Mysterious Encounter - Part 2

Read me the second poem, says Pliny the Elder. I am all ears.

Alright. I say. It's called "Sequel". And listen out for the interesting rhyme scheme.

I turn the page, and begin to read:

Sequel.

I think I know now what that vision meant,
The old man last night, stooped and bent,
His Toby dog, their singular intent,
Looking for clues in dead leaves as they went
Unseeing us.

It was an intimation of a lagging universe
In parallel with ours, behind, but nothing worse.
Was he the shade of Sherlock Holmes living out the curse
Of the evil Professor Moriarty, or the reverse,
Whatever that might be?

Yes I know that Holmes and Moriarty fell in thrall
Locked in murderous embrace down Reichenbach fall.
But what was it that prompted me to call
His dog Toby when I didn't know at all
That was his name?

Whose name? scoffs Pliny.

Sherlock Holmes' dog of course.

So you heard the old man call his dog Toby?

No. I described the dog as a Toby dog in "Dog", before I knew it was the name of Sherlock Holmes' dog. A coincidence too unlikely to ignore.

How is it that you knew about Professor Moriarty and the Reichenbach falls, but you didn't know
that Holmes' dog was called Toby?

How is it that you are being so irritating? Anyone would think that you were Sherlock Holmes himself. If you must know, I did some research after I got home.

And then you made the whole thing up, about who he was.

Yes, at this stage I suppose you could say so. But you have not heard poem number three, where I see him again, and he sees me.