In ‘Laon and Cythna’ scandals are to be avoided following the death of Lord Lucius, but what emerges is more mysterious — the legend of a past relative who fell in love with a peasant girl, and a more recent deathbed confession by the heir’s mother. This is a ‘ghost’ story in the best traditions of that genre. In ‘Cucumber Sandwiches’ an Oxford don’s researches put him on the trail of a youthful indiscretion of a famous Victorian novelist. In ‘The Men’ we meet another don who strays into what he perceives as the alarming world of young people, whilst in ‘A Change of Heart’ strange and macabre events follow the grafting of a finger and thumb, from another patients amputated arm, when Michael Firth awakes in hospital after a car accident.
