Note: According to page 380 of Norman Page's collection of Wilkie Collins short fiction Mad Monkton and Other Stories: "Originally published in two installments in Frasier's Magazine (1857-11/12-10), under the title "The Monktons of Wincot Abby" and described as "edited by Wilkie Collins"; reprinted in The Queen of Hearts as "Mad Monkton"." According to the Wilkie Collins Information Pages, the story has supernatural overtones and "was originally offered to Household Words in 1853 but declined by Dickens who thought the theme of hereditary madness unsuitable for a family magazine."

Synopsis: "The Monktons are a reclusive, ancient family afflicted by hereditary insanity. The young Alfred Monkton is obsessed by a family curse and haunted by the ghost of his uncle, killed in a duel. Alfred delays his marriage in order to travel to Naples to search for the body, convinced that he will be the last of the line if his uncle is not buried in the family vault. The decomposing corpse is eventually discovered outside a Capuchin convent. Sealed in a lead coffin, it is taken by sea for burial in England but a violent storm sinks the ship and the coffin is irretrievably lost. Monkton dies of brain fever and, last of the line, is buried in the family vault where one niche remains empty, that intended for his uncle."—Wilkie Collins Information Pages