AustLit

A grandfather's death comforted by sun, moon and stars. (PB)

A package left unopened in a freight room begins to smell, and a body is discovered inside, despatched from Grenoble. The murderer at last appears to claim the body - of a bear. Murder mystery and humour. (PB)

Pithy advice on the best way of rearing sons and choosing their profession. Humour. (PB)

A Scottish Methodist raises his contributions for repairs when he is hit by falling plaster. Exemplary sketch. (PB)

Four incorrigible female pupil teachers at a Victorian state school write an April Fool's proposal from the headmaster to a fellow pupil, only to discover it is truly answered. Light girls school humour and romance. (PB)

English detective story. A commercial traveller for a London firm of jewellers is believed to have absconded but doubts are raised because of his own savings and the small fortune of his fiancee who has been abandoned ... A coincidental encounter with a counterfeiter several months later leads the detective to the missing man - and the exposure of a jealous rival. Detailed 'realist' narrative; stiff. (PB)

Two schoolgirls play an April Fool's joke on the village dressmaker and actually arrange a wedding. Slight. (PB)

Description of the terrible conditions suffered by prisoners in the prison fortress of St Peter and Paul, Russia. (PB)

A retired bachelor decides to leave his idle life and return to his work as man-servant in Melbourne. He is hired by a mysterious baron along with happy-go-lucky Ned Calico to go into the Victorian countryside and hire a house for him. They find themselves involved in family secrets, murders, a ghostly house and a skeleton ... (PB)

Anecdote of a court presentation to Queen Adelaide and William IV. Hearty. (PB)

A first quarrel in a marriage - resolved by the husband's dream of his young wife trapped in a house fire. Slight. (PB)

The narrator hears in 1880 the English tale of Barbara Conwail (1670-1730) executed for witchcraft during a plague epidemic. He determines to try out the legend of the witch's favour and goes to the graveyard at midnight where he feels the touch of her hand and receives a ring. Good fortune then smiles on him but only two years later when he meets the woman he loves does he discover she was a human witch. Interestingly written. (PB)

English romance of marital misunderstanding. Audrey Rogers begins to doubt her new husband and her fears seem proven when she discovers his daily visits to a child left nearby in the care of a nurse. She resolves to leave him but on his insisting that she explain why the mystery is solved - the boy is his nephew. Light good pace and tension; a woman's spying described. (PB)

US railway tale. An engine driver in a fit of delirium tremens races a train towards certain destruction until bravely quelled by the narrator, the company representative. Action-packed well-paced tale. (PB)

A German girl collects a bag of hickory nuts to thank the doctor for saving her brother's life - but the deed costs her own. Pathos. (PB)

Margaret Fordyce is left half her uncle's estate and her distant cousin Sir William Drummond, the title and money. The uncle's intention was that they should marry - but Margaret is already engaged to a young artist ... She meets Sir William however and the true state of her heart is revealed when he almost dies in a skating accident. The artist gives her up but at the cost of his life. Pleasant not fully realised construction of change of heart, etc. (PB)

English college youth's tale. An English medical student is summoned to visit his uncle in Paris to account for his extravagant college bills. He determines while there to revenge himself by playing a practical joke on his uncle but the old man's kindness changes his mind. When he arrives back in England he receives news that his uncle has just died - and from a similar cause to that which the joke would have made the old man fear ... Straightforward narrative. (PB)

Anguish of the final separation between a husband and wife after only twelve months. Restrained feeling, Christian comfort are extolled. (PB)

A railway brakeman settles with logic a dispute between two drummers over the possession of a cigar. (PB)