Chapter 25 of The Forfeit is here in full — 300 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXV
Chapter 25 of The Forfeit is here in full — 300 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon. Only a starry sheen lit the night. A wonderful peace had descended upon the hills. The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night. Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
Chapter 25 of The Forfeit is here in full — 300 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/60 · 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.
heard or perceptible by the ear
From this reading “Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.”
become quiet or still; fall silent
From this reading “The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night.”
impossible or nearly impossible to see; imperceptible by the eye
From this reading “Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.”
a treeless grassy plain
From this reading “The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night.”
not often
From this reading “Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.”
the visual property of something that shines with reflected light
From this reading “Only a starry sheen lit the night.”
abounding with or resembling stars
From this reading “Only a starry sheen lit the night.”
abundantly filled with especially living things
From this reading “Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.”
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 Only a starry sheen lit the night.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
heard or perceptible by the ear
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
past form of “descend” — move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
From this reading A wonderful peace had descended upon the hills.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading A wonderful peace had descended upon the hills.
plural of “hill” — a local and well-defined elevation of the land
From this reading A wonderful peace had descended upon the hills.
become quiet or still; fall silent
From this reading The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night.
impossible or nearly impossible to see; imperceptible by the eye
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
provided with artificial light
From this reading Only a starry sheen lit the night.
by chance
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
the natural satellite of the Earth
From this reading UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading Only a starry sheen lit the night.
not any; not one
From this reading UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night.
and nothing more
From this reading Only a starry sheen lit the night.
the state prevailing during the absence of war
From this reading A wonderful peace had descended upon the hills.
a treeless grassy plain
From this reading The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night.
characterized by an absence or near absence of agitation or activity
From this reading The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night.
not often
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
worried and uneasy
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
the visual property of something that shines with reflected light
From this reading Only a starry sheen lit the night.
abounding with or resembling stars
From this reading Only a starry sheen lit the night.
not in physical motion
From this reading The quiet was the hush of the still prairie night.
abundantly filled with especially living things
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon.
in or at that place or location
From this reading UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon.
below or beneath something; less than
From this reading UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading A wonderful peace had descended upon the hills.
a garment that covers the head and face
From this reading UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading UNDER THE VEIL There was no moon.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible.
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading A wonderful peace had descended upon the hills.
Chapter 25 of The Forfeit by Ridgwell Cullum holds 300 sentences, grouped into 60 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 25 holds 300 sentences of The Forfeit, unabridged, divided into 60 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 25 of The Forfeit by Ridgwell Cullum exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 300 sentences, grouped into 60 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 60 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 60 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 25 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 Forfeit by Ridgwell Cullum on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7964 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #19371 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #19371, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1593 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Forfeit section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of The Forfeit 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 Forfeit, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
