Cirrus@Austlit

Short discussion of their respective characters and advice on avoiding disputes, especially with a younger mother-in-law. (PB)

Romance of England and the Continent that ends in suicide. Wealthy, young, handsome Ralph Delamore, an English gentleman, shoots himself atop the Drachenfels when he discovers that his fiancee has fallen in love with her sophisticated and distinguished cousin from Milan. Interesting in construction and tone, and 'understanding' approach to suicide and social convention. (PB)

Humorous tale of a romance begun on the street through an injury to Stephen Sandon's eye muscles, making him appear to wink. A young lady takes exception to his apparent advance and a policeman, a night in gaol and a court appearance ensue - before the mistake is clarified. (PB)

A child exposes his mother's borrowed tea service to their guests and is eventually rewarded suitably. (PB)

Slight tale of an unscrupulous and very mediocre London doctor who recognises a wanted criminal in a man he helped certify as a lunatic - and profits thereby. (PB)

Tale of the first domestic disagreement in a marriage between wealthy Colonel Derner, 39, and the pretty governess, Lucy Weston, 19. Married at Mentone, honeymooners on the Continent. They return to England to be faced with two children - apparently those of Lucy's sister. The Colonel refuses to house them, feeling imposed upon. Lucy apparently obeys him, wins his cruel father's heart by nursing him, and when her sister appears and tells the Colonel they are the children of his own sister, thought to have committed suicide, she is able to reveal that she has all the time had them cared for. Study of opposing tempers. (PB)

Tale of frontier days in the US Black Hills and a lone woman's plucky response to save herself and her child from a band of brigands who invade her house. Wine laced with laudanum, a prairie fire, and the arrival of her husband with a band of friendly Indians assist her escape ... Lengthy description of the fire. (PB)

Tale of conscience and death. A rich merchant is visited by the man whose money he had used to enrich himself years before - and sees the poverty and death his theft had brought to his former partner's family. The confrontation kills him - though it is from a fit rather than his visitor who is actually an illusion of his own guilty thoughts. (PB)

A chance encounter in a Louisiana hotel elicits the tale of a man's marriage to a society beauty and contrasts it to his love for his noble Cherokee wife who could not live without him and would not return with him to white society. (PB)

Aphorisms on the conduct of life. (PB)

Romance and murder mystery. A young bank clerk in London is accused of murdering the head cashier. His fiancee's loyalty and some clever detective work as to the source of an advertisement in the newspaper's personal columns all assist in proving his innocence. (PB)

A Geneva watch smuggler bribes a French police detective's own servant to pass them through customs. (PB)

On not ceasing to compliment and pay attentions to wives once married. (PB)

A tale of German revenge and death set around a sawmill in the hills of 'Borderland'. Superstition, a curse, rivalry, a crippled enemy and a vengeful mother are the central ingredients investigated by the Melbourne detective in this tale. Climaxes with death by mill wheel ... (PB)

Anecdote of Edwin Forrest, a US perfomer, who reacts coolly to an explosion during the casting of a huge statue in Washington. (PB)

A dog's response to training commands reveals who its true master is. Purportedly factual. (PB)

A wife resolves to escape the role of housekeeper that has descended on her in four years of marriage when her husband again decides to go out rather than stay at home or invite her. She finds a maid for her kitchen and children, takes a job as forewoman in a department store, goes out with friends at night, wears beautiful clothes, plays the piano and sings etc. The behaviour has its desired effect, he comes to appreciate her and the children, and to meet her half way. Then she gives up her job and the status quo is restored. (PB)

Life of a writer's fountain pen. (PB)

A British traveller returned home from the five seas tells his sister the tale of an encounter on the Pacific Coast of America with an apparent gentleman, of his love for the sheriff's daughter and his abandonment of her to her death when he is discovered to be a wanted criminal. Tale of deceptive appearances. (PB)

Detective tale set in the US. A Kentucky axe murder is solved through the victim's dream as written to his nephew - and a co-incidental encounter during a card game on a steamboat to Memphis. (PB)