"He glared at the clasp as if the diamond and
sapphire eye were a miniature head of Medusa"
THE GREAT PEARL
SECRET
BY
C. N. & A. M. WILLIAMSON
FRONTISPIECE
BY
JULIAN DE MISKEY
GARDEN CITY, N. Y., AND TORONTO
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1921
COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY
C. N. & A. M. WILLIAMSON
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. In Juliet's Sitting Room
II. The Explanation
III. "To Meet the Duchess"
IV. The Letter with the Tsarina's Seal
V. The Third Ringer of the Bell
VI. Behind the Bookshelf
VII. What Juliet Told Jack
VIII. Juliet Breaks the Seals
IX. The Eye That Looked to the Right
X. The House in a Crosstown Street
XI. In Jack's Private Sitting Room
XII. "The 'Whisperer' Stuff"
XIII. A Woman's Eyes
XIV. Supper at Twelve
XV. The Fortune Teller
XVI. The Grey Room
XVII. The Crystal
XVIII. The Bargain
XIX. Old Nick
XX. The Third Degree
XXI. The Middle Door
XXII. The Whole of the Secret
THE GREAT PEARL SECRET
CHAPTER I
IN JULIET'S SITTING ROOM
A maid opened the door leading from a bedroomto a salon of the "royal suite" at Harridge's Hotel.Dusk had fallen, and entering, she switched on theelectricity. The room, with its almost LouisSeize decorations, was suddenly flooded with light;and to her surprise the Frenchwoman saw a slimblack figure nestled deep among cushions on a sofabefore the fire. A small white face, with a frame ofterra-cotta hair crushed under a mourning toque,turned a pair of big black eyes upon her.
"Miladi West!" exclaimed the maid. (Shepronounced it "Vest") "Pardon, Madame, I did notknow that any one was here."
She spoke in French, with an accent which toldthat her first language had been Italian, learned inthe south of France; though in looks she was thechic Parisienne. Her English was quite good, butwhen she used that tongue, her accent was of NewYork. She preferred French, however, was proud ofbeing French, and had Frenchified her Nicois-Italianname of Simonetta Amaranti to Simone Amaranth