Chapter 20 of A Terrible Secret: A Novel is here in full — 206 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of A Terrible Secret: A Novel is here in full — 206 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
ON ST. PARTRIDGE DAY. As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending. He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing. "Mysterious, certainly!" he thought.
Chapter 20 of A Terrible Secret: A Novel is here in full — 206 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/41 · 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.
moving or going or growing upward
From this reading “As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.”
past form of “encounter” — come together
From this reading “As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.”
in a keen or penetrating way
From this reading “He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.”
vice president under Eisenhower and 37th President of the United States; resigned after the Watergate scandal in 1974 (1913-1994)
From this reading “As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.”
flesh of either quail or grouse
From this reading “PARTRIDGE DAY.”
being of delicate or slender build
From this reading “He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.”
a garment that covers the head and face
From this reading “He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.”
having or as if having a veil or concealing cover
From this reading “As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.”
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 As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
moving or going or growing upward
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
on the far side of; further than
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
definitely or positively (“sure” is sometimes used informally for “surely”)
From this reading "Mysterious, certainly!" he thought.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
small very thin pancake
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading PARTRIDGE DAY.
past form of “descend” — move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
past form of “encounter” — come together
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
of comparatively great physical weight or density
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
in a keen or penetrating way
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
a polite name for any woman
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
engage in
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
of an obscure nature
From this reading "Mysterious, certainly!" he thought.
vice president under Eisenhower and 37th President of the United States; resigned after the Watergate scandal in 1974 (1913-1994)
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading ON ST.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
flesh of either quail or grouse
From this reading PARTRIDGE DAY.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
being of delicate or slender build
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ON ST.
a flight of stairs or a flight of steps
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
great in vertical dimension; high in stature
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading "Mysterious, certainly!" he thought.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
a garment that covers the head and face
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
having or as if having a veil or concealing cover
From this reading As he descended the stairs he encountered Nixon and a veiled lady in black ascending.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading He looked at her keenly--she was tall and slender; beyond that, through the heavy crape veil, he could make out nothing.
Chapter 20 of A Terrible Secret: A Novel by May Agnes Fleming holds 206 sentences, grouped into 42 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 206 sentences of A Terrible Secret: A Novel, unabridged, divided into 42 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of A Terrible Secret: A Novel by May Agnes Fleming exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 206 sentences, grouped into 42 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 42 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 42 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.
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Yes. All 10227 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #7063 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #7063, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2046 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Terrible Secret: A Novel section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
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Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Terrible Secret: A Novel, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
