Having seen all their names duly inscribed in her register, "Seat yourselves," she said, waving her hand toward some benches and chairs.
Then, with the help of a half-grown girl, she set out a small circular table, placed a box upon it, pushed up chairs and a bench or two, and said, "Now, as many of you as can, come and sit round this table; the others shall have their turn afterward."
When all the places were filled, she opened the box and took from it a number of beautifully carved articles—napkin-rings, spoons, etc.
"Now, all take your turns in looking at this lovely carved work, while I tell you its story," she said, "the story of how it came into my possession."
"You see, my husband was a sea-captain, and upon one occasion, when he was about setting sail for a long voyage, a young man, or lad—he was hardly old enough to be called a man—came and asked to be taken as one of the crew. He gave a name, but it wasn't his true name, inherited from his father, as my husband afterward discovered. But not suspecting anything wrong, he engaged the lad, and took him with him on the voyage.
"And the lad behaved well aboard the ship, and he used to carve wonderfully well—as you may see by looking at these articles—just with a jack-knife, and finally—keeping at it in his leisure moments—he made all these articles, carving them out of sharks' teeth.
"You can see he must have had genius; hadn't he? and yet he'd run away from home to go to sea, as my husband afterward had good reason to believe."
She made a long story of it, spinning out her yarn until the first set had examined the carved work to their satisfaction.
Then, "Reverse yourselves," she said, indicating by a wave of her hand, that they were to give place at the table to the rest of the company.
When all had had an opportunity to examine the specimens of the lad's skill, the young girl was ordered to restore them to the box, but first to count them.