Chapter 18 of Silver Cross is here in full — 159 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVIII
Chapter 18 of Silver Cross is here in full — 159 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son: “Idle--thou art idle! Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse! Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!” He snatched the whitey-brown sheet.
Chapter 18 of Silver Cross is here in full — 159 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/31 · 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.
-ing form of “add” — make an addition (to); join or combine or unite with others; increase the quality, quantity, size or scope of
From this reading “Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!””
pecuniary reimbursement to the winning party for the expenses of litigation
From this reading “Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!””
not in action or at work
From this reading ““Idle--thou art idle!”
plural of “indie” — a pop group not affiliated with a major record company
From this reading “Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!”
the world of commercial activity where goods and services are bought and sold
From this reading “Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!””
any broad thin expanse or surface
From this reading “He snatched the whitey-brown sheet.”
past form of “snatch” — to grasp hastily or eagerly
From this reading “He snatched the whitey-brown sheet.”
a quantity of money
From this reading “Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!””
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.
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 Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
-ing form of “add” — make an addition (to); join or combine or unite with others; increase the quality, quantity, size or scope of
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
an old form of “are”, used with “thou”
From this reading “Idle--thou art idle!
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
pecuniary reimbursement to the winning party for the expenses of litigation
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
office used by the accountants of a business
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He snatched the whitey-brown sheet.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
not in action or at work
From this reading “Idle--thou art idle!
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
plural of “indie” — a pop group not affiliated with a major record company
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
the world of commercial activity where goods and services are bought and sold
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
an artist of consummate skill
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
and not; used after a negative to add a second negative
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
any broad thin expanse or surface
From this reading He snatched the whitey-brown sheet.
past form of “snatch” — to grasp hastily or eagerly
From this reading He snatched the whitey-brown sheet.
a male human offspring
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
a quantity of money
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
in or at that place or location
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
From this reading Paper costs--and there thou goest scrawling, scrawling, and never a sum adding nor thinking out market!”
United States clockmaker who introduced mass production (1785-1859)
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
an old word for “you”, as the subject, speaking to one person
From this reading “Idle--thou art idle!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Said Master Eustace Bettany to Thomas Bettany, his son:
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading Hadst as well be in the new Indies as in my countinghouse!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He snatched the whitey-brown sheet.
Chapter 18 of Silver Cross by Mary Johnston holds 159 sentences, grouped into 32 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 18 holds 159 sentences of Silver Cross, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 18 of Silver Cross by Mary Johnston exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 159 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 18 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.
