Chapter 6 of The secret spring is here in full — 401 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of The secret spring is here in full — 401 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling. "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?" I was now in a kind of arbour. The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand. "Excuse me, monsieur.
Chapter 6 of The secret spring is here in full — 401 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.
a framework that supports climbing plants
From this reading “I was now in a kind of arbour.”
(of hair or feathers) of a golden brown to reddish brown color
From this reading “A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.”
a grouping of a number of similar things
From this reading “A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.”
the wife of a duke or a woman holding ducal title in her own right
From this reading “The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.”
a German man; used before the name as a title equivalent to Mr in English
From this reading “"Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"”
inflected form of “ring” — sound loudly and sonorously
From this reading “A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.”
make a dry crackling sound
From this reading “A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.”
the act of smoking tobacco or other substances
From this reading “The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.”
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.
any of several attractive deciduous trees yellow-brown in autumn; yield a hard wood and edible nuts in a prickly bur
In this reading “A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.”
sound loudly
In this reading “A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.”
In this reading “The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.”
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 A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
a framework that supports climbing plants
From this reading I was now in a kind of arbour.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
plural of “branch” — a division of some larger or more complex organization
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
(of hair or feathers) of a golden brown to reddish brown color
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
a grouping of a number of similar things
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
the wife of a duke or a woman holding ducal title in her own right
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
accept an excuse for
From this reading "Excuse me, monsieur.
decreasing in amount or degree
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
of behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scale or scope
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
a German man; used before the name as a title equivalent to Mr in English
From this reading "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior
From this reading I was now in a kind of arbour.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "Excuse me, monsieur.
used as a French courtesy title; equivalent to English “Mr”
From this reading "Excuse me, monsieur.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading I was now in a kind of arbour.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
give pleasure to or be pleasing to
From this reading "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"
someone who is a member of the faculty at a college or university
From this reading "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"
inflected form of “ring” — sound loudly and sonorously
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
make a dry crackling sound
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
the act of firing a projectile
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
the act of smoking tobacco or other substances
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
having a supporting base
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal
From this reading "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"
not in physical motion
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
plural of “tree” — a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading I was now in a kind of arbour.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading A shot rang out from a clump of chestnut trees, and I thought I heard a rustle in the branches as if a bird were falling.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading "Will the Herr Professor please step this way?"
in the company of; together with
From this reading The Grand Duchess was standing with her gun still smoking in her hand.
Chapter 6 of The secret spring by Pierre Benoît holds 401 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 6 holds 401 sentences of The secret spring, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of The secret spring by Pierre Benoît exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 401 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 6 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 spring by Pierre Benoît on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The secret spring section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of The secret spring 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 spring, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
