Chapter XV of The Black Patch, “A Curious Coincidence,” is here in full — 244 sentences across 49 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XV
Chapter XV of The Black Patch, “A Curious Coincidence,” is here in full — 244 sentences across 49 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange. She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn. Who had killed Colonel Hall? Who had murdered Jarvis Alpenny? Was the assassin one and the same?
Chapter XV of The Black Patch, “A Curious Coincidence,” is here in full — 244 sentences across 49 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/48 · 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.
from appearances alone
From this reading “She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.”
a murderer (especially one who kills a prominent political figure) who kills by a surprise attack and often is hired to do the deed
From this reading “Was the assassin one and the same?”
the woman who guided Dante through Paradise in the Divine Comedy
From this reading “It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.”
a religious residence especially for nuns
From this reading “It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.”
an outlying farm
From this reading “It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.”
killed unlawfully
From this reading “Who had murdered Jarvis Alpenny?”
garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth
From this reading “She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.”
precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals
From this reading “She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.”
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.
(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 It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Who had murdered Jarvis Alpenny?
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
from appearances alone
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
a murderer (especially one who kills a prominent political figure) who kills by a surprise attack and often is hired to do the deed
From this reading Was the assassin one and the same?
the woman who guided Dante through Paradise in the Divine Comedy
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines who ranks above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general
From this reading Who had killed Colonel Hall?
a religious residence especially for nuns
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
an outlying farm
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
From this reading Who had killed Colonel Hall?
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Who had murdered Jarvis Alpenny?
past form of “kill” — cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
From this reading Who had killed Colonel Hall?
gain knowledge or skills
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
having or showing profound knowledge
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
killed unlawfully
From this reading Who had murdered Jarvis Alpenny?
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Was the assassin one and the same?
garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
Identical; not different.
From this reading Was the assassin one and the same?
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Was the assassin one and the same?
in or at that place or location
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
in the direction of
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
precisely as stated
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
past form of “walk” — use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was all very strange, thought Beatrice, as she walked towards Convent Grange.
which person or people
From this reading Who had killed Colonel Hall?
but in spite of that
From this reading She had learned much from Orchard and from Mrs. Snow, yet apparently there was more to learn.
Chapter 15 of The Black Patch by Fergus Hume holds 244 sentences, grouped into 49 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 15 holds 244 sentences of The Black Patch, unabridged, divided into 49 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 15 of The Black Patch by Fergus Hume exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 244 sentences, grouped into 49 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 49 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 49 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 The Black Patch by Fergus Hume on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5681 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #55305 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #55305, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 473 minutes of reading across 1137 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Black Patch section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of The Black Patch 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 The Black Patch, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
