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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A stranger steps into a lawyer’s train compartment, asking him to protect her without knowing her secret.
Roger Sands is heading back to New York aboard the Santa Fe Limited when a frightened young woman interrupts his journey. She calls herself Beverley White, admits the surname is false, and begs him to hide her until Chicago. A man elsewhere on the train terrifies her, but she cannot explain why.
Roger offers her his compartment and invents a family connection to shield her. Then Beverley places an unaddressed envelope with gold seals in his care. He suspects a trick, yet chooses to stand guard. In The Lion’s Mouse, C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson bring romance and mystery together around a dangerous question: how much can a stranger’s trust demand?
What you’ll discover
- A guarded man unsettled Watch Roger’s tough self-image falter as concern for Beverley becomes something warmer.
- A name that conceals Meet a woman who asks for protection while withholding even her full identity.
- An envelope worth guarding A sealed packet gives Roger something concrete to protect, but little he can understand.
- Suspense in close quarters A closed compartment and a watchful night turn a railway journey into uneasy shelter.
- Loyalty under social pressure Enter a world where reputation matters and friendship can be useful as well as sincere.
Who will love it
Readers who like a brisk mystery of disguises, hidden safes, stolen jewels and telephone bluffs, with a love story and a quick-witted young heroine.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An open door changes Roger's life
- Beverley gives Clo a new beginning
- A threat sends Clo into action
- A narrow ledge offers escape
- Clo follows danger beyond the doorway
- The stolen pearls lead into danger
- Silence makes love turn suspicious
- Gratitude gives Clo her courage
- One secret binds the adventure together
Who’s who
- Roger SandsA hard-headed New York corporation lawyer who marries a stranger on impulse and then struggles to trust her.
- Beverley SandsRoger's beautiful young wife, who guards a secret she has sworn to keep and fears what its discovery will cost.
- Clo RileyA small, red-haired Irish orphan, rescued by Beverley, who takes extraordinary risks to repay her.
- Justin O'ReillyA young congressman who begins as Roger's rival and a suspect in Clo's eyes, then becomes her ally.
- Ellen BlackburneA discreet pearl stringer who is drawn into the household's crisis and holds a private secret of her own.
- PetersonA thin, lame ex-prisoner who threatens Beverley and demands her papers before a deadline.
- KitA quick, hard young woman in the gang who sees the pearls as her way to a new life.
- John HeronThe oil magnate whose case Roger won, whose papers are the center of the plot, and whose past is bound up with the story.
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The Lion's Mouse
by C. N. Williamson; A. M. Williamson · 1919
A frightened woman asks Roger Sands to hide her on a train, and trusts him with one sealed envelope.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Once there was a mouse who helped a lion.”
In short
A frightened young woman slips into a train stateroom and begs the man inside to hide her all the way to Chicago. He is Roger Sands, a corporation lawyer who thinks he is tough as nails, and he says yes.
The Lion's Mouse at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 15 min4 h 10 min fast, 6 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 74,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1919by C. N. Williamson; A. M. Williamson
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stranger asks a lawyer to hide her
Roger Sands rides the Santa Fe Limited back to New York after winning a great case in California. The heat makes him leave his stateroom door open. That small choice starts everything.
A pale, tall young woman with violet eyes appears in the doorway. She begs him to keep her inside, door shut, all the way to Chicago. A man on the train frightens her, and she cannot tell Roger her real name. He suspects a trick, but her eyes make refusal feel cruel, and he agrees.
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Details
- First published
- 1919
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Williamson, C. N., and A. M. Williamson. The Lion's Mouse. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lions-mouse.
Williamson, C. N., & Williamson, A. M. (2026). The lion's mouse. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lions-mouse (Original work published 1919)
Williamson, C. N., and A. M. Williamson. The Lion's Mouse. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lions-mouse.
@book{williamson2026lions,
author = {Williamson, C. N. and Williamson, A. M.},
title = {The Lion's Mouse},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lions-mouse},
note = {First published 1919}
}
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What is The Lion's Mouse about?
It follows a New York lawyer who shelters a frightened stranger on a train and marries her. A sealed envelope, a rope of royal pearls and a young Irish orphan named Clo Riley then draw them into a dangerous chase.
What does the title The Lion's Mouse mean?
It refers to the fable of the mouse that gnaws through a net to free a lion. Clo Riley tells it to Beverley Sands to promise she will one day repay her kindness, however small she seems.
Who are the main characters in The Lion's Mouse?
Roger Sands is the lawyer, Beverley his mysterious wife, Clo Riley the orphan she rescues, and Justin O'Reilly the congressman who crosses their path. Others include the pearl stringer Ellen Blackburne and the oil magnate John Heron.
The author
C. N. Williamson
1857–1920 · British novelist and motoring journalist
British writer and motoring journalist, novelist frequently as duo with wife A. M. Williamson.
“Once there was a mouse who helped a lion.”
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