Chapter 4 of The Grandee is here in full — 340 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Grandee is here in full — 340 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes. Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore? All had happened as it had been arranged. The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph. But it was not so.
Chapter 4 of The Grandee is here in full — 340 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/68 · 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.
troubled emotionally and usually deeply
From this reading “Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?”
disposed or placed in a particular kind of order
From this reading “All had happened as it had been arranged.”
marked by intense agitation or emotion
From this reading “Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?”
Periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
From this reading “Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?”
past form of “succeed” — attain success or reach a desired goal
From this reading “The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.”
a successful ending of a struggle or contest
From this reading “The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.”
any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
From this reading “The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.”
an old word meaning “why” or “for that reason”
From this reading “Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?”
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 “Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?”
In this reading “THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.”
In this reading “Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?”
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.
troubled emotionally and usually deeply
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
(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 All had happened as it had been arranged.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
disposed or placed in a particular kind of order
From this reading All had happened as it had been arranged.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading All had happened as it had been arranged.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
the past participle of “be”
From this reading All had happened as it had been arranged.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
opinion or judgment
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
marked by intense agitation or emotion
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading All had happened as it had been arranged.
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading All had happened as it had been arranged.
only a very short time before
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading All had happened as it had been arranged.
immediately past
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
Periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading But it was not so.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading But it was not so.
past form of “succeed” — attain success or reach a desired goal
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
one of three equal parts of a divisible whole
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
a successful ending of a struggle or contest
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading THE TOWN This was the third night that the Conde de Onis could hardly close his eyes.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading The undertaking had succeeded well, he had nothing to do but sleep on his triumph.
an old word meaning “why” or “for that reason”
From this reading Nothing was more natural than that he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but now, wherefore?
Chapter 4 of The Grandee by Armando Palacio Valdés holds 340 sentences, grouped into 68 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 4 holds 340 sentences of The Grandee, unabridged, divided into 68 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Grandee by Armando Palacio Valdés exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 340 sentences, grouped into 68 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 68 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 68 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 4 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 Grandee by Armando Palacio Valdés on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5209 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #31056 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #31056, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 434 minutes of reading across 1042 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Grandee section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 16 chapters of The Grandee 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 Grandee, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
