Chapter 21 of The Coward Behind the Curtain is here in full — 178 sentences across 36 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of The Coward Behind the Curtain is here in full — 178 sentences across 36 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion. "You are tired. Won't you act on the advice which you gave me. Won't you sit down and rest?" He shook his head.
Chapter 21 of The Coward Behind the Curtain is here in full — 178 sentences across 36 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/35 · 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.
perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading “Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.”
a proposal for an appropriate course of action
From this reading “Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.”
past form of “kill” — cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
From this reading “WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.”
past form of “prompt” — give an incentive for action
From this reading “WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.”
a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment
From this reading “He shook his head.”
possessive form of “speaker” — someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous)
From this reading “WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.”
an idea that is suggested
From this reading “WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.”
depleted of strength or energy
From this reading “"You are tired.”
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.
take a seat
In this reading “Won't you sit down and rest?"”
In this reading “WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.”
In this reading “WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.”
carry further or advance
In this reading “Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.”
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 WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.
a proposal for an appropriate course of action
From this reading Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Won't you sit down and rest?"
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading "You are tired.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading Won't you sit down and rest?"
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.
a young female
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading He shook his head.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
past form of “kill” — cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
engage in
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.
past form of “prompt” — give an incentive for action
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
not move; be in a resting position
From this reading Won't you sit down and rest?"
a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment
From this reading He shook his head.
be seated
From this reading Won't you sit down and rest?"
a thing, without saying which
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
possessive form of “speaker” — someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous)
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
an idea that is suggested
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
depleted of strength or energy
From this reading "You are tired.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading WHY HE KILLED HIM Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the girl to make a suggestion.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Won't you act on the advice which you gave me.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "You are tired.
Chapter 21 of The Coward Behind the Curtain by Richard Marsh holds 178 sentences, grouped into 36 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 21 holds 178 sentences of The Coward Behind the Curtain, unabridged, divided into 36 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of The Coward Behind the Curtain by Richard Marsh exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 178 sentences, grouped into 36 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 36 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 36 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 21 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 Coward Behind the Curtain by Richard Marsh on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4434 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #40347 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #40347, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 369 minutes of reading across 887 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Coward Behind the Curtain section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 24 chapters of The Coward Behind the Curtain 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 Coward Behind the Curtain, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
