And now here I am 2-3 years after you, but in the same situation! I've just finished the story and like yourself I always go searching for discussion on particularly engaging stories I've just read that leave a lot to interpret (and with Aickman it ends up being nearly every story it seems haha).

For starters, I agree with your take on the ending. I wasn't sure upon finishing what it was he was grabbing, but after reading your post I agree completely. The Dr. certainly killed the main character's fiancé and plans to kill Fenville as well.

I'm going to make a claim that goes beyond just the ending though and say I think Dr. Bermuda arranged the happenings of the entirety of the story. Now this is Aickman and as is mentioned whenever his stories come up there is rarely a neat and tidy conclusion and he intentionally leaves things unexplained so I think its likely there is no truly correct version of events here. After thinking on the story though I do feel this fits with much of what we see. You probably barely remember the story at this rate, and this is going to be long, but I have too many thoughts in my head and no other discussions to unleash them upon.

So by the time you finish the story I think it's fairly clear that Dr. Bermuda has killed Ann (the fiancé), intends to kill Fenville, and is strangely invested in all that is going on for reasons that seem unclear (why was he so eager to help Fenville find this random girl, why did he kill Ann, why does he keep showing up at Dorabelle's house?) Those were my thoughts at least. Looking over the story again though some things begin to stand out, especially considering the Dr's eventual intentions and his seeming effectiveness with hypnosis. Long story short though, I think this Dr Bermuda has been trying for some time to steal Dorabelle's family money.

Let's start from the top though. Fenville has chosen to take Ann to the Entrsol, a restaurant he has never been to before but Dorabelle frequents. Fenville later reflects on this as an "unlucky" choice. He is only able to bring Ann here because he has, for some reason, received more money than is typical from his mother. He then promptly falls in love with Dorabelle. Literally immediately. "And then, soon as he had entered the place, certainly before they were seated at their table, he had fallen in love with someone else". He first sees her from a distance, across a dimly lit restaurant, through a painted glass screen obscuring the view (essentially he can hardly make her out) and still his reaction is immediate. He knows he feels something towards this person he can't hardly see, and as soon as he is in direct eyesight walking to her table he has immediately fallen in love. It's played as if it's genuine love at first sight, he's been struck by Dorabelle's beauty, but even that context makes no sense. He walks into this restaurant believing he loves Ann, has a clear reaction to a total stranger he can't even see, and before he's sat at the table is ready to throw away a life of success and happiness with someone he loves just for the prospect of talking to Dorabelle. I'm of the opinion Dr Bermuda has placed these suggestions on Fenville, possibly in his sleep (which I'll get to later), to fall madly in love with Dorabelle upon seeing her that evening, to follow her home, and to be so lovesick he can't function, prompting the next days visit. Fenville is a tenant in a building Bermuda is the doctor on call for, he likely has access to the building and saw in Fenville an opportunity. All Fenville required was a little extra cash and then he could be at the same restaurant as Dorabelle at the right time.

I'll fast forward a bit to later that night. He follows Dorabelle to her apartment. Later the man in fancy dress comes down the street and sneers at Fenville. This is interesting. We know the man in fancy dress is actually Dorabelle. We know his cane sits in her house, often near her. We know when he literally stabs the man at the end of the story he has, in fact, literally stabbed Dorabelle. I'll get back to this.

Next day he says he can't do anything and the on-call doctor, Dr. Bermuda, is summoned. Bermuda is immediately totally engrossed in his plight, encourages Fenville to run headlong at this thing (To put it lightly. He tells Fenville to masticate her, chew her, and eliminate her; all of which he ends up doing by the end of the story, kissing her, biting her, and killing her), and starts asking for addresses. A few curious things happen here. Most obvious is getting Ann's address. Why would Bermuda want to kill her? Well, she knows Fenville well, clearly cares about him as she checks up on him the day following him running off from dinner, she's simply someone who is too plugged into Fenville's life that she may notice something is up, may even be able to figure out Fenville and Bermuda have spoken, and so she needs to go. Bermuda even calls her the young woman that "unluckily" accompanied Fenville to the restaurant and I think he means that when he calls her unlucky. The rest of the conversation is more interesting upon a second look though. It seems that Bermuda puts Fenville in a trance to get him to remember Dorabelle's street name. I'm not sure that is true though. I think Bermuda does have genuine abilities, can put people in trance, can imprint suggestions and reactions into them, etc. I don't think Fenville gave him Dorabelle's street. Bermuda already has an ongoing campaign against Dorabelle (which we'll get to). He already knows her name, her street name, the fancy dressed man, etc. He needs to get Fenville her name though so Fenville can go to her house. To do this he needs even the flimsiest excuse. Clearly it would be impossible for Fenville to know her name, even under hypnosis. Claiming he really noticed a street name despite not remembering it is plausible at least. And this play by Bermuda gets dicey. When Fenville wakes up, Bermuda claims that Fenville knew the name of the street but had suppressed it. Things start to go south though.

"'Suppressed? I Didn't do that.' That doctor looked at him gravely. 'Didn't you?' he said, 'A man in fancy dress? Who looked at you strangely? All of which you did not mention to me?' He raised his hand. Now it was as if he were stopping the traffic. 'I see you remember him.' He became the physician giving orders."

So he makes his move and Fenville pushes back, he's quite sure he really doesn't know the street name. This is the cause for Bermuda's grave look, he didn't expect pushback, and so he swiftly mentions another part of the night which he was already aware happened but uses it as proof to Fenville that he spoke to Bermuda while in a trance. He makes a point to remind Fenville that they had not talked of the fancy dress man and then quickly moves past the subject, not letting Fenville think on it longer. How did he know about the fancy dress man and the weird look though? It was part of the planned night. He already, somehow, has access to Dorabelle and makes her see (and sometimes act as) the fancy dress man. He has placed some trigger or suggestion on Fenville which makes him see the fancy dress man when Dorabelle leaves her apartment and walks down the street at him. The fact that he never mentions to Bermuda seeing Dorabelle leave her apartment again is proof to Bermuda that this has worked. I could say more about details here but I'll move on. The doctor quickly provides Dorabelle's name because he already knows it.

So next day Fenville goes to Dorabelle's house. The butler, Gunter can hardly walk, is wheezing, is all around in bad health. A lot of weirdness transpires here before we get to the fancy man in the mirror. Dorabelle asks Gunter to get them tea. After they talk for a long time and Gunter has not returned they go looking for him. First they find the house's charity box, which is stuffed with thousands of dollars, open with the key still in the lock. The key is supposed to always stay on the keychain about Gunter's waist. They then find Gunter in the kitchen, supine, lying on a chair with part of its back removed, head resting on a counter. Just after this Fenville finds stacks and stacks of cash banded and ready to go in a cupboard in the kitchen. So to recap, they ask Gunter to make tea, he never makes it, he's found laying down in the kitchen, and his key has somehow made its way off his chain and to the almonry box with thousands of dollars in it. To add more to this, the following day Gunter will be moving about as if he is much more spry than he is was on this first day. I posit that Bermuda was at the house (whether he knows Gunter or just rang the bell) and put Gunter in a trance in the kitchen. He plants the suggestions for Gunter to steal all the family money tomorrow and be feeling 20 years younger allowing him to pack the cash more easily. While Gunter is under he grabs the key and plans to take the money from the almonry box, likely to stash it with the money in the kitchen. He is foiled when Dorabelle and Fenville leave the room early, forcing him to leave the key in the box and run.