"Bad moral character?"
"Not that I know of. Queer fish; kept queer company. Even if she was
ever so fond of dogs, I don't think a girl would have cared for
Bolter's kennel. Not in her bedroom anyway."
"But she could surely have got him to keep them outside, however doggy
he was?"
"He was not doggy a bit. I don't know that Bolter ever saw the black
dogs himself. He certainly never told me so. It is that beastly
Thumbless Hand, no woman could have stood it, not to mention the
chance of catching cold when it pulled the blankets off."
"What on earth are you talking about? I can understand a man attended
by black dogs that nobody sees but himself. The Catholics tell it of
John Knox, and of another Reformer, a fellow called Smeaton.
Moreover, it is common in delirium tremens. But you say Bolter didn't
see the dogs?"
"No, not so far as he told me, but I did, and other fellows, when with
Bolter. Bolter was asleep; he didn't see anything. Also the Hand,
which was a good deal worse. I don't know if he ever saw it. But he
was jolly nervous, and he had heard of it."
The habits of the Beach-comber are absolutely temperate, otherwise my
astonishment would have been less, and I should have regarded all
these phenomena as subjective.
Pages:
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373