AustLit

Noon in the desert sees little Mary's immigrant parents dying with their oxen from lack of water. Mary is found by some rugged miners and brightens their camp until she is killed by a local mentally ill man. She is mourned at midnight by Jim who had adopted her. Vivid pictures of the cruelty of American west - with sentimental roughness of character. (PB)

A hypocritical seamstress hopes to cause dissension between her happily married employers when she finds a love letter in her mistress' pocket - but secures only her own dismissal. Brief, pointed. (PB)

Anecdote of a viceroy of Naples who pardoned an honest thief rather than the 'innocently' convicted. (PB)

Charity wears tolerance of faults not alms-giving; everyone in the US can earn enough for their own survival. [US work ethic; negro accent.] (PB)

A thief's ruse to obtain the watch of a merchant who left it at home under his pillow. Slow. (PB)

A governess left alone with her pupils in a large mansion foils a robbery, shooting one of the burglars. Well-written, slight. (PB)

A disgraced courtier's clever answer to Elizabeth I's loaded question earns her favour. Clever repartee. (PB)

Slight, warm romance with humour. An English country lady in mourning mistakes a Major Halton for her step-brother just returned from India - and her warm greeting eventually leads to love. (PB)

A detective solves the robberies from a Boston businessman's house by catching his daughter sleepwalking - and thus clearing her suitor of suspicion. Slight; involves secret panels and passages. (PB)

Tale of Paganini's kindness to a nurse at the convalescent home where he was recovering from fever in 1832. He gave a benefit concert for her, playing partly on a large wooden shoe. Dramatisation of events. (PB)

A police detective traces a seemingly foolproof robbery to a Jewish jeweller and through good luck, chance questioning and intuition solves the crime. A memorable comparison to a 'hesitating woman'. (PB)

A Napoleonic French company of grenadiers sacrifice themselves in a battle in Egypt to save their fellow soldiers. (PB)

A new governess and the return of a brother from India set the stage in an English house for romance. The barrier of the governess' previous marriage is overcome when the brother finally executes a duty he was commissioned with in India. Pleasant. (PB)

A lawyer defends a young man accused on murder in Paris in 1849, and is amply repaid when he loses his fortune in 1851. (PB)

Mabel Howard falls in love with a visiting artist to the small town she lives in but is torn by her aunt's will, which leaves much-needed money to Mabel and her father - on condition that she marry the aunt's protege ... Predictable, pleasant romance. (PB)

A travelling agent for a London firm spends All Hallow's Eve in a country town where he hears a legend of a ghostly coach - a ride in which removes all obstacles from lovers' path. Unsure whether it was real, or due to drinking, he dreams he has a ride - and inherits £2000 on which he can marry! Slight. (PB)

A shabby man and the beautiful child he pushes in a baby carriage are revealed to be father and daughter, not servant and charge when the narrator discovers their house where the child is dying. (PB)

An army regiment garrisoned in Ireland contains two Captain Adairs for a time when the real captain's servant masquerades in his uniform among the neighbouring gentry. Includes the real captain's romance. (PB)

The tennant of an old London mansion is visited by an 80 year old Italian nobleman requesting permission to visit the room he shared with his wife during political exile in the late 1820s, and where his son was born. Pleasant and interesting tale of English family life, and rich associations from the past. (PB)

A sunbeam that cheers the dark corners of the world wins the Queen of the Fairies' reward for doing the greatest good. Some charm; very moral. (PB)