Sir Walter Scott was a great novelist, a good scholar, and a successful attorney. When, through no fault of his own, his bookselling partnership with John Ballantyne became involved with the bankruptcy of Archibald Constable's publishing company in 1826, Scott's moral strength was demonstrated by his commitment to repay his own and others' debts. He was a faithful son, husband, and father; a convivial friend of many, in high as well as low places of British society; and an influential voice in the politics of his time. Scott's greatest gift, of course, was his ability to create forceful narratives, whether verse or prose.

Although Scott's achievement as a novelist is well known, few readers have paid close attention to his short stories--possibly because there are so few of them. Unless stories are separated from the multiple plots and framing devices of his long fictions, Scott's short stories can be...