The story takes place at a farm. A young couple recently inherited the farm and moved into the farmhouse. The wife, Emma, has come to resent the presence of an old family servant named Martha. Martha and her old-fashioned ways are "dreadfully in the way" of all the improvements Emma wants to make. The resentment is quickly replaced by pity, however, when Emma finds the old woman cowering in fear in the kitchen one day. Martha, in a quavering voice, tells Emma that death is coming: she has seen the signs and warnings. "The Cobweb" can be found in many anthologies of supernatural stories.