The two men made a place for the extraordinary woman, who sat down at once in the chair Philip offered her.
At first both Philip and Browne had been disposed to take offence, but the woman’s daring won the day.
“Now, in Chicago, where we hail from, there is a family as proud as Lucifer because the woman’s grandmother was an English aristocrat. This grandmother used to do most wonderful tapestry; she spent all her time that way. When she was dying, she was all the time worrying about a piece she had not finished, and her last words were, ‘I will finish it!’”
She waited for effect.
“Well, now, I’ll go on to the con-clusion. The granddaughter of this strong-willed old aristocrat was a very stupid girl, and all their dollars could make nothing of her, but she was to take a top seat all the same. That girl, who could not sew on a button, took and finished the fine tapestry her grandmother had begun, and the work was perfect! All the family, even the cook and the boot-boy, came to have a look at her working. They peeped through a nick in the door. And when the work was done, the girl said she had not done it, and had never seen it; and if she had done it, it must have been in her sleep! and from the day the tapestry was finished she never touched a needle! What do you gentlemen think of that? Of course, the grandmother had used the girl’s fingers, and finished the work, as she had vowed to do when she was dying.”
The narrator of this story was a little disappointed in its reception, for both Philip and Browne seemed to find it funny merely. They laughed a good deal.
“That was a case of the ruling passion strong after death, wasn’t it?” asked Philip.
“There is no such thing as death,” affirmed the lady with some warmth.
“There is something pretty disagreeable called by that name, nevertheless,” commented Browne.
“I guess that when I am what they call dead, I shall know a heap more than those who are putting wreaths on me,” she declared. “But there is my husband, and we are going out, so I wish you both good-bye.”