Chapter II of The Black Star: A Detective Story, “The Black Star,” is here in full — 95 sentences across 19 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter II of The Black Star: A Detective Story, “The Black Star,” is here in full — 95 sentences across 19 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind. “He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said. “See him?” “I see him. Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
Chapter II of The Black Star: A Detective Story, “The Black Star,” is here in full — 95 sentences across 19 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/19 · 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 suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
From this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
capable of wounding
From this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
a person who exercises control over workers
From this reading ““He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.”
the act of physically reaching or thrusting out
From this reading ““He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.”
plural of “shadow” — shade within clear boundaries
From this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
a protective covering or structure
From this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
partially melted snow (or a mixture of rain and snow)
From this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung
From this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
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 “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
a building that is divided into apartments
In this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
In this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
In this reading “Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
capable of wounding
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
a person who exercises control over workers
From this reading “He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.
exercising caution or showing care or attention
From this reading Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
a place off to the side of an area
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
set up or found
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
the solid part of the earth's surface
From this reading “He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “See him?”
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I see him.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
and nothing more
From this reading “He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.
fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
the act of physically reaching or thrusting out
From this reading “He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “He’s just reaching the ground, boss,” Muggs said.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading “See him?”
plural of “shadow” — shade within clear boundaries
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
a protective covering or structure
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
partially melted snow (or a mixture of rain and snow)
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
having a supporting base
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
hard to endure
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading Be careful now, Muggs; we don’t want to lose him.
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading Verbeck found Muggs at the corner of the apartment house, standing in the shadows and trying to shield himself from the stinging sleet and biting cold wind.
Chapter 2 of The Black Star: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley holds 95 sentences, grouped into 19 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 2 holds 95 sentences of The Black Star: A Detective Story, unabridged, divided into 19 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The Black Star: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 95 sentences, grouped into 19 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 19 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 19 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 2 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 Star: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4892 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #35833 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #35833, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 407 minutes of reading across 979 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Black Star: A Detective Story section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 36 chapters of The Black Star: A Detective Story 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 Star: A Detective Story, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
