“Wednesday, November 30th.—­Left No. ——­ Lower Seedley Road at 2 p.m.  Had an awful scurry to get things packed in time, and dread opening certain of the packing-cases lest we shall find all the crockery smashed.  Just as we were starting Delia cried out that she had left her reticule behind, and I was despatched in search of it.  I searched everywhere—­till I was worn out, for I know what Delia is—­and was leaving the premises in full anticipation of being sent back again, when there was a loud commotion in the hall, just as if a dog had suddenly pounced on a cat, and the next moment a large tabby, with the head hewn away as Delia had described, rushed up to me and tried to spring on to my shoulders.  At this juncture one of the servants cautiously opened the hall door from without, and informed me I was wanted.  The cat instantly vanished, and, on my reaching the carriage in a state of breathless haste and trepidation, Delia told me she had found her reticule—­she had been sitting on it all the time!”

In a subsequent note in his diary a year or so later Mr. Dane says:  “After innumerable enquiries re the history of No. ——­ Lower Seedley Road prior to our inhabiting it, I have at length elicited the fact that twelve years ago a Mr. and Mrs. Barlowe lived there.  They had one son, Arthur, whom they spoilt in the most outrageous fashion, even to the extent of encouraging him in acts of cruelty.  To afford him amusement they used to buy rats for his dog—­a fox-terrier—­to worry, and on one occasion procured a stray cat, which the servants afterwards declared was mangled in the most shocking manner before being finally destroyed by Arthur.  Here, then, in my opinion, is a very feasible explanation for the hauntings—­the phenomenon seen was the phantasm of the poor, tortured cat.  For if human tragedies are re-enacted by ghosts, why not animal tragedies too?  It is absurd to suppose man has the monopoly of soul or spirit.”

The Cat on the Post

In her Ghosts and Family Legends Mrs. Crowe narrates the following case of a haunting by the phantom of a cat:—­

“After the doctor’s story, I fear mine will appear too trifling,” said Mrs. M., “but as it is the only circumstance of the kind that ever happened to myself, I prefer giving it you to any of the many stories I have heard.

“About fifteen years ago I was staying with some friends at a magnificent old seat in Yorkshire, and our host being very much crippled with the gout, was in the habit of driving about the park and neighbourhood in a low pony phaeton, on which occasions I often accompanied him.  One of our favourite excursions was to the ruins of an old abbey just beyond the park, and we generally returned by a remarkably pretty rural lane leading to the village, or rather small town, of C——.