The Lady of the Barge, also published as The Lady of the Barge and Other Stories, is an anthology of short stories by W. W. Jacobs, first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. The first edition includes illustrations by Maurice Greiffenhagen and James Frank Sullivan, with a cover created by Amy Richards.

A painter is making a new sign for a bar called Cauliflower in a town called Clayburg. An old man watches the painter as he tells a story. On a trip to a nearby town called Wickham, a roadside circus driving by on a train crashes down. They set up in Clayburg, hoping to make business. It succeeds, and they pack up after a week. For a week there was silence, before one night at the Cauliflower before Bill Chambers reads that the tiger has gone loose. They close the pub's doors, just as a tramp comes begging to be let in. Herbert Smith, the owner of the Cauliflower, locks the door and declines the tramp's insistence to be let in. John Briggs, the blacksmith, comes from the back kitchen, wondering what the matter is. Enraged by Herbert's ruckus, John grabs Herbert's gun from off the wall and demands to be let outside to hunt the tiger. Herbert refuses, so John slaps him on the side of the head with the stock of the gun. Herbert falls to the ground, fainting as the tramp rushes through the door. The tramp explains that the tiger chased him for over a mile, and that he saw it while washing his shirt in a creek over a hedge.

For the next week or so, Clayburg is under constant threat of the tiger. Kids don't go to the school and men and women are afraid to go to work. Sooner or later, livestock starts getting killed off. Frederick Scott, a hen keeper, finds most of his hen slaughtered in the night by the tiger. He reports it to William White, the local policeman. The next day, Peter Gubbins' pigs are found dead. All panic is let loose for about a week. No one can really decipher what to do until George Kettle organizes a militia in the Cauliflower after his ducks are found dead. The men––Herbert Smith, John Briggs, Bill Chambers, Peter Gubbins, the narrator, and George Kettle––bring two guns, pitchforks, and scythes to the forest as they walk along the path. Eventually, George and his men encounter an old man walking alongside the road. The old man tells that the tiger went into the house of Bob Pretty, the so-called black sheep of Clayburg who declined legitimacy of a tiger around.

The men go up and break into Bob Pretty's house. Bob Pretty, confused, is wondering what is going on when the men smell something pungent. They open the kitchen door and find out that Bob's kitchen is essentially a butcher shop; pork and duck bodies are hung on meathooks. The men insist that they will get Bob for his crimes, and demand someone to go get Mr. White. Bob tells them that they won't press charges, because the militia broke into his house. Ultimately no charges are pressed, and its revealed at the end that Bob Pretty and the tramp were friends.

Trayton Burleigh and James Fletcher own an apartment on the third floor which in the back is part library, study, and smoke-room. They inherited it from a long-line of men about ten years ago. James is kicking out Trayton because he believes that Trayton is well enough on his own, and no longer wants to share it with him anymore. James offers Trayton £200 to leave the next day, to which Trayton reacts negatively. As Trayton walks away he picks up a katana off a nearby ivory and murders James with it.

Storming away from the scene hastily, Trayton begins to think how worse it could get for him. He doesn't want to make any "elementary" mistakes on the scene of the crime, since he dictates that's how most criminals are caught. Reluctantly, he goes back to his home and picks up a revolver. However, he scarily notices how the library door, which he remembers distinctly closing, is slightly open by five or four inches. He closes the hallway door to the library, only to hear the cries of a man inside demanding to be let out. Trayton rushes outside and a sergeant happens to be walking by, and he calls him inside.

The sergeant charges into the door, breaking it off the latches and accessing the prisoner. The sergeant and Trayton seat next to each other as the sergeant interrogates the prisoner. The prisoner urges he hasn't been there for even ten minutes. The sergeant puts the prisoner in cuffs and turns to Trayton, pointing at his revolver and telling him he doesn't need it. Trayton gives his revolver to the man without a second thought. The sergeant then points out how one of Trayton's wrists look broken. Confused, Trayton shows both of his wrists side by side. The sergeant swiftly places handcuffs over Trayton's wrists as he goes over to James' body and pulls the katana out of his breast. He sits next to him, questioning and getting information as Trayton watches.

Martin Bodfish, a retired cop turned farmer, is spending an evening at the Neggets' farm to discuss a golden brooch that disappeared earlier that morning. Eventually, after some talk he narrows it down to one suspect: Mrs. Driver, who had stopped by the house earlier that morning. Mr. Negget defends Mrs. Driver, stating that he's known her for thirty years. Bodfish tries to convince Mr. Negget to invite her back for tea and interrogation, but he declines. Mr. Negget gets made fun of by the detective, resulting in a scornful relationship. Bodfish concludes that, despite the fact it is unlawful, he should search her cabin while she is away.