Chapter 26 of The Master of the Ceremonies is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXVI
Chapter 26 of The Master of the Ceremonies is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"What! Didn't you know?" She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly: "Oh, sis--sis--dear sis!" "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
Chapter 26 of The Master of the Ceremonies is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/80 · 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.
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading “"Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.”
past form of “pant” — breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted
From this reading “"Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.”
a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment
From this reading “She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:”
a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading “"Oh, sis--sis--dear sis!"”
with low volume
From this reading “She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:”
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
From this reading “She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:”
to an extreme or greatly exaggerated degree
From this reading “She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:”
inflected form of “wring” — twist and press out of shape
From this reading “She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
dearly loved
From this reading "Oh, sis--sis--dear sis!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Didn't you know?"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading Didn't you know?"
immediately past
From this reading "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading "Oh, sis--sis--dear sis!"
past form of “pant” — breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted
From this reading "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading "Oh, sis--sis--dear sis!"
with low volume
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
a thing, without saying which
From this reading "Something has happened to Fred," she panted at last.
express in speech
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
tested and proved useful or correct
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
used to ask for information about something
From this reading "What!
during the time that
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
to an extreme or greatly exaggerated degree
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
inflected form of “wring” — twist and press out of shape
From this reading She shook her head wildly, and wrung her hands and tried to speak, while he held her and whispered softly:
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Didn't you know?"
Chapter 26 of The Master of the Ceremonies by George Manville Fenn holds 403 sentences, grouped into 81 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 26 holds 403 sentences of The Master of the Ceremonies, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 26 of The Master of the Ceremonies by George Manville Fenn exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 403 sentences, grouped into 81 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 81 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 81 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 26 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 Master of the Ceremonies by George Manville Fenn on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 11848 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #34492 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #34492, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2370 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Master of the Ceremonies section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 29 chapters of The Master of the Ceremonies 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 Master of the Ceremonies, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
