This short story, set in 1879 San Francisco, features two elderly dressmakers, Miss Minnie and Miss Millie Moffet, who face a moral dilemma of no small dimensions. They turn for advice to Annie Fuller, a widowed boardinghouse owner who supplements her income as a clairvoyant, Madam Sibyl.

For those who have read Locke's any of her Victorian San Francisco mysteries, this story is set after Maids of Misfortune and before Uneasy Spirits and is an amusing glimpse into the lives of Annie Fuller's two most eccentric boarders. For those unfamiliar with Locke's mysteries and the late 19th century world they portray, this is just a taste of things to come.