"The sureness of MacKenzie by Frederick R. Bechdolt" is a nautical short story written in the early 20th century. It centers on a veteran San Francisco bar pilot whose steadfast confidence is tested as he guides a great ocean liner through fog, surf, and shifting currents at the Golden Gate. A telephone summons pulls MacKenzie from home on the eve of his grandchildren’s birthday, and he heads out to the pilot boat in heavy weather, trading wagers and barbed talk with fellow pilots who chafe at his unshakable certainty. He aims to board the Empress, leaps for her Jacob’s ladder in a rolling sea, and takes the bridge, threading her around the breaking bar and down North Channel. When a sudden fog drop and hill wind warp the siren signals and a strong ebb shoves the ship toward disaster at Fort Point, the captain panics; MacKenzie holds his course by feel, sound, and experience, seemingly steering into danger to clear Lime Point. The fog thins, the harbor opens, and the liner steams in safely. Home in time for the party, he dotes on the children while his family, amused and admiring, sums him up in a phrase: he is so sure. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"A devil of a fellow, and The yellow cat by Wilbur Daniel Steele" is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. Set on Cape Cod and at sea, the book probes love, guilt, and superstition as ordinary people are tested by passion, fear, and the uncanny. In “A Devil of a Fellow,” the swaggering fisherman Tony Va Di returns to his Cape town after months presumed dead to find his old flame, Mamie, hastily married to an aging shopkeeper who has just drowned. Through a night of labor, town gossip, and his own jealousy, Tony is forced into tenderness; the baby Mamie bears plainly favors him, and his bravado softens into a grudging acceptance of love and responsibility. “The Yellow Cat” follows a narrator visiting an abandoned schooner brought in by his shaken friend McCord, who blames eerie happenings on a silent yellow cat. A hidden log hints at crew paranoia about a Chinese cook; a sailor vanishes; and, with the cat as their clue, they find the cook’s stash and papers concealed in the foretopsail before he slips away into the river. The sea “mystery” resolves into human fear, prejudice, and nerve, with the cat merely a catalyst for men undone by isolation. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The colonel''s daughter: or, Winning his spurs" by Charles King is a novel written in the late 19th century. Set on the Arizona frontier, it entwines military life and romance, centering on adjutant John Truscott, impulsive young lieutenant Arthur Glenham, and Grace Pelham, the colonel’s daughter, amid garrison routines, social maneuvering, and rising Apache unrest. Expect brisk soldierly realism, sharp drawing-room tensions, and a quietly forming love triangle pressed by the threat of war. The opening of the novel paints Camp Sandy in blistering heat, introducing the disciplined, reserved Truscott; the warm-hearted, wealthy Glenham; and the talkative, factional garrison community awaiting the arrival of Colonel Pelham’s wife and the much-admired Grace. Gossip swirls about Grace and Glenham, while Truscott’s integrity, past clashes with meddling superiors, and quiet generosity are established when he sacrifices his own trip so Glenham can attend the Prescott festivities. At the Prescott ball, Grace’s beauty captivates all, her mother manages access, and local rivalries flare, even as Truscott is delayed by urgent duty. During the night, alarms spread that the Tonto Apaches have left the reservation; bugles sound, officers are summoned, and Glenham, having just been gently refused by Grace, is swept toward field service. In parallel, Truscott rides alone through the mountains, discovers the murdered mail-carrier and a ranch in flames, and pushes on, signaling the outbreak that will drive the story from ballroom to battlefield. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Fighting for Fortune; or, Making a Place for Himself" by Roy Franklin is a juvenile adventure novel written in the early 20th century. Set around Lake Seneca, it follows determined youth Dean Mercer as he breaks from a law apprenticeship to launch a rival steamboat line with the backing of Judge Oglesby, while facing sabotage and scheming from entrenched interests. Allies like the salty Jack Carboy aid him, as bullies Tim Downey and Rodney Darringford plot theft, fraud, and arson; a parallel thread involves Dean helping Marcus Ellison in the fight to clear Marcus’s father of a wrongful charge. The opening of the story shows Dean quitting the musty law office, rescuing newcomer Marcus from a beating, and accepting two critical errands: safeguarding papers and money to aid Marcus’s father, and carrying an $8,000 check to pay for the new steamer, the Spray. After Tim Downey overhears these plans, he alerts Rodney and Colonel Darringford, the Warrior sails early, and Dean and Jack chase it by stage—surviving a crash—then reboard at Landlock. In Springfield, a con man posing as the builder tricks Dean out of the check, which Rodney later cashes by impersonating him; meanwhile Tim spies through a secret stateroom panel, intercepts Marcus and his wallet, and sets an arson scheme in motion. By morning, the Spray still stands but the money is gone, and Dean, visiting Marcus’s home, learns the boy never returned—leaving the new venture and Marcus’s family in sudden peril. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Crash dive by Claude C. Vickrey" is a naval adventure short story written in the late 1920s. It portrays a submarine training exercise that turns into a perilous emergency, focusing on seamanship, technical failure, and the crew’s ingenuity under extreme pressure. A young submarine officer narrates his first crash dive, where a cascading series of small errors culminates in the chief forgetting to shut the main induction valve. Flooding drives the boat to the bottom in mud at about one hundred thirty feet with the bow steeply down, trapping the crew and threatening them with dwindling air and chlorine gas from compromised batteries. Realizing they cannot pump out the water, the officers gamble on forcing the stern to the surface: they blow out fuel, oil, and fresh water, shift every movable weight forward, and work hand pumps in darkness as morale frays. After grueling hours they heel the submarine to roughly seventy-eight degrees, chisel through the exposed stern plating, and raise a makeshift distress flag. A Coast Guard destroyer spots the signal and rescues the exhausted men, capping the ordeal with the captain’s dry reply to a command query: “Position Vertical!” (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Another year with Denise and Ned Toodles" by Gabrielle E. Jackson is a children''s novel written in the early 20th century. It follows imaginative Denise Lombard, her bright pony Ned Toodles, and new neighbor Hart Murray through a year of gentle, humorous adventures filled with pets, river outings, and family warmth. The tone is wholesome and lightly didactic, centering on kindness, responsibility, and the joys of animal companionship. The beginning of the novel shows Denise daydreaming on a spring day, mimicking a wood-thrush and chatting to her pony before rescuing a muddy, howling child whose muddled name turns out to be Mabel Lilly Taintit. Denise celebrates her old goat Tan’s “birthday,” then meets Hart Murray, who becomes her fast friend; their play with the pets leads to Ned’s notorious prank of dumping Hart in a cow yard. We see Denise’s “sunset hour” with her wise mother, including a lesson in courtesy about postponing plans, followed by the cheerful christening and launch of Hart’s cedar rowboat, the River Kelpie. Pokey arrives for summer, a circus comes to town, and Ned’s high spirits carry the girls right into the parade before the family sets out together to see the show. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Wanted—? by Eugene Cunningham" is a Western short story written in the early 20th century. The tale follows a young Texas Ranger known as Ware’s Kid as he hunts the suspected killer of a ranch partner in the border country, blending pursuit, frontier justice, and moral ambiguity against a stark desert backdrop. The story opens with Ware’s Kid in Dallas, where a barroom dustup proves his mettle before he teams with deputy Bos’ Johnson to interrupt a Sam Bass train robbery at Mesquite. Wounded in the fight, the Ranger discovers Johnson is actually Dell Spreen, the man accused of murdering Eph Carson; yet Spreen saves his life and swears he’s innocent. Reconstructing the ambush at El Castillo, the Ranger realizes the killer had to be a much taller man. He delivers Spreen to Austin for protection and returns to the O-Bar country, where an unseen rifleman tries to kill him. At the ranch he meets grim owner Simeon Rutter and Rutter’s melancholy daughter; together he revisits the murder site and finds a distinctive knife. While camping at Hueco Tanks, Apaches attack; fleeing under moonlight, Rutter is mortally wounded and confesses he murdered Carson for the money and had tried to bushwhack the Ranger. Ware’s Kid secures the confession, resolves to clear Spreen officially, and shields the daughter from public disgrace, choosing compassion over spectacle. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Bases full!" by Ralph Henry Barbour is a young adult sports novel written in the early 20th century. Set at the prep school of Wyndham, it follows three friends—Clif Bingham, Tom Kemble, and the wheelchair-using Loring Deane—through a season that pivots from a fierce hockey rivalry with Wolcott to the trials of making the baseball team. The focus is on teamwork, perseverance, and school spirit, with coaches, tryouts, and friendships shaping the boys’ fortunes on and off the field. The opening of the novel plunges into a tied hockey finale against Wolcott, where substitute wing Clif is sent in, shadows the star Houston, and scrambles in the winning goal. It then introduces the “Triumvirate”—Clif, brash Tom, and bright, resilient Loring (assisted by his dignified attendant, Wattles)—and shifts to early baseball preparations: Coach Connover and Captain Hurry Leland set standards, a tough schedule looms, and indoor drills give way to chilly outdoor work. A second team forms under the sharp-eyed “Tusks” Wadleigh as Clif and Tom battle for spots, struggle with batting form, and learn fundamentals; a quiet scene with Clif’s visiting father and a glimpse of a Mr. Cooper add texture. Tom later confides his absent-father past, and Loring rallies the trio with a “work and will” pact to will their way onto the team, as the first nine splits its first games and the boys’ baseball quest truly begins. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The fair Mississippian" by Charles Egbert Craddock is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set on an isolated Mississippi River plantation, it follows Edward Desmond, a brilliant but newly impoverished scholar who becomes tutor to the wealthy widow Honoria Faurie’s three sons. The story promises class friction, wounded pride, and a possible attraction between tutor and mistress, threaded through with a local “haunting” and the social theatrics of neighboring planters. The opening of the novel shows Desmond’s fall from promise after his father’s death and his reluctant arrival at Great Oaks, where Mr. Stanlett’s tactless chatter about Honoria’s fortune (tied to widowhood) and a parrot’s mocking song sharpen Desmond’s sense of humiliation. He meets the unexpectedly young and commanding Honoria, then lies awake to hear furtive footsteps on the stairs; Reginald explains the household’s ghostly legend. At breakfast Honoria’s birthday and Chub’s earnest “trading‑boat” gift reveal the family’s dynamics. Desmond asserts discipline, vetoing a holiday, choosing the library as a schoolroom, and quelling globe‑spinning and sulks; he spars with Reginald over the value of Greek and begins to win a measure of order while spending his nights reading and writing in solitude. As winter wears on, neighbors Colonel and Mrs. Kentopp arrive; Desmond even resists being summoned mid‑lessons, signaling the boundaries he intends to keep. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Heart of New England by Abbie Farwell Brown" is a collection of lyric and narrative poetry written in the early 20th century. The book dwells on New England’s landscape and legacy, the Pilgrim and colonial past, homely gardens and family memory, folklore and ghostly legend, and a rising strain of civic and wartime patriotism. Its likely topic is the spirit of New England—its nature, history, and ideals—cast as a living inheritance for modern America. The collection moves from salt-tinged coastal love songs and Pilgrim recollections to Hampton legends of pirates and haunted houses; from intimate scenes of grandmothers’ gardens, walls, paths, and birds to meditations on books, city smoke, and conscience. Nature pieces—pines, frost, tanager, mushrooms—mix with whimsical fairy lore, while character sketches and playful verses sit beside elegies and tributes. A central wartime suite turns resolute and compassionate, honoring sailors, soldiers, nurses, and the home front, and weighing “peace with a sword.” The book culminates in a dramatic ode to the Pilgrims that stages voyage, struggle, and achievement through choruses and psalm-like voices, binding local memory to a national calling of liberty, unity, and praise. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Bari, chien-loup" by James Oliver Curwood is a wilderness adventure novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Bari, a wolf-dog born to the blind she-wolf Louve-Grise and the dog Kazan, as he grows into the northern wilds, pulled between his wolf instincts and his dog nature. Encounters with predators, prey, storms, and humans shape a survival tale about identity, trust, and the thin line between the wild and the tame. The opening of the novel traces Bari from birth in a fallen tree, through his first sunlight and moonlit nights, to early lessons in killing when Kazan brings a rabbit. A reckless tussle with a young owl sends him tumbling into a river; lost and terrified, he endures a thunderstorm, witnesses bear and moose at close range, and nearly starves crossing a burned forest before stealing a freshly killed grouse from an ermine. Regaining strength by catching young rabbits, he wanders into a trapline where the Métis trapper Pierre and his daughter Nepeese appear; Nepeese wounds him with a shot, but he hides and escapes. Nursed by anger and instinct, he later battles an old great owl and wins, gaining confidence as he limps on into the northern night, still a solitary wanderer. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Palaces and Prisons" by Ann S. Stephens is a historical novel written in the late 19th century. Set on the eve of the French Revolution, it intertwines court intrigue and street-level hardship, following figures like Countess Du Barry, Marie Antoinette, Dr. Gosner, Count Mirabeau, and the humble yet determined Marguerite and her mother. The story promises a clash between glittering palaces and brutal prisons, as personal fates collide with rising popular unrest. The opening of the novel contrasts the Grand Trianon’s splendor with Parisian poverty. Du Barry imperiously presses the refined physician-seer Dr. Gosner to prolong the king’s life and predict her future; he refuses, foresees her death on a blood-soaked scaffold, and reveals the ominous power of his Egyptian scarab ring. Enraged, she secures a lettre-de-cachet to send him to the Bastille and has her dwarf, Zamara, plant the ring as a “gift” for the Dauphiness, who innocently slips it on. The scene shifts to a garret where Gosner’s starving wife and daughter, aided by the people’s man Jacques, learn that Gosner is alive in the Bastille; they pledge themselves to the cause of liberty, encounter the magnetic Mirabeau, and—through a kind market woman—find Marguerite work selling flowers. It closes with the mother’s renewed resolve, signaling her transformation from desperate petitioner to a woman ready to act. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"On the mountain; or, Lost and found" by Lucy Ellen Guernsey is a didactic children''s novel written in the late 19th century. It centers on Fanny Lilly, a spoiled Boston girl sent to her grandmother’s mountain farm, where her pride, dishonesty, and class snobbery are challenged by firm discipline, a steady farm boy named Willy, and a wild neighbor, Sarah Leyman. The tale blends homely incidents with moral testing, emphasizing truthfulness, humility, and Christian faith amid small-town gossip and real peril. At the start of the story, Fanny returns from church full of contempt and is firmly checked by her grandmother, leading to a showdown over dinner that ends in tears, bread-and-milk, and a sketch of Fanny’s pampered past and her exile to the farm. Despite warnings, she falls in with Sarah, who helps steal a pie through the milkroom slats; when the theft is discovered, Fanny lies smoothly while Willy is questioned. Conversations reveal Fanny’s startling ignorance (even about the Holy Land), she overeats, falls ill, and then declares she will be “good,” though mostly in appearance. An errand introduces her to kindly Mrs. Cassell, Annie Mercer, and Mr. Brandon, who lends books, while Sarah confronts Fanny about confession and hypocrisy; soon after, Sarah saves Fanny from a loose bull by sacrificing the girl’s red cloak. Fanny remains fearful and evasive as mountain dangers are noted; when Sarah quietly attends a prayer meeting, Fanny slanders her to keep her and her grandmother apart, prompting Willy to rebuke Fanny’s snobbery and deceit as the opening section closes. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Many Marriages by Sherwood Anderson is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows John Webster, a Midwestern washing-machine manufacturer whose sudden inner awakening disrupts his settled marriage and draws him toward his secretary, Natalie Swartz. Through sensuous imagery and introspective monologue, the book probes love, desire, conscience, and the constraints of modern respectability as Webster questions his roles as husband, father, and businessman. The opening of the novel frames an “Explanation” to magazine readers and a foreword meditating on the terror of direct actions in love, then plunges into Webster’s day of upheaval. At work and in town, he experiences a torrent of heightened perceptions and symbols—the body-as-house, black laborers singing, a green stone—while testing his world against these revelations. He studies his wife Mary’s heaviness, his daughter Jane’s unread face, and the quiet dignity of their servant Katherine; he wanders parks and streets, considers escaping to Chicago for anonymous indulgence, then returns to find Natalie freshly bathed and dressed, wordlessly affirming their bond as he kneels with his head in her lap. Town employees notice; the bookkeeper frets and gossips, while Webster spends evenings with Natalie, imagines leaving his business and family, walks into the countryside speaking of love and openness, and, back at home, lies awake sensing the community’s judgment and the stark exposure of private lives—like rooms revealed after a fire. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The sociable ghost : Being the adventures of a reporter who was invited by the…. by Olive Harper is a satirical supernatural novel written in the early 20th century. Set in and beneath New York’s Trinity Churchyard, it follows a young newspaper man and a loquacious “Sociable Ghost” through a night of ghostly revels—banquets, dances, and conventions—used to lampoon high society, publishers, and pious pretenses. The tone is comic and irreverent, mixing urban history with witty afterlife etiquette and class commentary. The opening of the novel finds a heartbroken reporter brooding in Trinity churchyard, where the graves stir and a sardonic ghost borrows his pipe and whiskey, then guides him through a cemetery tour laced with jokes about epitaphs, cherub carvings, “passports” for the dead, and the folly of memorial sentiment. The ghost explains this is the one night ghosts may freely walk, previews an underground convention and ball, mocks mediums, and gossips about the famous (including a vignette of John Jacob Astor’s spirit happily working an old baling press). Led through the Lawrence tomb into a vast, flower-lit hall curated by a grand social impresario, the reporter witnesses a chaotic card-room episode where a hulking professional gambler unwillingly teaches six lady ghosts poker with beans, and then hears a “mended ghost” recount the brutal mishandling of remains during a church vault relocation. The section closes as a sumptuous banquet begins, the reporter is welcomed to a prime seat, and a spirited quarrel over manners—knives, saucers, and “civilization”—sets the satirical tone for what follows. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The Movie Boys in the Jungle: or, Lively Times Among the Wild Beasts" by Victor Appleton is a juvenile adventure novel written in the early 20th century. It follows moving-picture operators Joe Duncan and Blake Stewart as they head to Africa to rescue Joe’s sister Jessie from a troubled mission station while filming wild animals in their native habitats. Alongside Joe’s father and the gloom-prone comedian C. C. Piper, they balance a rescue mission with a daring contract to capture authentic jungle footage. Expect travel, peril, and resourceful camerawork amid wild beasts and wary tribes. The opening of the story shows Joe and Blake finishing lighthouse scenes on the California coast before learning that Joe’s sister, first thought to be in China, has instead gone to a remote station in Africa. En route east with their theatrical company, their train sideswipes a circus train; the boys film the chaos (including a briefly freed lion), impressing circus manager Harry Stone, who hires them to obtain true jungle animal pictures. They sail via Naples and Suez—where grim news reports say Jessie’s mission has been raided and the missionaries carried into the interior—yet press on with Mr. Duncan and a newly revealed shipmate, C. C. Piper. Reaching Mombasa, they take the Uganda Railway toward Victoria Nyanza, film buffalo and a rhino near the line, hire veteran guide Sergeant Hotchkiss, assemble a safari with native porters led by “Happy One,” and prepare to cross the lake to Entebbe to begin the search in earnest. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"North" by James B. Hendryx is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set in the Yukon during the first fever of the Klondike discoveries, it follows the legendary sourdough Burr MacShane, whose skill, generosity, and restless urge for new country shape a vivid portrait of frontier life. Around him gather miners, gamblers, and dance-hall girls in early Dawson, where hard work, risk, and rough fellowship define the camp. The story blends gold-rush stakes with frontier ethics as MacShane turns from certain riches toward the unknown “north.” The opening of the novel plunges into Dawson’s first winter after Bonanza and Gold Bottom, where men “burn in” frozen ground, then drift to town for Christmas. MacShane proves his claim’s richness with a pan worth over a hundred dollars, organizes a joyous, improvised children’s Christmas at the Golden North Saloon, and watches Horse Face Joe play an inspired night that ends in a fatal binge. Old Man Gordon—pious, stubborn, and poor—loses at cribbage, tries to wager his claim, and is refused; later, MacShane quietly returns the gold he won by salting Gordon’s shaft for the sake of Gordon’s wife and daughter. When Gordon washes a spectacular pan the next day and a stampede brews, Camillo Bill reveals the truth, averts chaos, and forms a working partnership on MacShane’s claims—just as MacShane slips out of Dawson, following his hunch farther into the dark, frigid North. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Blue eyes and diamonds by Lemuel De Bra" is a short crime caper written in the late 1920s. It centers on a society wife''s risky scheme to fake a jewel robbery to cover her gambling losses, entangling a straight-arrow detective and her well-meaning husband in a clever, lighthearted twist on theft and trust. Betty Danford, having pawned her diamond wedding necklace and replaced it with paste, begs Detective Harry Milholland—an old suitor—to arrange a staged burglary to “steal” the fake and keep her secret. Her plan unravels when her husband, Chester, reveals he has quietly redeemed the real necklace and hidden it back in her dressing table. Panicked, Betty rushes to stop the planned theft, only to witness what looks like a thief flinging the necklace into the river. The sting is then revealed: Harry had told Chester, they orchestrated a fake confrontation, and the tossed necklace was only the paste copy. With the truth out and the real diamonds safe, Betty faces a gentle moral reckoning, reconciles with her husband, and the tale ends on a playful, affectionate note. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Gleanings in Europe : Italy, vol. 1 of 2" by James Fenimore Cooper is a travelogue written in the early 19th century. It presents an American traveler’s lettered impressions of Italy’s cities, roads, art, inns, and society, mixing scenes on the way with historical reflection and sharp, often humorous, observation. The narrative moves from market squares and river crossings to galleries, salons, and a ducal court, shaping a vivid portrait of Italy’s landscapes and manners as seen by a curious, independent-minded visitor. The opening of the work follows the narrator from Milan across the Lombard plain to Lodi (with a quack tooth-puller and heaps of frog legs), offering a skeptical retelling of the battle at the Adda before crossing the Po to Piacenza and through the duchy of Parma, Modena, and Bologna. He notes Austrian garrisons and decayed brick walls, learns to bargain at inns, inspects Castle Guelfo, admires Parma’s Correggio and the separate campanile and baptistery, remarks on Modena’s polished composition floors, and strolls Bologna’s snow-proof arcades and leaning towers. A mountain crossing brings a comic scare about banditti (a “suspect” peasant proves to be summoning oxen), a courier’s trick that costs him rooms, a solitary inn with honest hosts, and finally Florence—with its marbled cathedral square and oversized mosquitoes. Settling in a Florentine palazzo-fortress, he describes cheap grand lodgings, noble families selling wine by the flask, the gentle, indolent Tuscan temperament, and moving encounters with antique masterpieces in the tribune, then surveys a cosmopolitan winter scene: diplomats, English amateur theatricals (and a coarse caricature of Americans), Prince Borghese’s receptions, and a starry opera audience. A coastal excursion takes him through Lucca and Pisa (arguing the leaning tower was designed to lean), the Campo Santo and tiny Moorish-gothic Spina chapel, and to Leghorn’s port where he relishes the sea air, hears praise of the American ship Delaware, visits the Protestant cemetery (Smollett and a fallen U.S. officer), and warns invalids off Italy’s winter climate. He then recounts a formal audience at the Pitti—details of dress, etiquette, Habsburg-Lorraine succession, and a frank exchange with the Grand Duke about America—closing with political reflections on monarchy and aristocracy. The section ends amid carnival gaiety at a masked ball, with white dominos, a Polish dance, towering English guardsmen, and musings on how easy travel blends nations and spreads opinions. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Ellice Quentin, and other stories" by Julian Hawthorne is a collection of short stories written in the late 19th century. The volume blends psychological romance, social satire, and moral crisis, opening with a passionate love story that collides with ambition and fate, and shifting to continental settings for intrigue and adventure. Its characters—most notably the mercurial Ellice Quentin and the steadfast barrister Geoffrey Herne—face choices where love, pride, and worldly allure pull in opposite directions. The opening of the book begins with a preface championing brevity in fiction, then launches into Ellice Quentin: Geoffrey and Ellice fall intensely in love, but she abandons their engagement to secure an inheritance through marriage to another man, only to return years later torn between worldly glitter and the deeper claim of love. A charged reunion at a garden party leads to Geoffrey’s uncompromising ultimatum; two years on, she reappears saying she has left her husband, but Geoffrey reveals he is engaged to Gertrude. Ellice insists on meeting the new fiancée, pours three glasses of wine, and, having contrived a fatal choice for herself alone, dies moments after toasting them, leaving Geoffrey stricken and Gertrude stunned. The next tale, The Countess’s Ruby, opens on a Norman seaside: an English artist-narrator and his ardent American poet friend trade banter amid beach theatrics, a striking “pagan” beauty in a canoe, and a comic mishap with a missing peignoir, before a fog rolls in and the swimmer-poet vanishes into the haze, hinting at peril and further intrigue. (This is an automatically generated summary.)