"Don't for a moment
believe _I_ think there is any phantom dog there," he said soothingly.
"All I believe--and what you have told me confirmed my theory--is that
Timmy Tosswill can not only see what's in your subconscious mind, but
that he can build up a kind of image of it and produce what is called, I
believe, in the East, collective hypnotism. I should never be surprised,
for instance, if someone else thought they saw you with a dog--that is
as long as that boy was present. It's a most interesting and curious
case."
"It's a very horrible case," said Enid faintly.
She felt as if she were moving in a terrible nightmare world,
unsuspected, unrealised by her till then.
"All abnormality is unpleasant," said the doctor cheerfully, "I always
thought the boy would grow out of it, and, to a certain extent, he _has_
grown out of it. You'll hardly believe me, Mrs. Crofton, when I tell
you that, as a little child, Timmy actually declared he could see
fairies and gnomes, 'the little people' as we call them in my country!
I think that's what first started this queer reputation of his among
the village folk. I tell you he's anything but a welcome guest in the
cottages--people with evil consciences, you know!" The doctor laughed.
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