Chapter 4 of The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance is here in full — 227 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance is here in full — 227 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The night has been unruly:... Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death. _Macbeth_. The storm was now all but over. The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
Chapter 4 of The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance is here in full — 227 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/45 · 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.
rid of obstructions
From this reading “The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.”
plural of “cloud” — any collection of particles (e.g., smoke or dust) or gases that is visible
From this reading “The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.”
king of Scotland (died in 1057)
the natural satellite of the Earth
From this reading “The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.”
plural of “scream” — sharp piercing cry
From this reading “Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.”
inflected form of “shine” — be bright by reflecting or casting light
From this reading “The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.”
behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
From this reading “The storm was now all but over.”
noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
From this reading “The night has been unruly:...”
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.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
(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 The storm was now all but over.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading The night has been unruly:...
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading The storm was now all but over.
rid of obstructions
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
plural of “cloud” — any collection of particles (e.g., smoke or dust) or gases that is visible
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The night has been unruly:...
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
king of Scotland (died in 1057)
From this reading _Macbeth_.
the natural satellite of the Earth
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading The night has been unruly:...
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The storm was now all but over.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
above and across; more than
From this reading The storm was now all but over.
plural of “scream” — sharp piercing cry
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
inflected form of “shine” — be bright by reflecting or casting light
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
From this reading The storm was now all but over.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The night has been unruly:...
noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
From this reading The night has been unruly:...
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The storm was now all but over.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The moon shone clear, and the clouds that scudded across its face were few.
Chapter 4 of The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance by Hall, Sir Caine holds 227 sentences, grouped into 46 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 4 holds 227 sentences of The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance, unabridged, divided into 46 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance by Hall, Sir Caine exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 227 sentences, grouped into 46 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 46 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 46 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 4 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 Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance by Hall, Sir Caine on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8078 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #14262 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #14262, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1616 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance 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 Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
