The Reef (1912) by Edith Wharton lends itself to multi-stranded analyses of her engagement with silence in a largely domestic or private setting, such as the one provided in this chapter. Her distinctive characterisations of the novel’s two female protagonists, mature and privileged Anna Leath vs. young and vulnerable Sophy Viner, emphasise varying degrees of reticence to further set them apart. Yet while she might approve of Anna’s judicious speech, she also scrutinises the silencing of women by society, and while Sophy’s liberal chatter may be censured, her sexual exploitation draws attention to the victimisation of women by men. In addition to examining these thematic concerns, this chapter also analyses Wharton’s use of rhetorical silences which lend women temporary conversational power, and her portrayal of silence as a mechanism with the power to reveal, as well as to suppress information.