The black widow dropped lower, until I could see the red hour-glass pattern on its abdomen. Soon it dropped lower again, stopping at intervals, the long thin legs spreading out.

The thread was visible now, very fine and very dark.

I moved my hand.

“Don’t do that,” Charlie said quietly.

I kept still. In a moment the spider dropped again, this time to the surface of the bench. Charlie turned the reel quickly, catching the thread fast enough to wind it into a helix on the twin rods.

“They’re sensitive,” he said, his voice quiet. “They don’t mind slow movements, but if you move quickly they get upset.” He took the probe and coaxed the spider on to its tip, endlessly patient. It was five minutes before he could lift it on to the reel again, and another five before it began dropping, letting out its thread. “She’s good for one more spin, this one. She’s made four today.”

The long pointed legs splayed suddenly and the widow stopped.

“I can feel a draught,” I said.

“So can she.”

He began winding the long reel as the spider dropped at regular intervals, sensing its environment.

“She’s out of sorts,” Charlie said, softly crooning. “They’re not normally active in winter.”

The widow began moving towards the edge of the bench and he teased it into the jar, giving it a fly to catch.

“They’ll only take living food they don’t eat carrion, like us.”

“Carlos!”

“Si?”

“Usted necesita leche?

“Por favor, Pepita!”

We could hear the woman going down the stairs.

“Voice like a foghorn, heart of gold. Does everything for me. Lost her son in the civil war. Now she’s got another one — me.” He wheeled his chair across to the other bench and took a hand frame out of the drawer, holding it up to the light. “I told you I’d show you. This thread’s four days old it’s dried now, lost its stickiness. This thing’s a micromanipulator. You put the lens in here they come already grooved. All I have to do is lay the thread into the grooves and Bob’s your uncle. Five dollars a go, okay? That little sweetheart spun me fifty bucks’ worth just now while you were watching.”