Chapter 24 of "Broken Music" is here in full — 111 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIV
Chapter 24 of "Broken Music" is here in full — 111 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean. Gabrielle had smiled at him. Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness. It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe. The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
Chapter 24 of "Broken Music" is here in full — 111 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/22 · 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.
draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs
From this reading “It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.”
moving with great haste
From this reading “The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.”
any art that invokes supernatural powers
From this reading “The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.”
a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence
From this reading “The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.”
European strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy
From this reading “It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.”
not agitated; without losing self-possession
From this reading “Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.”
a tendency to express warm and affectionate feeling
From this reading “Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.”
to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course
From this reading “The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.”
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 “A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.”
In this reading “It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.”
In this reading “It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.”
In this reading “Gabrielle had smiled at him.”
In this reading “The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.”
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 WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Gabrielle had smiled at him.
The red fluid that circulates in the heart and blood vessels.
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
brought into existence
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
opinion or judgment
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Gabrielle had smiled at him.
having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.
enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Gabrielle had smiled at him.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
moving with great haste
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
a coarse durable twill-weave cotton fabric
From this reading A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
any art that invokes supernatural powers
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
inflected form of “meet” — come together
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
a particular point in time
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
European strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
not agitated; without losing self-possession
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading Gabrielle had smiled at him.
happening without warning or in a short space of time
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
possessing sweep
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
moving very fast
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
a tendency to express warm and affectionate feeling
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
a special situation
From this reading A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.
to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
very small
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The May night swept his blood with hurrying magic, and in his heart a tiny thread of golden melody was born.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading It made Jean, on his way home to Rue Lalo, almost too happy to breathe.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Her eyes, serene and secret, had for one swift moment met his with sudden tenderness.
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading A WONDERFUL thing had happened to Jean.
Chapter 24 of "Broken Music" by Phyllis Bottome holds 111 sentences, grouped into 23 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 24 holds 111 sentences of "Broken Music", unabridged, divided into 23 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 24 of "Broken Music" by Phyllis Bottome exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 111 sentences, grouped into 23 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 23 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 23 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 24 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 "Broken Music" by Phyllis Bottome on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4466 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #69246 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #69246, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 372 minutes of reading across 894 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through "Broken Music" section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 29 chapters of "Broken Music" 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 "Broken Music", each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
