Cirrus@Austlit

An encounter with a stranger, his physical double, on an express train from Paris to Lyon plunges an American silk buyer into a wrongful arrest for murder. Mistaken identity, lack of an alibi, and a severed head conspire against him. He is saved only by the real murderer's confession as he lay dying, mangled from his leap from the train. (PB)

A convict gang working in the pine forest when a 'twister' strikes free themselves to survive. Three escape and determine to build a raftto reach New Zealand. One is killed in an attempt to get proviision; the other two kill a sergeant attempting to recapture them, and despite Colt Price's hopes they launch their raft but die on the journey, one stabbed, the other suicided ... (PB)

A businessman's attempts to reach the number he wants are frustrated by 'Central' and the office he reaches. Madness ensues. (PB)

Set on the gold fields. A rough miner marries a pretty but light woman during a celebration of a gold strike in Melbourne. After returning to the diggings she bears a child but is soon unfaithful with a trooper. Her husband - rough but honest - does not throw her out but takes his love away. She learns to value him, nurses him through sandy blight, gains a 'soul' and they are happily reunited. (PB)

Humorous column on odorous cheeses - Gorgon Zola (Emile's product), Stilton etc. 'Uneducated' writer, phonetic spelling. (PB)

Adventure romance. The beautiful daughter of a Nihilist lures the Russian Czar's courier from his duty, but resolves to betray her father and save the Czar at risk of her life. Ultimately reunited with her real father and the courier whom she has come to love. (PB)

Racing and gambling tale. A drunken night in a roulette house reveals to a nearly ruined man the identity of his stolen racehorse. He recovers his house and money from the races and finally the horse too. Theme of male friendship. (PB)

Tale of domestic tyranny. A 33year-old man on a fishing holiday meets a motherless family ruled over by a short-tempered father. He becomes very fond of the over-worked 17-year-old daughter/mother/sister and her invalid little brother. He writes daily but is unable to prevent her suicide from overwork and melancholy. Tale of murderers who are selfish fathers. (PB)

Reminiscence of a hunting trip for tigers in the Chandi jungle. An enlisted soldier accompanies a raw young officer - 'new chum' - and witness his foolhardy determination to skin a splendid buck while trying to attract a tiger. The buck, the officer and the tiger end up dead; the soldier temporarily mad. Told by a British common soldier 'Tommy' not an officer as is more usual. Ironic commentary on British pluck included. (PB)

Dramatised narrative of the French Captain Alfred Dreyfus' happy wedded life, his false accusation and conviction for treason during the war against Germany; his terrible imprisonment and his wife's pleas for him to the princes of Europe and the Pope. Finishes with the French government's refusal to re-open the case. (PB)

An Oxford man seeking work as a tutor gains the work through a friend's kindness, and through mistaking an upstairs flat for that he was visiting discovers the blackmailer of his employer's innocent wife. He regains the diamonds for her, and persuades her to confess the truth to her husband. Indolent Englishman turns hero; innocent wife restored; sons of nobility introduced. (PB)

An honest Irish suburban police sergeant in Melbourne, superstitious to the core, agrees to look after the drunken wife of an ex-member of the force who had been dismissed because of the sergeant's evidence years before. A faithful old servant, the wife's cleverness, the sergeant's honesty and superstitions, the suspicions of an over-sharp constable, and the cunning of the false husband who murders his wife for the insurance are included. The sergeant's loss of memory and the constable's spying nearly lead to a false conviction at the inquest. (PB)

Humorous tale set in the Victorian coast and in Melbourne. Two sisters and a brother living temporarily in a shabby recently purchased holiday house reluctantly entertain an English visitor mistakenly sent by their father. All are glad when the evening is over, one of the sisters masquerading as a servant with a nervous disorder. A later meeting in Melbourne removes the mask of each and romance seems imminent. High spirited story. (PB)