Frank Frankfort Moore (1855–1931) was born in Limerick and became a journalist when he was twenty. He travelled all over the world—India, the West Indies, South America and Africa—and in his spare time turned out fiction, plays and poetry. His first book, the poetry collection Flying from a Shadow (1872) was published when he was seventeen but his first big success was the novel I Forbid the Banns (1893). He published over eighty books, including novels, short story collections, verse, westerns, biographies (including books on Byron, Fanny Burney and Goldsmith), as well as books for the Christian Knowledge Society and even a book on collecting antique furniture! His last book, The Awakening of Helen, was published in 1929. Moore and Stoker were friends; both settled in London and they married the Balcombe sisters. Moore’s wife Grace died in 1901. Like Stoker, Moore tried his hand at the occasional ghost story and this one comes from his 1904 collection The Other World. It certainly deserves a second chance but it warrants careful reading.
