These short stories by famous authors tell of an aristocratic English family threatened by a kleptomaniac, of true love which (in this story) cannot last even as an illusion, of how to deal properly with inheritances, and many other situations and occurrences.

One Thousand Dollars by O. Henry
A rather rich man inherits 1000$ which is either nothing or a lot - depending on the view point. He investigates, how others would invest the money and in the end he gives it to a lady he loves, but not as a gift, but in pretending it was an inheritance for her. He has to give proof to the lawyers what he did with the money but fools them with a trick which will give the rest of the big bucks his uncle has to leave someone to the beloved lady...

The Seven Cream Jugs by Saki
A counple has had its silver wedding anniversary recently and had received seven cream jards, when suddenly a distant cousin announced his visit after having been appointed Baronet recently. The couple is convinced, that he is the "snatcher" a relative they haven't seen for several years and after showing off with their gifts, they are convinced he took one of the items. In return they steal one cream jug while their guest is taking a bath, which is detected immediately afterwards. At this point of time they have to learn that this relative is not the snatcher but a very honest member of the family and taking the jug is definitely stealing on their part...

Angela. An inverted Love Story by William Schwenck Gilbert
Whenever men get together without workds but gestures only there is open space for misunderstandings and misinterpretation. A poor English painter lives in Venice and can see the inverted refelction of a girl when sitting at his flat's window. After months they start nodding to each other then flowers are thrown into the canal and the Englishman is of the opinion that her gestures are out of love - just as his... However at the end he has to learn, that he was only pitied but never loved by her.

The Fiddler by Herman Melville
This is the boring (well, what else with Melville - think of Moby Dick!!!) story of a Fiddler, who is not impressive at all when seeing the man, but in the end the narrator is overwhelmed with the fiddler's music and starts learing how to play the fiddle himself.

The Sister of the Baroness by Katherine Mansfield
Surprisingly in this story (located in Germany at times of Kaiserin Sissy) some German expressions are used. (And they are rather correctly read by the reader!) A young girl is sent to a place without her mother. the lady accompanying the girl introduces herself as the sister of the Baroness. Everyone falls in love with the Baroness' sister, but then the girl's mother comes without announcement. And this is the moment, when everyone has to learn, taht the Baroness doesn't have a sister, but only a maid and the maid's doughter was the girl's guard.

If Melville's story would have been better, the score would have been higher...

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