Chapter 9 of The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories is here in full — 170 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories is here in full — 170 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE SACRED FIRE "Well? Is she all right?" Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain. He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence. Merryon nodded.
Chapter 9 of The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories is here in full — 170 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/34 · 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.
the state of being absent
From this reading “He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.”
with anger
From this reading “Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.”
inflected form of “fling” — throw with force or recklessness
From this reading “Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.”
offensive or even (of persons) malicious
From this reading “He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.”
inflected form of “nod” — express or signify by nodding
From this reading “Merryon nodded.”
an amount of time
From this reading “He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.”
concerned with religion or religious purposes
From this reading “THE SACRED FIRE "Well?”
apprehension about what is going to happen
From this reading “He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.”
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 He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
the state of being absent
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
(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 Is she all right?"
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
with anger
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines who ranks above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
all through a period, or at some point within it
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
start firing a weapon
From this reading THE SACRED FIRE "Well?
inflected form of “fling” — throw with force or recklessness
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
(of movement) lacking ease or lightness
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Is she all right?"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Merryon nodded.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
offensive or even (of persons) malicious
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
inflected form of “nod” — express or signify by nodding
From this reading Merryon nodded.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
an amount of time
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
challenge the accuracy, probity, or propriety of
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
precisely, exactly
From this reading Is she all right?"
concerned with religion or religious purposes
From this reading THE SACRED FIRE "Well?
someone who relieves a commander
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Is she all right?"
apprehension about what is going to happen
From this reading He had been through a nasty period of suspense himself during Merryon's absence.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE SACRED FIRE "Well?
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading Almost angrily the colonel flung the question as his second-in-command came back heavy-footed through the rain.
(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 SACRED FIRE "Well?
Chapter 9 of The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell holds 170 sentences, grouped into 34 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 9 holds 170 sentences of The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories, unabridged, divided into 34 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 170 sentences, grouped into 34 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 34 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 34 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 9 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 Safety Curtain, and Other Stories by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7039 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #16651 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #16651, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 586 minutes of reading across 1408 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories 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 Safety Curtain, and Other Stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
