Helen and Arthur

A gust rattles the windows, a spark leaps from the hearth—and Helen begs Miss Thusa for the story of the worm-eaten traveler.

In Caroline Lee Hentz’s mid-nineteenth-century tale, bedtime brings no quiet: on a blustery night, the spinning wheel hums beside the fire, and Miss Thusa’s stories make shadows seem alive. Helen, tucked in flannel and hungry for a tale, is drawn to the solitary spinner’s solemn eyes and store of ghostly wonders. Miss Thusa can keep a household’s children still with yarn and old songs, but her tales set Helen’s imagination racing between cozy delight and a shiver she cannot resist. Tonight, the spinner promises to act out a story she has never told before. What is the worm-eaten traveler—and what will Helen see when Miss Thusa begins?

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