Chapter 20 of Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears. All was silent. All seemed safe. Banks opened the door. The little porch was empty.
Chapter 20 of Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 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.
English botanist who accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1743-1820)
From this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide by exhalation
From this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
one who is the object of choice; who is given preference
From this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
prolific English dramatist who collaborated with Francis Beaumont and many other dramatists (1579-1625)
From this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
a device that requires skill for proper use
From this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
a structure attached to the exterior of a building often forming a covered entrance
From this reading “The little porch was empty.”
an intense or violent exertion
From this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
grass with long cylindrical spikes grown in northern United States and Europe for hay
From this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
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 “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
In this reading “THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.”
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.
(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 All was silent.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
English botanist who accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1743-1820)
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide by exhalation
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
an officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
one who is the object of choice; who is given preference
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading Banks opened the door.
plural of “ear” — the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
make void or empty of contents
From this reading The little porch was empty.
opinion or judgment
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
prolific English dramatist who collaborated with Francis Beaumont and many other dramatists (1579-1625)
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
a device that requires skill for proper use
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading The little porch was empty.
a form of address for a man
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
used of mouth or eyes
From this reading Banks opened the door.
a structure attached to the exterior of a building often forming a covered entrance
From this reading The little porch was empty.
with low volume
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
free from danger or the risk of harm
From this reading All seemed safe.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading All seemed safe.
marked by absence of sound
From this reading All was silent.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
an intense or violent exertion
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
grass with long cylindrical spikes grown in northern United States and Europe for hay
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading All was silent.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT OF FATE Mr. Banks and Timothy Fletcher stood in Captain Wigmore's hall, breathing quietly and straining eyes and ears.
Chapter 20 of Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery by Theodore Goodridge Roberts holds 204 sentences, grouped into 41 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 204 sentences of Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery by Theodore Goodridge Roberts exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 204 sentences, grouped into 41 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 41 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 41 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 Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery by Theodore Goodridge Roberts on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5088 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #41122 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #41122, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 424 minutes of reading across 1018 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 22 chapters of Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery 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 Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
