Concerning Certain Documents which Reached Mr. Mervyn, and the Witches’ Revels1 at the Mills.
I would be ashamed to say how, soon after Dangerfield had spoken to Mr. Mervyn in the church-yard on the Sunday afternoon, when he surprised him among the tombstones, the large-eyed young gentleman, with the long black hair, was at his desk, and acting2 upon his suggestion. But the Hillsborough was to sail next day; and Mr. Mervyn’s letter, containing certain queries3, and an order for twenty guineas on a London house, glided4 in that packet with a favouring breeze from the Bay of Dublin, on its way to the London firm of Elrington Brothers.
On the morning of the day whose events I have been describing in the last half-dozen chapters, Mr. Mervyn received his answer, which was to the following effect:—
‘SIR,— Having made search for the Paper which you enquire6 after, we have Found one answering your description in a General way; and pursuant to your request and Direction, beg leave to forward you a Copy thereof, together with a copy of a letter concerning it, received by the same post from Sir Philip Drayton, of Drayton Hall, Sometime our Client, and designed in Part to explain his share in the matter. Your order for twenty guineas, on Messrs. Trett and Penrose, hath come to hand, and been duly honoured, and we thankfully Accept the same, in payment for all trouble had in this matter. ‘&c, &c, &c.’
The formal document which it enclosed said:—
‘This is to certify7 that Charles Archer8, Esq., aged9, as shortly before his death he reported himself, thirty-five years, formerly10 of London, departed this life, on the 4th August, 1748, in his lodgings11, in the city of Florence, next door to the “Red Lion,” and over against the great entrance of the Church of the Holy Cross, in the which, having conformed to the holy Roman faith, he is buried.— Signed this 12th day of August, 1748.
‘PHILIP DRAYTON, Baronet.
‘GAETANO MELONI, M.D.
‘ROBERT SMITH, Musician.
‘We three having seen the said Charles Archer during his sickness, and after his decease.’
Then followed the copy of the baronet’s letter to his attorneys, which was neither very long nor very business-like.
‘Why the plague don’t you make the scoundrel, Jekyl, pay? His mother’s dead only t’other day, and he must be full of money. I’ve scarce a marvedy in hand, now; so let him have a writ12 in his, drat him. About that certificate, I’m almost sorry I signed it. I’ve bin5 thinking ’tis like enough I may be troubled about it. So you may tell ’em I know no more only what is there avouched13. No more I do. He played at a faro-table here, and made a very pretty figure. But I hear now from Lord Orland that there are many bad reports of him. He was the chief witness against that rogue14, Lord Dunoran, who swallowed poison in Newgate, and, they say, leaned hard against him, although he won much money of him, and swore with a blood-thirsty intention. But that is neither here nor there; I mean ill reports of his rogueries at play, and other doings, which, had I sooner known, my name had not bin to the paper. So do not make a noise about it, and maybe none will ask for’t. As for Jack15 Jekyl, why not take the shortest way with him. You’re very pitiful fellows; but I wish o’ my conscience you’d take some pity o’ me, and not suffer me to be bubbled,’ &c., &c.
There was only a sentence or two more, referring in the same strain to other matters of business, of which, in the way of litigation, he seemed to have no lack, and the letter ended.
‘I’ll go direct to London and see these people, and thence to Florence. Gaetano Meloni — he may be living — who knows? He will remember the priest who confessed him. A present to a religious house may procure16 — in a matter of justice, and where none can be prejudiced, for the case is very special — a dispensation, if he be the very Charles Archer — and he may — why not?— have disclosed all on his death-bed. First, I shall see Mr. Dangerfield — then those attorneys; and next make search in Florence; and, with the aid of whatever I can glean17 there, and from Irons, commence in England the intensest scrutiny18 to which a case was ever yet subjected.’
Had it not been so late when he found this letter on his return, he would have gone direct with it to the Brass19 Castle; but that being quite out of the question, he read it again and again. It is wonderful how often a man will spell over and over the same commonplace syllables20, if they happen to touch a subject vitally concerning himself, and what theories and speculations21 he will build upon the accidental turn of a phrase, or the careless dash of a pen.
As we see those wild animals walk their cages in a menagerie, with the fierce instincts of suppressed action rolling in the vexed22 eye and vibrating in every sinew, even so we behold23 this hero of the flashing glance and sable24 locks treading, in high excitement, the floor of the cedar25 parlour. Every five minutes a new hope — a new conjecture26, and another scrutiny of the baronet’s letter, or of the certificate of Archer’s death, and hour after hour speeding by in the wild chase of successive chimeras27.
While Mr. Justice Lowe’s servant was spurring into town at a pace which made the hollow road resound28, and struck red flashes from the stones, up the river, at the Mills, Mistress Mary Matchwell was celebrating a sort of orgie. Dirty Davy and she were good friends again. Such friendships are subject to violent vicissitudes29, and theirs had been interrupted by a difference of opinion, of which the lady had made a note with a brass candlestick over his eye. Dirty Davy’s expressive30 feature still showed the green and yellow tints31 of convalescence32. But there are few philosophers who forgive so frankly33 as a thorough scoundrel, when it is his interest to kiss and be friends. The candlestick was not more innocent of all unpleasant feeling upon the subject than at that moment was Dirty Davy.
Dirty Davy had brought with him his chief clerk, who was a facetious34 personage, and boozy, and on the confidential35 footing of a common rascality36 with his master, who, after the fashion of Harry37 V. in his nonage, condescended38 in his frolics and his cups to men of low estate; and Mary Matchwell, though fierce and deep enough, was not averse39 on occasion, to partake of a bowl of punch in sardonic40 riot, with such agreeable company.
Charles Nutter41’s unexpected coming to life no more affected42 Mary Matchwell’s claim than his supposed death did her spirits. Widow or wife, she was resolved to make good her position, and the only thing she seriously dreaded43 was that an intelligent jury, an eminent44 judge, and an adroit45 hangman, might remove him prematurely46 from the sphere of his conjugal47 duties, and forfeit48 his worldly goods to the crown.
Next morning, however, a writ or a process of some sort, from which great things were expected, was to issue from the court in which her rights were being vindicated49. Upon the granting of this, Mistress Matchwell and Dirty Davy — estranged50 for some time, as we have said,— embraced. She forgot the attorney’s disrespectful language, and he the lady’s brass candlestick, and, over the punch-bowl of oblivion and vain glory, they celebrated51 their common victory.
Under advice, M. M. had acquiesced52, pending53 her vigorous legal proceedings54, in poor little Sally Nutter’s occupying her bed-room in the house for a little while longer. The beleagured lady was comforted in her strait by the worthy55 priest, by honest Dr. Toole, and not least, by that handsome and stalworth nymph, the daring Magnolia. That blooming Amazon was twice on the point of provoking the dismal56 sorceress, who kept her court in the parlour of the Mills, to single combat. But fortune willed it otherwise, and each time the duel57 had been interrupted in its formal inception58, and had gone no further than that spirited prologue59 in which the female sex so faithfully preserve the tradition of those thundering dialogues which invariably precede the manual business of the Homeric fray60.
This was the eve of a great triumph and a memorable61 gala. Next morning, Sally Nutter was to be scalped, roasted, and eaten up, and the night was spent in savage62 whoopings, songs and dances. They had got a reprobate63 blind fiddler into the parlour, where their punch-bowl steamed — a most agreeable and roistering sinner, who sang indescribable songs to the quaver of his violin, and entertained the company with Saturnalian vivacity64, jokes, gibes65, and wicked stories. Larry Cleary, thou man of sin and music! methinks I see thee now. Thy ugly, cunning, pitted face, twitching66 and grinning; thy small, sightless orbs67 rolling in thy devil’s merriment, and thy shining forehead red with punch.
In the kitchen things were not more orderly; M. M.‘s lean maid was making merry with the bailiff, and a fat and dreadful trollop with one eye — tipsy, noisy, and pugnacious68.
Poor little Sally Nutter and her maids kept dismal vigil in her bed-room. But that her neighbours and her lawyer would in no sort permit it, the truth is, the frightened little soul would long ago have made herself wings, and flown anywhere for peace and safety.
It is remarkable69 how long one good topic, though all that may be said upon it has been said many scores of times, will serve the colloquial70 purposes of the good folk of the kitchen or the nursery. There was scarcely half-an-hour in the day during which the honest maids and their worthy little mistress did not discuss the dreadful Mary Matchwell. They were one and all, though in different degrees, indescribably afraid of her. Her necromantic71 pretensions72 gave an indistinctness and poignancy73 to their horror. She seemed to know, by a diabolical74 intuition, what everybody was about — she was so noiseless and stealthy, and always at your elbow when you least expected. Those large dismal eyes of hers, they said, glared green in the dark like a cat’s; her voice was sometimes so coarse and deep, and her strength so unnatural75, that they were often on the point of believing her to be a man in disguise. She was such a blasphemer, too; and could drink what would lay a trooper under the table, and yet show it in nothing but the superintensity of her Satanic propensities76. She was so malignant77, and seemed to bear to all God’s creatures so general a malevolence78, that her consistent and superlative wickedness cowed and paralysed them. The enigma79 grew more horrible every day and night, and they felt, or fancied, a sort of influence stealing over them which benumbed their faculty80 of resistance, and altogether unstrung their nerves.
The grand compotation going on in the parlour waxed louder and wilder as the night wore on. There were unseen guests there, elate and inspiring, who sat with the revellers — phantoms81 who attend such wassail, and keep the ladle of the punch-bowl clinking, the tongue of the songster glib82 and tuneful, and the general mirth alive and furious. A few honest folk, with the gift of a second sight in such matters, discover their uncanny presence — leprous impurity83, insane blasphemy84, and the stony85 grin of unearthly malice86 — and keep aloof87.
To heighten their fun, this jovial88 company bellowed89 their abominable90 ballads91 in the hall, one of them about ‘Sally M’Keogh,’ whose sweetheart was hanged, and who cut her throat with his silver-mounted razor, and they hooted92 their gibes up the stairs. And at last Mary Matchwell, provoked by the passive quietude of her victim, summoned the three revellers from the kitchen, and invaded the upper regions at their head — to the unspeakable terror of poor Sally Nutter — and set her demon93 fiddler a scraping, and made them and Dirty Davy’s clerk dance a frantic94 reel on the lobby outside her bed-room door, locked and bolted inside, you may be sure.
In the midst of this monstrous95 festivity and uproar96, there came, all on a sudden, a reverberating97 double-knock at the hall-door, so loud and long that every hollow, nook, and passage of the old house rang again. Loud and untimely as was the summons, it had a character, not of riot, but of alarm and authority. The uproar was swallowed instantly in silence. For a second only the light of the solitary98 candle shone upon the pale, scowling99 features of Mary Matchwell, and she quenched100 its wick against the wall. So the Walpurgis ended in darkness, and the company instinctively101 held their breaths.
There was a subdued102 hum of voices outside, and a tramping on the crisp gravel103, and the champing and snorting of horses, too, were audible.
‘Does none o’ yez see who’s in it?’ said the blind fiddler.
‘Hold your tongue,’ hissed104 Mary Matchwell with a curse, and visiting the cunning pate105 of the musician with a smart knock of the candlestick.
‘I wisht I had your thumb undher my grinder,’ said the fiddler, through his teeth, ‘whoever you are.’
But the rest was lost in another and a louder summons at the hall-door, and a voice of authority cried sternly,
‘Why don’t you open the door?— hollo! there — I can’t stay here all night.’
‘Open to him, Madam, I recommend you,’ said Dirty Davy, in a hard whisper; ‘will I go?’
‘Not a step; not a word;’ and Mary Matchwell griped his wrist.
But a window in Mrs. Nutter’s room was opened, and Moggy’s voice cried out —
‘Don’t go, Sir; for the love o’ goodness, don’t go. Is it Father Roach that’s in it?’
‘’Tis I, woman — Mr. Lowe — open the door, I’ve a word or two to say.’
1 revels | |
n.作乐( revel的名词复数 );狂欢;着迷;陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 );狂欢;着迷;陶醉 | |
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2 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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3 queries | |
n.问题( query的名词复数 );疑问;询问;问号v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 );询问 | |
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4 glided | |
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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5 bin | |
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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6 enquire | |
v.打听,询问;调查,查问 | |
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7 certify | |
vt.证明,证实;发证书(或执照)给 | |
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8 archer | |
n.射手,弓箭手 | |
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9 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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10 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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11 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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12 writ | |
n.命令状,书面命令 | |
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13 avouched | |
v.保证,断言,承认( avouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 rogue | |
n.流氓;v.游手好闲 | |
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15 jack | |
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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16 procure | |
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
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17 glean | |
v.收集(消息、资料、情报等) | |
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18 scrutiny | |
n.详细检查,仔细观察 | |
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19 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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20 syllables | |
n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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21 speculations | |
n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 );思考;投机活动;推断 | |
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22 vexed | |
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论 | |
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23 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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24 sable | |
n.黑貂;adj.黑色的 | |
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25 cedar | |
n.雪松,香柏(木) | |
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26 conjecture | |
n./v.推测,猜测 | |
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27 chimeras | |
n.(由几种动物的各部分构成的)假想的怪兽( chimera的名词复数 );不可能实现的想法;幻想;妄想 | |
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28 resound | |
v.回响 | |
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29 vicissitudes | |
n.变迁,世事变化;变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 );盛衰兴废 | |
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30 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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31 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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32 convalescence | |
n.病后康复期 | |
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33 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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34 facetious | |
adj.轻浮的,好开玩笑的 | |
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35 confidential | |
adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的 | |
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36 rascality | |
流氓性,流氓集团 | |
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37 harry | |
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼 | |
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38 condescended | |
屈尊,俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 ); 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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39 averse | |
adj.厌恶的;反对的,不乐意的 | |
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40 sardonic | |
adj.嘲笑的,冷笑的,讥讽的 | |
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41 nutter | |
n.疯子 | |
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42 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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43 dreaded | |
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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44 eminent | |
adj.显赫的,杰出的,有名的,优良的 | |
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45 adroit | |
adj.熟练的,灵巧的 | |
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46 prematurely | |
adv.过早地,贸然地 | |
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47 conjugal | |
adj.婚姻的,婚姻性的 | |
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48 forfeit | |
vt.丧失;n.罚金,罚款,没收物 | |
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49 vindicated | |
v.澄清(某人/某事物)受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 );表明或证明(所争辩的事物)属实、正当、有效等;维护 | |
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50 estranged | |
adj.疏远的,分离的 | |
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51 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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52 acquiesced | |
v.默认,默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53 pending | |
prep.直到,等待…期间;adj.待定的;迫近的 | |
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54 proceedings | |
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报 | |
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55 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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56 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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57 duel | |
n./v.决斗;(双方的)斗争 | |
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58 inception | |
n.开端,开始,取得学位 | |
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59 prologue | |
n.开场白,序言;开端,序幕 | |
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60 fray | |
v.争吵;打斗;磨损,磨破;n.吵架;打斗 | |
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61 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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62 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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63 reprobate | |
n.无赖汉;堕落的人 | |
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64 vivacity | |
n.快活,活泼,精神充沛 | |
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65 gibes | |
vi.嘲笑,嘲弄(gibe的第三人称单数形式) | |
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66 twitching | |
n.颤搐 | |
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67 orbs | |
abbr.off-reservation boarding school 在校寄宿学校n.球,天体,圆形物( orb的名词复数 ) | |
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68 pugnacious | |
adj.好斗的 | |
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69 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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70 colloquial | |
adj.口语的,会话的 | |
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71 necromantic | |
降神术的,妖术的 | |
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72 pretensions | |
自称( pretension的名词复数 ); 自命不凡; 要求; 权力 | |
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73 poignancy | |
n.辛酸事,尖锐 | |
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74 diabolical | |
adj.恶魔似的,凶暴的 | |
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75 unnatural | |
adj.不自然的;反常的 | |
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76 propensities | |
n.倾向,习性( propensity的名词复数 ) | |
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77 malignant | |
adj.恶性的,致命的;恶意的,恶毒的 | |
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78 malevolence | |
n.恶意,狠毒 | |
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79 enigma | |
n.谜,谜一样的人或事 | |
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80 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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81 phantoms | |
n.鬼怪,幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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82 glib | |
adj.圆滑的,油嘴滑舌的 | |
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83 impurity | |
n.不洁,不纯,杂质 | |
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84 blasphemy | |
n.亵渎,渎神 | |
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85 stony | |
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的 | |
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86 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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87 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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88 jovial | |
adj.快乐的,好交际的 | |
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89 bellowed | |
v.发出吼叫声,咆哮(尤指因痛苦)( bellow的过去式和过去分词 );(愤怒地)说出(某事),大叫 | |
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90 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
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91 ballads | |
民歌,民谣,特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 ); 讴 | |
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92 hooted | |
(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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93 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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94 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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95 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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96 uproar | |
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸 | |
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97 reverberating | |
回响,回荡( reverberate的现在分词 ); 使反响,使回荡,使反射 | |
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98 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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99 scowling | |
怒视,生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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100 quenched | |
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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101 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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102 subdued | |
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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103 gravel | |
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石 | |
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104 hissed | |
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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105 pate | |
n.头顶;光顶 | |
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