Heaven keep us from a knowledge of the sights the moon beheld11 upon that field, when, coming up above the black line of distant rising-ground, softened13 and blurred14 at the edge by trees, she rose into the sky and looked upon the plain, strewn with upturned faces that had once at mothers’ breasts sought mothers’ eyes, or slumbered15 happily. Heaven keep us from a knowledge of the secrets whispered afterwards upon the tainted17 wind that blew across the scene of that day’s work and that night’s death and suffering! Many a lonely moon was bright upon the battle-ground, and many a star kept mournful watch upon it, and many a wind from every quarter of the earth blew over it, before the traces of the fight were worn away.
They lurked18 and lingered for a long time, but survived in little things; for, Nature, far above the evil passions of men, soon recovered Her serenity19, and smiled upon the guilty battle-ground as she had done before, when it was innocent. The larks20 sang high above it; the swallows skimmed and dipped and flitted to and fro; the shadows of the flying clouds pursued each other swiftly, over grass and corn and turnip-field and wood, and over roof and church-spire in the nestling town among the trees, away into the bright distance on the borders of the sky and earth, where the red sunsets faded. Crops were sown, and grew up, and were gathered in; the stream that had been crimsoned21, turned a watermill; men whistled at the plough; gleaners and haymakers were seen in quiet groups at work; sheep and oxen pastured; boys whooped22 and called, in fields, to scare away the birds; smoke rose from cottage chimneys; sabbath bells rang peacefully; old people lived and died; the timid creatures of the field, the simple flowers of the bush and garden, grew and withered24 in their destined25 terms: and all upon the fierce and bloody26 battle-ground, where thousands upon thousands had been killed in the great fight. But, there were deep green patches in the growing corn at first, that people looked at awfully27. Year after year they re-appeared; and it was known that underneath28 those fertile spots, heaps of men and horses lay buried, indiscriminately, enriching the ground. The husbandmen who ploughed those places, shrunk from the great worms abounding29 there; and the sheaves they yielded, were, for many a long year, called the Battle Sheaves, and set apart; and no one ever knew a Battle Sheaf to be among the last load at a Harvest Home. For a long time, every furrow30 that was turned, revealed some fragments of the fight. For a long time, there were wounded trees upon the battle-ground; and scraps31 of hacked32 and broken fence and wall, where deadly struggles had been made; and trampled33 parts where not a leaf or blade would grow. For a long time, no village girl would dress her hair or bosom34 with the sweetest flower from that field of death: and after many a year had come and gone, the berries growing there, were still believed to leave too deep a stain upon the hand that plucked them.
The Seasons in their course, however, though they passed as lightly as the summer clouds themselves, obliterated35, in the lapse36 of time, even these remains37 of the old conflict; and wore away such legendary38 traces of it as the neighbouring people carried in their minds, until they dwindled39 into old wives’ tales, dimly remembered round the winter fire, and waning40 every year. Where the wild flowers and berries had so long remained upon the stem untouched, gardens arose, and houses were built, and children played at battles on the turf. The wounded trees had long ago made Christmas logs, and blazed and roared away. The deep green patches were no greener now than the memory of those who lay in dust below. The ploughshare still turned up from time to time some rusty41 bits of metal, but it was hard to say what use they had ever served, and those who found them wondered and disputed. An old dinted corselet, and a helmet, had been hanging in the church so long, that the same weak half-blind old man who tried in vain to make them out above the whitewashed43 arch, had marvelled44 at them as a baby. If the host slain45 upon the field, could have been for a moment reanimated in the forms in which they fell, each upon the spot that was the bed of his untimely death, gashed47 and ghastly soldiers would have stared in, hundreds deep, at household door and window; and would have risen on the hearths48 of quiet homes; and would have been the garnered49 store of barns and granaries; and would have started up between the cradled infant and its nurse; and would have floated with the stream, and whirled round on the mill, and crowded the orchard50, and burdened the meadow, and piled the rickyard high with dying men. So altered was the battle-ground, where thousands upon thousands had been killed in the great fight.
Nowhere more altered, perhaps, about a hundred years ago, than in one little orchard attached to an old stone house with a honeysuckle porch; where, on a bright autumn morning, there were sounds of music and laughter, and where two girls danced merrily together on the grass, while some half-dozen peasant women standing51 on ladders, gathering52 the apples from the trees, stopped in their work to look down, and share their enjoyment53. It was a pleasant, lively, natural scene; a beautiful day, a retired54 spot; and the two girls, quite unconstrained and careless, danced in the freedom and gaiety of their hearts.
If there were no such thing as display in the world, my private opinion is, and I hope you agree with me, that we might get on a great deal better than we do, and might be infinitely55 more agreeable company than we are. It was charming to see how these girls danced. They had no spectators but the apple-pickers on the ladders. They were very glad to please them, but they danced to please themselves (or at least you would have supposed so); and you could no more help admiring, than they could help dancing. How they did dance!
Not like opera-dancers. Not at all. And not like Madame Anybody’s finished pupils. Not the least. It was not quadrille dancing, nor minuet dancing, nor even country-dance dancing. It was neither in the old style, nor the new style, nor the French style, nor the English style: though it may have been, by accident, a trifle in the Spanish style, which is a free and joyous56 one, I am told, deriving a delightful57 air of off-hand inspiration, from the chirping58 little castanets. As they danced among the orchard trees, and down the groves59 of stems and back again, and twirled each other lightly round and round, the influence of their airy motion seemed to spread and spread, in the sun-lighted scene, like an expanding circle in the water. Their streaming hair and fluttering skirts, the elastic60 grass beneath their feet, the boughs61 that rustled62 in the morning air—the flashing leaves, the speckled shadows on the soft green ground—the balmy wind that swept along the landscape, glad to turn the distant windmill, cheerily—everything between the two girls, and the man and team at plough upon the ridge63 of land, where they showed against the sky as if they were the last things in the world—seemed dancing too.
At last, the younger of the dancing sisters, out of breath, and laughing gaily64, threw herself upon a bench to rest. The other leaned against a tree hard by. The music, a wandering harp65 and fiddle66, left off with a flourish, as if it boasted of its freshness; though the truth is, it had gone at such a pace, and worked itself to such a pitch of competition with the dancing, that it never could have held on, half a minute longer. The apple-pickers on the ladders raised a hum and murmur67 of applause, and then, in keeping with the sound, bestirred themselves to work again like bees.
The more actively68, perhaps, because an elderly gentleman, who was no other than Doctor Jeddler himself—it was Doctor Jeddler’s house and orchard, you should know, and these were Doctor Jeddler’s daughters—came bustling69 out to see what was the matter, and who the deuce played music on his property, before breakfast. For he was a great philosopher, Doctor Jeddler, and not very musical.
‘Music and dancing to-day!’ said the Doctor, stopping short, and speaking to himself. ‘I thought they dreaded70 to-day. But it’s a world of contradictions. Why, Grace, why, Marion!’ he added, aloud, ‘is the world more mad than usual this morning?’
‘Make some allowance for it, father, if it be,’ replied his younger daughter, Marion, going close to him, and looking into his face, ‘for it’s somebody’s birth-day.’
‘Somebody’s birth-day, Puss!’ replied the Doctor. ‘Don’t you know it’s always somebody’s birth-day? Did you never hear how many new performers enter on this—ha! ha! ha!—it’s impossible to speak gravely of it—on this preposterous71 and ridiculous business called Life, every minute?’
‘No, father!’
‘No, not you, of course; you’re a woman—almost,’ said the Doctor. ‘By-the-by,’ and he looked into the pretty face, still close to his, ‘I suppose it’s your birth-day.’
‘No! Do you really, father?’ cried his pet daughter, pursing up her red lips to be kissed.
‘There! Take my love with it,’ said the Doctor, imprinting72 his upon them; ‘and many happy returns of the—the idea!—of the day. The notion of wishing happy returns in such a farce73 as this,’ said the Doctor to himself, ‘is good! Ha! ha! ha!’
Doctor Jeddler was, as I have said, a great philosopher, and the heart and mystery of his philosophy was, to look upon the world as a gigantic practical joke; as something too absurd to be considered seriously, by any rational man. His system of belief had been, in the beginning, part and parcel of the battle-ground on which he lived, as you shall presently understand.
‘Well! But how did you get the music?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Poultry-stealers, of course! Where did the minstrels come from?’
‘Alfred sent the music,’ said his daughter Grace, adjusting a few simple flowers in her sister’s hair, with which, in her admiration74 of that youthful beauty, she had herself adorned75 it half-an-hour before, and which the dancing had disarranged.
‘Oh! Alfred sent the music, did he?’ returned the Doctor.
‘Yes. He met it coming out of the town as he was entering early. The men are travelling on foot, and rested there last night; and as it was Marion’s birth-day, and he thought it would please her, he sent them on, with a pencilled note to me, saying that if I thought so too, they had come to serenade her.’
‘Ay, ay,’ said the Doctor, carelessly, ‘he always takes your opinion.’
‘And my opinion being favourable,’ said Grace, good-humouredly; and pausing for a moment to admire the pretty head she decorated, with her own thrown back; ‘and Marion being in high spirits, and beginning to dance, I joined her. And so we danced to Alfred’s music till we were out of breath. And we thought the music all the gayer for being sent by Alfred. Didn’t we, dear Marion?’
‘Oh, I don’t know, Grace. How you tease me about Alfred.’
‘Tease you by mentioning your lover?’ said her sister.
‘I am sure I don’t much care to have him mentioned,’ said the wilful76 beauty, stripping the petals77 from some flowers she held, and scattering78 them on the ground. ‘I am almost tired of hearing of him; and as to his being my lover—’
‘Hush! Don’t speak lightly of a true heart, which is all your own, Marion,’ cried her sister, ‘even in jest. There is not a truer heart than Alfred’s in the world!’
‘No-no,’ said Marion, raising her eyebrows79 with a pleasant air of careless consideration, ‘perhaps not. But I don’t know that there’s any great merit in that. I—I don’t want him to be so very true. I never asked him. If he expects that I— But, dear Grace, why need we talk of him at all, just now!’
It was agreeable to see the graceful80 figures of the blooming sisters, twined together, lingering among the trees, conversing81 thus, with earnestness opposed to lightness, yet, with love responding tenderly to love. And it was very curious indeed to see the younger sister’s eyes suffused82 with tears, and something fervently83 and deeply felt, breaking through the wilfulness84 of what she said, and striving with it painfully.
The difference between them, in respect of age, could not exceed four years at most; but Grace, as often happens in such cases, when no mother watches over both (the Doctor’s wife was dead), seemed, in her gentle care of her young sister, and in the steadiness of her devotion to her, older than she was; and more removed, in course of nature, from all competition with her, or participation85, otherwise than through her sympathy and true affection, in her wayward fancies, than their ages seemed to warrant. Great character of mother, that, even in this shadow and faint reflection of it, purifies the heart, and raises the exalted86 nature nearer to the angels!
The Doctor’s reflections, as he looked after them, and heard the purport87 of their discourse88, were limited at first to certain merry meditations89 on the folly90 of all loves and likings, and the idle imposition practised on themselves by young people, who believed for a moment, that there could be anything serious in such bubbles, and were always undeceived—always!
But, the home-adorning, self-denying qualities of Grace, and her sweet temper, so gentle and retiring, yet including so much constancy and bravery of spirit, seemed all expressed to him in the contrast between her quiet household figure and that of his younger and more beautiful child; and he was sorry for her sake—sorry for them both—that life should be such a very ridiculous business as it was.
The Doctor never dreamed of inquiring whether his children, or either of them, helped in any way to make the scheme a serious one. But then he was a Philosopher.
A kind and generous man by nature, he had stumbled, by chance, over that common Philosopher’s stone (much more easily discovered than the object of the alchemist’s researches), which sometimes trips up kind and generous men, and has the fatal property of turning gold to dross91 and every precious thing to poor account.
‘Britain!’ cried the Doctor. ‘Britain! Holloa!’
A small man, with an uncommonly92 sour and discontented face, emerged from the house, and returned to this call the unceremonious acknowledgment of ‘Now then!’
‘Where’s the breakfast table?’ said the Doctor.
‘In the house,’ returned Britain.
‘Are you going to spread it out here, as you were told last night?’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t you know that there are gentlemen coming? That there’s business to be done this morning, before the coach comes by? That this is a very particular occasion?’
‘I couldn’t do anything, Dr. Jeddler, till the women had done getting in the apples, could I?’ said Britain, his voice rising with his reasoning, so that it was very loud at last.
‘Well, have they done now?’ replied the Doctor, looking at his watch, and clapping his hands. ‘Come! make haste! where’s Clemency94?’
‘Here am I, Mister,’ said a voice from one of the ladders, which a pair of clumsy feet descended95 briskly. ‘It’s all done now. Clear away, gals96. Everything shall be ready for you in half a minute, Mister.’
With that she began to bustle97 about most vigorously; presenting, as she did so, an appearance sufficiently98 peculiar99 to justify100 a word of introduction.
She was about thirty years old, and had a sufficiently plump and cheerful face, though it was twisted up into an odd expression of tightness that made it comical. But, the extraordinary homeliness101 of her gait and manner, would have superseded102 any face in the world. To say that she had two left legs, and somebody else’s arms, and that all four limbs seemed to be out of joint103, and to start from perfectly104 wrong places when they were set in motion, is to offer the mildest outline of the reality. To say that she was perfectly content and satisfied with these arrangements, and regarded them as being no business of hers, and that she took her arms and legs as they came, and allowed them to dispose of themselves just as it happened, is to render faint justice to her equanimity105. Her dress was a prodigious106 pair of self-willed shoes, that never wanted to go where her feet went; blue stockings; a printed gown of many colours, and the most hideous107 pattern procurable108 for money; and a white apron109. She always wore short sleeves, and always had, by some accident, grazed elbows, in which she took so lively an interest, that she was continually trying to turn them round and get impossible views of them. In general, a little cap placed somewhere on her head; though it was rarely to be met with in the place usually occupied in other subjects, by that article of dress; but, from head to foot she was scrupulously110 clean, and maintained a kind of dislocated tidiness. Indeed, her laudable anxiety to be tidy and compact in her own conscience as well as in the public eye, gave rise to one of her most startling evolutions, which was to grasp herself sometimes by a sort of wooden handle (part of her clothing, and familiarly called a busk), and wrestle111 as it were with her garments, until they fell into a symmetrical arrangement.
Such, in outward form and garb112, was Clemency Newcome; who was supposed to have unconsciously originated a corruption113 of her own Christian114 name, from Clementina (but nobody knew, for the deaf old mother, a very phenomenon of age, whom she had supported almost from a child, was dead, and she had no other relation); who now busied herself in preparing the table, and who stood, at intervals115, with her bare red arms crossed, rubbing her grazed elbows with opposite hands, and staring at it very composedly, until she suddenly remembered something else she wanted, and jogged off to fetch it.
‘Here are them two lawyers a-coming, Mister!’ said Clemency, in a tone of no very great good-will.
‘Ah!’ cried the Doctor, advancing to the gate to meet them. ‘Good morning, good morning! Grace, my dear! Marion! Here are Messrs. Snitchey and Craggs. Where’s Alfred!’
‘He’ll be back directly, father, no doubt,’ said Grace. ‘He had so much to do this morning in his preparations for departure, that he was up and out by daybreak. Good morning, gentlemen.’
‘Ladies!’ said Mr. Snitchey, ‘for Self and Craggs,’ who bowed, ‘good morning! Miss,’ to Marion, ‘I kiss your hand.’ Which he did. ‘And I wish you’—which he might or might not, for he didn’t look, at first sight, like a gentleman troubled with many warm outpourings of soul, in behalf of other people, ‘a hundred happy returns of this auspicious116 day.’
‘Ha ha ha!’ laughed the Doctor thoughtfully, with his hands in his pockets. ‘The great farce in a hundred acts!’
‘You wouldn’t, I am sure,’ said Mr. Snitchey, standing a small professional blue bag against one leg of the table, ‘cut the great farce short for this actress, at all events, Doctor Jeddler.’
‘No,’ returned the Doctor. ‘God forbid! May she live to laugh at it, as long as she can laugh, and then say, with the French wit, “The farce is ended; draw the curtain.”’
‘The French wit,’ said Mr. Snitchey, peeping sharply into his blue bag, ‘was wrong, Doctor Jeddler, and your philosophy is altogether wrong, depend upon it, as I have often told you. Nothing serious in life! What do you call law?’
‘A joke,’ replied the Doctor.
‘Did you ever go to law?’ asked Mr. Snitchey, looking out of the blue bag.
‘Never,’ returned the Doctor.
‘If you ever do,’ said Mr. Snitchey, ‘perhaps you’ll alter that opinion.’
Craggs, who seemed to be represented by Snitchey, and to be conscious of little or no separate existence or personal individuality, offered a remark of his own in this place. It involved the only idea of which he did not stand seized and possessed117 in equal moieties118 with Snitchey; but, he had some partners in it among the wise men of the world.
‘It’s made a great deal too easy,’ said Mr. Craggs.
‘Law is?’ asked the Doctor.
‘Yes,’ said Mr. Craggs, ‘everything is. Everything appears to me to be made too easy, now-a-days. It’s the vice119 of these times. If the world is a joke (I am not prepared to say it isn’t), it ought to be made a very difficult joke to crack. It ought to be as hard a struggle, sir, as possible. That’s the intention. But, it’s being made far too easy. We are oiling the gates of life. They ought to be rusty. We shall have them beginning to turn, soon, with a smooth sound. Whereas they ought to grate upon their hinges, sir.’
Mr. Craggs seemed positively120 to grate upon his own hinges, as he delivered this opinion; to which he communicated immense effect—being a cold, hard, dry, man, dressed in grey and white, like a flint; with small twinkles in his eyes, as if something struck sparks out of them. The three natural kingdoms, indeed, had each a fanciful representative among this brotherhood121 of disputants; for Snitchey was like a magpie122 or raven123 (only not so sleek), and the Doctor had a streaked124 face like a winter-pippin, with here and there a dimple to express the peckings of the birds, and a very little bit of pigtail behind that stood for the stalk.
As the active figure of a handsome young man, dressed for a journey, and followed by a porter bearing several packages and baskets, entered the orchard at a brisk pace, and with an air of gaiety and hope that accorded well with the morning, these three drew together, like the brothers of the sister Fates, or like the Graces most effectually disguised, or like the three weird125 prophets on the heath, and greeted him.
‘Happy returns, Alf!’ said the Doctor, lightly.
‘A hundred happy returns of this auspicious day, Mr. Heathfield!’ said Snitchey, bowing low.
‘Returns!’ Craggs murmured in a deep voice, all alone.
‘Why, what a battery!’ exclaimed Alfred, stopping short, ‘and one—two—three—all foreboders of no good, in the great sea before me. I am glad you are not the first I have met this morning: I should have taken it for a bad omen46. But, Grace was the first—sweet, pleasant Grace—so I defy you all!’
‘If you please, Mister, I was the first you know,’ said Clemency Newcome. ‘She was walking out here, before sunrise, you remember. I was in the house.’
‘That’s true! Clemency was the first,’ said Alfred. ‘So I defy you with Clemency.’
‘Not so bad a one as it appears, may be,’ said Alfred, shaking hands heartily127 with the Doctor, and also with Snitchey and Craggs, and then looking round. ‘Where are the—Good Heavens!’
With a start, productive for the moment of a closer partnership128 between Jonathan Snitchey and Thomas Craggs than the subsisting129 articles of agreement in that wise contemplated130, he hastily betook himself to where the sisters stood together, and—however, I needn’t more particularly explain his manner of saluting131 Marion first, and Grace afterwards, than by hinting that Mr. Craggs may possibly have considered it ‘too easy.’
Perhaps to change the subject, Dr. Jeddler made a hasty move towards the breakfast, and they all sat down at table. Grace presided; but so discreetly132 stationed herself, as to cut off her sister and Alfred from the rest of the company. Snitchey and Craggs sat at opposite corners, with the blue bag between them for safety; the Doctor took his usual position, opposite to Grace. Clemency hovered133 galvanically about the table, as waitress; and the melancholy134 Britain, at another and a smaller board, acted as Grand Carver of a round of beef and a ham.
‘Meat?’ said Britain, approaching Mr. Snitchey, with the carving135 knife and fork in his hands, and throwing the question at him like a missile.
‘Certainly,’ returned the lawyer.
‘Do you want any?’ to Craggs.
‘Lean and well done,’ replied that gentleman.
Having executed these orders, and moderately supplied the Doctor (he seemed to know that nobody else wanted anything to eat), he lingered as near the Firm as he decently could, watching with an austere136 eye their disposition137 of the viands138, and but once relaxing the severe expression of his face. This was on the occasion of Mr. Craggs, whose teeth were not of the best, partially139 choking, when he cried out with great animation140, ‘I thought he was gone!’
‘Now, Alfred,’ said the Doctor, ‘for a word or two of business, while we are yet at breakfast.’
‘While we are yet at breakfast,’ said Snitchey and Craggs, who seemed to have no present idea of leaving off.
Although Alfred had not been breakfasting, and seemed to have quite enough business on his hands as it was, he respectfully answered:
‘If you please, sir.’
‘If anything could be serious,’ the Doctor began, ‘in such a—’
‘Farce as this, sir,’ hinted Alfred.
‘In such a farce as this,’ observed the Doctor, ‘it might be this recurrence141, on the eve of separation, of a double birth-day, which is connected with many associations pleasant to us four, and with the recollection of a long and amicable142 intercourse143. That’s not to the purpose.’
‘Ah! yes, yes, Dr. Jeddler,’ said the young man. ‘It is to the purpose. Much to the purpose, as my heart bears witness this morning; and as yours does too, I know, if you would let it speak. I leave your house to-day; I cease to be your ward16 to-day; we part with tender relations stretching far behind us, that never can be exactly renewed, and with others dawning—yet before us,’ he looked down at Marion beside him, ‘fraught with such considerations as I must not trust myself to speak of now. Come, come!’ he added, rallying his spirits and the Doctor at once, ‘there’s a serious grain in this large foolish dust-heap, Doctor. Let us allow to-day, that there is One.’
‘To-day!’ cried the Doctor. ‘Hear him! Ha, ha, ha! Of all days in the foolish year. Why, on this day, the great battle was fought on this ground. On this ground where we now sit, where I saw my two girls dance this morning, where the fruit has just been gathered for our eating from these trees, the roots of which are struck in Men, not earth,—so many lives were lost, that within my recollection, generations afterwards, a churchyard full of bones, and dust of bones, and chips of cloven skulls144, has been dug up from underneath our feet here. Yet not a hundred people in that battle knew for what they fought, or why; not a hundred of the inconsiderate rejoicers in the victory, why they rejoiced. Not half a hundred people were the better for the gain or loss. Not half-a-dozen men agree to this hour on the cause or merits; and nobody, in short, ever knew anything distinct about it, but the mourners of the slain. Serious, too!’ said the Doctor, laughing. ‘Such a system!’
‘But, all this seems to me,’ said Alfred, ‘to be very serious.’
‘Serious!’ cried the Doctor. ‘If you allowed such things to be serious, you must go mad, or die, or climb up to the top of a mountain, and turn hermit145.’
‘Besides—so long ago,’ said Alfred.
‘Long ago!’ returned the Doctor. ‘Do you know what the world has been doing, ever since? Do you know what else it has been doing? I don’t!’
‘It has gone to law a little,’ observed Mr. Snitchey, stirring his tea.
‘Although the way out has been always made too easy,’ said his partner.
‘And you’ll excuse my saying, Doctor,’ pursued Mr. Snitchey, ‘having been already put a thousand times in possession of my opinion, in the course of our discussions, that, in its having gone to law, and in its legal system altogether, I do observe a serious side—now, really, a something tangible146, and with a purpose and intention in it—’
Clemency Newcome made an angular tumble against the table, occasioning a sounding clatter147 among the cups and saucers.
‘Heyday! what’s the matter there?’ exclaimed the Doctor.
‘It’s this evil-inclined blue bag,’ said Clemency, ‘always tripping up somebody!’
‘With a purpose and intention in it, I was saying,’ resumed Snitchey, ‘that commands respect. Life a farce, Dr. Jeddler? With law in it?’
The Doctor laughed, and looked at Alfred.
‘Granted, if you please, that war is foolish,’ said Snitchey. ‘There we agree. For example. Here’s a smiling country,’ pointing it out with his fork, ‘once overrun by soldiers—trespassers every man of ’em—and laid waste by fire and sword. He, he, he! The idea of any man exposing himself, voluntarily, to fire and sword! Stupid, wasteful148, positively ridiculous; you laugh at your fellow-creatures, you know, when you think of it! But take this smiling country as it stands. Think of the laws appertaining to real property; to the bequest149 and devise of real property; to the mortgage and redemption of real property; to leasehold150, freehold, and copyhold estate; think,’ said Mr. Snitchey, with such great emotion that he actually smacked151 his lips, ‘of the complicated laws relating to title and proof of title, with all the contradictory152 precedents153 and numerous acts of parliament connected with them; think of the infinite number of ingenious and interminable chancery suits, to which this pleasant prospect154 may give rise; and acknowledge, Dr. Jeddler, that there is a green spot in the scheme about us! I believe,’ said Mr. Snitchey, looking at his partner, ‘that I speak for Self and Craggs?’
Mr. Craggs having signified assent155, Mr. Snitchey, somewhat freshened by his recent eloquence156, observed that he would take a little more beef and another cup of tea.
‘I don’t stand up for life in general,’ he added, rubbing his hands and chuckling157, ‘it’s full of folly; full of something worse. Professions of trust, and confidence, and unselfishness, and all that! Bah, bah, bah! We see what they’re worth. But, you mustn’t laugh at life; you’ve got a game to play; a very serious game indeed! Everybody’s playing against you, you know, and you’re playing against them. Oh! it’s a very interesting thing. There are deep moves upon the board. You must only laugh, Dr. Jeddler, when you win—and then not much. He, he, he! And then not much,’ repeated Snitchey, rolling his head and winking158 his eye, as if he would have added, ‘you may do this instead!’
‘Well, Alfred!’ cried the Doctor, ‘what do you say now?’
‘I say, sir,’ replied Alfred, ‘that the greatest favour you could do me, and yourself too, I am inclined to think, would be to try sometimes to forget this battle-field and others like it in that broader battle-field of Life, on which the sun looks every day.’
‘Really, I’m afraid that wouldn’t soften12 his opinions, Mr. Alfred,’ said Snitchey. ‘The combatants are very eager and very bitter in that same battle of Life. There’s a great deal of cutting and slashing159, and firing into people’s heads from behind. There is terrible treading down, and trampling160 on. It is rather a bad business.’
‘I believe, Mr. Snitchey,’ said Alfred, ‘there are quiet victories and struggles, great sacrifices of self, and noble acts of heroism161, in it—even in many of its apparent lightnesses and contradictions—not the less difficult to achieve, because they have no earthly chronicle or audience—done every day in nooks and corners, and in little households, and in men’s and women’s hearts—any one of which might reconcile the sternest man to such a world, and fill him with belief and hope in it, though two-fourths of its people were at war, and another fourth at law; and that’s a bold word.’
Both the sisters listened keenly.
‘Well, well!’ said the Doctor, ‘I am too old to be converted, even by my friend Snitchey here, or my good spinster sister, Martha Jeddler; who had what she calls her domestic trials ages ago, and has led a sympathising life with all sorts of people ever since; and who is so much of your opinion (only she’s less reasonable and more obstinate162, being a woman), that we can’t agree, and seldom meet. I was born upon this battle-field. I began, as a boy, to have my thoughts directed to the real history of a battle-field. Sixty years have gone over my head, and I have never seen the Christian world, including Heaven knows how many loving mothers and good enough girls like mine here, anything but mad for a battle-field. The same contradictions prevail in everything. One must either laugh or cry at such stupendous inconsistencies; and I prefer to laugh.’
Britain, who had been paying the profoundest and most melancholy attention to each speaker in his turn, seemed suddenly to decide in favour of the same preference, if a deep sepulchral163 sound that escaped him might be construed164 into a demonstration165 of risibility166. His face, however, was so perfectly unaffected by it, both before and afterwards, that although one or two of the breakfast party looked round as being startled by a mysterious noise, nobody connected the offender167 with it.
Except his partner in attendance, Clemency Newcome; who rousing him with one of those favourite joints168, her elbows, inquired, in a reproachful whisper, what he laughed at.
‘Not you!’ said Britain.
‘Who then?’
‘Humanity,’ said Britain. ‘That’s the joke!’
‘What between master and them lawyers, he’s getting more and more addle-headed every day!’ cried Clemency, giving him a lunge with the other elbow, as a mental stimulant169. ‘Do you know where you are? Do you want to get warning?’
‘I don’t know anything,’ said Britain, with a leaden eye and an immovable visage. ‘I don’t care for anything. I don’t make out anything. I don’t believe anything. And I don’t want anything.’
Although this forlorn summary of his general condition may have been overcharged in an access of despondency, Benjamin Britain—sometimes called Little Britain, to distinguish him from Great; as we might say Young England, to express Old England with a decided170 difference—had defined his real state more accurately171 than might be supposed. For, serving as a sort of man Miles to the Doctor’s Friar Bacon, and listening day after day to innumerable orations172 addressed by the Doctor to various people, all tending to show that his very existence was at best a mistake and an absurdity173, this unfortunate servitor had fallen, by degrees, into such an abyss of confused and contradictory suggestions from within and without, that Truth at the bottom of her well, was on the level surface as compared with Britain in the depths of his mystification. The only point he clearly comprehended, was, that the new element usually brought into these discussions by Snitchey and Craggs, never served to make them clearer, and always seemed to give the Doctor a species of advantage and confirmation174. Therefore, he looked upon the Firm as one of the proximate causes of his state of mind, and held them in abhorrence175 accordingly.
‘But, this is not our business, Alfred,’ said the Doctor. ‘Ceasing to be my ward (as you have said) to-day; and leaving us full to the brim of such learning as the Grammar School down here was able to give you, and your studies in London could add to that, and such practical knowledge as a dull old country Doctor like myself could graft176 upon both; you are away, now, into the world. The first term of probation177 appointed by your poor father, being over, away you go now, your own master, to fulfil his second desire. And long before your three years’ tour among the foreign schools of medicine is finished, you’ll have forgotten us. Lord, you’ll forget us easily in six months!’
‘If I do—But you know better; why should I speak to you!’ said Alfred, laughing.
‘I don’t know anything of the sort,’ returned the Doctor. ‘What do you say, Marion?’
Marion, trifling178 with her teacup, seemed to say—but she didn’t say it—that he was welcome to forget, if he could. Grace pressed the blooming face against her cheek, and smiled.
‘I haven’t been, I hope, a very unjust steward179 in the execution of my trust,’ pursued the Doctor; ‘but I am to be, at any rate, formally discharged, and released, and what not this morning; and here are our good friends Snitchey and Craggs, with a bagful of papers, and accounts, and documents, for the transfer of the balance of the trust fund to you (I wish it was a more difficult one to dispose of, Alfred, but you must get to be a great man and make it so), and other drolleries of that sort, which are to be signed, sealed, and delivered.’
‘And duly witnessed as by law required,’ said Snitchey, pushing away his plate, and taking out the papers, which his partner proceeded to spread upon the table; ‘and Self and Craggs having been co-trustees with you, Doctor, in so far as the fund was concerned, we shall want your two servants to attest180 the signatures—can you read, Mrs. Newcome?’
‘I an’t married, Mister,’ said Clemency.
‘Oh! I beg your pardon. I should think not,’ chuckled181 Snitchey, casting his eyes over her extraordinary figure. ‘You can read?’
‘A little,’ answered Clemency.
‘No,’ said Clemency. ‘Too hard. I only reads a thimble.’
‘Read a thimble!’ echoed Snitchey. ‘What are you talking about, young woman?’
Clemency nodded. ‘And a nutmeg-grater.’
‘Why, this is a lunatic! a subject for the Lord High Chancellor183!’ said Snitchey, staring at her.
—‘If possessed of any property,’ stipulated184 Craggs.
Grace, however, interposing, explained that each of the articles in question bore an engraved185 motto, and so formed the pocket library of Clemency Newcome, who was not much given to the study of books.
‘Oh, that’s it, is it, Miss Grace!’ said Snitchey.
‘Yes, yes. Ha, ha, ha! I thought our friend was an idiot. She looks uncommonly like it,’ he muttered, with a supercilious186 glance. ‘And what does the thimble say, Mrs. Newcome?’
‘I an’t married, Mister,’ observed Clemency.
‘Well, Newcome. Will that do?’ said the lawyer. ‘What does the thimble say, Newcome?’
How Clemency, before replying to this question, held one pocket open, and looked down into its yawning depths for the thimble which wasn’t there,—and how she then held an opposite pocket open, and seeming to descry187 it, like a pearl of great price, at the bottom, cleared away such intervening obstacles as a handkerchief, an end of wax candle, a flushed apple, an orange, a lucky penny, a cramp188 bone, a padlock, a pair of scissors in a sheath more expressively189 describable as promising190 young shears191, a handful or so of loose beads192, several balls of cotton, a needle-case, a cabinet collection of curl-papers, and a biscuit, all of which articles she entrusted193 individually and separately to Britain to hold,—is of no consequence.
Nor how, in her determination to grasp this pocket by the throat and keep it prisoner (for it had a tendency to swing, and twist itself round the nearest corner), she assumed and calmly maintained, an attitude apparently194 inconsistent with the human anatomy195 and the laws of gravity. It is enough that at last she triumphantly196 produced the thimble on her finger, and rattled197 the nutmeg-grater: the literature of both those trinkets being obviously in course of wearing out and wasting away, through excessive friction198.
‘That’s the thimble, is it, young woman?’ said Mr. Snitchey, diverting himself at her expense. ‘And what does the thimble say?’
‘It says,’ replied Clemency, reading slowly round as if it were a tower, ‘For-get and For-give.’
Snitchey and Craggs laughed heartily. ‘So new!’ said Snitchey. ‘So easy!’ said Craggs. ‘Such a knowledge of human nature in it!’ said Snitchey. ‘So applicable to the affairs of life!’ said Craggs.
‘And the nutmeg-grater?’ inquired the head of the Firm.
‘The grater says,’ returned Clemency, ‘Do as you—wold—be—done by.’
‘Do, or you’ll be done brown, you mean,’ said Mr. Snitchey.
‘I am afraid that if she was, Doctor,’ said Mr. Snitchey, turning to him suddenly, as if to anticipate any effect that might otherwise be consequent on this retort, ‘she’d find it to be the golden rule of half her clients. They are serious enough in that—whimsical as your world is—and lay the blame on us afterwards. We, in our profession, are little else than mirrors after all, Mr. Alfred; but, we are generally consulted by angry and quarrelsome people who are not in their best looks, and it’s rather hard to quarrel with us if we reflect unpleasant aspects. I think,’ said Mr. Snitchey, ‘that I speak for Self and Craggs?’
‘Decidedly,’ said Craggs.
‘And so, if Mr. Britain will oblige us with a mouthful of ink,’ said Mr. Snitchey, returning to the papers, ‘we’ll sign, seal, and deliver as soon as possible, or the coach will be coming past before we know where we are.’
If one might judge from his appearance, there was every probability of the coach coming past before Mr. Britain knew where he was; for he stood in a state of abstraction, mentally balancing the Doctor against the lawyers, and the lawyers against the Doctor, and their clients against both, and engaged in feeble attempts to make the thimble and nutmeg-grater (a new idea to him) square with anybody’s system of philosophy; and, in short, bewildering himself as much as ever his great namesake has done with theories and schools. But, Clemency, who was his good Genius—though he had the meanest possible opinion of her understanding, by reason of her seldom troubling herself with abstract speculations200, and being always at hand to do the right thing at the right time—having produced the ink in a twinkling, tendered him the further service of recalling him to himself by the application of her elbows; with which gentle flappers she so jogged his memory, in a more literal construction of that phrase than usual, that he soon became quite fresh and brisk.
How he laboured under an apprehension201 not uncommon93 to persons in his degree, to whom the use of pen and ink is an event, that he couldn’t append his name to a document, not of his own writing, without committing himself in some shadowy manner, or somehow signing away vague and enormous sums of money; and how he approached the deeds under protest, and by dint42 of the Doctor’s coercion202, and insisted on pausing to look at them before writing (the cramped203 hand, to say nothing of the phraseology, being so much Chinese to him), and also on turning them round to see whether there was anything fraudulent underneath; and how, having signed his name, he became desolate204 as one who had parted with his property and rights; I want the time to tell. Also, how the blue bag containing his signature, afterwards had a mysterious interest for him, and he couldn’t leave it; also, how Clemency Newcome, in an ecstasy205 of laughter at the idea of her own importance and dignity, brooded over the whole table with her two elbows, like a spread eagle, and reposed206 her head upon her left arm as a preliminary to the formation of certain cabalistic characters, which required a deal of ink, and imaginary counterparts whereof she executed at the same time with her tongue. Also, how, having once tasted ink, she became thirsty in that regard, as tame tigers are said to be after tasting another sort of fluid, and wanted to sign everything, and put her name in all kinds of places. In brief, the Doctor was discharged of his trust and all its responsibilities; and Alfred, taking it on himself, was fairly started on the journey of life.
‘Britain!’ said the Doctor. ‘Run to the gate, and watch for the coach. Time flies, Alfred.’
‘Yes, sir, yes,’ returned the young man, hurriedly. ‘Dear Grace! a moment! Marion—so young and beautiful, so winning and so much admired, dear to my heart as nothing else in life is—remember! I leave Marion to you!’
‘She has always been a sacred charge to me, Alfred. She is doubly so, now. I will be faithful to my trust, believe me.’
‘I do believe it, Grace. I know it well. Who could look upon your face, and hear your voice, and not know it! Ah, Grace! If I had your well-governed heart, and tranquil207 mind, how bravely I would leave this place to-day!’
‘Would you?’ she answered with a quiet smile.
‘And yet, Grace—Sister, seems the natural word.’
‘Use it!’ she said quickly. ‘I am glad to hear it. Call me nothing else.’
‘And yet, sister, then,’ said Alfred, ‘Marion and I had better have your true and steadfast208 qualities serving us here, and making us both happier and better. I wouldn’t carry them away, to sustain myself, if I could!’
‘Coach upon the hill-top!’ exclaimed Britain.
‘Time flies, Alfred,’ said the Doctor.
Marion had stood apart, with her eyes fixed209 upon the ground; but, this warning being given, her young lover brought her tenderly to where her sister stood, and gave her into her embrace.
‘I have been telling Grace, dear Marion,’ he said, ‘that you are her charge; my precious trust at parting. And when I come back and reclaim210 you, dearest, and the bright prospect of our married life lies stretched before us, it shall be one of our chief pleasures to consult how we can make Grace happy; how we can anticipate her wishes; how we can show our gratitude211 and love to her; how we can return her something of the debt she will have heaped upon us.’
The younger sister had one hand in his; the other rested on her sister’s neck. She looked into that sister’s eyes, so calm, serene212, and cheerful, with a gaze in which affection, admiration, sorrow, wonder, almost veneration213, were blended. She looked into that sister’s face, as if it were the face of some bright angel. Calm, serene, and cheerful, the face looked back on her and on her lover.
‘And when the time comes, as it must one day,’ said Alfred,—‘I wonder it has never come yet, but Grace knows best, for Grace is always right—when she will want a friend to open her whole heart to, and to be to her something of what she has been to us—then, Marion, how faithful we will prove, and what delight to us to know that she, our dear good sister, loves and is loved again, as we would have her!’
Still the younger sister looked into her eyes, and turned not—even towards him. And still those honest eyes looked back, so calm, serene, and cheerful, on herself and on her lover.
‘And when all that is past, and we are old, and living (as we must!) together—close together—talking often of old times,’ said Alfred—‘these shall be our favourite times among them—this day most of all; and, telling each other what we thought and felt, and hoped and feared at parting; and how we couldn’t bear to say good bye—’
‘Coach coming through the wood!’ cried Britain.
‘Yes! I am ready—and how we met again, so happily in spite of all; we’ll make this day the happiest in all the year, and keep it as a treble birth-day. Shall we, dear?’
‘Yes!’ interposed the elder sister, eagerly, and with a radiant smile. ‘Yes! Alfred, don’t linger. There’s no time. Say good bye to Marion. And Heaven be with you!’
He pressed the younger sister to his heart. Released from his embrace, she again clung to her sister; and her eyes, with the same blended look, again sought those so calm, serene, and cheerful.
‘Farewell, my boy!’ said the Doctor. ‘To talk about any serious correspondence or serious affections, and engagements and so forth214, in such a—ha ha ha!—you know what I mean—why that, of course, would be sheer nonsense. All I can say is, that if you and Marion should continue in the same foolish minds, I shall not object to have you for a son-in-law one of these days.’
‘Over the bridge!’ cried Britain.
‘Let it come!’ said Alfred, wringing215 the Doctor’s hand stoutly216. ‘Think of me sometimes, my old friend and guardian217, as seriously as you can! Adieu, Mr. Snitchey! Farewell, Mr. Craggs!’
‘Coming down the road!’ cried Britain.
‘A kiss of Clemency Newcome for long acquaintance’ sake! Shake hands, Britain! Marion, dearest heart, good bye! Sister Grace! remember!’
The quiet household figure, and the face so beautiful in its serenity, were turned towards him in reply; but Marion’s look and attitude remained unchanged.
The coach was at the gate. There was a bustle with the luggage. The coach drove away. Marion never moved.
‘He waves his hat to you, my love,’ said Grace. ‘Your chosen husband, darling. Look!’
The younger sister raised her head, and, for a moment, turned it. Then, turning back again, and fully23 meeting, for the first time, those calm eyes, fell sobbing218 on her neck.
‘Oh, Grace. God bless you! But I cannot bear to see it, Grace! It breaks my heart.’
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1
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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goblet
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| n.高脚酒杯 | |
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deriving
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| v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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quagmire
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| n.沼地 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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14
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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crimsoned
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| 变为深红色（crimson的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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whooped
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| 叫喊( whoop的过去式和过去分词 )； 高声说； 唤起 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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hacked
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| 生气 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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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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obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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legendary
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| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
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dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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41
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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43
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
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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46
omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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47
gashed
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| v.划伤，割破( gash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
hearths
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| 壁炉前的地板，炉床，壁炉边( hearth的名词复数 ) | |
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49
garnered
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| v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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51
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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52
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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53
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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58
chirping
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 ) | |
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59
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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60
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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62
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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64
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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65
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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66
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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67
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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68
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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69
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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70
dreaded
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|
| 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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71
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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72
imprinting
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|
| n.胚教，铭记（动物生命早期即起作用的一种学习机能）；印记 | |
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73
farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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74
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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75
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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76
wilful
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|
| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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77
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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78
scattering
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|
| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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79
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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80
graceful
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|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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81
conversing
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|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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82
suffused
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|
| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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84
wilfulness
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| 任性；倔强 | |
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85
participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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86
exalted
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|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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87
purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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88
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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89
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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90
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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91
dross
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| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
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92
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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93
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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94
clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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95
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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96
gals
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|
| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
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97
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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98
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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99
peculiar
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|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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100
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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101
homeliness
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| n.简朴，朴实；相貌平平 | |
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102
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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103
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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104
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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105
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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106
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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107
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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108
procurable
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| adj.可得到的，得手的 | |
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109
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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110
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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111
wrestle
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| vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付 | |
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112
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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113
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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114
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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115
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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116
auspicious
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| adj.吉利的；幸运的，吉兆的 | |
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117
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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118
moieties
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| n.一半( moiety的名词复数 )；（两个组成部分中的一）部分 | |
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119
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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120
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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121
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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122
magpie
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| n.喜欢收藏物品的人，喜鹊，饶舌者 | |
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123
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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124
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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125
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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126
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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127
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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128
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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129
subsisting
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的现在分词 ) | |
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130
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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131
saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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132
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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133
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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134
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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135
carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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136
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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137
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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138
viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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139
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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140
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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141
recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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142
amicable
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| adj.和平的，友好的；友善的 | |
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143
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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144
skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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145
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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146
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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147
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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148
wasteful
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| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
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149
bequest
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| n.遗赠；遗产，遗物 | |
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150
leasehold
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| n.租赁，租约，租赁权，租赁期，adj.租(来)的 | |
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151
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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152
contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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153
precedents
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| 引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例 | |
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154
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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155
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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156
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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157
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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158
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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159
slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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160
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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161
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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162
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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163
sepulchral
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| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
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164
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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165
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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166
risibility
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| n.爱笑，幽默感 | |
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167
offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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168
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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169
stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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170
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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171
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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172
orations
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| n.（正式仪式中的）演说，演讲( oration的名词复数 ) | |
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173
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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174
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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175
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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176
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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177
probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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178
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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179
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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180
attest
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| vt.证明，证实；表明 | |
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181
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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182
jocosely
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| adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地 | |
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183
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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184
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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185
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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186
supercilious
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| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
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187
descry
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| v.远远看到；发现；责备 | |
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188
cramp
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| n.痉挛；[pl.](腹)绞痛；vt.限制，束缚 | |
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189
expressively
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| ad.表示(某事物)地；表达地 | |
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190
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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191
shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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192
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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193
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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195
anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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196
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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197
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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198
friction
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| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
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199
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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200
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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201
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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202
coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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203
cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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204
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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205
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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206
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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207
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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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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210
reclaim
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| v.要求归还，收回；开垦 | |
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211
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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214
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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215
wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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216
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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217
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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218
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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