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The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle: Chapters 17–22

by Avi
In this work of historical fiction, thirteen-year-old Charlotte encounters adventure on the high seas as she sails from England to America.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–2, Chapters 3–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–16, Chapters 17–22
40 words 431 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. pang
    a sudden sharp feeling
    Even as I grasped the plan I felt a pang of embarrassment that compelled me to turn away.
  2. lapse
    a break or intermission in the occurrence of something
    “More’s the pity,” he said with a shake of his head and a lapse into silence.
  3. aback
    by surprise
    I was taken aback. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”
  4. muse
    reflect deeply on a subject
    “And if he told others,” Zachariah mused out loud, “then there’s not a soul aboard who could not know of it.” The moment he said it I knew he was right.
  5. torrent
    an overwhelming number or amount
    But Zachariah talked, a sudden and surprising torrent, dark tales about each member of the crew.
  6. loath
    unwilling to do something contrary to your custom
    Though I sensed a trap in the question, I was loath to abandon my trust in the men just when I most needed them.
  7. sullenly
    in a manner showing a brooding ill humor
    “Yes," I said sullenly, sensing he was getting the best of me.
  8. forthright
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    “Thank you, Mr. Dillingham. I applaud your forthrightness. Now then, did anyone else see her with the knife. Mr. Ewing?"
  9. portentous
    of momentous or ominous significance
    “Teaching her to use a knife?” the captain repeated portentously.
  10. copious
    large in number or quantity
    I told him all that had happened. He remained silent, nodding now and again.
    By the time I was done I was weeping copiously. Zachariah let me sob.
  11. humble
    marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful
    “Forgive me. This old black man humbly requests you tell him what’s beset your mind.”
  12. shrewd
    marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
    Something in my voice must have alerted him. He scrutinized me shrewdly. “Miss Doyle, why are you calling me Mister Zachariah?”
  13. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    “When—after the storm—he did nothing, I decided that was exactly what he thought: that I was an apparition. His leaving me here was proof enough. How else to explain it? And therefore I was safe.”
  14. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    “What,” I asked ruefully, “can we do about any of this?”
    “Charlotte, we must force him to confess.”
  15. enormity
    the quality of being outrageous
    The enormity of the idea frightened me.
  16. rapt
    feeling great delight and interest
    With great vividness I pictured myself relating my adventure, while they, grouped about, listened in rapt, adoring attention, astonished yet proud of me.
  17. reckoning
    problem solving that involves numbers or quantities
    The news Keetch brought was crucial, that we were—by the captain’s reckoning—a few days’ sail from Providence.
  18. ballast
    any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship
    Yet, inexplicably, I remained standing there, wasting precious time, listening to my old door bang and creak, trying to rid myself of the fear that lay like heavy ballast in the pit of my stomach: a notion that I had neglected to consider something about the voices I had heard that first night.
  19. renounce
    turn away from; give up
    “Resume your place and station. Publicly renounce your ways, beg me for mercy before the crew, and I—you have my word—I will grant it. All will be restored to its proper balance...."
  20. scud
    run or move very quickly or hastily
    It sat high in a sky of darkest blue, amidst shadowy scudding clouds.
  21. wrest
    obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically
    “She crept into my cabin and would have murdered me in my sleep if I'd not awakened and managed to wrest away this pistol. Not enough to have murdered Mr. Hollybrass! She would have murdered me..."
  22. nicety
    conformity with some standard of correctness or propriety
    Besides, as Zachariah would acknowledge later, the fact that I was the daughter of an officer in the company that owned the Seahawk was no small factor in my formal elevation. It would preserve the niceties.
  23. undulate
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    Indeed, twelve hours later, the mainland was sighted, a thin undulating ribbon of green-gray between sea and sky.
  24. morosely
    in a sullen, moody manner
    He'd discovered me up at the fore-peak, morosely watching the sea and the coast toward which we were drawing ever closer.
  25. jovial
    full of or showing high-spirited merriment
    That question he didn’t answer right away. But when he did, he spoke in a less jovial tone. “I ran away from home,” he said.
  26. mangle
    alter so as to make unrecognizable
    When I realized that we were going to dock I went to my cabin and excitedly dressed myself in the clothes I had kept for the occasion: bonnet over my mangled hair.
  27. secrete
    conceal or place out of sight
    I glanced at my trunk where I had secreted my sailor’s garb as a tattered memento.
  28. throng
    a large gathering of people
    As the ropes secured us, I looked upon the dock and—with a beating heart—saw my family among the waiting throng.
  29. prim
    affectedly dainty or refined
    There were my father and mother, brother and sister, all searching up for me. They were as I remembered them, prim, overdressed despite the dreadful summer heat.
  30. gruff
    blunt and unfriendly or stern
    Tears from Barlow, a gruff hug from Fisk, kisses to my cheeks from Ewing—“You’re my mermaid now, lass,” he whispered—an offer (with a sly grin) of a splicing knife from Grimes—refused—a round of rum toasted by Foley, topped out with three “Huzzahs!” from all.
  31. reprove
    reprimand, scold, or express dissatisfaction with
    “And her gloves are so dirty,” Albert chimed in.
    “Albert!” Papa reproved him.
  32. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    “I would have thought you’d stay in your cabin,” she chided, “reading edifying tracts.”
  33. edifying
    enlightening or uplifting so as to encourage improvement
    “I would have thought you’d stay in your cabin,” she chided, “reading edifying tracts.”
  34. tract
    a brief treatise on a subject of interest
    “I would have thought you’d stay in your cabin,” she chided, “reading edifying tracts.”
  35. sober
    dignified and serious in manner or character
    “Well, yes, I’m sure,” my father offered. “But one must be careful about the words we choose, Charlotte. It’s well-known that sailors have an unhealthy tendency toward exaggeration. I look forward to reading a more sober account in your journal. You did keep it as you were bidden, did you not?”
  36. trellis
    latticework used to support climbing plants
    My room was on the right side of the house on the second floor. Its windows faced the rear garden where a trellis of roses were in radiant bloom.
  37. brace
    support and make steadfast
    My mother was seated in a chair; my father was by her side, standing with his legs slightly apart, as if bracing himself.
  38. outlandish
    noticeably or extremely unconventional or unusual
    “When I sent you to the Barrington School for Better Girls, I had been, I believed, reliably informed that it would provide you with an education consistent with your station in life, to say nothing of your expectations and ours for you. I was deceived. Somehow your teachers there filled your mind with the unfortunate capacity to invent the most outlandish, not to say unnatural tales.”
  39. abomination
    an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence
    “What you have written is rubbish of the worst taste. Stuff for penny dreadfuls! Beneath contempt. Justice, Charlotte, is poorly served when you speak ill of your betters such as poor Captain Jaggery. More to the point, Charlotte, your spelling is an absolute disgrace. Never have I seen such abominations. And the grammar..."
  40. reclamation
    rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course
    From my mother I received little comfort but many tears. From my father, a vast quantity of books that he deemed suitable for my reclamation. Not a word, not a question, to console me.
Created on Sat Aug 29 20:51:40 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Sep 10 13:19:59 EDT 2020)

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