Stories
These collections were published during Collins's life and edited by Collins from the originals. Inevitably that has introduced changes in the stories from their first publication. Some of the originals are available in Separate Short Stories.
After Dark 1856. The stories are linked by the story of Leah, itself a substantial story and each has a prologue.
A Terribly Strange Bed - The narrator is nearly killed by a murderous canopy trap.
A Stolen Letter - The narrator is a lawyer who contrives, in a series of ingenious moves, to steal back an incriminating letter from a blackmailer.
Sister Rose - Aristocratic Charles Danville betrays his wife, Rose, and her brother, Louis Trudaine and has them sent to the guillotine.
The Lady of Glenwith Grange - Ida Welwyn promises her dying mother that she will always look after her younger sister, but Rosamond marries a villainous "Baron Franval".
Gabriel's Marriage - Gabriel Sarzeau becomes estranged from his fisherman father when he discovers that he committed a murder.
The Yellow Mask - Count Fabio d'Ascoli is a pupil of the master-sculptor, Luca Lomi. Lomi's brother, Father Rocco of Pisa, believes that the Count's inheritance is stolen from the Church. To recover it, Rocco plans to have Fabio marry Lomi's daughter, Maddalena, over whom he can exert influence.
Little Novels 1887.
'Mrs Zant and the Ghost' ('The Ghost's Touch'): Mr Rayburn, a widower, and his young daughter, Lucy, meet Mrs Zant in Kensington Gardens while she is experiencing a vision of her dead husband. The ghost warns her against his brother, who aims to force her into an illegal marriage.
'Miss Morris and the Stranger' ('How I Married Him'): Nancy Morris, a shopkeeper's daughter from Sandwich, becomes a governess with the help of a benefactor, Sir Gervase Damian. Sir Gervase leaves Nancy £70,000 which she renounces in favour of the only other heir, his nephew.
'Mr Cosway and the Landlady' ('Your Money or Your Life'): When Edwin Cosway hears that the wife he was tricked into marrying has died, he falls in love with Adela Restall. Her father objects and their elopement is foiled by the malicious Miss Benshaw who turns out to be Edwin's wife with her name changed to inherit the family fortune.
'Mr Medhurst and the Princess' ('Royal Love'): Ernest Medhurst is unwittingly caught up in a minor political intrigue while second secretary to a small German Court. The Princess falls in love with him and to avoid scandal affecting her forthcoming marriage her father ensures Medhurst is duped into leaving the country.
'Mr Lismore and the Widow' ('She Loves and Lies'): Ernest Lismore is in financial difficulties. In return for a token marriage, he is offered help by the elderly Mrs Callender whom years before he saved from a fire.
'Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman' (The Clergyman's Confession'): Before he joined the church the narrator fell in love with Miss Jeromette. They enter a relationship but she tells him she loves another man who has deserted her.
'Miss Mina and the Groom' ('A Shocking Story'): Mina shocks Society by falling in love and marrying Michael Bloomfield, a groom in the household of her aunt and uncle with whom she lives.
'Mr Lepel and the Housekeeper' ('The Girl at the Gate'): Lepel and his proud but impecunious friend, Rothsay, witness an Italian play which foreshadows their future lives. Rothsay is in love with a gatekeeper's daughter, Susan Rymer, who is herself in love with Lepel.
'Mr Captain and the Nymph' ('The Captain's Last Love'): The Fortuna is blown off course in the South Pacific and visits an uncharted Polynesian island. While trading with the local inhabitants, the Captain falls in love with the Priest's daughter, Aimata.
'Mr Marmaduke and the Minister' (The Mystery of Marmaduke'): Marmaduke Falmer falls in love with Felicity, a minister's daughter, while sheltering from a storm in the Scottish town of Cauldkirk. The minister visits the married couple in London because Felicity is worried about her husband's mysterious disappearance each evening.
'Mr Percy and the Prophet' : The mysterious Dr Lagarde, an emigre Frenchman scratching a living in London by fortune-telling, predicts in a hypnotic trance that Percy Linwood and Captain Arthur Bervie will fight a duel over Charlotte Bowmore. Everything occurs exactly as foretold but the two men are reconciled and become friends.
'Miss Bertha and the Yankee' ('The Duel in Herne Wood'): Captain Stanwick and Lionel Varleigh are old friends but after falling out over their attentions to Bertha Laroche fight an illegal duel in Herne Wood.
'Miss Dulane and My Lord' ('An Old Maid's Husband'): The elderly Miss Dulane makes a marriage of convenience with the impecunious Lord Howel Beaucourt. The marriage is happy but she discovers that her newly engaged companion, Mrs Evelin, had been in love with Beaucourt under the assumed name of Vincent.
'Mr Policeman and the Cook' ('Who Killed Zebedee?'): John Zebedee was found stabbed in his bed and although his wife, a known sleepwalker, confessed she was guilty, the case against her was dropped. The narrator, trying to make a name for himself, continued the investigation.
The Queen of Hearts 1859. Griffith's son, George, is in love with Jessie. Griffith and his three brothers delay her departure for ten days with a kind of Arabian Nights story-telling so that George can propose on his return from the Crimean war.
The Black Cottage: Bessie is left alone in her cottage on the moors one night to look after a valuable pocket-book. She successfully protects herself, the money and Polly, the cat, from two violent burglars.
The Family Secret: Charley, the narrator, spends years trying to discover the family secret from his relatives.
The Dream Woman Isaac Scatchard, an itinerant ostler, wakes on the night of his birthday to see the apparition of a woman trying to stab him with a clasp knife.
Mad Monkton: The Monktons are a reclusive, ancient family afflicted by hereditary insanity.
The Dead Hand: Arthur Holliday arrives in Doncaster during the busy September race-week. The only accommodation he can find is a shared room with a body occupying the other bed.
The Biter Bit: Mathew Sharpin is seconded from his position as a lawyer's clerk to the Detective Police. He bungles an investigation into Mr Yatman's stolen banknotes while mistakenly pursuing an eloping couple.
The Parson's Scruple: The puritanical Reverend Alfred Carling marries privately Mrs Emily Dunbar. Several years later he learns that she is divorced and that he has innocently violated his own religious principles.
A Plot in Private Life: William, the narrator and faithful servant to rich widow, Mrs Norcross, tells the story of her unhappy second marriage to James Smith. A detective lawyer's clerk, Mr Dark, both confirms Smith's bigamous remarriage and, following his disappearance, proves Mrs Norcross and William innocent of murder.
Story of Fauntleroy: Henry Fauntleroy (1785-1824) was the last man hanged in England for forgery. A middle-aged merchant, Mr Trowbridge, tells the other side of the story.
Anne Rodway: Anne Rodway is a poor 'plain needlewoman' whose friend and fellow lodger, Mary Mallinson, is brought home mortally wounded by a blow to the head. Anne follows the clue of a torn cravat clutched in her dying friend's hand and sets out to discover the murderer.
Other stories
Blow Up With the Brig! First published as 'The Ghost in the Cupboard Room' in 'The Haunted House' All The Year Round Christmas 1859.
The Dead Alive First published as 'John Jago's Ghost' The Home Journal 27 December 1873.
The Devil's Spectacles First published in New York as 'The Magic Spectacles'
Farmer Fairweather First published The Youth's Companion LIX 19 August 1886
The Fatal Cradle First published as 'Picking up Waifs at Sea' in 'Tom Tiddler's Ground' All The Year Round Christmas 1861.
A Fatal Fortune First published All The Year Round New Series XIII, 17-24 October 1874.
Fie! Fie! or The Fair Physician First published in Spirit of the Times 23 December 1882
The First Officer's Confession First published Spirit of the Times 24 December 1887
The Hidden Cash First published Youth's Companion LX, 21 April 1887
The Last Stage Coachman First published Illuminated Magazine I August 1843 pp209-211
Love's Random Shot First published Seaside Library 12 February 1884
The Midnight Mass (a translation of Balzac's 'Une Épisode sous la Terreur') First published Bentley's Miscellany XXXI June 1852.
Nine O'Clock! First Published Bentley's Miscellany XXXII August 1852
A Passage in the Life of Mr. Perugino Potts First published Bentley's Miscellany XXXI February 1852
The Poetry Did It First published The Spirit of the Times 26 December 1885
A Sad Death and a Brave Life First published Youth's Companion LIX 16 December 1886
The Twin Sisters First Published Bentley's Miscellany XXIX March 1851
Volpurno - or the student First known publication The Albion, a Journal of News, Politics and Literature, New York 8 July 1843 p.332.
John Steadiman's Account First published as part of The Wreck of the Golden Mary, the Christmas number of Household Words 6 December 1856.
The Deliverance First published as part of The Wreck of the Golden Mary, the Christmas number of Household Words 6 December 1856.
The Prison in the Woods First published as part of The Perils of Certain English Prisoners, the Christmas number of Household Words 7 December 1857
Over the Way First published as part of A House to Let, the Christmas number of Household Words 7 Dec 1858
Trottle's Report First published as part of A House to Let, the Christmas number of Household Words 7 Dec 1858
The Seafaring Man First published as part of A Message from the Sea, the Christmas number of All The Year Round 13 December 1860.
