Chapter 1 of The Valley of Fear is here in full — 10 sentences across 2 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Valley of Fear is here in full — 10 sentences across 2 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“What’s this, Mr. Holmes? Man, it’s witchcraft! Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?” For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips. “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
Chapter 1 of The Valley of Fear is here in full — 10 sentences across 2 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/2 · 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.
superlative of “faint” — deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc
From this reading “For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.”
past form of “flicker” — move back and forth very rapidly
From this reading “For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.”
a fictitious detective in stories by A. Conan Doyle
From this reading ““What’s this, Mr. Holmes?”
insane and believed to be affected by the phases of the moon
From this reading ““Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.””
bound by or as if by an oath
From this reading “For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.”
United States telephone engineer who assisted Alexander Graham Bell in his experiments (1854-1934)
From this reading ““Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.””
the art of sorcery
From this reading “Man, it’s witchcraft!”
possessive form of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
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 For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
filled with fear or apprehension
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
(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 Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
superlative of “faint” — deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
past form of “flicker” — move back and forth very rapidly
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
a fictitious detective in stories by A. Conan Doyle
From this reading “What’s this, Mr. Holmes?
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Man, it’s witchcraft!
plural of “lip” — either of two fleshy folds of tissue that surround the mouth and play a role in speaking
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
insane and believed to be affected by the phases of the moon
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading Man, it’s witchcraft!
a form of address for a man
From this reading “What’s this, Mr. Holmes?
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
verbal abuse; a crude substitute for argument
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
above and across; more than
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
Identical; not different.
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
A dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface.
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
bound by or as if by an oath
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading “What’s this, Mr. Holmes?
the plural of “that”: the people or things further away, or already known
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
United States telephone engineer who assisted Alexander Graham Bell in his experiments (1854-1934)
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “What’s this, Mr. Holmes?
in or at the place that
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
the art of sorcery
From this reading Man, it’s witchcraft!
in the company of; together with
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
possessive form of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman’s lips.
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading “Watson, would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic.”
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?”
Chapter 1 of The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle holds 10 sentences, grouped into 2 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 1 holds 10 sentences of The Valley of Fear, unabridged, divided into 2 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 10 sentences, grouped into 2 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 2 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 2 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 1 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 Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4103 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3289 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3289, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 341 minutes of reading across 821 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Valley of Fear section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of The Valley of Fear 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 Valley of Fear, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
