Chapter 26 of The Old Countess is here in full — 132 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXVI
Chapter 26 of The Old Countess is here in full — 132 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE QUARREL AND THE LETTER. "Take your choice, young lady, take your choice! Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you! Either obey me or go! I wash my hands of the whole affair."
Chapter 26 of The Old Countess is here in full — 132 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/26 · 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.
cases used to carry belongings when traveling
From this reading “Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!”
plural of “bill” — a statute in draft before it becomes law
From this reading “Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!”
the person or thing chosen or selected
From this reading “"Take your choice, young lady, take your choice!”
permission to do something
From this reading “Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!”
the second day of the week; the first working day
From this reading “Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!”
be obedient to
From this reading “Either obey me or go!”
an angry dispute
From this reading “THE QUARREL AND THE LETTER.”
clean with some chemical process
From this reading “I wash my hands of the whole affair."”
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 “I wash my hands of the whole affair."”
a young female
In this reading “"Take your choice, young lady, take your choice!”
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.
a vaguely specified concern
From this reading I wash my hands of the whole affair."
(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 Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading THE QUARREL AND THE LETTER.
a flexible container with a single opening
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
cases used to carry belongings when traveling
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
plural of “bill” — a statute in draft before it becomes law
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
the person or thing chosen or selected
From this reading "Take your choice, young lady, take your choice!
permission to do something
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
one or the other of two
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Either obey me or go!
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading I wash my hands of the whole affair."
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I wash my hands of the whole affair."
a polite name for any woman
From this reading "Take your choice, young lady, take your choice!
go away from a place
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
a written message addressed to a person or organization
From this reading THE QUARREL AND THE LETTER.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Either obey me or go!
the second day of the week; the first working day
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
be obedient to
From this reading Either obey me or go!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
an angry dispute
From this reading THE QUARREL AND THE LETTER.
carry out
From this reading "Take your choice, young lady, take your choice!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE QUARREL AND THE LETTER.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
clean with some chemical process
From this reading I wash my hands of the whole affair."
including all components without exception; being one unit or constituting the full amount or extent or duration; complete
From this reading I wash my hands of the whole affair."
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Either consent to have your name on the bills for Monday night, or leave my house, bag and baggage, one and all of you!
(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
From this reading "Take your choice, young lady, take your choice!
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "Take your choice, young lady, take your choice!
Chapter 26 of The Old Countess by Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens holds 132 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 26 holds 132 sentences of The Old Countess, unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 26 of The Old Countess by Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 132 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 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 Old Countess by Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5179 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #29862 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #29862, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 431 minutes of reading across 1036 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Old Countess section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 37 chapters of The Old Countess 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 Old Countess, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
