As soon as the old lady had finished her relation, Somerset made haste to offer her his compliments.
‘Madam,’ said he, ‘your story is not only entertaining but instructive; and you have told it with infinite vivacity1. I was much affected2 towards the end, as I held at one time very liberal opinions, and should certainly have joined a secret society if I had been able to find one. But the whole tale came home to me; and I was the better able to feel for you in your various perplexities, as I am myself of somewhat hasty temper.’
‘I do not understand you,’ said Mrs. Luxmore, with some marks of irritation3. ‘You must have strangely misinterpreted what I have told you. You fill me with surprise.’
Somerset, alarmed by the old lady’s change of tone and manner, hurried to recant.
‘Dear Mrs. Luxmore,’ said he, ‘you certainly misconstrue my remark. As a man of somewhat fiery4 humour, my conscience repeatedly pricked5 me when I heard what you had suffered at the hands of persons similarly constituted.’
‘Oh, very well indeed,’ replied the old lady; ‘and a very proper spirit. I regret that I have met with it so rarely.’
‘But in all this,’ resumed the young man, ‘I perceive nothing that concerns myself.’
‘I am about to come to that,’ she returned. ‘And you have already before you, in the pledge I gave Prince Florizel, one of the elements of the affair. I am a woman of the nomadic7 sort, and when I have no case before the courts I make it a habit to visit continental8 spas: not that I have ever been ill; but then I am no longer young, and I am always happy in a crowd. Well, to come more shortly to the point, I am now on the wing for Evian; this incubus9 of a house, which I must leave behind and dare not let, hangs heavily upon my hands; and I propose to rid myself of that concern, and do you a very good turn into the bargain, by lending you the mansion10, with all its fittings, as it stands. The idea was sudden; it appealed to me as humorous: and I am sure it will cause my relatives, if they should ever hear of it, the keenest possible chagrin13. Here, then, is the key; and when you return at two to-morrow afternoon, you will find neither me nor my cats to disturb you in your new possession.’
So saying, the old lady arose, as if to dismiss her visitor; but Somerset, looking somewhat blankly on the key, began to protest.
‘Dear Mrs. Luxmore,’ said he, ‘this is a most unusual proposal. You know nothing of me, beyond the fact that I displayed both impudence14 and timidity. I may be the worst kind of scoundrel; I may sell your furniture —’
‘You may blow up the house with gunpowder15, for what I care!’ cried Mrs. Luxmore. ‘It is in vain to reason. Such is the force of my character that, when I have one idea clearly in my head, I do not care two straws for any side consideration. It amuses me to do it, and let that suffice. On your side, you may do what you please — let apartments, or keep a private hotel; on mine, I promise you a full month’s warning before I return, and I never fail religiously to keep my promises.’
The young man was about to renew his protest, when he observed a sudden and significant change in the old lady’s countenance16.
‘If I thought you capable of disrespect!’ she cried.
‘Madam,’ said Somerset, with the extreme fervour of asseveration, ‘madam, I accept. I beg you to understand that I accept with joy and gratitude17.’
‘Ah well,’ returned Mrs. Luxmore, ‘if I am mistaken, let it pass. And now, since all is comfortably settled, I wish you a good-night.’
Thereupon, as if to leave him no room for repentance18, she hurried Somerset out of the front door, and left him standing19, key in hand, upon the pavement.
The next day, about the hour appointed, the young man found his way to the square, which I will here call Golden Square, though that was not its name. What to expect, he knew not; for a man may live in dreams, and yet be unprepared for their realisation. It was already with a certain pang21 of surprise that he beheld22 the mansion, standing in the eye of day, a solid among solids. The key, upon trial, readily opened the front door; he entered that great house, a privileged burglar; and, escorted by the echoes of desertion, rapidly reviewed the empty chambers23. Cats, servant, old lady, the very marks of habitation, like writing on a slate25, had been in these few hours obliterated26. He wandered from floor to floor, and found the house of great extent; the kitchen offices commodious28 and well appointed; the rooms many and large; and the drawing-room, in particular, an apartment of princely size and tasteful decoration. Although the day without was warm, genial29, and sunny, with a ruffling30 wind from the quarter of Torquay, a chill, as it were, of suspended animation31 inhabited the house. Dust and shadows met the eye; and but for the ominous32 procession of the echoes, and the rumour33 of the wind among the garden trees, the ear of the young man was stretched in vain.
Behind the dining-room, that pleasant library, referred to by the old lady in her tale, looked upon the flat roofs and netted cupolas of the kitchen quarters; and on a second visit, this room appeared to greet him with a smiling countenance. He might as well, he thought, avoid the expense of lodging34: the library, fitted with an iron bedstead which he had remarked, in one of the upper chambers, would serve his purpose for the night; while in the dining-room, which was large, airy, and lightsome, looking on the square and garden, he might very agreeably pass his days, cook his meals, and study to bring himself to some proficiency35 in that art of painting which he had recently determined36 to adopt. It did not take him long to make the change: he had soon returned to the mansion with his modest kit27; and the cabman who brought him was readily induced, by the young man’s pleasant manner and a small gratuity37, to assist him in the installation of the iron bed. By six in the evening, when Somerset went forth38 to dine, he was able to look back upon the mansion with a sense of pride and property. Four-square it stood, of an imposing39 frontage, and flanked on either side by family hatchments. His eye, from where he stood whistling in the key, with his back to the garden railings, reposed40 on every feature of reality; and yet his own possession seemed as flimsy as a dream.
In the course of a few days, the genteel inhabitants of the square began to remark the customs of their neighbour. The sight of a young gentleman discussing a clay pipe, about four o’clock of the afternoon, in the drawing-room balcony of so discreet41 a mansion; and perhaps still more, his periodical excursion to a decent tavern42 in the neighbourhood, and his unabashed return, nursing the full tankard: had presently raised to a high pitch the interest and indignation of the liveried servants of the square. The disfavour of some of these gentlemen at first proceeded to the length of insult; but Somerset knew how to be affable with any class of men; and a few rude words merrily accepted, and a few glasses amicably43 shared, gained for him the right of toleration.
The young man had embraced the art of Raphael, partly from a notion of its ease, partly from an inborn44 distrust of offices. He scorned to bear the yoke45 of any regular schooling46; and proceeded to turn one half of the dining-room into a studio for the reproduction of still life. There he amassed47 a variety of objects, indiscriminately chosen from the kitchen, the drawing-room, and the back garden; and there spent his days in smiling assiduity. Meantime, the great bulk of empty building overhead lay, like a load, upon his imagination. To hold so great a stake and to do nothing, argued some defect of energy; and he at length determined to act upon the hint given by Mrs. Luxmore herself, and to stick, with wafers, in the window of the dining-room, a small handbill announcing furnished lodgings48. At half-past six of a fine July morning, he affixed49 the bill, and went forth into the square to study the result. It seemed, to his eye, promising50 and unpretentious; and he returned to the drawing-room balcony, to consider, over a studious pipe, the knotty51 problem of how much he was to charge.
Thereupon he somewhat relaxed in his devotion to the art of painting. Indeed, from that time forth, he would spend the best part of the day in the front balcony, like the attentive52 angler poring on his float; and the better to support the tedium53, he would frequently console himself with his clay pipe. On several occasions, passers-by appeared to be arrested by the ticket, and on several others ladies and gentlemen drove to the very doorstep by the carriageful; but it appeared there was something repulsive54 in the appearance of the house; for with one accord, they would cast but one look upward, and hastily resume their onward55 progress or direct the driver to proceed. Somerset had thus the mortification57 of actually meeting the eye of a large number of lodging-seekers; and though he hastened to withdraw his pipe, and to compose his features to an air of invitation, he was never rewarded by so much as an inquiry58. ‘Can there,’ he thought, ‘be anything repellent in myself?’ But a candid59 examination in one of the pier-glasses of the drawing-room led him to dismiss the fear.
Something, however, was amiss. His vast and accurate calculations on the fly-leaves of books, or on the backs of playbills, appeared to have been an idle sacrifice of time. By these, he had variously computed60 the weekly takings of the house, from sums as modest as five-and-twenty shillings, up to the more majestic62 figure of a hundred pounds; and yet, in despite of the very elements of arithmetic, here he was making literally63 nothing.
This incongruity64 impressed him deeply and occupied his thoughtful leisure on the balcony; and at last it seemed to him that he had detected the error of his method. ‘This,’ he reflected, ‘is an age of generous display: the age of the sandwich-man, of Griffiths, of Pears’ legendary65 soap, and of Eno’s fruit salt, which, by sheer brass66 and notoriety, and the most disgusting pictures I ever remember to have seen, has overlaid that comforter of my childhood, Lamplough’s pyretic saline. Lamplough was genteel, Eno was omnipresent; Lamplough was trite67, Eno original and abominably68 vulgar; and here have I, a man of some pretensions69 to knowledge of the world, contented70 myself with half a sheet of note-paper, a few cold words which do not directly address the imagination, and the adornment71 (if adornment it may be called) of four red wafers! Am I, then, to sink with Lamplough, or to soar with Eno? Am I to adopt that modesty72 which is doubtless becoming in a duke? or to take hold of the red facts of life with the emphasis of the tradesman and the poet?’
Pursuant upon these meditations73, he procured74 several sheets of the very largest size of drawing-paper; and laying forth his paints, proceeded to compose an ensign that might attract the eye, and at the same time, in his own phrase, directly address the imagination of the passenger. Something taking in the way of colour, a good, savoury choice of words, and a realistic design setting forth the life a lodger75 might expect to lead within the walls of that palace of delight: these, he perceived, must be the elements of his advertisement. It was possible, upon the one hand, to depict76 the sober pleasures of domestic life, the evening fire, blond-headed urchins77 and the hissing78 urn6; but on the other, it was possible (and he almost felt as if it were more suited to his muse) to set forth the charms of an existence somewhat wider in its range or, boldly say, the paradise of the Mohammedan. So long did the artist waver between these two views, that, before he arrived at a conclusion, he had finally conceived and completed both designs. With the proverbially tender heart of the parent, he found himself unable to sacrifice either of these offsprings of his art; and decided79 to expose them on alternate days. ‘In this way,’ he thought, ‘I shall address myself indifferently to all classes of the world.’
The tossing of a penny decided the only remaining point; and the more imaginative canvas received the suffrages80 of fortune, and appeared first in the window of the mansion. It was of a high fancy, the legend eloquently81 writ24, the scheme of colour taking and bold; and but for the imperfection of the artist’s drawing, it might have been taken for a model of its kind. As it was, however, when viewed from his favourite point against the garden railings, and with some touch of distance, it caused a pleasurable rising of the artist’s heart. ‘I have thrown away,’ he ejaculated, ‘an invaluable82 motive83; and this shall be the subject of my first academy picture.’
The fate of neither of these works was equal to its merit. A crowd would certainly, from time to time, collect before the area-railings; but they came to jeer84 and not to speculate; and those who pushed their inquiries85 further, were too plainly animated86 by the spirit of derision. The racier of the two cartoons displayed, indeed, no symptom of attractive merit; and though it had a certain share of that success called scandalous, failed utterly87 of its effect. On the day, however, of the second appearance of the companion work, a real inquirer did actually present himself before the eyes of Somerset.
This was a gentlemanly man, with some marks of recent merriment, and his voice under inadequate89 control.
‘I beg your pardon,’ said he, ‘but what is the meaning of your extraordinary bill?’
‘I beg yours,’ returned Somerset hotly. ‘Its meaning is sufficiently90 explicit91.’ And being now, from dire56 experience, fearful of ridicule92, he was preparing to close the door, when the gentleman thrust his cane93 into the aperture94.
‘Not so fast, I beg of you,’ said he. ‘If you really let apartments, here is a possible tenant95 at your door; and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see the accommodation and to learn your terms.’
His heart joyously96 beating, Somerset admitted the visitor, showed him over the various apartments, and, with some return of his persuasive97 eloquence98, expounded99 their attractions. The gentleman was particularly pleased by the elegant proportions of the drawing-room.
‘This,’ he said, ‘would suit me very well. What, may I ask, would be your terms a week, for this floor and the one above it?’
‘I was thinking,’ returned Somerset, ‘of a hundred pounds.’
‘Surely not,’ exclaimed the gentleman.
‘Well, then,’ returned Somerset, ‘fifty.’
The gentleman regarded him with an air of some amazement100. ‘You seem to be strangely elastic101 in your demands,’ said he. ‘What if I were to proceed on your own principle of division, and offer twenty-five?’
‘Done!’ cried Somerset; and then, overcome by a sudden embarrassment102, ‘You see,’ he added apologetically, ‘it is all found money for me.’
‘Really?’ said the stranger, looking at him all the while with growing wonder. ‘Without extras, then?’
‘I— I suppose so,’ stammered103 the keeper of the lodging-house.
‘Service included?’ pursued the gentleman.
‘Service?’ cried Somerset. ‘Do you mean that you expect me to empty your slops?’
The gentleman regarded him with a very friendly interest. ‘My dear fellow,’ said he, ‘if you take my advice, you will give up this business.’ And thereupon he resumed his hat and took himself away.
This smarting disappointment produced a strong effect on the artist of the cartoons; and he began with shame to eat up his rosier105 illusions. First one and then the other of his great works was condemned106, withdrawn107 from exhibition, and relegated109, as a mere104 wall-picture, to the decoration of the dining-room. Their place was taken by a replica110 of the original wafered announcement, to which, in particularly large letters, he had added the pithy111 rubric: ‘NO SERVICE.’ Meanwhile he had fallen into something as nearly bordering on low spirits as was consistent with his disposition112; depressed113, at once by the failure of his scheme, the laughable turn of his late interview, and the judicial114 blindness of the public to the merit of the twin cartoons.
Perhaps a week had passed before he was again startled by the note of the knocker. A gentleman of a somewhat foreign and somewhat military air, yet closely shaven and wearing a soft hat, desired in the politest terms to visit the apartments. He had (he explained) a friend, a gentleman in tender health, desirous of a sedate115 and solitary116 life, apart from interruptions and the noises of the common lodging-house. ‘The unusual clause,’ he continued, ‘in your announcement, particularly struck me. “This,” I said, “is the place for Mr. Jones.” You are yourself, sir, a professional gentleman?’ concluded the visitor, looking keenly in Somerset’s face.
‘I am an artist,’ replied the young man lightly.
‘And these,’ observed the other, taking a side glance through the open door of the dining-room, which they were then passing, ‘these are some of your works. Very remarkable117.’ And he again and still more sharply peered into the countenance of the young man.
Somerset, unable to suppress a blush, made the more haste to lead his visitor upstairs and to display the apartments.
‘Excellent,’ observed the stranger, as he looked from one of the back windows. ‘Is that a mews behind, sir? Very good. Well, sir: see here. My friend will take your drawing-room floor; he will sleep in the back drawing-room; his nurse, an excellent Irish widow, will attend on all his wants and occupy a garret; he will pay you the round sum of ten dollars a week; and you, on your part, will engage to receive no other lodger? I think that fair.’
Somerset had scarcely words in which to clothe his gratitude and joy.
‘Agreed,’ said the other; ‘and to spare you trouble, my friend will bring some men with him to make the changes. You will find him a retiring inmate118, sir; receives but few, and rarely leaves the house, except at night.’
‘Since I have been in this house,’ returned Somerset, ‘I have myself, unless it were to fetch beer, rarely gone abroad except in the evening. But a man,’ he added, ‘must have some amusement.’
An hour was then agreed on; the gentleman departed; and Somerset sat down to compute61 in English money the value of the figure named. The result of this investigation119 filled him with amazement and disgust; but it was now too late; nothing remained but to endure; and he awaited the arrival of his tenant, still trying, by various arithmetical expedients120, to obtain a more favourable121 quotation122 for the dollar. With the approach of dusk, however, his impatience123 drove him once more to the front balcony. The night fell, mild and airless; the lamps shone around the central darkness of the garden; and through the tall grove124 of trees that intervened, many warmly illuminated125 windows on the farther side of the square, told their tale of white napery, choice wine, and genial hospitality. The stars were already thickening overhead, when the young man’s eyes alighted on a procession of three four-wheelers, coasting round the garden railing and bound for the Superfluous126 Mansion. They were laden127 with formidable boxes; moved in a military order, one following another; and, by the extreme slowness of their advance, inspired Somerset with the most serious ideas of his tenant’s malady128.
By the time he had the door open, the cabs had drawn108 up beside the pavement; and from the two first, there had alighted the military gentleman of the morning and two very stalwart porters. These proceeded instantly to take possession of the house; with their own hands, and firmly rejecting Somerset’s assistance, they carried in the various crates129 and boxes; with their own hands dismounted and transferred to the back drawing-room the bed in which the tenant was to sleep; and it was not until the bustle130 of arrival had subsided131, and the arrangements were complete, that there descended132, from the third of the three vehicles, a gentleman of great stature133 and broad shoulders, leaning on the shoulder of a woman in a widow’s dress, and himself covered by a long cloak and muffled134 in a coloured comforter.
Somerset had but a glimpse of him in passing; he was soon shut into the back drawing-room; the other men departed; silence redescended on the house; and had not the nurse appeared a little before half-past ten, and, with a strong brogue, asked if there were a decent public-house in the neighbourhood, Somerset might have still supposed himself to be alone in the Superfluous Mansion.
Day followed day; and still the young man had never come by speech or sight of his mysterious lodger. The doors of the drawing-room flat were never open; and although Somerset could hear him moving to and fro, the tall man had never quitted the privacy of his apartments. Visitors, indeed, arrived; sometimes in the dusk, sometimes at intempestuous hours of night or morning; men, for the most part; some meanly attired135, some decently; some loud, some cringing136; and yet all, in the eyes of Somerset, displeasing137. A certain air of fear and secrecy138 was common to them all; they were all voluble, he thought, and ill at ease; even the military gentleman proved, on a closer inspection139, to be no gentleman at all; and as for the doctor who attended the sick man, his manners were not suggestive of a university career. The nurse, again, was scarcely a desirable house-fellow. Since her arrival, the fall of whisky in the young man’s private bottle was much accelerated; and though never communicative, she was at times unpleasantly familiar. When asked about the patient’s health, she would dolorously140 shake her head, and declare that the poor gentleman was in a pitiful condition.
Yet somehow Somerset had early begun to entertain the notion that his complaint was other than bodily. The ill-looking birds that gathered to the house, the strange noises that sounded from the drawing-room in the dead hours of night, the careless attendance and intemperate141 habits of the nurse, the entire absence of correspondence, the entire seclusion143 of Mr. Jones himself, whose face, up to that hour, he could not have sworn to in a court of justice — all weighed unpleasantly upon the young man’s mind. A sense of something evil, irregular and underhand, haunted and depressed him; and this uneasy sentiment was the more firmly rooted in his mind, when, in the fulness of time, he had an opportunity of observing the features of his tenant. It fell in this way. The young landlord was awakened144 about four in the morning by a noise in the hall. Leaping to his feet, and opening the door of the library, he saw the tall man, candle in hand, in earnest conversation with the gentleman who had taken the rooms. The faces of both were strongly illuminated; and in that of his tenant, Somerset could perceive none of the marks of disease, but every sign of health, energy, and resolution. While he was still looking, the visitor took his departure; and the invalid145, having carefully fastened the front door, sprang upstairs without a trace of lassitude.
That night upon his pillow, Somerset began to kindle146 once more into the hot fit of the detective fever; and the next morning resumed the practice of his art with careless hand and an abstracted mind. The day was destined147 to be fertile in surprises; nor had he long been seated at the easel ere the first of these occurred. A cab laden with baggage drew up before the door; and Mrs. Luxmore in person rapidly mounted the steps and began to pound upon the knocker. Somerset hastened to attend the summons.
‘My dear fellow,’ she said, with the utmost gaiety, ‘here I come dropping from the moon. I am delighted to find you faithful; and I have no doubt you will be equally pleased to be restored to liberty.’
Somerset could find no words, whether of protest or welcome; and the spirited old lady pushed briskly by him and paused on the threshold of the dining-room. The sight that met her eyes was one well calculated to inspire astonishment148. The mantelpiece was arrayed with saucepans and empty bottles; on the fire some chops were frying; the floor was littered from end to end with books, clothes, walking-canes and the materials of the painter’s craft; but what far outstripped149 the other wonders of the place was the corner which had been arranged for the study of still-life. This formed a sort of rockery; conspicuous150 upon which, according to the principles of the art of composition, a cabbage was relieved against a copper151 kettle, and both contrasted with the mail of a boiled lobster152.
‘My gracious goodness!’ cried the lady of the house; and then, turning in wrath153 on the young man, ‘From what rank in life are you sprung?’ she demanded. ‘You have the exterior154 of a gentleman; but from the astonishing evidences before me, I should say you can only be a greengrocer’s man. Pray, gather up your vegetables, and let me see no more of you.’
‘Madam,’ babbled155 Somerset, ‘you promised me a month’s warning.’
‘That was under a misapprehension,’ returned the old lady. ‘I now give you warning to leave at once.’
‘Madam,’ said the young man, ‘I wish I could; and indeed, as far as I am concerned, it might be done. But then, my lodger!’
‘Your lodger?’ echoed Mrs. Luxmore.
‘My lodger: why should I deny it?’ returned Somerset. ‘He is only by the week.’
The old lady sat down upon a chair. ‘You have a lodger?— you?’ she cried. ‘And pray, how did you get him?’
‘By advertisement,’ replied the young man. ‘O madam, I have not lived unobservantly. I adopted’— his eyes involuntarily shifted to the cartoons —‘I adopted every method.’
Her eyes had followed his; for the first time in Somerset’s experience, she produced a double eye-glass; and as soon as the full merit of the works had flashed upon her, she gave way to peal12 after peal of her trilling and soprano laughter.
‘Oh, I think you are perfectly156 delicious!’ she cried. ‘I do hope you had them in the window. M’Pherson,’ she continued, crying to her maid, who had been all this time grimly waiting in the hall, ‘I lunch with Mr. Somerset. Take the cellar key and bring some wine.’
In this gay humour she continued throughout the luncheon157; presented Somerset with a couple of dozen of wine, which she made M’Pherson bring up from the cellar —‘as a present, my dear,’ she said, with another burst of tearful merriment, ‘for your charming pictures, which you must be sure to leave me when you go;’ and finally, protesting that she dared not spoil the absurdest houseful of madmen in the whole of London, departed (as she vaguely158 phrased it) for the continent of Europe.
She was no sooner gone, than Somerset encountered in the corridor the Irish nurse; sober, to all appearance, and yet a prey159 to singularly strong emotion. It was made to appear, from her account, that Mr. Jones had already suffered acutely in his health from Mrs. Luxmore’s visit, and that nothing short of a full explanation could allay160 the invalid’s uneasiness. Somerset, somewhat staring, told what he thought fit of the affair.
‘Is that all?’ cried the woman. ‘As God sees you, is that all?’
‘My good woman,’ said the young man, ‘I have no idea what you can be driving at. Suppose the lady were my friend’s wife, suppose she were my fairy godmother, suppose she were the Queen of Portugal; and how should that affect yourself or Mr. Jones?’
‘Blessed Mary!’ cried the nurse, ‘it’s he that will be glad to hear it!’
And immediately she fled upstairs.
Somerset, on his part, returned to the dining-room, and with a very thoughtful brow and ruminating161 many theories, disposed of the remainder of the bottle. It was port; and port is a wine, sole among its equals and superiors, that can in some degree support the competition of tobacco. Sipping162, smoking, and theorising, Somerset moved on from suspicion to suspicion, from resolve to resolve, still growing braver and rosier as the bottle ebbed163. He was a sceptic, none prouder of the name; he had no horror at command, whether for crimes or vices164, but beheld and embraced the world, with an immoral165 approbation166, the frequent consequence of youth and health. At the same time, he felt convinced that he dwelt under the same roof with secret malefactors; and the unregenerate instinct of the chase impelled167 him to severity. The bottle had run low; the summer sun had finally withdrawn; and at the same moment, night and the pangs168 of hunger recalled him from his dreams.
He went forth, and dined in the Criterion: a dinner in consonance, not so much with his purse, as with the admirable wine he had discussed. What with one thing and another, it was long past midnight when he returned home. A cab was at the door; and entering the hall, Somerset found himself face to face with one of the most regular of the few who visited Mr. Jones: a man of powerful figure, strong lineaments, and a chin-beard in the American fashion. This person was carrying on one shoulder a black portmanteau, seemingly of considerable weight. That he should find a visitor removing baggage in the dead of night, recalled some odd stories to the young man’s memory; he had heard of lodgers169 who thus gradually drained away, not only their own effects, but the very furniture and fittings of the house that sheltered them; and now, in a mood between pleasantry and suspicion, and aping the manner of a drunkard, he roughly bumped against the man with the chin-beard and knocked the portmanteau from his shoulder to the floor. With a face struck suddenly as white as paper, the man with the chin-beard called lamentably171 on the name of his maker172, and fell in a mere heap on the mat at the foot of the stairs. At the same time, though only for a single instant, the heads of the sick lodger and the Irish nurse popped out like rabbits over the banisters of the first floor; and on both the same scare and pallor were apparent.
The sight of this incredible emotion turned Somerset to stone, and he continued speechless, while the man gathered himself together, and, with the help of the handrail and audibly thanking God, scrambled173 once more upon his feet.
‘What in Heaven’s name ails174 you?’ gasped175 the young man as soon as he could find words and utterance176.
‘Have you a drop of brandy?’ returned the other. ‘I am sick.’
Somerset administered two drams, one after the other, to the man with the chin-beard; who then, somewhat restored, began to confound himself in apologies for what he called his miserable177 nervousness, the result, he said, of a long course of dumb ague; and having taken leave with a hand that still sweated and trembled, he gingerly resumed his burthen and departed.
Somerset retired178 to bed but not to sleep. What, he asked himself, had been the contents of the black portmanteau? Stolen goods? the carcase of one murdered? or — and at the thought he sat upright in bed — an infernal machine? He took a solemn vow179 that he would set these doubts at rest; and with the next morning, installed himself beside the dining-room window, vigilant180 with eye; and ear, to await and profit by the earliest opportunity.
The hours went heavily by. Within the house there was no circumstance of novelty; unless it might be that the nurse more frequently made little journeys round the corner of the square, and before afternoon was somewhat loose of speech and gait. A little after six, however, there came round the corner of the gardens a very handsome and elegantly dressed young woman, who paused a little way off, and for some time, and with frequent sighs, contemplated181 the front of the Superfluous Mansion. It was not the first time that she had thus stood afar and looked upon it, like our common parents at the gates of Eden; and the young man had already had occasion to remark the lively slimness of her carriage, and had already been the butt182 of a chance arrow from her eye. He hailed her coming, then, with pleasant feelings, and moved a little nearer to the window to enjoy the sight. What was his surprise, however, when, as if with a sensible effort, she drew near, mounted the steps and tapped discreetly183 at the door! He made haste to get before the Irish nurse, who was not improbably asleep, and had the satisfaction to receive this gracious visitor in person.
She inquired for Mr. Jones; and then, without transition, asked the young man if he were the person of the house (and at the words, he thought he could perceive her to be smiling), ‘because,’ she added, ‘if you are, I should like to see some of the other rooms.’ Somerset told her he was under an engagement to receive no other lodgers; but she assured him that would be no matter, as these were friends of Mr. Jones’s. ‘And,’ she continued, moving suddenly to the dining-room door, ‘let us begin here.’ Somerset was too late to prevent her entering, and perhaps he lacked the courage to essay. ‘Ah!’ she cried, ‘how changed it is!’
‘Madam,’ cried the young man, ‘since your entrance, it is I who have the right to say so.’
She received this inane184 compliment with a demure185 and conscious droop186 of the eyelids187, and gracefully188 steering189 her dress among the mingled191 litter, now with a smile, now with a sigh, reviewed the wonders of the two apartments. She gazed upon the cartoons with sparkling eyes, and a heightened colour, and in a somewhat breathless voice, expressed a high opinion of their merits. She praised the effective disposition of the rockery, and in the bedroom, of which Somerset had vainly endeavoured to defend the entry, she fairly broke forth in admiration192. ‘How simple and manly88!’ she cried: ‘none of that effeminacy of neatness, which is so detestable in a man!’ Hard upon this, telling him, before he had time to reply, that she very well knew her way, and would trouble him no further, she took her leave with an engaging smile, and ascended193 the staircase alone.
For more than an hour the young lady remained closeted with Mr. Jones; and at the end of that time, the night being now come completely, they left the house in company. This was the first time since the arrival of his lodger, that Somerset had found himself alone with the Irish widow; and without the loss of any more time than was required by decency194, he stepped to the foot of the stairs and hailed her by her name. She came instantly, wreathed in weak smiles and with a nodding head; and when the young man politely offered to introduce her to the treasures of his art, she swore that nothing could afford her greater pleasure, for, though she had never crossed the threshold, she had frequently observed his beautiful pictures through the door. On entering the dining-room, the sight of a bottle and two glasses prepared her to be a gentle critic; and as soon as the pictures had been viewed and praised, she was easily persuaded to join the painter in a single glass. ‘Here,’ she said, ‘are my respects; and a pleasure it is, in this horrible house, to see a gentleman like yourself, so affable and free, and a very nice painter, I am sure.’ One glass so agreeably prefaced, was sure to lead to the acceptance of a second; at the third, Somerset was free to cease from the affectation of keeping her company; and as for the fourth, she asked it of her own accord. ‘For indeed,’ said she, ‘what with all these clocks and chemicals, without a drop of the creature life would be impossible entirely195. And you seen yourself that even M’Guire was glad to beg for it. And even himself, when he is downhearted with all these cruel disappointments, though as temperate142 a man as any child, will be sometimes crying for a glass of it. And I’ll thank you for a thimbleful to settle what I got.’ Soon after, she began with tears to narrate196 the deathbed dispositions197 and lament170 the trifling198 assets of her husband. Then she declared she heard ‘the master’ calling her, rose to her feet, made but one lurch199 of it into the still-life rockery, and with her head upon the lobster, fell into stertorous200 slumbers201.
Somerset mounted at once to the first story, and opened the door of the drawing-room, which was brilliantly lit by several lamps. It was a great apartment; looking on the square with three tall windows, and joined by a pair of ample folding-doors to the next room; elegant in proportion, papered in sea-green, furnished in velvet202 of a delicate blue, and adorned203 with a majestic mantelpiece of variously tinted204 marbles. Such was the room that Somerset remembered; that which he now beheld was changed in almost every feature: the furniture covered with a figured chintz; the walls hung with a rhubarb-coloured paper, and diversified205 by the curtained recesses206 for no less than seven windows. It seemed to himself that he must have entered, without observing the transition, into the adjoining house. Presently from these more specious207 changes, his eye condescended208 to the many curious objects with which the floor was littered. Here were the locks of dismounted pistols; clocks and clockwork in every stage of demolition209, some still busily ticking, some reduced to their dainty elements; a great company of carboys, jars and bottles; a carpenter’s bench and a laboratory-table.
The back drawing-room, to which Somerset proceeded, had likewise undergone a change. It was transformed to the exact appearance of a common lodging-house bedroom; a bed with green curtains occupied one corner; and the window was blocked by the regulation table and mirror. The door of a small closet here attracted the young man’s attention; and striking a vesta, he opened it and entered. On a table several wigs210 and beards were lying spread; about the walls hung an incongruous display of suits and overcoats; and conspicuous among the last the young man observed a large overall of the most costly211 sealskin. In a flash his mind reverted212 to the advertisement in the Standard newspaper. The great height of his lodger, the disproportionate breadth of his shoulders, and the strange particulars of his instalment, all pointed20 to the same conclusion.
The vesta had now burned to his fingers; and taking the coat upon his arm, Somerset hastily returned to the lighted drawing-room. There, with a mixture of fear and admiration, he pored upon its goodly proportions and the regularity213 and softness of the pile. The sight of a large pier-glass put another fancy in his head. He donned the fur-coat; and standing before the mirror in an attitude suggestive of a Russian prince, he thrust his hands into the ample pockets. There his fingers encountered a folded journal. He drew it out, and recognised the type and paper of the Standard; and at the same instant, his eyes alighted on the offer of two hundred pounds. Plainly then, his lodger, now no longer mysterious, had laid aside his coat on the very day of the appearance of the advertisement.
He was thus standing, the tell-tale coat upon his back, the incriminating paper in his hand, when the door opened and the tall lodger, with a firm but somewhat pallid214 face, stepped into the room and closed the door again behind him. For some time, the two looked upon each other in perfect silence; then Mr. Jones moved forward to the table, took a seat, and still without once changing the direction of his eyes, addressed the young man.
‘You are right,’ he said. ‘It is for me the blood money is offered. And now what will you do?’
It was a question to which Somerset was far from being able to reply. Taken as he was at unawares, masquerading in the man’s own coat, and surrounded by a whole arsenal215 of diabolical216 explosives, the keeper of the lodging-house was silenced.
‘Yes,’ resumed the other, ‘I am he. I am that man, whom with impotent hate and fear, they still hunt from den11 to den, from disguise to disguise. Yes, my landlord, you have it in your power, if you be poor, to lay the basis of your fortune; if you be unknown, to capture honour at one snatch. You have hocussed an innocent widow; and I find you here in my apartment, for whose use I pay you in stamped money, searching my wardrobe, and your hand — shame, sir!— your hand in my very pocket. You can now complete the cycle of your ignominious217 acts, by what will be at once the simplest, the safest, and the most remunerative218.’ The speaker paused as if to emphasise219 his words; and then, with a great change of tone and manner, thus resumed: ‘And yet, sir, when I look upon your face, I feel certain that I cannot be deceived: certain that in spite of all, I have the honour and pleasure of speaking to a gentleman. Take off my coat, sir — which but cumbers you. Divest220 yourself of this confusion: that which is but thought upon, thank God, need be no burthen to the conscience; we have all harboured guilty thoughts: and if it flashed into your mind to sell my flesh and blood, my anguish221 in the dock, and the sweat of my death agony — it was a thought, dear sir, you were as incapable222 of acting223 on, as I of any further question of your honour.’ At these words, the speaker, with a very open, smiling countenance, like a forgiving father, offered Somerset his hand.
It was not in the young man’s nature to refuse forgiveness or dissect224 generosity225. He instantly, and almost without thought, accepted the proffered226 grasp.
‘And now,’ resumed the lodger, ‘now that I hold in mine your loyal hand, I lay by my apprehensions227, I dismiss suspicion, I go further — by an effort of will, I banish228 the memory of what is past. How you came here, I care not: enough that you are here — as my guest. Sit ye down; and let us, with your good permission, improve acquaintance over a glass of excellent whisky.’
So speaking, he produced glasses and a bottle: and the pair pledged each other in silence.
‘Confess,’ observed the smiling host, ‘you were surprised at the appearance of the room.’
‘I was indeed,’ said Somerset; ‘nor can I imagine the purpose of these changes.’
‘These,’ replied the conspirator229, ‘are the devices by which I continue to exist. Conceive me now, accused before one of your unjust tribunals; conceive the various witnesses appearing, and the singular variety of their reports! One will have visited me in this drawing-room as it originally stood; a second finds it as it is to-night; and to-morrow or next day, all may have been changed. If you love romance (as artists do), few lives are more romantic than that of the obscure individual now addressing you. Obscure yet famous. Mine is an anonymous230, infernal glory. By infamous231 means, I work towards my bright purpose. I found the liberty and peace of a poor country, desperately232 abused; the future smiles upon that land; yet, in the meantime, I lead the existence of a hunted brute233, work towards appalling234 ends, and practice hell’s dexterities.’
Somerset, glass in hand, contemplated the strange fanatic235 before him, and listened to his heated rhapsody, with indescribable bewilderment. He looked him in the face with curious particularity; saw there the marks of education; and wondered the more profoundly.
‘Sir,’ he said —‘for I know not whether I should still address you as Mr. Jones —’
‘Jones, Breitman, Higginbotham, Pumpernickel, Daviot, Henderland, by all or any of these you may address me,’ said the plotter; ‘for all I have at some time borne. Yet that which I most prize, that which is most feared, hated, and obeyed, is not a name to be found in your directories; it is not a name current in post-offices or banks; and, indeed, like the celebrated236 clan237 M’Gregor, I may justly describe myself as being nameless by day. But,’ he continued, rising to his feet, ‘by night, and among my desperate followers238, I am the redoubted Zero.’
Somerset was unacquainted with the name, but he politely expressed surprise and gratification. ‘I am to understand,’ he continued, ‘that, under this alias239, you follow the profession of a dynamiter240?’ *
* The Arabian author of the original has here a long passage conceived in a style too oriental for the English reader. We subjoin a specimen242, and it seems doubtful whether it should be printed as prose or verse: ‘Any writard who writes dynamitard shall find in me a never-resting fightard;’ and he goes on (if we correctly gather his meaning) to object to such elegant and obviously correct spellings as lamp-lightard, corn-dealard, apple-filchard (clearly justified243 by the parallel — pilchard) and opera dancard. ‘Dynamitist,’ he adds, ‘I could understand.’
The plotter had resumed his seat and now replenished244 the glasses.
‘I do,’ he said. ‘In this dark period of time, a star — the star of dynamite241 — has risen for the oppressed; and among those who practise its use, so thick beset245 with dangers and attended by such incredible difficulties and disappointments, few have been more assiduous, and not many —’ He paused, and a shade of embarrassment appeared upon his face —‘not many have been more successful than myself.’
‘I can imagine,’ observed Somerset, ‘that, from the sweeping246 consequences looked for, the career is not devoid247 of interest. You have, besides, some of the entertainment of the game of hide and seek. But it would still seem to me — I speak as a layman248 — that nothing could be simpler or safer than to deposit an infernal machine and retire to an adjacent county to await the painful consequences.’
‘You speak, indeed,’ returned the plotter, with some evidence of warmth, ‘you speak, indeed, most ignorantly. Do you make nothing, then, of such a peril249 as we share this moment? Do you think it nothing to occupy a house like this one, mined, menaced, and, in a word, literally tottering250 to its fall?’
‘Good God!’ ejaculated Somerset.
‘And when you speak of ease,’ pursued Zero, ‘in this age of scientific studies, you fill me with surprise. Are you not aware that chemicals are proverbially fickle251 as woman, and clockwork as capricious as the very devil? Do you see upon my brow these furrows252 of anxiety? Do you observe the silver threads that mingle190 with my hair? Clockwork, clockwork has stamped them on my brow — chemicals have sprinkled them upon my locks! No, Mr. Somerset,’ he resumed, after a moment’s pause, his voice still quivering with sensibility, ‘you must not suppose the dynamiter’s life to be all gold. On the contrary, you cannot picture to yourself the bloodshot vigils and the staggering disappointments of a life like mine. I have toiled253 (let us say) for months, up early and down late; my bag is ready, my clock set; a daring agent has hurried with white face to deposit the instrument of ruin; we await the fall of England, the massacre254 of thousands, the yell of fear and execration255; and lo! a snap like that of a child’s pistol, an offensive smell, and the entire loss of so much time and plant! If,’ he concluded, musingly256, ‘we had been merely able to recover the lost bags, I believe with but a touch or two, I could have remedied the peccant engine. But what with the loss of plant and the almost insuperable scientific difficulties of the task, our friends in France are almost ready to desert the chosen medium. They propose, instead, to break up the drainage system of cities and sweep off whole populations with the devastating257 typhoid pestilence258: a tempting259 and a scientific project: a process, indiscriminate indeed, but of idyllical simplicity260. I recognise its elegance261; but, sir, I have something of the poet in my nature; something, possibly, of the tribune. And, for my small part, I shall remain devoted262 to that more emphatic263, more striking, and (if you please) more popular method, of the explosive bomb. Yes,’ he cried, with unshaken hope, ‘I will still continue, and, I feel it in my bosom264, I shall yet succeed.’
‘Two things I remark,’ said Somerset. ‘The first somewhat staggers me. Have you, then — in all this course of life, which you have sketched265 so vividly266 — have you not once succeeded?’
‘Pardon me,’ said Zero. ‘I have had one success. You behold267 in me the author of the outrage268 of Red Lion Court.’
‘But if I remember right,’ objected Somerset, ‘the thing was a fiasco. A scavenger269’s barrow and some copies of the Weekly Budget — these were the only victims.’
‘You will pardon me again,’ returned Zero with positive asperity270: ‘a child was injured.’
‘And that fitly brings me to my second point,’ said Somerset. ‘For I observed you to employ the word “indiscriminate.” Now, surely, a scavenger’s barrow and a child (if child there were) represent the very acme271 and top pin-point of indiscriminate, and, pardon me, of ineffectual reprisal272.’
‘Did I employ the word?’ asked Zero. ‘Well, I will not defend it. But for efficiency, you touch on graver matters; and before entering upon so vast a subject, permit me once more to fill our glasses. Disputation is dry work,’ he added, with a charming gaiety of manner.
Once more accordingly the pair pledged each other in a stalwart grog; and Zero, leaning back with an air of some complacency, proceeded more largely to develop his opinions.
‘The indiscriminate?’ he began. ‘War, my dear sir, is indiscriminate. War spares not the child; it spares not the barrow of the harmless scavenger. No more,’ he concluded, beaming, ‘no more do I. Whatever may strike fear, whatever may confound or paralyse the activities of the guilty nation, barrow or child, imperial Parliament or excursion steamer, is welcome to my simple plans. You are not,’ he inquired, with a shade of sympathetic interest, ‘you are not, I trust, a believer?’
‘Sir, I believe in nothing,’ said the young man.
‘You are then,’ replied Zero, ‘in a position to grasp my argument. We agree that humanity is the object, the glorious triumph of humanity; and being pledged to labour for that end, and face to face with the banded opposition273 of kings, parliaments, churches, and the members of the force, who am I— who are we, dear sir — to affect a nicety about the tools employed? You might, perhaps, expect us to attack the Queen, the sinister274 Gladstone, the rigid275 Derby, or the dexterous276 Granville; but there you would be in error. Our appeal is to the body of the people; it is these that we would touch and interest. Now, sir, have you observed the English housemaid?’
‘I should think I had,’ cried Somerset.
‘From a man of taste and a votary277 of art, I had expected it,’ returned the conspirator politely. ‘A type apart; a very charming figure; and thoroughly278 adapted to our ends. The neat cap, the clean print, the comely279 person, the engaging manner; her position between classes, parents in one, employers in another; the probability that she will have at least one sweet-heart, whose feelings we shall address: — yes, I have a leaning — call it, if you will, a weakness — for the housemaid. Not that I would be understood to despise the nurse. For the child is a very interesting feature: I have long since marked out the child as the sensitive point in society.’ He wagged his head, with a wise, pensive280 smile. ‘And talking, sir, of children and of the perils281 of our trade, let me now narrate to you a little incident of an explosive bomb, that fell out some weeks ago under my own observation. It fell out thus.’
And Zero, leaning back in his chair, narrated282 the following simple tale.
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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urn
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| n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮 | |
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nomadic
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| adj.流浪的；游牧的 | |
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continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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incubus
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| n.负担；恶梦 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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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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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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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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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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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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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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ruffling
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| 弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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rumour
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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gratuity
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| n.赏钱，小费 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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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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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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amicably
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| adv.友善地 | |
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inborn
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| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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amassed
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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affixed
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| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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knotty
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| adj.有结的，多节的，多瘤的，棘手的 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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tedium
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| n.单调；烦闷 | |
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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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computed
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| adj.[医]计算的，使用计算机的v.计算，估算( compute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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compute
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| v./n.计算，估计 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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63
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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64
incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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65
legendary
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| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
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66
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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67
trite
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| adj.陈腐的 | |
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68
abominably
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| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
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69
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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70
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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71
adornment
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| n.装饰；装饰品 | |
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72
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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73
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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74
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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75
lodger
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| n.寄宿人，房客 | |
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76
depict
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| vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述 | |
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77
urchins
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|
| n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆 | |
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78
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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79
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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80
suffrages
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| （政治性选举的）选举权，投票权( suffrage的名词复数 ) | |
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81
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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82
invaluable
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|
| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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83
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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84
jeer
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| vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评 | |
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85
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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86
animated
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|
| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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87
utterly
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|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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88
manly
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|
| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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89
inadequate
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|
| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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90
sufficiently
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|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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91
explicit
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|
| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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92
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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93
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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94
aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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95
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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96
joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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97
persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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98
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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99
expounded
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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100
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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101
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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102
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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103
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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104
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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105
rosier
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| Rosieresite | |
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106
condemned
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|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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107
withdrawn
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|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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108
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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109
relegated
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|
| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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110
replica
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| n.复制品 | |
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111
pithy
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|
| adj.(讲话或文章)简练的 | |
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112
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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113
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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114
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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115
sedate
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|
| adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的 | |
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116
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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117
remarkable
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|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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118
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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119
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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120
expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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121
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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122
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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123
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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124
grove
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|
| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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125
illuminated
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|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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126
superfluous
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|
| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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127
laden
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|
| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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128
malady
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|
| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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129
crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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130
bustle
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|
| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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131
subsided
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|
| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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132
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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133
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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134
muffled
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|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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135
attired
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|
| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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136
cringing
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|
| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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137
displeasing
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| 不愉快的，令人发火的 | |
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138
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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139
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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140
dolorously
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|
| adj. 悲伤的；痛苦的；悲哀的；阴沉的 | |
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141
intemperate
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|
| adj.无节制的，放纵的 | |
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142
temperate
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|
| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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143
seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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144
awakened
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|
| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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145
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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146
kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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147
destined
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|
| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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148
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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149
outstripped
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|
| v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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150
conspicuous
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|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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151
copper
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|
| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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152
lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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153
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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154
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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155
babbled
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|
| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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156
perfectly
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|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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157
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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158
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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159
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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160
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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161
ruminating
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| v.沉思( ruminate的现在分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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162
sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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163
ebbed
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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164
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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165
immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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166
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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167
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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168
pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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169
lodgers
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| n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
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170
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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171
lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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172
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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173
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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174
ails
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| v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
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175
gasped
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|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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176
utterance
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|
| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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177
miserable
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|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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178
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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179
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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180
vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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181
contemplated
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|
| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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182
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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183
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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184
inane
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| adj.空虚的，愚蠢的，空洞的 | |
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185
demure
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| adj.严肃的；端庄的 | |
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186
droop
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| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
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187
eyelids
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|
| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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188
gracefully
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|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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189
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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190
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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191
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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192
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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193
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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194
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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195
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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196
narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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197
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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198
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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199
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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200
stertorous
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| adj.打鼾的 | |
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201
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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202
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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203
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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204
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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205
diversified
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| adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域 | |
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206
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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207
specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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208
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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209
demolition
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| n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹 | |
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210
wigs
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| n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 ) | |
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211
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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212
reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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213
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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214
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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215
arsenal
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| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
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216
diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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217
ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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218
remunerative
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| adj.有报酬的 | |
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219
emphasise
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| vt.加强...的语气，强调，着重 | |
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220
divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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221
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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222
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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223
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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224
dissect
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| v.分割；解剖 | |
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225
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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226
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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227
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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228
banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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229
conspirator
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| n.阴谋者，谋叛者 | |
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230
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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231
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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232
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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233
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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234
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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235
fanatic
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| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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236
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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237
clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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238
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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239
alias
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| n.化名；别名；adv.又名 | |
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240
dynamiter
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| n.炸药使用者（尤指革命者） | |
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241
dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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242
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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243
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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244
replenished
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| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
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245
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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246
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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247
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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248
layman
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| n.俗人，门外汉，凡人 | |
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249
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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250
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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251
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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252
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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253
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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254
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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255
execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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256
musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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257
devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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258
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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259
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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260
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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261
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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262
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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263
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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264
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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265
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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266
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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267
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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268
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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269
scavenger
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| n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工 | |
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270
asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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271
acme
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| n.顶点，极点 | |
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272
reprisal
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| n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠 | |
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273
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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274
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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275
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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276
dexterous
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| adj.灵敏的；灵巧的 | |
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277
votary
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| n.崇拜者；爱好者；adj.誓约的，立誓任圣职的 | |
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278
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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279
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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280
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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281
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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282
narrated
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| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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