"Who lists may in their mumming see traces of ancient mystery."  From Christmas in the Olden Time by Walter Scott, 1887.

"The Road to Fairyland" by Ernest Thompson Seton, in St. Nicholas magazine, 1903.

We hereby present the tightly-guarded secret to finishing a manuscript: "He wrote on to the conclusion."  From Dicks' English Library of Standard Works, 1884.

"I shall tell you a great secret my friend.  Do not wait for the last judgement.  It takes place every day." —Albert Camus

"What the secret chamber contained," from Home-Theatricals Made Easy by Frances Elizabeth Callow, 1891.

"The is the secret of Hall-in-the-Wood," from The Mystery of Hall-in-the-Wood by Rosa Mulholland, 1893.

The devil whispers a great secret to a cow, from Blasts From the Ram's Horn, 1902.

"Yes, I know the hidden secret," from Thrilling Life Stories for the Masses, 1892.

"There was more than one way into the Otherworld." —Lisa Tuttle, The Mysteries

Pictured above, Prof. Oddfellow knocks on a fairy door.  Pictured below, Prof. Oddfellow reveals that even a fairy window floating in space may betray subtle sounds.

"Whisper the one word, dearest."  From The Cap Becomes a Coronet by Frederick Bingham, 1894.

Every beginning is shrounded in a mist — a clue — in the darkness — flashing.  From Proverbial Philosophy by Martin Farquhar Tupper, 1881 (with our own erasures).

"The voices in the waves are always whispering to Florence," from the Works of Charles Dickens, Household Edition.

"Anyone who has worked with groups will be aware of [the] phenomenon of a mental field and yet this may only be whispered in respectable scientific circles." —Barbara Dowds, Beyond the Frustrated Self

"I could not distinguish what he said," from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells, 1896.

From Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

"The golden secret is told," from The Trail of the Serpent by M. E. Braddon, 1861.

"Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world?  It is that we have only known the back of the world.  We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal.  That is not a tree, but the back of a tree.  That is not a cloud, but the back of a cloud.  Cannot you see that everything is stooping and hiding a face?  If we could only get round in front." —G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday

"Diagram: Interior of a tower of silence," from Letters from India and Kashmir by J. Duguid, 1874.

An illustration from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin.  The caption reads: "Mrs. Bennet was privileged to whisper it to Mrs. Philips."