“I am most concerned that the dog will stop coming. My wife takes great strength from his presence.”

“Have you anything to substantiate your concern?”

“Nothing, but we have so little control over such things, who knows what is going through the mind of the dog.”

There was, of course, very little going through the mind of this dog, regardless of its origins or corporeal substance. He was acting instinctively. Then Mr. Marshmoor asked a question that steered my thoughts away from any consideration that this canine visitation was paranormal in nature.

“I was surprised to see such a change in Reginald upon his return.” He said.

“A change?” I inquired. Mr. Marshmoor went on to describe to what extent this ghostly dog differed from their beloved Reginald. In looks and temperament, it seemed, the animal when alive was at odds with the current experience of the creature.

“Most noticeable,” he continued, “is his very nature that he was, when alive, a true dog with one master - myself. He would, being quite frank, have nothing to do with Florence despite her greatly affectionate nature to him.”

I concluded at this point that whatever this creature might be - corporeal or paranormal - it was certainly not the dog known as Reginald to the Marshmoors. I resolved to pay a return visit and experience the spectre once again.

It was the morning of the following Monday after the initial visit to the Infirmary that I received a phone call from the infamous Doctor Ashden, who was in a somewhat excitable state. He had been made aware of my appearance at the Infirmary by Matron Fetch and was clearly most disturbed by it. His diatribe concluded with insistences that I make no further visit to the Infirmary and in particular have no further contact with the Marshmoors, “For fear such excitements shall progress her condition with greater haste.”

How absurd! And without further hesitation I arranged with Mr. Marshmoor to visit his wife once more the following day. On this occasion I requested no-one be made aware of my proposed attendance prior to my arrival. My intent was to face Dr. Ashden, believing he was in some way the instigator of the canine visitations.

Part three coming soon…

Pages: Previous page

This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 1908 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Casebook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.