The Secret of the League by Ernest Bramah

To the majority of those who thronged Seaton Street the effect of Salt's sudden -- instantaneous, as it seemed -- and unexpected appearance was to endow it with a dramatic, almost an uncanny, value. The front rows, especially those standing about the steps, fell back, and the further rows pressed forward. And because an undisciplined mob stricken by acute surprise must express its emotion outwardly -- by silence if it has hitherto been noisy, and by exclamation if it has been silent -- the shouts and turmoil in the street instantly dwindled away to nothing, like a breath of vapour passing from a window pane.

Salt raised his hand, and he had the tribute of unstirring silence, the silence for the moment of blank astonishment.