The Black Spaniel : Luttrell introduces his two good friends, and assumes they too will become friends. Deeming is a successful London doctor, and Vernon a rich man interested in the arts. But for some reason, Vernon, an animal lover, takes an immediate dislike to the pragmatically cruel Deeming. When Vernon discovers that Deeming owns a black spaniel, the dog becomes a focal point in the enmity between the two men. The Hindu : John Latimer is a practical man. But when he suspects his wife with having an affair with a Hindu gentleman—now deceased—he agrees to a séance. He calls the Hindu to him to exact revenge. But his plan has an unfortunate result, for now the spirit of the Hindu follows him everywhere, its evil casting a pall over his life. Sea Change : The Reverend Uniacke welcomes painter Sir Graham into his island home. The older man is not well. He is being consumed by melancholy at having caused his young London model to run away. The painter had filled the city boy’s head full of the sea in order to create his art, and in the end, the romance of the sea had consumed him. But the lad’s fate is known all too well to the reverend… Enter the mysterious realm of Robert Hichens. These stories and four more tales of unease await you... “… the story remains hypnotic in the working out of its inexorable plot. Can it really be that the soul of Deeming, who was found to have mistreated a black spaniel he owned as a pet, has entered the body of a new-born black spaniel…” --S. T. Joshi from his introduction “The supernatural tales of Robert Hichens are exceptional in quality and merit consideration with the tales of Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen as being among the finest of their time.” --WorthPoint “There is a vividness and a dramatic force throughout…” --Boston Home Journal Robert Smythe Hichens was born on November 14, 1864, the son of a clergyman and his wife. As a teen he showed aptitude as a pianist and enrolled at the Royal College of Music, which he abandoned for the London School of Journalism. During this time he also published his first novel, The Coastguard's Secret, a story of murder, romance and the supernatural. In his late 20s he suffered a bout of poisoning, and decided to recuperate in Cairo. While there, he made several literary friends and was introduced to Oscar Wilde, who inspired his quintessential London fin-de-siècle satire, The Green Carnation. Hichens went on to write over fifty novels―exotic melodramas, mystery, romance―as well as nine story collections and several works of non-fiction on the Near East. Many of his novels were staged or turned into films, including The Paradine Case directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He died on July 20, 1959, in Switzerland, where he had moved for his health.