Chapter 15 of Demos is here in full — 663 sentences across 133 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XV
Chapter 15 of Demos is here in full — 663 sentences across 133 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve. It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable. Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown. ‘Where’s Dick? ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
Chapter 15 of Demos is here in full — 663 sentences across 133 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/132 · 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.
for a short time
From this reading “‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.”
past form of “chill” — depress or discourage
From this reading “It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.”
period extending from Dec. 24 to Jan. 6
From this reading “Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.”
(Old Testament) Adam's wife in Judeo-Christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; God created Eve from Adam's rib and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
From this reading “Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.”
plural of “fleck” — a small fragment of something broken off from the whole
From this reading “Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.”
a woman's dress, usually with a close-fitting bodice and a long flared skirt, often worn on formal occasions
From this reading “Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.”
very unhappy; full of misery
From this reading “It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.”
-ing form of “snow” — fall as snow
From this reading “It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.”
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 Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
anew
From this reading Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
for a short time
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
past form of “chill” — depress or discourage
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
period extending from Dec. 24 to Jan. 6
From this reading Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
someone who is a detective
From this reading ‘Where’s Dick?
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
(Old Testament) Adam's wife in Judeo-Christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; God created Eve from Adam's rib and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
From this reading Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
plural of “fleck” — a small fragment of something broken off from the whole
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
a young female
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
a woman's dress, usually with a close-fitting bodice and a long flared skirt, often worn on formal occasions
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
inflected form of “meet” — come together
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
very unhappy; full of misery
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.
To move from a closed position.
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
past form of “pass” — go across or through
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
inflected form of “run” — move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
past form of “reach” — reach a destination, either real or abstract
From this reading Alice reached home again on Christmas Eve.
inflected form of “reply” — react verbally
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
-ing form of “snow” — fall as snow
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading ‘He couldn’t come,’ replied the girl briefly, and ran up to her room.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was snowing; she came in chilled and looking miserable.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘Where’s Dick?
a Caucasian
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Mrs. Mutimer met her in the hall, passed her, and looked out at the open door, then turned with a few white flecks on her gown.
Chapter 15 of Demos by George Gissing holds 663 sentences, grouped into 133 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 15 holds 663 sentences of Demos, unabridged, divided into 133 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 15 of Demos by George Gissing exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 663 sentences, grouped into 133 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 133 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 133 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 15 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 Demos by George Gissing on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 13251 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #4309 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #4309, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2651 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Demos section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 36 chapters of Demos 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 Demos, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
