AustLit

A widower and his three year old daughter find a housekeeper for their neglected house through the loss of a piece of lace on the wind. And through the housekeeper he finds again his first and true love. Slight tale with a hint of personality. (PB)

Anecdote of the English actor Shutter and how quick thinking saves his purse in a stage coach robbery. (PB)

Brief anecdote of an old soldier's release from a larceny charge after arguing he had long risked his life for less money. Marshal Saxe's army. (PB)

Light English romance begun when Kate Leslie steals her sister's love letters from a former suitor who refuses to surrender them. She meets a stranger from whom she attempts to disguise her identity - and they eventually become acquainted. Pleasant. (PB)

Description of the voyage from Hobson's Bay via Adelaide, Aden, the Suez Canal, Port Said, Naples to Plymouth. Describes the ports visited on this recently opened route; and closes with comments on the reception given the visiting Victorian cricket team. (PB)

Childhood friends become estranged through their love for Maude Ethelridge. She loves Paul Carylon but refuses to stop seeing Angus Cameron. Paul and Angus quarrel and Angus dies in a river crossing accident. Paul breaks off his engagement to Maude and on his deathbed confessed he knew the bridge was washed away. Tragic romance - predictable but reasonably written. (PB)

Brief anecdote. An assault on a fisher boy by Queen Victoria's son brings him fair recompense. (PB)

Set on the Otago goldfields in NZ, a lucky young digger's fiancee is recognised by his friend as a professional adventuress who thus inveigles diggers out of their gold and decamps on the eve of the wedding. Well-paced tale with well-accustomed plot. (PB)

Snappy little tale of the secretary of a US magnate who is discovered kneeling before his employer's daughter. Glimpsing his employer's displeasure he proposes to marry her companion instead - and so wins a wife. (PB)

Brief tale of an illiterate orphan who marries a man who teaches her to read - but assures her it is her true heart he values most. (PB)

A restless man takes a position as tutor in a beautiful country house and falls in love with his fair employer. He confesses his love but he is married to a maniac - who burns down the house on the eve of the tutor's departure and is killed in the fire. Pleasant if somewhat hurried pace. (PB)

Nellie Lyle follows an old superstition in the hope of finding out the name of her future husband. A sprained ankle and a stranger's assistance home are the only immediate results - but romance soon follows. Light US romance of a country town. (PB)

Three anecdotes of the ubiquity of Scotsmen - in the Crimean War, in Turkey and the Middle East. (PB)

A page-boy becomes the favourite of the Count and Countess of Savern in the Middle Ages. A jealous huntsman spreads lies about him and plots to have him killed but the boy is detained at mass and the huntsman falls into his own trap. Plain folk tale. (PB)

A rich merchant refuses to lend his nephew money and advises him to save and learn his business fully before buying a store. Three years later the nephew owns his own bookstore and marries his cousin. Moral tale of the work ethic. (PB)

A deaf grandmother embarrasses a visiting city girl who tries to make conversation. (PB)

Humorous theatrical anecdote set at the Chatham Theatre New York in 1847 when Charles Webb arranges for an amateur to play in 'Hamlet'. (PB)

Two anecdotes of the propensity of men to grumble about everything - including one of King George II. (PB)

Set in an English rectory, a young girl's blindness does not damage her lover's feelings for her. Slow. (PB)