Mrs. Mangenborn was either deaf or did not notice it, for she went on unconsciously:
"Yes, I am an artist—a second-sight artist."
"Second-sight?"
"Yes; I tell fortunes, read the future——"
"Oh?" said Miss Husted, and that one word was enough to have driven an ordinary person out of the front door, convinced of being insulted, but Mrs. Mangenborn was not sensitive.
"I should like a cup of tea," she said simply. "It's a very hot day."
The magnificent coolness of this request fairly caught Miss Husted. This woman spoke like one accustomed to command; and much to Jenny's astonishment (she had been listening attentively) her aunt sent her to order tea for two.
Given a person who can tell fortunes, and another person on the lookout for one, a person who has infinite hope in the future, whose whole life indeed is in the future, and it doesn't take long to establish an entente cordiale. When Jenny came back a few minutes later, to her utter astonishment she saw the mysterious fat lady dealing cards to her aunt and talking of events past, present, and future; and her aunt chatting as pleasantly as if she had known the woman all her life.
"However can you tell that?" asked Miss Husted as she sipped her tea and cut the cards for the ninetieth time.
"Don't you see the king? That means a visitor!"