Chapter 31 of The Knave of Diamonds is here in full — 135 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXI
Chapter 31 of The Knave of Diamonds is here in full — 135 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon. Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead. Everything had gone well. Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds. Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?
Chapter 31 of The Knave of Diamonds is here in full — 135 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/27 · 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.
Queen of England and Scotland and Ireland; daughter if James II and the last of the Stuart monarchs; in 1707 she was the last English ruler to exercise the royal veto over parliament (1665-1714)
From this reading “Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.”
thrown away
From this reading “Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.”
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
From this reading “THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.”
having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome
From this reading “THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.”
feeling or showing gratitude
From this reading “Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.”
in essence or effect but not in fact
From this reading “Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?”
a black garment (dress) worn by a widow as a sign of mourning
From this reading “Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.”
possessive form of “widow” — a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
From this reading “Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.”
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 THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
the part of the day between noon and evening
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
Queen of England and Scotland and Ireland; daughter if James II and the last of the Stuart monarchs; in 1707 she was the last English ruler to exercise the royal veto over parliament (1665-1714)
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
definitely or positively (“sure” is sometimes used informally for “surely”)
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?
dearly loved
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
thrown away
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
a group of animals (a herd or flock) moving together
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
all things; all of a situation
From this reading Everything had gone well.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
destroyed or killed
From this reading Everything had gone well.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
a married man; a woman's partner in marriage
From this reading Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
appealing to the emotions as well as the eye
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
feeling or showing gratitude
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE HEART OF A SAVAGE It had certainly been a successful afternoon.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Mrs. Errol smiled to herself as she drove back to Baronmead.
in essence or effect but not in fact
From this reading Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
a black garment (dress) worn by a widow as a sign of mourning
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
(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 Everything had gone well.
possessive form of “widow” — a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
From this reading Dear Anne had looked lovely, and she for one was thankful that she had discarded her widow's weeds.
a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
From this reading Had not her husband been virtually dead to her for nearly a year?
Chapter 31 of The Knave of Diamonds by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell holds 135 sentences, grouped into 27 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 31 holds 135 sentences of The Knave of Diamonds, unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 31 of The Knave of Diamonds by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 135 sentences, grouped into 27 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 27 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 27 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 31 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 Knave of Diamonds by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 10295 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #12484 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #12484, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2059 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Knave of Diamonds section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Knave of Diamonds 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 Knave of Diamonds, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
