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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 he had to devote himself
to work that could be thrown off readily, and which could be as readily
sold.

After remaining in England for several years, Mr. Dent and his family
returned to America. He obtained a position in Boston, which he held
for about two years. But he finally relinquished it and came to
Toronto, having accepted a position on the editorial staff of the
_Telegram_, which was then just starting. For several years Mr.
Dent devoted himself to journalistic labours on various newspapers, but
principally the _Toronto Weekly Globe_. To that journal he
contributed a very notable series of biographical sketches on "Eminent
Canadians." Shortly after the death of the Hon. George Brown, Mr. Dent
severed his connection with the _Globe_, and immediately
thereafter commenced his first ambitious undertaking, _The Canadian
Portrait Gallery_, which ran to four large volumes. It proved to be
a most creditable and successful achievement. Of course in a brief
sketch no detailed criticism of either this or the succeeding works can
be attempted. Suffice it to say that the biographies of Canadian public
men, living and dead, were carefully prepared, and written from an
un-partisan standpoint. In this book there was no padding; every
individual admitted had achieved something of national value, and the
biographies are, therefore, of importance to the student of Canadian
history. This book deserved and attained a considerable circulation,
and brought to its author a comparatively large sum of money.

Mr. Dent's second book was "The Last Forty Years: Canada since the
Union of 1841." This work has been highly praised in all quarters, and
is in every way a credit to its author's really brilliant powers as a
literary artist.

The third work was a "History of the Rebellion in Upper Canada."
Although written in his best manner, with the greatest possible care,
from authentic sources of information not hitherto accessible, this
work has had the misfortune to meet with undeservedly severe criticism.
When Mr. Dent began his studies for the book he held William-Lyon
Mackenzie in high esteem, but he found it necessary afterwards to
change his opinion. He was able to throw a flood of new light on the
characters of the men who took part in the struggle, and if the facts
tended to darken the fair fame of some of them, the historian certainly
ought not to be censured for it. The tendency of the book was decidedly
in opposition to the ideas entertained to this day by the partizans of
the "Old Family Compact" on the one side, and also to the friends and
admirers of William Lyon Mackenzie on the other.

But the severe criticism the work sustained, has left it stronger than
before, and it will stand undoubtedly as by far the best history of the
"Rebellion" that has appeared.

In addition to these important works on which his reputation as a
writer will rest, Mr. Dent has written from time to time a great many
sketches, essays and stories, some of which are exceedingly interesting
and worthy of being preserved. All of Mr. Dent's work contains a charm
of its own. In writing, history, he was in accord with Macaulay. He
always believed that a true story should be told as agreeably as a
fictitious one; "that the incidents of real life, whether political or
domestic, admit of being so arranged as, without detriment to accuracy,
to command all the interest of an artificial series of facts; that the
chain of circumstances which constitute history may be as finely and
gracefully woven as any tale of fancy." Acting upon this theory, he has
made Canadian history very interesting reading. He is to my mind the
only historian, beside Mr. Parkman, who has been able to make Canadian
events so dry in detail, fascinating throughout.

In private life, Mr. Dent was a most estimable man. He possessed
qualities of mind and heart, having their visible outcome in a
courteous, genial manner that endeared him very closely to his friends.
With all his wealth of learning, which was very great, he was
light-hearted, witty and companionable, and his early death leaves a
gap not very easily closed.

The four stories composing the present volume were contributed by their
author at considerable intervals to different periodicals. Some time
prior to his death he contemplated publishing them in book form, and
actually selected and carefully revised them with that purpose in view.
He thought they were worthy of being rescued from obscurity, and if we
compare them with much of a similar class of work constantly issuing
from the press, we cannot think that his judgment erred. They are now
published in accordance with his wish, to take their chances in the
great world of literature.

                                        R. W. D.

TORONTO, Oct. 25th, 1888.




CONTENTS


  THE GERRARD STREET MYSTERY
  GAGTOOTH'S IMAGE
  THE HAUNTED HOUSE ON DUCHESS STREET
  SAVAREEN'S DISAPPEARANCE




THE GERRARD STREET MYSTERY.

I.


My name is William Francis Furlong. My occupation is that of a
commission merchant, and my place of business is on St. Paul Street, in
the City of Montreal. I have resided in Montreal ever since shortly
after my marriage, in 1862, to my cousin, Alice Playter, of Toronto. My
name may not be familiar to the present generation of Torontonians,
though I was born in Toronto, and passed the early years of my life
there. Since the days of my youth my visits to the Upper Province have
been few, and--with one exception--very brief; so that I have doubtless
passed out of the remembrance of many persons with whom I was once on
terms of intimacy. Still, there are several residents of Toronto whom I
am happy to number among my warmest personal friends at the present
day. There are also a good many persons of middle age, not in Toronto
only, but scattered here and there throughout various parts of Ontario,
who will have no difficulty in recalling my name as that of one of
their fellow-students at Upper Canada College. The name of my late
uncle, Richard Yardington, is of course well known to all old residents
of Toronto, where he spent the last thirty-two years of his life. He
settled there in the year 1829, when the place was still known as
Little York. He opened a small store on Yonge Street, and his
commercial career was a reasonably prosperous one. By steady degrees
the small store developed into what, in those times, was regarded as a
considerable establishment. In the course of years the owner acquired a
competency, and in 1854 retired from business altogether. From that
time up to the day of his death he lived in his own house on Gerrard
Street.

After mature deliberation, I have resolved to give to the Canadian
public an account of some rather singular circumstances connected
with my residence in Toronto. Though repeatedly urged to do so, I
have hitherto refrained from giving any extended publicity to those
circumstances, in consequence of my inability to see any good to
be served thereby. The only person, however, whose reputation can be
injuriously affected by the details has been dead for some years. He
has left behind him no one whose feelings can be shocked by the
disclosure, and the story is in itself sufficiently remarkable to be
worth the telling. Told, accordingly, it shall be; and the only
fictitious element introduced into the narrative shall be the name of
one of the persons most immediately concerned in it.

At the time of taking up his abode in Toronto--or rather in Little
York--my uncle Richard was a widower, and childless; his wife having
died several months previously. His only relatives on this side of the
Atlantic were two maiden sisters, a few years younger than himself. He
never contracted a second matrimonial alliance, and for some time after
his arrival here his sisters lived in his house, and were dependent
upon him for support. After the lapse of a few years both of them
married and settled down in homes of their own. The elder of them
subsequently became my mother. She was left a widow when I was a mere
boy, and survived my father only a few months. I was an only child,
and as my parents had been in humble circumstances, the charge of my
maintenance devolved upon my uncle, to whose kindness I am indebted for
such educational training as I have received. After sending me to
school and college for several years, he took me into his store, and
gave me my first insight into commercial life. I lived with him, and
both then and always received at his hands the kindness of a father, in
which light I eventually almost came to regard him. His younger
sister, who was married to a watchmaker called Elias Playter, lived
at Quebec from the time of her marriage until her death, which took
place in 1846. Her husband had been unsuccessful in business, and
was moreover of dissipated habits. He was left with one child--a
daughter--on his hands; and as my uncle was averse to the idea of his
sister's child remaining under the control of one so unfit to provide
for her welfare, he proposed to adopt the little girl as his own. To
this proposition Mr. Elias Playter readily assented, and little Alice
was soon domiciled with her uncle and myself in Toronto.

Brought up, as we were, under the same roof, and seeing each other
every day of our lives, a childish attachment sprang up between my
cousin Alice and myself. As the years rolled by, this attachment
ripened into a tender affection, which eventually resulted in an
engagement between us. Our engagement was made with the full and
cordial approval of my uncle, who did not share the prejudice
entertained by many persons against marriages between cousins. He
stipulated, however, that our marriage should