Julian Hawthorne (1846-1934) was an American writer and journalist He was the son of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. He wrote poetry, novels, short stories, mystery/detective fiction, essays, travel books, biographies and histories. Hawthorne studied to be an engineer. At one point in his life he was able to sell some three and a half million shares of stock in a non-existent silver mine and served one year in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. The Golden Fleece has a supernatural element with many plot twists. The romance begins with two older men talking. An excerpt reads, "Freeman laughed. "Well," he said, "if I"m a hypocrite, I"m one of those who are made and not born. As a boy, I was frank enough. But a good part of my life has been spent with people who couldn"t be trusted; and perhaps the habit of protecting myself against them has grown upon me. If I could only live here for a while it would be different.--Here"s an odd-looking thing. What do you call that?" "We call it the Golden Fleece." "The Golden Fleece! I can imagine a Medea; but where is the Dragon?" "If Jason came, the Dragon might appear." "I remember reading somewhere that the Dragon was less to be feared than Medea"s eyes. But this fleece seems to have lost most of its gold. There is only a little gold embroidery." "It shows where the gold is hidden." "It"s you that are concealing something now, Miss Trednoke. How can a woollen garment be a talisman?" "The secret might be woven into it, perhaps," replied Miriam, passing her fingers caressingly over the soft tunic. "Then, when the right person puts it on, it would----But you don"t believe in these things."