Summary
Summary of The Silver Butterfly
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Hayden hopes to find a princess
Robert Hayden returns to New York after years of building railroads abroad, cheerful and ready for a wonderful surprise. Walking with his cousin Kitty Hampton, he jokes that he might meet a fairy princess. He also hints at a possible fortune, but keeps its source secret.
Kitty already has someone in mind: Marcia Oldham, a gifted painter who seems close to marrying Wilfred Ames. Her hints about Marcia leave questions unanswered. From the start, Hayden’s hopes for love and money run beside each other.
Key idea 2
A lost butterfly opens a door
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Key idea 3
Marcia and the mine become linked
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Key idea 4
Ydo removes her fortune-teller mask
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Key idea 5
A butterfly dinner brings fresh fear
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Key idea 6
The missing papers deepen Hayden’s doubts
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Key idea 7
Trust matters more than society’s gossip
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Key idea 8
Small clues guide Hayden’s uncertain search
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
Readers who like witty drawing-room talk, a courtship wrapped in mystery, and a hero chasing a fortune and a woman together. It suits anyone who enjoys Gilded Age New York, jewels, gossip and fortune-tellers.
What this book is
The Silver Butterfly is a romance of New York society, written by Mrs. Wilson Woodrow in the early years of the twentieth century. It follows Robert Hayden, an engineer who comes home after years of building railroads in distant lands. He says he half expects to meet a fairy princess around any corner. Within weeks he thinks he has.
The book gives you a love story and a puzzle at once. Why do society women wear jeweled butterflies that seem to be impossible to buy? How does a woman with no money live in such style? Who is the veiled fortune-teller whose name means butterfly? And what does any of this have to do with a lost mine that Hayden found in the mountains of South America? The story is told with quick talk, comic gossips and a hero who cannot stop smiling.
The author keeps her secrets close and lets Hayden guess wrongly again and again. You will meet a mother who talks only of her late husband, a gossip who lives on scandal and a Gypsy who quotes poets. Your first step is the night at the opera where the story begins.
In this summary
- 1A traveler hopes for a fairy princessFree
- 2A silver butterfly is lost and found
- 3A gossip names her and hears of a lost mine
- 4The butterflies, the fortune-teller and a voice
- 5Tea with Marcia, and Ydo unmasked
- 6A declaration and a hint of the mine
- 7A butterfly dinner and a gathering storm
- 8Photographs vanish and suspicion grows
- 9What the story is really about
- 10How the story is told
Key point 1 of 10
A traveler hopes for a fairy princess
Robert Hayden returns to New York after years of building railroads in South America, Africa and China. He feels like a schoolboy on holiday and expects some wonderful surprise. Walking down the Avenue with his cousin Kitty Hampton, he jokes that he would not be shocked to meet a fairy princess.
He adds that he has a hope of a fortune, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. He will not say more. Kitty, who loves to arrange other people's lives, says she already has a princess in mind. Her name is Marcia Oldham, a gifted painter who has lived most of her life in Europe.
Kitty also admits that Marcia seems about to be engaged to Wilfred Ames, a big, fair, good-natured man. His mother is said to be furious about the match. Kitty hints that Marcia lives under some kind of spell, though she will not explain.
Before they part, she mentions a remarkable fortune-teller who found a friend's lost sapphire ring. She cannot recall the woman's odd name. Hayden laughs and asks her to have the woman find his princess. The scene sets up the book's light tone and its two threads, a woman and a fortune.
Hayden is an easy hero to like. He is impulsive, cheerful and a little boastful, and his smile has won him friends in every country. The author makes his warmth the engine of the plot.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Who is revealed when Mademoiselle Mariposa removes her mask?
Right. “She takes off her mask and shows herself as Ydo Carrothers, a daring woman with green eyes who says her mother was a Gypsy.”Not quite. “She takes off her mask and shows herself as Ydo Carrothers, a daring woman with green eyes who says her mother was a Gypsy.”
What discovery deepens the mystery after Hayden’s butterfly dinner?
Right. “The next morning the maps and photographs are gone from the table where Hayden left them.”Not quite. “The next morning the maps and photographs are gone from the table where Hayden left them.”
What does the book treat as the real test of Hayden’s character?
Right. “He chooses to believe in her before he knows anything, and the book treats that trust as the real test of his character.”Not quite. “He chooses to believe in her before he knows anything, and the book treats that trust as the real test of his character.”
Questions about The Silver Butterfly
What is The Silver Butterfly about?
It follows Robert Hayden, an engineer home in New York, who falls for Marcia Oldham, a beauty who wears butterfly jewels. At the same time he searches for the owners of a lost South American mine called the Veiled Mariposa.
What does Mariposa mean in The Silver Butterfly?
Mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly. It names the lost mine, the masked fortune-teller Mademoiselle Mariposa, and it links to the silver butterfly jewels that Marcia and her friends wear.
Who is Ydo Carrothers?
Ydo Carrothers is the daring, Gypsy-blooded woman who tells fortunes in a mask as the Veiled Mariposa. She speaks with a Spanish accent, loves the open road, and plays a larger part in the mine story than Hayden first guesses.
When was The Silver Butterfly written and where is it set?
It is a work of fiction by Mrs. Wilson Woodrow, set in the New York society of the early twentieth century. The opera, hotels, fashionable luncheons and the Park all mark the Gilded Age setting.
Is The Silver Butterfly easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the chapters are short, the dialogue is lively and the mystery pulls you along. Its humor and its colorful characters, such as the gossip Penfield, make it a pleasure to follow.
