Cirrus@Austlit

Exemplary tale in thin disguise of a fairy visit to the house of a newly-married couple where the indolent girl has become the pattern of a perfect wife by learning housekeeping and tending lovingly to her husband's needs! Brief mention of women's rights which do not stand in the face of their love ... (PB).

Set in the Australian bush town of Liffnack, a tale of two respectable families: Charlie, an invalid who goes to Queensland for a cure, and his eager sister Isabel; her lover Howard, a teacher, and his sister Nellie who dies of a lung disease, and their parents. Involves a female teacher's assistant dismissed for making advances to Howard. Interesting with odd touches of piety, sentiment, and a plot that seems to have changed halfway into the tale(PB).

A husband and wife are awakened several times in their new house by cats which the wife mistakes for a baby, thieves, beaux, and a fire in turn. Slight. (PB).

A girl returns from the city to her cousin's farm and decides to try to foretell her marriage partner. She sees her own death - and is thrown from a carriage ... Agreeable little tragedy. (PB).

Small town gossip about the extravagance of the new doctor's wife gets out of hand ... Satirical, slight. (PB).

A Melbourne solicitor's clerk rescues a lady in the street and escorts her home and falls in love in the one night - only to discover his watch and wallet are missing. Ashamed of his naivete he forgets her for two years until he meets her accidentally at a party ... Pleasant if a little tediously reflective at times. (PB).

A city man holidaying in the country steals a lady's gloves to remember her by - and inadvertently steals £5 she secreted in them. This leads eventually to a confession ... Slight, lightly humorous. (PB).

Lame tale of an importer's clerk who leaves town and his job to save his brother from a supposed charge of forgery - only to discover that it was a plot by his rival to remove him. (PB).

Purported letter to the Editor recounting the plans for a wedding, the writer's attitude to it, and enclosing a humorous style of wedding invitation. (PB).

Tale recalled from the narrator's youth (in the 1820s) of two duels foughtin response to cherry-stones thrown in a London tavern, and a third interrupted. (PB)