Chapter 3 of The Secret Adversary is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of The Secret Adversary is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE next day passed slowly. It was necessary to curtail expenditure. Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time. Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence. An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
Chapter 3 of The Secret Adversary is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/54 · 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.
relatively low in price or charging low prices
From this reading “Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.”
place restrictions on
From this reading “It was necessary to curtail expenditure.”
determined or decided upon as by an authority
From this reading “Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.”
money paid out; an amount spent
From this reading “It was necessary to curtail expenditure.”
by good fortune
From this reading “Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.”
relatively far from a center or middle
From this reading “An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.”
past form of “provide” — give something useful or necessary to
From this reading “An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.”
an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates
From this reading “An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.”
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 Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
taking care or paying attention
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
relatively low in price or charging low prices
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
place restrictions on
From this reading It was necessary to curtail expenditure.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading THE next day passed slowly.
determined or decided upon as by an authority
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
money paid out; an amount spent
From this reading It was necessary to curtail expenditure.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
being ten more than thirty
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was necessary to curtail expenditure.
immediately past
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
by good fortune
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
absolutely essential
From this reading It was necessary to curtail expenditure.
immediately following in time or order
From this reading THE next day passed slowly.
relatively far from a center or middle
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
past form of “pass” — go across or through
From this reading THE next day passed slowly.
a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
plural of “pound” — 16 ounces avoirdupois
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
past form of “provide” — give something useful or necessary to
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
without speed (“slow” is sometimes used informally for “slowly”)
From this reading THE next day passed slowly.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE next day passed slowly.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It was necessary to curtail expenditure.
a former United Kingdom silver coin; United Kingdom bronze decimal coin worth two pennies
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
close enough to be walked to
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was necessary to curtail expenditure.
the atmospheric conditions that comprise the state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation
From this reading Luckily the weather was fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated Tuppence.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Carefully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time.
in the company of; together with
From this reading An outlying picture house provided them with recreation for the evening.
Chapter 3 of The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie holds 271 sentences, grouped into 55 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 3 holds 271 sentences of The Secret Adversary, unabridged, divided into 55 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 271 sentences, grouped into 55 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 55 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 55 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 3 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 Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5839 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1155 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1155, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 486 minutes of reading across 1168 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Secret Adversary section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of The Secret Adversary 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 Secret Adversary, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
