Chapter 20 of A Little Girl in Old St. Louis is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of A Little Girl in Old St. Louis is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde. “She has not been like herself the last fortnight. And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break. It is all that André Valbonais, I know. Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
Chapter 20 of A Little Girl in Old St. Louis is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/54 · 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.
plural of “ail” — aromatic bulb used as seasoning
From this reading “WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.”
terminate
From this reading “And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.”
a young person of either sex
From this reading “WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.”
demanding attention
From this reading “And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.”
a period of fourteen consecutive days
From this reading ““She has not been like herself the last fortnight.”
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading ““She has not been like herself the last fortnight.”
past form of “inquire” — address a question to and expect an answer from
From this reading “WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.”
take in marriage
From this reading “Why does he not marry her and be done with it?””
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 ““She has not been like herself the last fortnight.”
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 WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
plural of “ail” — aromatic bulb used as seasoning
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading It is all that André Valbonais, I know.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It is all that André Valbonais, I know.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
the past participle of “be”
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
terminate
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
a young person of either sex
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
demanding attention
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
the form of “do” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
a period of fourteen consecutive days
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading It is all that André Valbonais, I know.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
past form of “inquire” — address a question to and expect an answer from
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is all that André Valbonais, I know.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading It is all that André Valbonais, I know.
immediately past
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
take in marriage
From this reading Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “She has not been like herself the last fortnight.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It is all that André Valbonais, I know.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
in or at that place or location
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It is all that André Valbonais, I know.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
at the time that
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Why does he not marry her and be done with it?”
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading WHEN A WOMAN WILL “What ails the child?” inquired Mère Lunde.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading And now she is in there, crying as if her heart would break.
Chapter 20 of A Little Girl in Old St. Louis by Amanda M. Douglas holds 271 sentences, grouped into 55 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 20 holds 271 sentences of A Little Girl in Old St. Louis, unabridged, divided into 55 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of A Little Girl in Old St. Louis by Amanda M. Douglas exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 271 sentences, grouped into 55 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 55 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 55 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 20 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 Little Girl in Old St. Louis by Amanda M. Douglas on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7079 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #41526 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #41526, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 589 minutes of reading across 1416 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Little Girl in Old St. Louis section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 22 chapters of A Little Girl in Old St. Louis 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 Little Girl in Old St. Louis, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
