The Argosy

Catalog Note: The Argosy, Volume XXXIII (January–June 1882) *Edited by Mrs. Henry Wood. Published by Richard Bentley & Son, London.* This issue contains the serialized novel *Mrs. Raven's Temptation*, illustrated by Robert Barnes, detailing a mystery centered on the Raven family of Ravenstoke. The narrative opens when a plainly-dressed young woman, Alice Cleare, arrives by train seeking lodging and a letter. She encounters an acute-looking gentleman at the White Hart inn; conversations with the landlord reveal details of the local gentry: the late Squire Raven has recently died, leaving his estate to his elder son Leonard (described as delicate and scholarly) while his younger son Frank inherits nothing until their mother's death—an arrangement the villagers find questionable. The plot involves inheritance disputes, family tensions, and mysterious circumstances surrounding the Raven household. The volume additionally contains serialized fiction *In the Black Forest* by Charles W. Wood with thirty-five illustrations, *Johnny Ludlow's Papers* (including "A Mystery"), stories by Georgiana M. Craik and Charles Hervey, and numerous poems by contributors including Fanny Forrester, Sydney Grey, and others, spanning domestic, sentimental, and adventure narratives typical of Victorian periodical literature.