AustLit

Romance on a Victorian country station. Predictable slight narrative of a visit to a country station by a brother of a friend of the station owner's daughter. He is a poor Melbourne clerk; they fall in love; father accepts a proposal from a dark middle-aged man of wealth to redeem his property. Irene cannot bring herself to accept - but a change in the clerk's fortunes brings happiness. Perfunctory. (PB)

A man released after a trial tells his tale to the interested narrator. A poor unemployed man is approached by an apparent detective to help catch a notorious burglar - to alert the police with three sharp whistles. Instead he finds himself alerting the burglar - his employer - of the approach of the police. (PB)

A hire combination bicycle relates its story from its month's trial with a man who couldn't afford it, to the life of a hireling with thanksgiving for not having been ridden by ladies in bloomers. Complaints of a fat lady riding it for health. Romance of a slim young lady, a sketcher, and her companion: a quarrel, her accident, then reconciliation, and marriage; and purchase of the bicycle. Light. (PB)

A bashful swain is helped in his proposal by the lady's frankness. Slight. (PB)

Fairy and moral tale. A little girl creeps out at night to meet the fairies and the brownies. Escapades follow and she meets the Queen - her dead mother in disguise who promises to help win her father back from gambling to life with the 'fairies'. Suffering, losses, poverty and ill-health follow for him until the birth of grandchildren restore him to health and joy. Fairy passages well written; moral strain a little heavy. (PB)

Romance/supernatural told in England with Indian connections. An army officer a short time before his wedding tells his friend of an entanglement in India years before with a handsome woman who had taken an overdose when he told her their affair was over. She had warned him she would return if he ever found another to love - and on two occasions he had seen her ghost. At the races the next day he wins until the last, when in front of his fiancée he sees the ghost and is killed. The narrator and the fiancée had both seen the ghost too - unknowingly. Slight; some supernatural fascination. (PB)

An honest literary critic is flogged once by the Shah of Persia, but amuses the potentate with his reaction to the Shah's poetry the second time and is reinstated. Slight and brief. (PB)

Account of a stage-coach trip with an authoritative but noble-hearted driver from Tratalgon to Walhalla. Includes fellow passengers and their quirks; a stop for refreshment; the beautiful views including Coppermine and the terrifyingly beautiful drive over the Gippsland Ranges. (PB)

Romance/humour. A parody in miniature - star-crossed lovers saved by six deaths at sea from which they alone are saved. (PB)

The arrival of Madge, a beautiful orphaned cousin wins the love of Lucy Trevor's fiancée Lewis Fayne from his betrothed. They acknowledge their love but refuse to break Lucy's heart, so he goes to Lisbon until he can control his affections, and Madge pales and dies a year or so after the wedding. Tale of self-sacrifice; insubstantial but graceful. (PB)

Letters containing a proposal and an offer for a house are mixed up - and confusion follows before all is resolved happily. Light. (PB)

Very brief and set in Paris. A final three loud claps on a bath visitor's body are puzzling til explained as replacing a bell. Humour. (PB)

Set in Cromwell's England. An honest true peasant couple assist a noble to escape the Roundheads at the risk of their own safety. Stormy nights, loyalty to the Crown, courage rewarded etc. Solid conventional tale of adventure. (PB)

Incident where the [British] politician is unrecognised and insulted unknowingly by a clergyman - who wishes to apologise when he discovers it. Identity anecdote. (PB)

Brief; in dramatic form. Her mistress' description of a magic show enable a cook to produce a soldier from the cupboard. Humour. (PB)

Set on an estate not far from Melbourne. The master of the estate is poisoned by the cat-like wife of his servant and childhood friend Bruce. The dead man's brother, an amateur photographer, has a negative of the woman placing the poison in the glass. Confronted with her crime and the choice of the gallows or swallowing her own poison, she has a heart attack. (PB)

Humorous account of the underhand means used by a Melbourne wool broker friend to obtain a government auditor's position for the narrator. Lies, exaggerations and appeals to MP's and the minister through political manouvres finally secure him the position. Cynical, light. (PB)

A married man in a slum area after playing the banjo at a penny reading assists a young woman apparently being driven astray by her cabman. He loses his gold watch and chain and valuables for his noble efforts in comforting her. Light. (PB)