When the door had closed and Mr. Gryce found himself for the first time alone with Mrs. Taylor, he drew up a chair to her side and remarked in his old benevolent4 way:
“I feel guilty of cruelty, madam, in repeating a question you have already answered. But the conditions are such that I must, and do it now. When this young lady fell so unexpectedly at your feet, was your first look at her or at the opposite gallery?”
For an instant her eyes held his — something which did not often happen to him.
“At her,” she vehemently5 declared. “I never thought of looking anywhere else. I saw her at my feet, and fell on my knees at her side. Who wouldn’t have done so! Who would have seen anything but that arrow —that arrow! Oh, it was terrible! Do not make me recall it. I have sorrows enough ——”
“Mrs. Taylor, you have my utmost sympathy. But you must realize how important it is for me to make sure that you saw nothing in the place from which that arrow was sent which would help us to locate the author of this accident. The flitting of an escaping figure up or down the opposite gallery, even a stir in the great tapestry6 confronting you from that far-away wall, might give us a clue.”
“I saw nothing,” she replied coldly but with extreme firmness, “nothing but that lifeless child and the picture of desolation which rose in my own mind. Do not, I pray, make me speak again of that. It would sound like delirium7, and it is my wish to impress you with my sanity8, so that you will allow me to go home.”
“You shall go, after the Coroner has had an opportunity to see you. We expect him any moment. Meanwhile, you will facilitate your release and greatly help us in what we have to do, if you will carry your fortitude9 to the point of showing me in your own person just where you were standing10 when this young girl dashed by you to her death.”
“Do you mean for me to go back to that — that ——”
“Yes, Mrs. Taylor. Surely you can do so if you will. When you have time to think, you will be as anxious as ourselves to know through whose carelessness (to call it nothing worse) this child came to her death. Though it may prove to be quite immaterial whether you stood in one place or another at that fatal moment, it is a question which will be sure to come up at the inquest. That you may be able to answer correctly I urge you to return with me to the exact spot, before your recollection of the same has had time to fade. After that we will go below and I will see that you are taken to some quiet place where you can remain undisturbed till the Coroner comes.”
Had she been a weak woman she would have succumbed11 again at this. But she was a strong one, and after the first moment of recoil12 she rose tremulously to her feet and signified her willingness to follow him to the scene of death.
“Is — is she there alone?” was her sole question as they crossed the corridor separating the room they had been in from the galleries.
“No — you will find an officer there. We could not leave the place quite unguarded.”
If she shuddered13 he did not observe it. Having summoned up all her forces to meet this ordeal14, she followed him without further word, and re-entering the spot she had so lately left in great agony of mind, stopped for one look and for one look only at the sweet face of the dead girl smiling up at her from the cold floor, then she showed Mr. Gryce as nearly as she could just where she had paused in shock and horror when the poor child smitten15 by the fatal arrow fell back almost into her arms.
The detective, with a glance at the opposite gallery, turned and spoke16 to the officer who had stepped aside into the neighboring section.
“Take the place just occupied by this lady,” he said, “and hold it till you hear from me again.” Then offering his arm to Mrs. Taylor, he led her out.
“I see that you were approaching the railing overlooking the court when you were stopped in this fearful manner,” he remarked when well down the gallery toward its lower exit. “What did you have in mind? A nearer glimpse of the tapestry over there and the two great vases?”
“No, no.” She was wrought17 up by now to a tension almost unendurable. “It was the court — what I might see in the court. Oh!” she impulsively18 cried: “the child! the child! that innocent, beautiful child!” And breaking away from his arm, she threw herself against the wall in a burst of uncontrollable weeping.
He allowed her a moment of unrestrained grief, then he took her on his arm again and led her down into the court where he gave her into the charge of Correy. He had gone as far as he dared in her present hysterical19 condition. Besides, he could no longer defer20 the great experiment by means of which he hoped to reach the heart of this mystery.
Taking the slip of paper handed him by Sweetwater, he crossed the court to where the various visitors, detained, some against their will and some quite in accordance with it, stood about in groups or sat side by side on the long benches placed along the front for their comfort. As he confronted them, his face beamed with that benevolent smile which had done so much for him in days gone by. Raising his hand he called attention to himself; then, when he was quite sure of being heard by them all, he addressed them with a quiet emphasis which could not fail to gain and hold their attention:
“I am Detective Gryce, sent here from Police Headquarters to look into this very serious matter. Till the Coroner arrives, I am in authority here, and being so, will have to ask your indulgence for any discomfort21 you may experience in helping22 me with my investigation23. A young girl, full of life an hour ago, lies dead in the gallery above. We do not know her name; we do not know who killed her. But there is some one here who does. The man or woman who, wittingly or unwittingly, launched that fatal shaft24, is present with us in this building. This person has not spoken. If he will do so now, he will save us and himself, too, no end of trouble. Let him speak, then. I will give him five minutes in which to make this acknowledgment. Five minutes! If that man is wise — or can it be a woman?— he will not keep us waiting.”
Silence. Heads moving, eyes peering, excitement visible in every face, but not a word from anybody. Mr. Gryce turned and pointed25 up at the clock. All looked — but still no word from man or woman.
One minute gone!
Two minutes!
Three!
The silence had become portentous26. The movement, involuntary and simultaneous, which had run through the crowd at first had stopped. They were waiting — each and all — waiting with eyes on the minute-hand creeping forward over the dial toward which the detective’s glance was still turned.
The fourth minute passed — then the fifth — and no one had spoken.
With a sigh Mr. Gryce wheeled himself back and faced the crowd again.
“You see,” he quietly announced, “the case is serious. Twenty-two of you, and not one to speak the half-dozen words which would release the rest from their present embarrassing position! What remains27 for us to do under circumstances like these? My experience suggests but one course: to narrow down this inquiry28 to those — you will not find them many — who from their nearness to the place of tragedy or from some other cause equally pertinent29 may be looked upon as possible witnesses for the Coroner’s jury. That this may be done speedily and surely, I am going to ask you, every one of you, to retake the exact place in the building which you were occupying when you heard the first alarm. I will begin with the Curator himself. Mr. Jewett, will you be so good as to return to the room, and if possible to the precise spot, you were occupying when you first learned what had occurred here?”
The Curator, who stood at his elbow, made a quick bow and turned in the direction of the marble steps, which he hastily remounted. A murmur30 from the crowd followed this action and continued till he disappeared in the recesses31 of the right-hand gallery. Then, at a gesture from Mr. Gryce, it suddenly ceased, and with a breathless interest easy to comprehend, they one and all waited for his next word. It was a simple one.
“We are all obliged to Mr. Jewett for his speedy compliance32 with so unusual a request. He has made my task a comparatively easy one.”
Then, glancing at the list of names and addresses which had been compiled for him by Sweetwater, he added:
“I will read off your names as recorded here. If each person, on hearing his own, will move quickly to his place and remain there till my young man can make a note of the same, we shall get through this matter in short order. And let me add”— as he perceived here and there a shoulder shrugged33, or an eye turned askance —“that once the name is called, no excuse of non-recollection will be accepted. You must know, every one of you, just where you were standing when the cry of death rang out, and any attempt to mislead me or others in this matter will only subject the person making it to a suspicion he must wish to avoid. Remember that there are enough persons here for no one to be sure that his whereabouts at so exciting a moment escaped notice. Listen, then, and when your own name is spoken, step quickly into place, whether that place be on this floor or in the rooms or galleries above.— Mrs. Alice Lee!”
diagram
You can imagine the flurry, the excitement and the blank looks of the average men and women he addressed. But not one hesitated to obey. Mrs. Lee was on the farther side of one of the statues before her name had more than left his lips. Her example set the pace for those who followed. Like soldiers at roll-call, each one responded to the summons, going now in one direction and now in another until on reaching the proper spot he or she stopped.
Only six persons followed the Curator upstairs — an old woman who shook her head violently as she plodded34 slowly up the marble steps; Correy; a man with a packet of books under his arm (the same who had been studying coins in Section II); a young couple whose movements showed such a marked reluctance35 that more than one eye followed them as they went hesitatingly up, clinging together with interlocking hands and stopping now on one step and now on another to stare at each other in visible consternation36; and a boy of fourteen who grinned from ear to ear as he bounded gayly up three steps at a time and took his position on the threshold of one of the upper doors with all the precision of a soldier called to sentry-duty — a boy scout37 if ever there was one.
There were twenty-two names on the list, and with the calling out of the twenty-second, Mr. Gryce perceived the space before him entirely38 cleared of its odd assortment39 of people. As he turned to take a look at the result, a gleam of satisfaction crossed his time-worn face. By this scheme, which he may be pardoned for looking upon as a stroke of genius worthy40 of his brilliant prime, he had set back time a full hour, restoring as by a magician’s wand the conditions of that fatal moment of initial alarm. Surely, with the knowledge of that hidden bow in his mind, he should be able now to place his hand upon the person who had made use of it to launch the fatal arrow. No one, however sly of foot and quick of action, could have gone far from the gallery where that bow lay in the few minutes which were all that could have elapsed between the shooting of the arrow and the gasping41 cry which had brought all within hearing to the Apache section. The man or woman whom he should find nearest to that concealed42 door in the northern gallery would have to give a very good account of himself. Not even the Curator would escape suspicion under those circumstances.
However, it is only fair to add that Mr. Gryce had no fear of any such embarrassing end to his inquisition as that. He had noticed the young couple who had betrayed their alarm so ingenuously43 to every eye, and had already decided45 within himself that the man was just such a fool as might in a moment of vacuity46 pick up a bow and arrow to test his skill at a given mark. Such things had been and such results had followed. The man was a gawk and the woman a ninny; a few questions and their guiltiness would appear — that is, if they should be found near enough the tapestry to warrant his suspicion. If not — the alternative held an interest all its own, and sent him in haste toward the stairway.
To reach it Mr. Gryce had to pass several persons standing where fate had fixed47 them among the statuary grouped about the court, and had his attention been less engrossed48 by what he expected to discover above, he would have been deeply interested in noting how these persons, or most of them at least, had so thoroughly49 accepted the situation that they had taken the exact position and the exact attitude of the moment preceding the alarm. Those who were admiring the great torsos or carved chariots of the ancients, made a show of admiring them still. The man or woman who had been going in an easterly direction, faced east; and those who had been on the point of entering certain rooms, stood halting in the doorways50 with their backs to the court.
Unfortunately, he did not take note of all this, or give the poor pawns52 thus parading for his purpose more than a cursory53 glance. When he did think, which was when he was halfway54 up the staircase, it was to look back upon a changed scene. For with his going, interest had flagged and the tableau55 lost its pointedness56. No one had ventured as yet to leave his place, but all had turned their faces his way, and on many of these faces could be seen signs of fatigue57 if not of absolute impatience58. He had ordered them to stand and they had stood, but to be left there while he went above was certainly trying. The one spot which held the interest was in the southern gallery. If they could only follow him there ——
All this was to be seen in their faces, and possibly the cunning old man read it there; but if he did, it was to ask himself if their conclusions were quite correct. The locale of interest had shifted in the last half hour; and while most of these people believed him to be searching for the witness who could tell him what had occurred in the death gallery, he really was hunting for one who could add to his knowledge of what had happened in the opposite one. And this witness might not be found in the gallery, or even on the upper floor. It was well among the probabilities that there might be among the various persons he saw posing in the court below some who by an upward look might take in a part of if not the whole broad sweep of that huge square of tapestry upon which his thoughts were centered. It was for him to make a note of these persons. A diagram of the court as it looked to him at that moment is shown for your enlightenment.
diagram
Sixteen persons! Ten in view from the steps and six not. Of the sixteen, only the following seemed to afford any excuse for future interrogation: Numbers Two, Six, Ten, Seven, Eight and Thirteen. Making a mental note of these, during which operation the poor unfortunates who had just been considering themselves as quite out of the game revived in a startling manner under his eye, he proceeded on his way.
As the action has now shifted to the upper floor, a diagram of this second story is now in order.
diagram
As you will see, a straight glimpse is given down either gallery from the arches opening into the broad corridor into which Mr. Gryce had stepped on leaving the central staircase. He had therefore only to choose which of the two would better repay his immediate59 investigation.
He decided upon the northern one, which you will remember was the one holding the tapestry; since, to find anybody there, no matter whom, would certainly settle the identity of the person responsible for that flying arrow. For, as all conceded, too little time had elapsed between its delivery and the discovery of the victim for the quickest possible attempt at escape to have carried the concealer of the bow very far from the spot where he had thrown it. It was possible — just possible — that he might have got as far as one of the four large rooms opening into the corridor stretching across the front, but that he was not in the gallery itself Mr. Gryce soon convinced himself by a rapid walk through its entire length.
That he did not follow up this move by an immediate searching of the rooms I have mentioned was owing to a wish he had to satisfy himself on another point first.
What was this point?
In passing along the rear on his way to this gallery, he had noticed the narrow staircase opening not a dozen feet away to his left. This undoubtedly60 led down to the side-entrance. If by any chance the user of the bow had fled to the rear instead of to the front, he would be found somewhere on this staircase, for he never could have got to the bottom before the cry of “Close the doors! Let no man out!” rendered this chance of immediate exit unavailable. So Mr. Gryce retraced61 his steps, and barely stopping to note the boy eying him with eager glances from the doorway51 of Room A, he approached the iron balustrade guarding the small staircase, and cautiously looked over.
A man was there! A man going down — no, coming up; and this man, as he soon saw from his face and uniform, was Correy the attendant.
“So that is where you were,” he called down as he beckoned62 the man up.
“As near as I can remember. I was on my way in search of Mr. Jewett, for whom I had a message, and had got as far as you saw me, when I heard a cry of pain from somewhere in the gallery. This naturally quickened my steps and I was up and on this floor in a jiffy.”
“Did you notice, as you stepped from the landing, whether the boy staring at us from the doorway over there was facing just as we see him now?”
“He was. I remember his attitude perfectly63.”
“Coming out of the door — not going in?”
“Sure. He was on the run. He had heard the cry too.”
“And followed you into the gallery?”
“Preceded me. He was on the scene almost as soon as the man who stepped in from the adjoining section.”
“I see. And this man?”
“Was well within my view from the minute I entered the first arch. He seemed more bewildered than frightened till he had passed the communicating arch and nearly stumbled over the body of the girl shot down almost at his elbow.”
“And yourself?”
“I knew by his look that something dreadful had happened, and when I saw what it was, I didn’t think of anything better to do than to order the doors shut.”
“On your own initiative? Where was the Curator?”
“Not far, it seems. But he gets awfully64 absorbed in whatever he is doing, and there was no time to lose. Some one had shot that arrow, some one who might escape.”
Mr. Gryce never allowed himself — or very rarely — to look at anyone full and square in the face; yet he always seemed to form an instant opinion of whomever he talked with. Perhaps he had already gauged65 this man and not unfavorably, for he showed not the slightest distrust as he remarked quite frankly66:
“You must have had some suspicion of foul67 play even then, to act in so expeditious68 a manner.”
“I don’t know what my suspicions were. I simply followed my first impulse. I don’t think it was a bad one. Do you, sir?”
“Far from it. But enough of that. Do you think”— here he drew Correy into the gallery out of earshot of the boy, who was watching them with all the curiosity of his fourteen years —“that this lad could have stolen from where we are standing now to the door where you first saw him, during the time you were making your rush up the stairs? Boys of his age are mighty69 quick, and ——”
“I know it, sir; and I see what you mean. But even if he had been able to do this,— which I very much doubt,— no boy of his age could have strung that bow, or had he found it strung, have shot an arrow from it with force enough to kill. Only a hand accustomed to its use could handle a bow like that with any success.”
“You know the bow, then? Saw it nearer than you said — possibly handled it?”
“No, sir; but I know its kind and have handled many of them.”
“In this building?”
“Yes, sir, and in other museums where I have been. I have arranged and rearranged Indian exhibits for years.”
“Then you think that the bow we saw behind the tapestry is an Indian one?”
“Without question.”
The detective nodded and left him. One word with the boy, and he would feel free to go elsewhere.
It proved to be an amusing one. The boy, for all his enthusiasm as a scout, proved to be so hungry that he was actually doleful. More than that, he had a ticket for that afternoon’s ball game in his pocket and feared that he would not be let out in time to see it. He therefore was quick with his answers, which certainly were ingenuous44 enough. He had been looking at the model of a ship (which could be seen through an open door), when he heard a woman cry out as if hurt, from somewhere down the gallery. He was running to see what it meant when a man came along who seemed in as great a hurry as himself. But he got there first — and so on and on, corroborating70 Correy’s story in every particular. He was so honest (Mr. Gryce had been at great pains to trip him up in one of his statements and had openly failed) and yet so anxious for the detective to notice the ticket to the ball game which he held in one hand, that the old man took pity on him and calling an officer, ordered him to let the boy out — a concession71 to youth and innocence72 he was almost ready to regret when a woman of uncertain years and irate73 mien74 attacked him from the doorway he had just left, with the loud remark:
“If you let him go, you can let me go too. I was in this room at the same time he was and know no more about what happened over there than the dead. I have an appointment downtown of great importance. I shall miss it if you don’t let me go at once.”
“Is it of greater importance than the right which this dead girl’s friends have to know by whose careless hands the arrow killing75 her was shot?” And without waiting for a reply, which was not readily forthcoming, Mr. Gryce handed her over to Correy with an injunction to see that she was given a comfortable seat below and proceeded to finish up this portion of the building by a search through the three great rooms extending along the rear.
He found them all empty and without clue of any kind, and satisfied that his real work lay in front, he returned thither76 with as much expedition as old age and rheumatism77 would admit. Why, in doing so, he went for the third time through the gallery instead of through rooms J, H and I, he did not stop to inquire, though afterward78 he asked that question of himself more than once. Had he taken this latter course, he might not have missed —
But that will come later. What we have to do now is to accompany him to the front of the building, where matters of importance undoubtedly await him. He had noted79, in his previous passage to and fro, that the young man who had been nearest to the tragedy was in his place before the case of coins in Section I. This time he noted something more. The young man was in the selfsame spot, but during this brief interval80 of waiting, the passion he evidently cherished for numismatics had reasserted itself, and he now stood with his eyes bent81 as eagerly upon the display of coins over which he hung, as if no shaft of death had crossed the space without and no young body lay in piteous quiet beyond the separating partition.
It was an exhibition of one of the most curious traits of human nature, and Mr. Gryce would undoubtedly have expended82 a few cynical83 thoughts upon it if, upon entering the broad front corridor which he had hitherto avoided, he had not run upon Sweetwater pointing in a meaning way toward two huge cases which, stacked with medieval arms, occupied one of the corners.
“Odd couple over there,” he whispered as the older detective paused to listen. “Been watching them for the last five minutes. They pretend to be looking at some old armor, but they are mighty uneasy and keep glancing up at the window overhead as if they would like to jump out.”
Mr. Gryce indulged in one of his characteristic exclamations84. This was the couple whose queer actions he had noticed on the staircase. “I’ll have a talk with them presently. Anyone in the rooms opposite?”
“Yes, the Curator. He’s in Room A, where there are a lot of engravings waiting to be hung. I guess he was pretty well up to his neck in business when that fellow Correy set up his shout. And have you noticed that he’s a bit deaf, which is the reason, perhaps, why he was not sooner on the scene?”
“No, I hadn’t noticed. Anyone else at this end?”
“Only the young couple I speak of.”
Mr. Gryce gave them a second look. They were by many paces farther from the pedestal from behind which the bow had been flung back of the tapestry than would quite fit in with the theory he had formed, and by means of which he hoped to single out the person who had sent the deadly arrow. But then, under the stress of fear, people can move very swiftly; and besides, what guarantee did he have that these poor, frightened creatures had located themselves with all the honesty the occasion demanded? According to Sweetwater there was nobody sufficiently85 near to notice where they had been at the critical instant, or where they were now. The student’s back was toward them, and the Curator quite out of sight behind a close-shut door.
With this doubt in his mind, Mr. Gryce started to approach the couple. As he did so, he observed another curious fact concerning them. They were neither of them in the place natural to people interested in the contents of the great cases which they had crossed the hall to examine. Instead of standing where a full view of these cases could be had, they had withdrawn86 so far behind them that they presented the appearance of persons in hiding. Yet as he drew nearer and noted their youth and countrified appearance, Mr. Gryce was careful to assume his most benign87 deportment and so to modulate88 his voice as to call up the pink into the young woman’s cheek and the deep red into the man’s. What Mr. Gryce said was this: “You are interested I see in this show of old armor? I don’t wonder. It is very curious. Is this your first visit to the museum?”
The man nodded; the woman lowered her head. Both were self-conscious to a point painful to see.
“It is a pity your first visit should be spoiled by anything so dreadful as the accidental death of this young girl. It seems to have frightened you both very much.”
“Yes, yes,” muttered the man. “We never saw anybody hurt before.”
“Did you know the young lady?”
“Oh, no; oh, no!” they both hastened to cry out in a confused jumble89, after which the man added:
“We — we’re from up the river. We don’t know anybody in this big town.”
As he spoke, he began to edge away from the wall, the girl following.
“Wait!” smiled the detective. “You are getting out of place. You were looking at the armor when you first heard the hubbub90 over there?”
Both were silent.
“What were you looking at?”
“I was looking at her, and her was looking at me,” stammered91 the man. “We were — were talking together here — we didn’t notice ——”
“Just married, eh?”
“Yesterday noon, sir. How — how did you know?”
“I didn’t know; I only guessed. And I think I can guess something else — what your reason was for stealing into this dark corner.”
It was the man who now looked down, and the woman who looked up. In a pinch of this kind, it is the woman who is the more courageous92.
“He was a-kissin’ of me, sir,” she whispered in a frank but shamefaced way. “There was no harm in that, was there? We’re so fond of one another, and how could we know that anyone was dying so near?”
“No, there was no harm,” Mr. Gryce reluctantly admitted. Caught in an absurdity93 amusing enough in its way, he would certainly under less strenuous94 circumstances have rather enjoyed his own humiliation95. But the occasion was too serious and his part in it too pronounced for him to take any pleasure in this misadventure. In the prosecution96 of so daring a scheme for locating witnesses if not of discovering the actual user of the bow, it would not do to fail. He must find the man he sought. If the Curator — but one glance into the room where that gentleman stood amid a litter of prints satisfied him that Sweetwater was right as to the impossibility of getting any information from this quarter. Nor could he hope, remembering what he had himself seen, that he would succeed any better with the last person now remaining on this floor — the young man busy with the coins in No. I.
That he was to be so fortunate as to lay an immediate hand on the person who had shot the fatal arrow was no longer regarded by him as among the possibilities. Whoever this person was, he had found a way of escape which rendered him for the time being safe from discovery. But there was another possible miscalculation which he felt it his duty to recognize before he proceeded further in his difficult task. The bow found back of the tapestry had every appearance of being the one used for the delivery of the arrow. But was it? Might it not, in some strange and unaccountable way, have been flung there previous to the present event and by some hand no longer in the building? Such coincidences have been known, and while as a rule this old and experienced detective put little confidence in coincidences of any kind, he had but one thought in mind in approaching this final witness, which was to get from him some acknowledgment of having seen, on or about the time of the accident, a movement in the tapestry behind which this bow lay concealed. If once this fact could be established, there could be no further question as to the direct connection between the bow there found and the present crime.
But Mr. Gryce might have spared his pains, so far as this young man was concerned. He had been so engrossed in his search for a particularly rare coin, that he had had no eyes for anything beyond. Besides, he was abnormally nearsighted, not being able, even with his glasses, to distinguish faces at any distance, much less a movement in a piece of tapestry.
All of this was discouraging, even if anticipated; but there were still the people below, some one of whom might have seen what this man had not. He would go down to them now, but by a course which would incidentally enlighten him in regard to another matter about which he had some doubts.
In his goings to and fro through the hall, he had passed the open door of Room H and noted how easily a direct flight could be made through it and Rooms I and J to the small staircase running down at the rear. Whether or not this explained the absence of anyone on this floor who by the utmost stretch of imagination could be held responsible for the accident which had occurred there, he felt it incumbent97 upon him to see in how short a time the escape he still believed in could be made through these rooms.
Timing98 his steps from the pedestal nearest this end, he found that even at his slow pace it took but three minutes for him to reach the arcade99 leading into the court from the foot of the staircase. A man conscious of wrong and eager to escape would do it in less; and if, as possibly happened, he had to wait in the doorway of Room J till Correy and the boy had cleared the way for him by their joint100 run into the farther gallery, he would still have time to be well on his way to the lower floor before the cry went up which shut off all further egress101. Relieved, if not contented102 with the prospect103 this gave of a new clue to his problem, he re?ntered the court and was preparing to renew his investigations104 when the arrival of the Coroner put a temporary end to his efforts as well as to the impatience of the so-called pawns, who were now allowed, one and all, to leave their posts.
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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lavish
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benevolent
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vehemently
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tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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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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fortitude
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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12
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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13
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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14
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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17
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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18
impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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19
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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20
defer
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| vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从 | |
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21
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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22
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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23
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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24
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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25
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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26
portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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pertinent
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| adj.恰当的；贴切的；中肯的；有关的；相干的 | |
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30
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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31
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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32
compliance
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| n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从 | |
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33
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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34
plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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38
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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39
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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40
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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41
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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42
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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ingenuously
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| adv.率直地，正直地 | |
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44
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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45
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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46
vacuity
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| n.(想象力等)贫乏，无聊，空白 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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50
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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51
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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52
pawns
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| n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
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53
cursory
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| adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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tableau
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| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
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pointedness
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| n.尖角，尖锐；棱角 | |
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57
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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58
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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59
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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61
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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62
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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65
gauged
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| adj.校准的；标准的；量规的；量计的v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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67
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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68
expeditious
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| adj.迅速的，敏捷的 | |
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69
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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70
corroborating
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的现在分词 ) | |
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71
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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72
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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73
irate
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| adj.发怒的，生气 | |
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74
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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75
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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76
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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77
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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78
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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79
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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80
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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81
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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82
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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83
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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84
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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85
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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86
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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87
benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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88
modulate
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| v.调整，调节(音的强弱)；变调 | |
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89
jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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90
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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91
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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92
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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93
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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94
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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95
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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96
prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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97
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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98
timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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99
arcade
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| n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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100
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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101
egress
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| n.出去；出口 | |
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102
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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103
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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104
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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