Chapter 20 of The Girl From His Town is here in full — 74 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of The Girl From His Town is here in full — 74 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
It was one o’clock. Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh. He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it. He felt old. He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
Chapter 20 of The Girl From His Town is here in full — 74 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/14 · 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.
British statesman who became prime minister in 1997 (born in 1953)
From this reading “Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.”
uttered without voice
From this reading “Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.”
a slight wind (usually refreshing)
From this reading “He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.”
the operator of a motor vehicle
From this reading “Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.”
a two-wheeled horse-drawn covered carriage with the driver's seat above and behind the passengers
From this reading “Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.”
dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight
From this reading “He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.”
refresh one's memory
From this reading “He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.”
a conveyance that transports people or objects
From this reading “Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.”
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.
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 Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
inflected form of “begin” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
British statesman who became prime minister in 1997 (born in 1953)
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
uttered without voice
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
a slight wind (usually refreshing)
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it.
past form of “call” — assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it.
the operator of a motor vehicle
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it.
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading He felt old.
grant freedom to; free from confinement
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
a two-wheeled horse-drawn covered carriage with the driver's seat above and behind the passengers
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was one o’clock.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it.
departing or being caused to depart from the true vertical or horizontal
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions on one's way of life.
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading He looked like his father, but he didn’t know it.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
according to the clock
From this reading It was one o’clock.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading He felt old.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading It was one o’clock.
above and across; more than
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
refresh one's memory
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
a general conscious awareness
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
heave or utter a sigh; breathe deeply and heavily
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
carry out
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
depleted of strength or energy
From this reading He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
a conveyance that transports people or objects
From this reading Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was one o’clock.
Chapter 20 of The Girl From His Town by Marie Van Vorst holds 74 sentences, grouped into 15 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 20 holds 74 sentences of The Girl From His Town, unabridged, divided into 15 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of The Girl From His Town by Marie Van Vorst exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 74 sentences, grouped into 15 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 15 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 15 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 20 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 Girl From His Town by Marie Van Vorst on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3323 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #36961 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #36961, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 276 minutes of reading across 665 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Girl From His Town section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 33 chapters of The Girl From His Town 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 Girl From His Town, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
