The Golden Silence

The Golden Silence, by

C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson This eBook is for the use of
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Title: The Golden Silence
Author: C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
Illustrator: George Brehm
Release Date: August 23, 2006 [EBook #19108]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE GOLDEN SILENCE

BOOKS BY
C. N. and A. M. WILLIAMSON
THE MOTOR MAID LORD LOVELAND DISCOVERS AMERICA
SET IN SILVER THE LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR THE PRINCESS
PASSES MY FRIEND THE CHAUFFEUR LADY BETTY ACROSS
THE WATER ROSEMARY IN SEARCH OF A FATHER THE
PRINCESS VIRGINIA THE CAR OF DESTINY THE CHAPERON

[Illustration] "'Allah sends thee a man--a strong man, whose brain and
heart and arm are at thy service'"

THE GOLDEN SILENCE
by
C.N. & A.M. WILLIAMSON
[Illustration]
Illustrated by GEORGE BREHM

GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1911
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF
TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING
THE SCANDINAVIAN
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY C. N. & A. M. WILLIAMSON

TO

Effendi
HIS BOOK

THE GOLDEN SILENCE

I
Stephen Knight was very angry, though he meant to be kind and patient
with Margot. Perhaps, after all, she had not given the interview to the
newspaper reporter. It might be what she herself would call a "fake."
But as for her coming to stop at a big, fashionable hotel like the Carlton,
in the circumstances she could hardly have done anything in worse
taste.
He hated to think that she was capable of taking so false a step. He
hated to think that it was exactly like her to take it. He hated to be
obliged to call on her in the hotel; and he hated himself for hating it.
Knight was of the world that is inclined to regard servants as automata;
but he was absurdly self-conscious as he saw his card on a silver tray,
in the hand of an expressionless, liveried youth who probably had the
famous interview in his pocket. If not there, it was only because the
paper would not fit in. The footman had certainly read the interview,
and followed the "Northmorland Case" with passionate interest, for
months, from the time it began with melodrama, and turned violently to
tragedy, up to the present moment when (as the journalists neatly
crammed the news into a nutshell) "it bade fair to end with
marriage-bells."
Many servants and small tradespeople in London had taken shares,
Stephen had heard, as a speculative investment, in the scheme
originated to provide capital for the "other side," which was to return a
hundred per cent. in case of success. Probably the expressionless youth
was inwardly reviling the Northmorland family because he had lost his

money and would be obliged to carry silver trays all the rest of his life,
instead of starting a green grocery business. Stephen hoped that his
own face was as expressionless, as he waited to receive the unwelcome
message that Miss Lorenzi was at home.
It came very quickly, and in a worse form than Stephen had expected.
Miss Lorenzi was in the Palm Court, and would Mr. Knight please
come to her there?
Of course he had to obey; but it was harder than ever to remain
expressionless.
There were a good many people in the Palm Court, and they all looked
at Stephen Knight as he threaded his intricate way among chairs and
little tables and palms, toward a corner where a young woman in black
crape sat on a pink sofa. Her hat was very large, and a palm with
enormous fan-leaves drooped above it like a sympathetic weeping
willow on a mourning brooch. But under the hat was a splendidly
beautiful dark face.
"Looks as if he were on his way to be shot," a man who knew all about
the great case said to a woman who had lunched with him.
"Looks more as if he were on his way to shoot," she laughed, as one
does laugh at other people's troubles, which are apt to be ridiculous.
"He's simply glaring."
"Poor beggar!" Her companion found pleasure in pitying Lord
Northmorland's brother, whom he had never succeeded in getting to
know. "Which is he, fool or hero?"
"Both. A fool to have proposed to the girl. A hero to stick to her, now
he has proposed. He must be awfully sick about the interview. I do
think it's excuse enough to throw her over."
"I