The Long-Lost Home: Chapter 2

by Maryrose Wood
In Book 6, the final installment of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, governess Miss Penelope Lumley and the wolf-children Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia must defeat their wolfish family curse before it's too late!

Here are links to our lists for the book:
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4–5, Chapters 6–7, Chapters 8–9, Chapters 10–12, Chapter 13–Epilogue.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. self-possessed
    calm, composed, and fully in control of oneself
    The usually self-possessed Edward Ashton was muttering and half mad after his failed tour of Switzerland.
  2. homely
    lacking in physical beauty or proportion
    The tulip bulbs had been homely as turnips when planted, but a winter spent underground had worked its magic.
  3. tender
    young and immature
    Now graceful whorls of green leaves poked through the damp soil, and the stalks had begun to rise, with only a tender green swelling where the flower buds would very soon be.
  4. iambic
    of metrical units having an unstressed/stressed pattern
    “O HAMlet, WHAT a FALLing OFF was THERE!” the dead king proclaims, in a spooky iambic pentameter.
  5. pentameter
    a verse line having five metrical feet
    “O HAMlet, WHAT a FALLing OFF was THERE!” the dead king proclaims, in a spooky iambic pentameter.
  6. peerless
    eminent beyond or above comparison
    To take a cue from Shakespeare, then, the switch from peerless Penelope to morose Master Gogolev might well make a person say, “O children, what a falling off was there!”
  7. morose
    showing a brooding ill humor
    To take a cue from Shakespeare, then, the switch from peerless Penelope to morose Master Gogolev might well make a person say, “O children, what a falling off was there!”
  8. eleventh hour
    the latest possible moment
    More woe was in store for him, for at the eleventh hour, Julia was also hired by the Ashtons, who would soon need a baby nurse of their own.
  9. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    That Julia’s departure had scarcely put a dent in his suffering is best explained by the words of Agatha Swanburne, who once looked up from a Russian novel she was reading and ruefully announced, “A teakettle that likes to whistle has no need for a stove.”
  10. wheedle
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
    When he was done, he made a trip downstairs to wheedle a snack from the kitchen—nothing to spoil his lunch, just a small omelet and an onion tart, and more coffee, and a pastry for dessert but not a sticky one, as he disliked how a sticky sugar glaze felt on his fingertips.
  11. telltale
    disclosing unintentionally
    The children did not mind, for he let them eat all the bread off his plate; in fact he swore up and down he would never touch another slice, despite the telltale crumbs on his jacket.
  12. villanelle
    a 19-line poem with a fixed form and two refrains
    At the moment, he was attempting a villanelle, a poetic form more complex than even the most complicated dance step.
  13. restorative
    tending to impart new life and vigor to
    “I don’t like that Judge Quinzy, and that’s a fact! One look at those dark eyes of his and I feel like someone’s walking on my grave,” she would later confide to Cook over a restorative glass of blackberry cordial.
  14. skittish
    unpredictably excitable, especially of horses
    But Nutsawoo had been unusually skittish of late, and came by the nursery rarely.
  15. devise
    come up with after a mental effort
    In fact, if Nutsawoo had been able to speak or draw a map, write a poem, devise a math problem, or even perform a tableau vivant to express what was on his (or her) mind, the fuzzy-eared scamp might have proudly announced that arrangements for a squirrel-sized nursery in the treetops were already under way.
  16. abreast
    alongside each other, facing in the same direction
    The wooden inkpot was carved in the shape of a troika, which is a kind of Russian sleigh pulled by three horses harnessed abreast.
  17. shaft
    a column of light
    Moonlight cut a cool blue shaft through the air and landed squarely on the face of the mantel clock, which glowed like an answering moon.
  18. roiling
    (of a liquid) agitated vigorously; in a state of turbulence
    There was a great expanse of Russia and Europe, and miles of roiling sea, between her and the place she most longed to be.
  19. sauerkraut
    shredded cabbage fermented in brine
    Her room was a small one off the kitchen that had once been a pickle pantry, and it still smelled sharply of vinegar, as if a barrel of sauerkraut were hidden someplace nearby.
  20. scurvy
    a condition caused by deficiency of ascorbic acid
    “Simon,” she whispered (as the sailors among you know, sauerkraut was often served aboard long sea voyages to prevent scurvy, and Simon had eaten his share of it during his days at sea).
Created on Tue Nov 26 08:41:06 EST 2024 (updated Mon Jan 27 19:28:30 EST 2025)

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