Project Gutenberg's The Brightener, by C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: The Brightener

Author: C. N. Williamson
A. M. Williamson

Illustrator: Walter De Maris

Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32428]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRIGHTENER ***

Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

THE BRIGHTENER

BY C. N. & A. M. WILLIAMSON

FRONTISPIECE BY WALTER DE MARIS

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

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY AINSLEE's MAGAZINE CO., NEW YORK AND GREAT BRITAIN.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

[Illustration: "A SLIGHT SOUND ATTRACTED OUR ATTENTION TO THE HISTORIC
STAIRWAY"]

PREFACE

_To the Kind People Who Read Our Books:_

I want to explain to you, in case it may interest you a little, why it
is that I want to keep the "firm name" (as we used to call it) of "C. N.
& A. M. Williamson," although my husband has gone out of this world.

It is because I feel very strongly that he helps me with the work even
more than he was able to do in this world. I always had his advice, and
when we took motor tours he gave me his notes to use as well as my own.
But now there is far more help than that. I cannot explain in words: I
can only feel. And because of that feeling, I could not bear to have the
"C. N." disappear from the title page.

Dear People who may read this, I hope that you will wish to see the
initials "C. N." with those of

A. M. WILLIAMSON

CONTENTS

BOOK I. THE YACHT

I. DOWN AND OUT

II. UP AND IN

III. THUNDERBOLT SIX

IV. THE BLACK THING IN THE SEA

V. WHAT I FOUND IN MY CABIN

VI. THE WOMAN OF THE PAST

VII. THE SECRET BEHIND THE SILENC