Contains five pieces that might be called short stories: "Mountjoy," a first-person story that originally was to have been developed into a novel entitled "Rosalie"; "The Widow's Ordeal," a story of judicial combat gleaned from the annals of Spain; "The Grand Prior of Minorca," heard from a Knight of Malta who "loved to let his imagination carry him away"; "Guests from Gibbet Island," a legend of Communipaw found among the Knickerbocker papers at Wolfert's Roost; and "The Adalantado of the Seven Cities: A Legend of St. Brandan. " Also of interest are two fanciful pieces which lack sufficient plot development to be called short stories: "Don Juan: A Spectral Research," about an amorous Spanish cavalier's encounter with his own funeral, and "Legend of the Engulphed Convent," about a convent miraculously swallowed up in the earth just as ravaging Moors broke down its gate -- Gale Lit Center.