Cirrus@Austlit

An Englishman joins the Freemasons late in life, and after his initiation buys a symbol of the craft for his watchchain together with another charm in the jeweller's keeping. On a trip to Antwerp a stranger offers him hospitality and invites him to a meeting of the brotherhood - but too late he discovers it is not the Freemasons but an anarchist brotherhood he is meeting with ... Far-fetched; competent. (PB)

On the differences between English wit and Scottish humour, with an example. (PB)

Exemplary piece. A weeping wife is advised by her friend that the best way to keep a man away from the public bar is to make home and self welcoming and pleasant, and serve good food on his return from work (ugh!). And it works. (PB)

Lady Jones has her retrun trip to England from Paris made pleasant by two helpful Americans. They prove to be Fenians who have planted dynamite in her luggage to be smuggled into England, and a rude Englishman who irritates her reveals himself as a chief inspector from Scotland Yard. Light. (PB)

English country romance. Mr Shirley of Nether Hall shares a brougham with a beautiful unknown girl after a night spent waiting for the doctor's verdict on his friend injured while shooting. A subsequent case of mistaken identity delays his own romance and that of the doctor and his injured friend's sister. A railway accident resolves it all ... Pleasant. Interesting theme of 'ideal' girl versus actuality. (PB)

A young girl worn out by her studies visits her uncle and cousins in the country. She meets an eccentric man one day, and hearing of an escaped lunatic spends a night in terror of the heavy breathing and burning eyes under her bed. They resolve into her uncle's Newfoundland dog ... Probably US. Slight. (PB)

A pretty twenty-year-old gains a position as housekeeper to a handsome widower and his children. It is only the arrival of his aunt and cousin which alerts them to the world's censure - and eventually to the state of their own hearts. Light. (PB)

Tale of the supernatural, set in London in 1879. A gentleman returning home from an evening with a friend in Albany is dogged by a mysterious double and is so concerned that he seeks out a friend to confide in and spends the night there. This action - and the double - save his life as a roof beam splits his bed in half during the night. Competent; attractive description of London streets by night. (PB)

A young woman's solo journey from Leamington to London by train exposes her to a travelling companion who compels her to cut his hair and beard by threatening to kiss her. He changes from a hunter's guise to a priest's disguise and escapes the police who came to arrest him upon his arrival in London. Slight; interesting, with regards to her horror of touch; amusing in parts. (PB)

Humorous disquisition on life insurance's ability to prolong life and prevent injury. Probably US. (PB)

A young woman's quarrel with her rich grandmother over the man she wants to marry is forgotten when burglars invade the house and she braves the house's ghost to ring the great bell to summon help. Action well created. (PB)

A solicitor's clerk is kidnapped and nearly murdered to obtain a will he is carrying to London which disinherits the leader of the kidnappers - also a counterfeiter. Narrow escape. Competent; reasonably interesting introduction in relation to the weak-willed man of wealth in fear of his step-son. (PB)

A drinker reforms when he sees another man pawning his child's baby shoes. Sentimental moral sketch; brief. (PB)