Chapter 7 of Silver Cross is here in full — 165 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of Silver Cross is here in full — 165 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The fog wrapped the river. The bridge showed now a few arches and now none. Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence. Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen. The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
Chapter 7 of Silver Cross is here in full — 165 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/33 · 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.
plural of “arch” — a curved shape in the vertical plane that spans an opening
From this reading “The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.”
coldness due to a cold environment
From this reading “The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.”
having lost freshness or brilliance of color
From this reading “The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.”
droplets of water vapor suspended in the air near the ground
From this reading “The fog wrapped the river.”
typically crepuscular or nocturnal insect having a stout body and feathery or hairlike antennae
From this reading “Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.”
plural of “moth” — typically crepuscular or nocturnal insect having a stout body and feathery or hairlike antennae
From this reading “Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.”
attach to a support
From this reading “Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.”
covered with or as if with clothes or a wrap or cloak
From this reading “The fog wrapped the river.”
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 “Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.”
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 The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
plural of “arch” — a curved shape in the vertical plane that spans an opening
From this reading The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
plural of “boat” — a small vessel for travel on water
From this reading Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.
a structure that allows people or vehicles to cross an obstacle such as a river or canal or railway etc.
From this reading The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
coldness due to a cold environment
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
the state of being poorly illuminated
From this reading Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.
A series of thoughts, images, or emotions during sleep.
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
having lost freshness or brilliance of color
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
droplets of water vapor suspended in the air near the ground
From this reading The fog wrapped the river.
of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
plural of “house” — a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
typically crepuscular or nocturnal insect having a stout body and feathery or hairlike antennae
From this reading Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.
plural of “moth” — typically crepuscular or nocturnal insect having a stout body and feathery or hairlike antennae
From this reading Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.
attach to a support
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
not one, and not any
From this reading The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
From this reading The fog wrapped the river.
a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
past form of “show” — give an exhibition of to an interested audience
From this reading The bridge showed now a few arches and now none.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
Complete absence of sound; a state of quietness and stillness.
From this reading Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The fog wrapped the river.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
plural of “wall” — an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
From this reading The walls of the houses on this side stood chill and grey, or faded away into a dream.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading Saint Leofric’s mount across the water could not be seen.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Boats were moths in a moth dimness and silence.
covered with or as if with clothes or a wrap or cloak
From this reading The fog wrapped the river.
Chapter 7 of Silver Cross by Mary Johnston holds 165 sentences, grouped into 33 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 7 holds 165 sentences of Silver Cross, unabridged, divided into 33 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of Silver Cross by Mary Johnston exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 165 sentences, grouped into 33 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 33 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 33 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 7 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 Silver Cross by Mary Johnston on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5108 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #50557 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #50557, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 425 minutes of reading across 1022 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Silver Cross section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 31 chapters of Silver Cross 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 Silver Cross, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
