Chapter IX of The Secret of Casa Grande, “The Sealed Door,” is here in full — 203 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IX
Chapter IX of The Secret of Casa Grande, “The Sealed Door,” is here in full — 203 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house. There it was again. Boom! Boom! It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
Chapter IX of The Secret of Casa Grande, “The Sealed Door,” is here in full — 203 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
make a resonant sound, like artillery
From this reading “Boom!”
very lively and profitable
From this reading “The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.”
past form of “echo” — to say again or imitate
From this reading “It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.”
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading “The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.”
apartment consisting of a series of connected rooms used as a living unit (as in a hotel)
From this reading “It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.”
ruined or disrupted
From this reading “The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.”
marked by absence of sound
From this reading “The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.”
(poetic) tranquil silence
From this reading “The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.”
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.
the principal hall in a castle or mansion; can be used for dining or entertainment
In this reading “It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.”
In this reading “The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.”
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 stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
anew
From this reading There it was again.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
make a resonant sound, like artillery
From this reading Boom!
very lively and profitable
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
past form of “echo” — to say again or imitate
From this reading It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
From this reading It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
having a higher than normal ceiling
From this reading It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading There it was again.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
apartment consisting of a series of connected rooms used as a living unit (as in a hotel)
From this reading It echoed and re-echoed through the great hall and high-ceilinged rooms.
ruined or disrupted
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
marked by absence of sound
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
(poetic) tranquil silence
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
happening unexpectedly
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There it was again.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The stillness of the night was suddenly shattered as a booming noise vibrated through the silent old house.
Chapter 9 of The Secret of Casa Grande by Helen Randolph holds 203 sentences, grouped into 41 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 203 sentences of The Secret of Casa Grande, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of The Secret of Casa Grande by Helen Randolph exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 203 sentences, grouped into 41 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 41 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 41 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 Secret of Casa Grande by Helen Randolph on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3086 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #44059 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #44059, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 257 minutes of reading across 618 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Secret of Casa Grande section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of The Secret of Casa Grande 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 of Casa Grande, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
