Chapter 21 of The Winding Stair is here in full — 290 sentences across 58 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of The Winding Stair is here in full — 290 sentences across 58 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life. But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise. He was jealous. Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching. Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
Chapter 21 of The Winding Stair is here in full — 290 sentences across 58 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/58 · 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.
causing a dull and steady pain
From this reading “Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.”
plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepals
From this reading “Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!”
comparative of “keen” — having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
From this reading “But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.”
a cgs unit of illumination equal to the brightness of a perfectly diffusing surface that emits or reflects one lumen per square centimeter
From this reading “Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!”
tall leafy-stemmed Eurasian perennial with white flowers; widely naturalized; often placed in genus Chrysanthemum
From this reading “Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!”
plural of “outcast” — a person who is rejected (from society or home)
From this reading “Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.”
in a polite manner
From this reading “Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!”
inflected form of “stab” — use a knife on
From this reading “Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.”
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.
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.
causing a dull and steady pain
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
with anger
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
intentionally conceived
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
From this reading Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
any strong feeling
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
to a considerable degree; very much
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
a young female
From this reading Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepals
From this reading Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
showing extreme cupidity; painfully desirous of another's advantages
From this reading He was jealous.
a feeling of jealous envy (especially of a rival)
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
comparative of “keen” — having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
a cgs unit of illumination equal to the brightness of a perfectly diffusing surface that emits or reflects one lumen per square centimeter
From this reading Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
tall leafy-stemmed Eurasian perennial with white flowers; widely naturalized; often placed in genus Chrysanthemum
From this reading Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
plural of “outcast” — a person who is rejected (from society or home)
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
in a polite manner
From this reading Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens accidentally
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
inflected form of “stab” — use a knife on
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
excited by sudden surprise or alarm and making a quick involuntary movement
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
the astonishment you feel when something totally unexpected happens to you
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
in an exhaustive manner
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading Two Outcasts Gerard de Montignac had never been so thoroughly startled and surprised in his life.
Mexican revolutionary leader (1877-1923)
From this reading Marguerite Lambert, the girl of the Villa Iris, so politely difficult!
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading But he was angrily conscious of an emotion far keener than his surprise.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading Jealousy overmastered the shock of wonder, stabbed him through and left him aching.
Chapter 21 of The Winding Stair by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason holds 290 sentences, grouped into 58 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 21 holds 290 sentences of The Winding Stair, unabridged, divided into 58 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of The Winding Stair by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 290 sentences, grouped into 58 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 58 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 58 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 21 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 Winding Stair by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5571 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #60125 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #60125, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 464 minutes of reading across 1115 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Winding Stair section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 23 chapters of The Winding Stair 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 Winding Stair, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
