Chapter 14 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 228 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIV
Chapter 14 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 228 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice. The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him. The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him. He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now. She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
Chapter 14 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 228 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/45 · 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.
a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
From this reading “FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.”
a county in southeastern England on the English Channel; formerly an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was the first to be colonized by the Romans
From this reading “He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.”
past form of “matter” — have weight; have import, carry weight
From this reading “The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.”
characteristic of maturity
From this reading “She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.”
popular aquarium fish
From this reading “He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.”
inflected form of “overcome” — win a victory over
From this reading “The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.”
of surpassing excellence
From this reading “He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.”
characterized by variety
From this reading “He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.”
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 one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.”
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 FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
(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 She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
weapons considered collectively
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
the -ing form of “be”
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
past form of “believe” — accept as true; take to be true
From this reading She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
a young female
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
an instinctive motive
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
“Johnny” was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; “greyback” derived from their grey Confederate uniforms
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
a county in southeastern England on the English Channel; formerly an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was the first to be colonized by the Romans
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
past form of “matter” — have weight; have import, carry weight
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
characteristic of maturity
From this reading She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
being nothing more than specified
From this reading She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
popular aquarium fish
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
a particular point in time
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
inflected form of “overcome” — win a victory over
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
North American woodland herb similar to and used as substitute for the Chinese ginseng
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
of surpassing excellence
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
carry out
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading FOR THE HEART OF A GIRL Something sang in the heart of Johnny Dice.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The impulse to take her into his arms at this moment almost overcame him.
below or beneath something; less than
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
characterized by variety
From this reading He had seen Molly Kent under varied circumstances, but never so superb as now.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
in or at the place that
From this reading She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
which person or people
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading She was all woman; mature where Johnny had believed her mere girl.
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading The one being in the world who mattered had faith in him.
Chapter 14 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago holds 228 sentences, grouped into 46 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 14 holds 228 sentences of Smoke of the .45, unabridged, divided into 46 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 14 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 228 sentences, grouped into 46 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 46 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 46 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 14 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 Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5164 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #63072 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #63072, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 430 minutes of reading across 1033 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Smoke of the .45 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 33 chapters of Smoke of the .45 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 Smoke of the .45, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
