Chapter 12 of The Captives is here in full — 617 sentences across 124 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of The Captives is here in full — 617 sentences across 124 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly. She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger. If at the end of all this she should lose Martin! There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
Chapter 12 of The Captives is here in full — 617 sentences across 124 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/123 · 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.
move away from a place into another direction
From this reading “There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.”
make void or empty of contents
From this reading “She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.”
past form of “halt” — cause to stop
From this reading “THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.”
relating to or being on the side closer to the center or within a defined space
From this reading “THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.”
French bishop who is a patron saint of France (died in 397)
From this reading “If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!”
plural of “saint” — a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization
From this reading “THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.”
plural of “see” — the seat within a bishop's diocese where his cathedral is located
From this reading “She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.”
the starting point for a new state or experience
From this reading “She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.”
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 She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
anew
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
(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 If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
move away from a place into another direction
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
make void or empty of contents
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
past form of “halt” — cause to stop
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!
relating to or being on the side closer to the center or within a defined space
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
French bishop who is a patron saint of France (died in 397)
From this reading If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
plural of “saint” — a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
plural of “see” — the seat within a bishop's diocese where his cathedral is located
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
(of a nose) blocked
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
happening unexpectedly
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading If at the end of all this she should lose Martin!
the starting point for a new state or experience
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
the act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something)
From this reading She stopped as when on the threshold of a room that should be empty one sees waiting a stranger.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
at the time that
From this reading THE INSIDE SAINTS Maggie, when she was nearly home, halted suddenly.
which person or people
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading There was the stranger who had come to her now and would not again depart.
Chapter 12 of The Captives by Hugh Walpole holds 617 sentences, grouped into 124 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 12 holds 617 sentences of The Captives, unabridged, divided into 124 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of The Captives by Hugh Walpole exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 617 sentences, grouped into 124 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 124 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 124 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 12 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 Captives by Hugh Walpole on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 13099 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3601 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3601, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2620 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Captives section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 27 chapters of The Captives 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 Captives, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
