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THE
GERRARD STREET MYSTERY
AND OTHER
WEIRD TALES.

BY

JOHN CHARLES DENT.




PREFATORY SKETCH.

John Charles Dent, the author of the following remarkable stories, was
born in Kendal, Westmorland, England, in 1841. His parents emigrated to
Canada shortly after that event, bringing with them, of course, the
youth who was afterwards to become the Canadian author and historian.
Mr. Dent received his primary education in Canadian schools, and
afterwards studied law, becoming in due course a member of the Upper
Canada Bar. He only practised for a few years. He found the profession
profitable enough but uncongenial--as it could not well help being, in
an obscure Canadian, village, twenty years ago--and very probably he
was already cherishing ambitious dreams of literary labors, which he
was eager to begin in the world's literary centre, London. He
accordingly relinquished his practice as soon as he felt himself in a
position to do so, and went to England. He had not miscalculated his
powers, as too many do under like circumstances. He soon found
remunerative literary work, and as he became better known, was engaged
to write for several high-class periodicals, notably, _Once a
Week_, for which he contributed a series of articles on interesting
topics. But in England Mr. Dent produced no very long or ambitious
work. Perhaps he found that the requisite time for such an undertaking
could not be spared. At this period he had a wife and family depending
on him for support, and it speaks well for his abilities, that he was
able to amply provide for them out of the profits solely derived from
his literary labours. But of course to do this