you,” said Alfred, feeling rather uneasy.
“What,” said she, “don’t you see how the superior mind can fascinate the inferior? Look at Frank Beverley — how he follows you about and fawns268 on you like a little dog.”
“I prefer his sort of affection to yours.”
“A gentleman and a man would have kept that to himself; but you are neither one nor the other; or you would have taken my offer, and then run away from me the next day, you fool. A man betrays a woman; he doesn’t insult her. Ah, you admire Frank’s affection; well, you shall imitate it. You couldn’t love me like a man; you shall love me like a dog.”
“How will you manage that, pray? “ he inquired with a sneer269.
“I’ll drive you mad.”
She hissed270 this fiendish threat out between her white teeth.
“Ay, sir,” she said, “hitherto your reason has only encountered men. You shall see now what an insulted woman can do. A lunatic you shall be ere long, and then I’ll make you love me, dote on me, follow me about for a smile: and then I’ll leave off hating you, and love you once more, but not the way I did five minutes ago.”
At this furious threat Alfred ground his teeth, and said, “Then I give you my honour that the moment I see my reason the least shaken, I’ll kill you: and so save myself from the degradation271 of being your lover on any terms.”
“Threaten your own sex with that,” said the Archbold contemptuously; “you may kill me whenever you like; and the sooner the better. Only, if you don’t do it very quickly, you shall be my property, my brain-sick, love-sick slave.”
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pros
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| abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物 | |
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prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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irritability
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| n.易怒 | |
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quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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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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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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convalescence
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| n.病后康复期 | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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ply
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| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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endorsing
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| v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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bilious
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| adj.胆汁过多的；易怒的 | |
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calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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bugs
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| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
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fleas
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| n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求） | |
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avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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asylums
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| n.避难所( asylum的名词复数 )；庇护；政治避难；精神病院 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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bided
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| v.等待，停留( bide的过去式 )；居住；等待；面临 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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vilify
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| v.诽谤，中伤 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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inter
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| v.埋葬 | |
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scorpion
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| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
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torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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redresser
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| 改正[修正，调整，补偿]者；解调器 | |
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redress
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| n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除 | |
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imploringly
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| adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
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84
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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85
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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86
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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87
smirking
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| v.傻笑( smirk的现在分词 ) | |
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88
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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89
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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90
maniacs
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| n.疯子（maniac的复数形式） | |
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91
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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92
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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93
whining
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| n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚 | |
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94
hooted
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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96
mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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97
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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98
indicted
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| 控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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100
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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101
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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102
pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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103
grotto
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| n.洞穴 | |
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104
moribund
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| adj.即将结束的，垂死的 | |
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105
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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106
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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107
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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108
revolves
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想 | |
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109
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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110
deranged
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| adj.疯狂的 | |
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111
egress
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| n.出去；出口 | |
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112
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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113
imprison
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| vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚 | |
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114
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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115
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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116
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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117
pauper
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| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
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118
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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119
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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120
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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121
mangler
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| n.乱切者；（布单的）砑光机；（橡胶的）压延机；压甘蔗机 | |
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122
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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124
aristocrat
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| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
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125
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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126
corporate
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| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
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127
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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128
pouched
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| adj.袋形的，有袋的 | |
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129
singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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130
flay
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| vt.剥皮；痛骂 | |
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131
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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132
scion
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| n.嫩芽，子孙 | |
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133
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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134
shams
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| 假象( sham的名词复数 )； 假货； 虚假的行为（或感情、言语等）； 假装…的人 | |
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135
shuffles
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| n.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的名词复数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的第三人称单数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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136
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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137
scouring
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| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
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138
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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139
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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140
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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141
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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142
gratis
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| adj.免费的 | |
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143
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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144
cuffed
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| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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145
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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146
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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147
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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148
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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149
robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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150
alias
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| n.化名；别名；adv.又名 | |
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151
galling
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| adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的 | |
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152
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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153
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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154
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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155
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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156
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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157
bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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158
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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159
outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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160
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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161
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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162
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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164
intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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165
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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166
miscreant
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| n.恶棍 | |
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167
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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168
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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169
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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170
penchant
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| n.爱好，嗜好；（强烈的）倾向 | |
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171
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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172
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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173
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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174
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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175
mimics
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| n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似 | |
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176
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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177
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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178
parsimony
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| n.过度节俭，吝啬 | |
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179
economist
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| n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人 | |
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180
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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181
asses
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| n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
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182
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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183
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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184
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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185
prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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186
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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187
diversified
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| adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域 | |
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188
impede
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止 | |
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189
respiration
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| n.呼吸作用；一次呼吸；植物光合作用 | |
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190
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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191
unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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192
emetic
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| n.催吐剂；adj.催吐的 | |
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193
Fahrenheit
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| n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的) | |
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194
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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195
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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196
cascade
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| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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197
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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198
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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199
misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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200
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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201
dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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202
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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203
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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204
alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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205
refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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206
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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207
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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208
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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209
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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210
dissuaded
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| 劝（某人）勿做某事，劝阻( dissuade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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211
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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212
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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213
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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214
glibly
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| adv.流利地，流畅地；满口 | |
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215
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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216
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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217
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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218
agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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219
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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220
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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221
perspired
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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222
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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223
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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224
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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225
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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226
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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227
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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228
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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229
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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230
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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231
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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232
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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233
relished
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| v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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234
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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235
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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236
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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237
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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238
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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239
wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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240
extorting
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| v.敲诈( extort的现在分词 )；曲解 | |
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241
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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242
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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243
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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244
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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245
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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246
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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247
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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248
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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249
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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250
exuding
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| v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的现在分词 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情 | |
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251
gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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252
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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253
undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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254
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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255
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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256
serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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257
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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258
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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259
yearns
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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260
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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261
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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262
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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263
stipulate
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| vt.规定，（作为条件）讲定，保证 | |
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264
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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265
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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266
spurn
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| v.拒绝，摈弃；n.轻视的拒绝；踢开 | |
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267
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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268
fawns
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| n.（未满一岁的）幼鹿( fawn的名词复数 )；浅黄褐色；乞怜者；奉承者v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的第三人称单数 )；巴结；讨好 | |
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269
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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270
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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271
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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