Cirrus@Austlit

Tragic romance and tale of the supernatural in Australia. A young bride comes to her husband's family home, Greenwood, in the Australian bush - and during his short absence decides to sleep in the mistress' room where only the true wives of Heron men may lie. She is warned out by a baleful ghost and sickens from fright. Only when her husband's first and true wife, a travelling 'artiste' arrives there to give birth to her child does she understand why she could not sleep in the room ... The first wife and child die; Rachel the faithful old family servant despises her master; and a year later the new bride - remarried to him - dies also. All the atmosphere, tradition, family pride and superstition of an English home transported to an Australian setting. Very little Australian atmosphere, though an absorbing tale. (PB)

Irish emigrants on a steamer comaplain about the capers accompanying their mutton dinner. Humour. (PB)

English romance of assumed names and family connections. An adventurer of honest identity but assumed name decides to marry an heiress to secure his future. He meets an American one at Brighton but on the way to sign the register confesses his true name - and discovers she is his long lost sister ... Pleasantly humorous. (PB)

Brief tale of Indians' murder of a planter and his family near Tallahassee, Florida, who had always been just and hospitable to them. Only a young girl survived. (PB)

An English soldier is killed by a cobra - not from its bite but from the shock of being coiled about by it in the barracks guard-room. (PB)

Account of a young soldier's bravery at Waterloo in driving a powder carriage through a ring of flames. Purportedly anecdote told by the Duke of Wellington. (PB)

Encounter with a madman in the air. A balloonist is joined by a lunatic who throws the ballast overboard, causing the balloon to ascend to dangerous altitudes - until the lunatic disappears overboard and a miracle saves the pilot. [Unlikely.] Situation only real variation on this worn plot. (PB)

Romance of two English sisters in Tuscany. Disobeying their uncle, the two young women decide to attend a fair some hours away. A chance encounter in a train introduces them to an Englishman who gives Mab, the younger sister, a very loud little whistle. It proves handy when they are attacked by a robber in the railway waiting room overnight - and romance follows. Narrated by the elder sister. Pleasant; well-paced; slight. (PB)

Mr Elliot has a haircut and shave and is mistaken for a thief when he returns home. (PB)

Account of a medium passing on a first husband's commiseration to a second. Humour. (PB)

US tale of two sisters and public opinion: Helen who descends the scale of flirtation to lose her reputation and her fiancee; Prudie who keeps herself modest and pure and gains her sisters ex-fiancee. His hypocrisy - having carried on numerous flirtations himself - is noted, and public opinion recognised as unjust but powerful. Decorous combination of exemplary warning and small protest. (PB)

The shadow of death ultimately covers crew and passengers of a steamer battling a terrible storm off Cape Hatteras. Powerful description. (PB)

A tramp in a bush township discovers an old criminal acquaintance and agrees to help him rob a neighbour he is buying land from. The robbery becomes murder and when the murderer tries to blame him the tramp confesses all and helps him find the body. Includes the stricken widow's curse on her husband's murderer - and his solitary death ... (PB)

A wife's honest words stem the thoughts of suicide in her husband's mind caused by his financial ruin. Strong theme of Man's cowardice in leaving woman to struggle alone. Strength of statement. (PB)

Tale of a an indulged young Boston woman whose husband's first attempt to break her temper destroys her reason. Plain narrative of purported fact. (PB)

Eastern allegory of a maiden missing the opportunity to pick a large ear of corn in a field, and disdaining those remaining, finds none. Brief. (PB)

Tale of romance, adventure and coincidence. A bridegroom's disappearance on his way from business in the local village to the house of his prospective bride is solved through a fortuitous photograph taken by a visiting itinerant photographer. Includes strong evocation of a woman awaiting a tardy lover's appearance. (PB)

A gentleman is quickly stripped of all his money by eager ladies at the Zion's Hill Church Missionary Bazaar. (PB)

Account of the injuries suffered by passers-by kicking an April Fool's hat on the pavement - placed over a heavy rock. (PB)