Speaking of Wells, do you know his short story 'The Moth'? It is very Nabokovian, avant la lettre.

It begins thus:

'Probably you have heard of Hapley - not W.T. Hapley, the son, but the celebrated Hapley, the Hapley of Periplaneta Hapliia, Hapley the entomologist.'

And it ends thus:

'So now, Hapley is spending the remainder of his days in a padded room, worried by a moth that no one else can see. The asylum doctor calls it hallucination; but Hapley, when he is in his easier mood and can talk, says it is the ghost of Pawkins, and consequently a unique specimen and well worth the trouble of catching.'

(H.G.Wells, Complete Short Stories, Ernest Benn Limited, London, 1970)

It is hard to imagine Nabokov, who admired Wells, was unaware of this story.

It reminds me of Nabokov's 'Christmas'. 

Read it, it is delightful.  

Hafid Bouazza