Chapter 18 of A Life's Secret: A Novel is here in full — 292 sentences across 59 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVIII
Chapter 18 of A Life's Secret: A Novel is here in full — 292 sentences across 59 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A GLOOMY CHAPTER. The winter had come in, intensely hard. Frost and snow lay early upon the ground. Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis? The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
Chapter 18 of A Life's Secret: A Novel is here in full — 292 sentences across 59 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/58 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
permitting little if any light to pass through because of denseness of matter
From this reading “Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?”
psychological suffering
From this reading “Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?”
presently existing
From this reading “Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?”
plural of “family” — a social unit living together
From this reading “The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.”
ice crystals forming a white deposit (especially on objects outside)
From this reading “Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.”
the act of imposing something (as a tax or an embargo)
From this reading “Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?”
to a high degree; extremely; in high concentration or density
From this reading “The winter had come in, intensely hard.”
a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading “Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.”
look on as or consider
In this reading “The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading A GLOOMY CHAPTER.
past form of “add” — make an addition (to); join or combine or unite with others; increase the quality, quantity, size or scope of
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
prior to a specified or implied time
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
marked by strong resentment or cynicism
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
a subdivision of a written work; usually numbered and titled
From this reading A GLOOMY CHAPTER.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading The winter had come in, intensely hard.
a state at a particular time
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
permitting little if any light to pass through because of denseness of matter
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
psychological suffering
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time
From this reading Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.
presently existing
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
plural of “family” — a social unit living together
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
experiencing or showing fear
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
ice crystals forming a white deposit (especially on objects outside)
From this reading Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.
depressingly dark
From this reading A GLOOMY CHAPTER.
the solid part of the earth's surface
From this reading Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The winter had come in, intensely hard.
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
From this reading The winter had come in, intensely hard.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The winter had come in, intensely hard.
the act of imposing something (as a tax or an embargo)
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
to a high degree; extremely; in high concentration or density
From this reading The winter had come in, intensely hard.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
the force of workers available
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
experiencing or showing sorrow or unhappiness
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals
From this reading Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
a mercantile establishment for the retail sale of goods or services
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The winter had come in, intensely hard.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
a formal word for “on”
From this reading Frost and snow lay early upon the ground.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Was that infliction in store--a bitter winter--to be added to the already fearful distress existing in this dense metropolis?
the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox
From this reading The winter had come in, intensely hard.
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading The men held out from work, and the condition of their families was something sad to look upon.
Chapter 18 of A Life's Secret: A Novel by Henry, Mrs. Wood holds 292 sentences, grouped into 59 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 18 holds 292 sentences of A Life's Secret: A Novel, unabridged, divided into 59 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 18 of A Life's Secret: A Novel by Henry, Mrs. Wood exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 292 sentences, grouped into 59 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 59 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 59 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 18 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A Life's Secret: A Novel by Henry, Mrs. Wood on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6641 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #38832 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #38832, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 553 minutes of reading across 1329 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Life's Secret: A Novel section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 25 chapters of A Life's Secret: A Novel to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Life's Secret: A Novel, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
