"But," she was honestly troubled, "you can't give me aught that cost you
dear."
"Yes I can."
"Not by my leave," she said firmly. "It's only right that a body gets
his worth."
"I'll swap even for a look at some of your other tapestries."
"My what?"
"Your cloth pictures, like the cat."
"Land! I'll get some."
She bounced from her chair, bustled into an adjoining room, and they
heard her open a trunk. A moment later she was back with two tapestries
under her arm. She spread one, a yard long by about twenty inches wide,
and Jeff gasped.
It was _The Last Supper_, but instead of following conventional
patterns, Granny had drawn inspiration from the life around her. Jesus
and His disciples were seated at a wooden table that was innocent of any
adornment or finery whatsoever, but the table was so finely done that a
sliver thrusting out from it seemed both real and symbolic. There was an
air of dignity that rose above mere human dignity, and the dyes had been
applied with a touch so delicate that holy light seemed to emanate from
the picture. Its message was one of hope. Judas was not to be abandoned.
"Do you like it?" Granny asked.
"It--" Jeff was at a loss for words. "It's wonderful!"
"Preacher Skiles thinks the Lord ain't right."
"Preacher Skiles assumes a great deal of responsibility."
She laughed. "'Twas not the way he meant it. He thinks Jesus should be
sittin' above the rest, with maybe angels flyin' at His shoulder."
"It's better this way."
"That's what I thought," Granny asserted. "The Lord, He wasn't above the
beggars, the sick and those who done wrong. Somehow I got to think of
Him as comin' down to all of us."
"I, too."
"This one," Granny spread the other tapestry, "I call _The Fall of
Satan_."
Jeff gasped again. The picture centered around the black silhouette of
Satan, with a background done in delicate shades of red. There was about
the figure utter misery, abandonment and despair. The gates of hell,
which he had not yet entered, were merely suggested. But they were
suggested so artistically that one sensed the seething fires, the
complete torment, that awaited.