- affectionate: loving
- anguish: great suffering from worry
- decadent: marked by decay or decline
- descendants: children, grandchildren, and continuing generations
- indulgent: tolerant; not strict or critical
- innumerable: too many to be counted
- judicious: showing sound judgement; wise and careful
- partition: an interior dividing wall
- preliminary: introductory; preparatory
- pretext: reason or motive used to hide one's real intentions
- prodigy: a wonder; an unusually talented person
- reputation: widely-held opinion about a person, whether good or bad
- retribution: punishment for wrong doing
- scarce: few in number; not common
- studious: devoted to learning
- tantalized: tormented by something just out of reach
- unobtrusively: without calling attention to oneself
- virtuous: moral; upright