Cirrus@Austlit

Patchy slight tale of romance begun over the wire between two telegraphists, and a dream of tragedy that confirms their love after a few years of marriage. Confusing. (PB)

In Florence, an English noblewoman persuades the beautiful Italian girl her son has asked to marry, to leave him. He refuses to marry anyone else and years later, she widowed and he a bachelor still, they are reunited after a London opera gala. Well-written titled romance. (PB)

A promise to his friend's wife and an apparition on the battlefield guide the officer/narrator to the woods where his friend is lying injured. US Civil War tale. (PB)

A constable's dream of a murder in a sly-grog shanty near Avoca in the mid-1850s is revealed to have been real. The shanty keeper, his wife and the victim's mate murdered him for his money - and their deed is discovered by an enterprising policeman, the wife's madness and the victim's daughter who determined to avenge him and marries his killer. (PB)

A parrot reveals a cook's male visitor. (PB)

A pair of Chicago friends decide to write to a newspaper advertising for a wife to see how many answers they will receive. The married friend decides to continue a friendly correspondence with a spirited girl but before long finds himself the object of romance, and after he ceases writing, the target of her brother's revenge ... Humorous tale of practical jokes. (PB)

A storm during a return train trip to Melbourne introduces the political journalist/narrator to a beautiful country girl curious to learn about the city. Three years later he sees her giving evidence at an inquest - now a barmaid. Slow. (PB)

Brief anecdote of a journalist's mistakes in reporting a speech heard after dinner. (PB)

A groom has a nightmare on the morning of his wedding of an ugly negro waiter at his hotel entrapping him to prevent his marriage. Slight. (PB)

Humorous anecdote of a man who could not remember jokes. (PB)

Weak tale of an engaged couple in Melbourne separated by his naval career which takes him to New Zealand, and during a pleasure ride in Dunedin he is killed. Fannie receives the news in St Kilda and soon dies too. (PB)

A governess rescues a man trapped in the snow, nurses him briefly at a neighbouring farmer's and they fall in love. She is dismissed from her position but he rescues her, marries her, and reveals himself as true heir to the property. Thin. US or English. (PB)

Tale told in Carlton, Melbourne, of a young man's adventures in the Victorian bush while collecting debts for his employees: an encounter in an isolated house with two bushrangers and a woman. He narrowly escapes with her help but she is murdered. A little slow but generally well written; accustomed tale of attempted drugging. (PB)

An heiress in Maryland USA saves a gypsy boy from being beaten to death and is repaid two years later when the gypsy chief reveals that the ornament given to her by her governess contains a poison that is slowly killing her. Romance, competent though unlikely. (PB)

Rose Story, a fisherman's daughter in Northumbria falls in love with the handsome Captain Lee, an artist soldier who paints her portrait. Her erstwhile suitor Jim Hartley threatens to kill her and when the captain is found dead he is charged with the crime ... English romance. (PB)