Chapter 12 of The Cheyne mystery is here in full — 289 sentences across 58 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of The Cheyne mystery is here in full — 289 sentences across 58 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat. “You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly. “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang! I’ll go to Scotland Yard. Do you think I mind about myself?”
Chapter 12 of The Cheyne mystery is here in full — 289 sentences across 58 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/57 · 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.
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment
From this reading ““Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!”
possessive form of “enemy” — an opposing military force
characteristic of or resembling Hell
From this reading ““You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.”
cause injuries or bodily harm to
From this reading ““Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!”
the habitation of wild animals
From this reading “In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.”
inflected form of “overcome” — win a victory over
From this reading “In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.”
spoken with poor articulation as if with a thick tongue
From this reading ““You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.”
force or impel in an indicated direction
From this reading “In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.”
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 “In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.”
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 In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading Do you think I mind about myself?”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
inflected form of “cry” — utter a sudden loud cry
From this reading “You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.
an effort that is inconvenient
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading Do you think I mind about myself?”
possessive form of “enemy” — an opposing military force
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
plural of “friend” — a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading I’ll go to Scotland Yard.
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
be suspended or hanging
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Do you think I mind about myself?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I’ll go to Scotland Yard.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
characteristic of or resembling Hell
From this reading “You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.
cause injuries or bodily harm to
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
the habitation of wild animals
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
The element of a person that enables awareness and thought.
From this reading Do you think I mind about myself?”
fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
used when the speaker is also the object of the action
From this reading Do you think I mind about myself?”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
inflected form of “overcome” — win a victory over
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts
From this reading I’ll go to Scotland Yard.
a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
From this reading “You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
happening without warning or in a short space of time
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
spoken with poor articulation as if with a thick tongue
From this reading “You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.
judge or regard; look upon; judge
From this reading Do you think I mind about myself?”
The passage at the back of the mouth.
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
force or impel in an indicated direction
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
in the company of; together with
From this reading In the Enemy’s Lair With some difficulty Cheyne overcame a sudden urge to leap at his companion’s throat.
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading I’ll go to Scotland Yard.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “You infernal scoundrel!” he cried thickly.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Injure a hair of Miss Merrill’s head and you and your confounded friends will hang!
Chapter 12 of The Cheyne mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts holds 289 sentences, grouped into 58 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 12 holds 289 sentences of The Cheyne mystery, unabridged, divided into 58 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of The Cheyne mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 289 sentences, grouped into 58 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 58 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 58 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 Cheyne mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5339 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72986 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72986, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 444 minutes of reading across 1068 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Cheyne mystery section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of The Cheyne mystery 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 Cheyne mystery, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
