AustLit

A sailor's sweetheart stays true to her promise and waits for his ship to return - as it does on her deathbed. Slight. (PB)

Tale of a traveller locked in a railway carriage on a trip to the north of England with a madman, his escape, and subsequent discovery that the madness was a diamond merchant's ruse to protect his gems. Neat variation on the madman genre; well-told. Humour too, though slight. (PB)

A husband's belated appreciation of his loving, long-tried wife. (PB)

A young man's suitability for entering the Victorian police force is tested not only by a physical and mental examination and a horse-riding demonstration - but includes a confrontation with a dangerous adversary. (PB)

A woman's household help assures her there is an insane man in the barn, but after an hour's panic they discover it is a cosset lamb - the mistake arising from the help's deafness. Domestic sketch. (PB)

The timely admonitions of a British Museum assistant librarian changes the spoiled character of a beautiful lady visitor. Very patronising in the right it gives him to do so and his attitudes to women. (PB)

Geese protest against their rough treatment by a peasant by involving their ancestors salvation of Rome - until a traveller asks what they themselves have done. (PB)

A young wife's determination to win a battle with her husband and his uncle over keeping a horse they cannot afford results in the uncle moving out and her husband nearly losing his business. Both learn in the end, and uncle moves back. On the morality of living modestly. (PB)

Thinly realised romance of the Tyrolese Alps. An English artist lives for the summer in the house of a shepherd family and comes to love the fair daughter. She refuses to leave, however, saying her home is there - and is buried in an avalanche while visiting friends. (PB)

Tale of the US Civil War. The temporary halt of a train in Tennessee elicits a tale of a railway chase during the war on the same spot, and an engineer's sagacity. Competent. (PB)

Account of a crippled child, the anger of his mother at God until she realises that he is doubly dependant on her, and his final release in death on his birthday. Pathos, sentiment and some interest. (PB)

Haughty Mrs V. D. resolves to turn heir Melbourne home into a lodging-house to boost the resources of herself and her husband, unable to live on his quarterly allowance from England. This causes a rupture, Mr V. D. being proud of his name - but the arrival of lodgers brings a gambler and a bank absconder to the house - and eventually suicide. Comic touches. (PB)

A carpenter builds a house exactly as instructed - without stairs - for a short-tempered sea captain. (PB)

English upper-class romance. Jetty Dumont, a respected independent concert singer, promises her rash sister to try and recover the betrothal ring she lost in a thoughtless wager. She mistakes a gentleman for his cousin the gambler, and slapping his face with her fan demands the return of the ring. Her sister's illness and the discovery of his true identity both end happily ... (PB)

The patient hard-working life of a US printer and his death on the job. Simple, effective. (PB)

Theatrical anecdote of the actor Macredy and a memorable death in Hamlet.

US action adventure of the frontier. A close escape from wolves follows when the narrator gets lost during a buffalo hunt. (PB)

Tragic romance. A widow, deserted by her husband soon after their wedding for another woman, is about to marry again when her husband appears to tell her he is not dead - destroying her happiness again. Her young lover promises to wait and ten years later when her husband is dead and she is about to send for him she discovers he has married a young beautiful girl, while she is aged terribly. (PB)

The narrator, fearful of ghosts, is scared by a newspaper account of an escaped lunatic but is committed to go out. In his railway carriage he sees a man who assumes the description, they tussle, and he awakes to find himself in a strait jacket. Humorous variation of the madman genre. (PB)