This remarkable collection of stories, first published in 1872, includes
Green Tea, The Familiar, Mr. Justice Harbottle, The Room in the Dragon
Volant, and Carmilla. The five stories are purported to be cases by Dr.
Hesselius, a 'metaphysical' doctor, who is willing to consider the
ghosts both as real and as hallucinatory obsessions. The reader's
doubtful anxiety mimics that of the protagonist, and each story thus
creates that atmosphere of mystery which is the supernatural experience.