On the spur of the moment I called him by name, then he vanished.
I mentioned this occurrence to my maid, who at once told me the kitchenmaid had seen him in exactly the same place.
When alive on earth "Pompey" had a habit of stealing into a guest's room when the early tea was brought up. He would lie in wait in a dark corner and then attempt to enter behind the maid or valet. When the door was shut again he would emerge from his hiding-place, and attempt to leap on the bed. He was exceedingly gentle and affectionate, but externally he was so forbidding that his offers of friendship were not always accepted, and he was a great weight.
One day a Mrs. Shelton came to stay with us, and the next morning asked to have her room changed, because "Pompey" had kept walking round her bed all night, and she had not been able to sleep. She was sure it was "Pompey," because she recognized his peculiar, heavy, slithering movements.
Some time after this Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, came to pay us a visit. She had been very overworked, and needed a complete rest. She brought with her a maid and a small French bulldog, and she and the maid occupied a suite of three rooms, two bedrooms and a bathroom, shut off from the rest of the house by a heavy swing door.
The French bulldog was accustomed to sleep in the maid's room. We had no dog left of our own. The beautiful Duchess went to bed about half-past ten; she was very tired and ought to have slept well, but she didn't.
In the night she was awakened by what she took to be her own bulldog prowling round her bed, yet its footsteps sounded strangely heavy.
She knew nothing about "Pompey's" ghostly visits; we had been careful not to mention them.
When she came downstairs the next morning she told us what a disturbed night she had passed through. She was awakened soon after midnight by the restless movements of a bulldog round her bed. She did not doubt it was her own dog, that owing to the forgetfulness of her maid had been left asleep under her bed. She called it, and at the same time switched on the light, but could see no signs of any dog at all. Rather puzzled, but concluding that she must have been mistaken, she composed herself to sleep once more.