Miss Bertha and the Yankee

Originally published as 'The Duel in Herne Wood' in The Spirit of the Times, 22 December 1877.

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. Stanwick wrongly thinks he has killed Varleigh and goes mad, killing himself with a razor, when his supposed victim returns like an apparition from the dead. Varleigh is acquitted of murder and marries Bertha.

AUTHOR
William Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889) was a very popular Victorian novelist and a close friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens. Collins was a prolific writer, publishing not only novels, but many plays, short stories and works of non-fiction.

The son of a successful landscape artist, Collins developed a early interest in storytelling to disarm bullies at boarding school. As a child, Collins lived and traveled throughout Europe, and to please his father, became a lawyer. All major influences on his writing.

Collins sold his first short story at 19, his first novel at 24. Collins had a very successful career as a master of suspense with a distinct narrative voice, filled with social commentary. Wilkie Collins never actually practiced law, but his knowledge profoundly impacted his writing and he is considered one of the godfathers of the ""Detective Novel""."