"The
Closed Door" (1934)
"Davenport's
Story" (1902)
"The
Deacon's Painkiller" (unknown publication date)
"Detected
by the Camera" (1897)
"From
Out the Silence" (1934)
"The
Girl at the Gate" (1906)
"The
House Party at Smoky Island" (1935)
"The
Man on the Train" (1914)
"The
Martyrdom of Estella" (1902)
"Min" (1903)
"Miriam's
Lover" (1901)
"Miss
Calista's Peppermint Bottle" (1900)
"The
Old Chest at Wyther Grange" (1903)
"The Red
Room" (1898)
"A
Redeeming Sacrifice" (1909)
"The
Redemption of John Churchill" (1906)
"Some
Fools and a Saint" (1931)
"The Tryst
of the White Lady" (1922)
"White Magic" (1921)
Short summaries of the stories follow. If
you don't want the tales spoiled, don't read any further because the summaries
contain mild spoilers:
"The
Closed Door" (Family Herald, June 1934)
Rachel has a gift for having strange knowledge. She overhears a story
of estrangement and the loss of the Peacock Pearl. As they go through
the woods to visit an Aunt, Rachel and the other children of the story enter
a house and Rachel chooses to open a door where she sees something that makes
her never want to open a closed door again.
Personal comments: Rachel's belief that she can see things behind
doors if she opens them fast enough is identical to that of Sara Crewe in
Frances
Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. The two girls seem quite
alike, also both having spent years in India. Rachel is also very similar
to Sara Stanley of The Story Girl.
"Davenport's
Story" (Waverly Magazine, April 1902)
Jack and his friends are telling ghost stories in the afternoon, but he complains
that none of them has a first-hand ghost story account. Then Davenport
arrives and tells his story of meeting the ghost of his dead brother.
Personal comments: This story has striking similarity to the story
of the "Flavian" in Emily's Quest,
but is written many years before the sinking of the Titanic (often named as
the inspiration of the "Flavian" in the Emily series, an example
may be seen here). From
this story, it is clear that this was an original idea Montgomery had in 1902
and used later in the Emily series.
"The
Deacon's Painkiller" (unknown publication date)
Told by Amy Poultney's Aunt Juliana Barry, who explains that Amy wants to marry
Dr. Frank Boyd, but her father (Andrew) disapproves. Her father, the
deacon and a "prohibitionist fanatic," knows that although reformed,
Frank drank once in front of him and Frank's father died of alcoholism. Later
on, Andrew has a cramping pain before church and takes a painkiller, left behind
by a boarder, which causes his ideas to change.
"Detected
by the Camera" (Philadelphia Times, June 1897)
Amy Clarke is the best amateur photographer in her part of the country. She
is taking some photographs of Mr. Carroll's place by his request. Mr.
Carroll is a little late for the family portrait, but he returns from town
with
$500 from the sale of a piece of land. After the photographs of the family,
Amy rushes to take a final photo of the house. After she returns home,
she hears that the pocketbook containing the money was missing, and that though
she had suspicions of Ned Brookes, the Carroll's refused to
believe ill of him. Her camera solves the mystery.
"From
Out the Silence" (Family Herald, January 1934)
Anne Hamilton and her friend Edith had been best friends since girlhood with
a flawless friendship until six months before Edith's death when the two argued
over Jim Harvey. Anne left for a trip abroad in Italy and the two had
not reconciled when Anne received word of Edith's death. Now Anne lives
in regret and pain at having not reconciled with her friend and has a fear
of forgetting what she looked like. Jim has left his family, his wife
Maureen and children, and his family is struggling, and Anne decides to act
as Edith would, in spite of her dislike of Jim, and she takes the family into
her home. After doing this, Anne receives word from Edith out of the
silence.
"The
Girl at the Gate" (National Magazine, August 1906)
Jeanette visits Mr. Herbert Lawrence after he falls ill. She remembers
the day he told her of his young love for a girl Margaret, who died at 18. On
her deathbed she made a promise to wait for him and to return at his death
to keep a tryst. Jeanette thinks nothing of it, until she meets a young
girl at the gate of Woodlands.
"The
House Party at Smoky Island" (Weird Tales Magazine,
August 1935)
Jim narrates the story of his cousin Madeline's house party in Muskoka. Madeline
is planning to invite Brenda and Anthony Armstrong, an estranged couple, but
Jim doubts they will come. Brenda suspects that Anthony poisoned his
first wife with chloral and killed her, and everyone thinks their marriage
will not survive. Surprisingly, the Armstrongs do attend the party. The
weather is ruined by rain and everyone is trapped inside, when Madeline suggests
telling ghost stories. A story by Christine shocks the rest of the party.
"The
Man on the Train" (Canadian Courier, July 1914)
Grandma Sheldon takes a train for the first time all alone to care for her
sick daughter-in-law. Her worries of traveling alone cease when she realizes
that people on trains are much like those off trains. She enjoys her
time and reads a weekly paper about a murder story to pass the time. On
her way, she meets a stranger who comes to her aid when she loses her ticket
and offers to escort her to her son's home.
"The
Martyrdom of Estella" (Waverly Magazine, December 1902)
Estella Bowes is engaged to Spencer Morgan. her life is nothing but happy
until Vivienne LaMar enters her life as a boarder with her, and her uncle and
aunt. Spencer's devotion turns sharply from Estella to Vivienne, and
Estella is left distraught.
"Min" (American
Home, December 1903)
The Reverend Allen Temford feels discouraged and wants to give up on Rykman's
Corner, where everyone thinks he's stuck up. When he hears that Min Palmer
has turned out Rose Fuller and her daughter, Temford decides to talk to Min. He
learns her story and doesn't despise her.
"Miriam's
Lover" (Waverly Magazine, June 1901)
Mary Sefton tells the story of Miriam Gordon and Sidney Claxton, two engaged
lovers who didn't need to write to one another to communicate because their
souls were in perfect accord.
"Miss
Calista's Peppermint Bottle" (Springfield Republican,
November 1900 as "Of Miss Calista's Peppermint";
Westminster Magazine, November 1910)
Miss Calista struggles to find good help after her right-hand man departs,
refusing man after man, including the young Chester Maybrin and Jake Stinson. She
has 500 dollars in her home that she's waiting to deposit at the bank, and
while she sleeps, she hears a sound downstairs. She hits the intruder
with her peppermint bottle, and later is able to identify the intruder. But
what will she do when she knows who it is?
"The
Old Chest at Wyther Grange" (Waverly Magazine, September
1903)
Amy has been curious about the contents of an old chest at her Grandmother
Laurances' home for years. Finally, she is able to open it with her Aunt
and learn the story of Eliza Laurance and that the chest is really a tomb.
"The
Red Room" (Waverly Magazine, July 1898)
Grandmother Beatrice narrates this story to her grandchild. As a child,
she visited the home of her father's step-mother, the Montressor Place. There,
she meets Alicia, the mesmerizing wife of her Uncle Hugh. Beatrice observes
their relationship, and hatred and violence and finally murder.
"A
Redeeming Sacrifice" (Holland's Magazine, February
1909)
Paul King is not at all respectable, but he is in love with Joan Shelley and
she with him. When Paul overhears a conversation saying that he will
ruin Joan's future, he comes to a conclusion about himself.
"The
Redemption of John Churchill" (American Messenger,
June 1906)
John Churchill has spent the last ten years in prison for embezzlement. Soon
after being imprisoned, his wife died, leaving behind her a baby boy in the
care of his sister. John knows his sister will never forgive him, and
believes his son hates him as well. He decides to take a new name and
go out west to start a new life after seeing his son Joey, but their meeting
changes his plans.
"Some
Fools and a Saint" (Family Herald, May and June 1931)
Curtis Burns is the new minister at Glen Donald, and all are shocked
when he chooses to board at Long Alec's because the home is believed to be
haunted. Burns falls in love with Long Alec's sister, Lucia Field, and
becomes close friends with the crippled Alice Harper. Strange events
follow one another and Burns investigates those who live in the home, including
suspects Jock and Julia Marsh. He struggles to figure out how any one
person can be responsible for all of the strange events.
Personal comments: This story is my favorite in the collection.
"The
Tryst of the White Lady" (Maclean's, August 1922)
Roger Temple is being pressured into finding a wife by his aging Aunt Catherine. However,
Roger's impossible aesthetic ideals for his wife and love for poetry (and lack
of love for farm work) make his matrimonial chances very poor. He dwells
around the graveyard in the hopes of meeting Isabel Temple's ghost, and when
he meets her, he falls in love.
"White
Magic" (Women's Century, June and July 1921)
Sisters Avery and Janet Sparhallow are preparing for Avery's upcoming wedding
to Randall Burnley. When Janet realizes Avery doesn't love Randall, she
is stunned. She decides that Randall cannot be hurt and that Avery should
be in love with him, so she visits Granny Thomas, a woman many believe to be
a witch, to get a love potion. But, will her plan work?
Last Updated 03.08.07
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