Chapter 3 of Back to Billabong is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of Back to Billabong is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture. She glared at them for a minute without speaking. “So you have come home?” she said at last. The chain fell, and the door opened. “I wonder you trouble to come home at all.
Chapter 3 of Back to Billabong is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
a device that controls amount of light admitted
From this reading “COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.”
a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder
From this reading “COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.”
a series of things depending on each other as if linked together
From this reading “COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.”
past form of “glare” — look at with a fixed gaze
From this reading “She glared at them for a minute without speaking.”
past form of “grate” — furnish with a grate
From this reading “COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.”
in a grudging manner
From this reading “COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.”
plural of “limit” — the greatest possible degree of something
From this reading “COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.”
a legal document giving official permission to do something
From this reading “COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.”
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 She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
(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 “I wonder you trouble to come home at all.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
a device that controls amount of light admitted
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
past form of “appear” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
a series of things depending on each other as if linked together
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading “So you have come home?” she said at last.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
to a considerable degree; very much
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
From this reading The chain fell, and the door opened.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
past form of “glare” — look at with a fixed gaze
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
past form of “grate” — furnish with a grate
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
in a grudging manner
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “So you have come home?” she said at last.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I wonder you trouble to come home at all.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
immediately past
From this reading “So you have come home?” she said at last.
plural of “limit” — the greatest possible degree of something
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
used of mouth or eyes
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
a legal document giving official permission to do something
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “So you have come home?” she said at last.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
without speed (“slow” is sometimes used informally for “slowly”)
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading “So you have come home?” she said at last.
the utterance of intelligible speech
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “I wonder you trouble to come home at all.
a source of difficulty
From this reading “I wonder you trouble to come home at all.
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading “I wonder you trouble to come home at all.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading COMING HOME The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in the aperture.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “So you have come home?” she said at last.
Chapter 3 of Back to Billabong by Mary Grant Bruce holds 200 sentences, grouped into 40 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 3 holds 200 sentences of Back to Billabong, unabridged, divided into 40 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of Back to Billabong by Mary Grant Bruce exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 200 sentences, grouped into 40 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 40 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 40 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 3 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 Back to Billabong by Mary Grant Bruce on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4522 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #7047 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #7047, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 376 minutes of reading across 905 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Back to Billabong section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of Back to Billabong 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 Back to Billabong, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
