Q. Buried him! Buried him, without knowing whether he was dead or not?
A. Oh, no! Not that. He was dead enough.
Q. Well, I confess that I can't understand this. If you buried him, and
you knew he was dead.
A. No! no! We only thought he was.
Q. Oh, I see! He came to life again?
A. I bet he didn't.
Q. Well, I never heard anything like this. Somebody was dead. Somebody
was buried. Now, where was the mystery?
A. Ah! that's just it! That's it exactly. You see, we were
twins--defunct and I--and we got mixed in the bathtub when we were only
two weeks old, and one of us was drowned. But we didn't know which. Some
think it was Bill. Some think it was me.
Q. Well, that is remarkable. What do you think?
A. Goodness knows! I would give whole worlds to know. This solemn, this
awful mystery has cast a gloom over my whole life. But I will tell you
a secret now, which I never have revealed to any creature before. One of
us had a peculiar mark--a large mole on the back of his left hand; that
was me. That child was the one that was drowned!
Q. Very well, then, I don't see that there is any mystery about it,
after all.
A. You don't? Well, I do. Anyway, I don't see how they could ever have
been such a blundering lot as to go and bury the wrong child. But,
'sh!--don't mention it where the family can hear of it. Heaven knows
they have heartbreaking troubles enough without adding this.
Q. Well, I believe I have got material enough for the present, and I am
very much obliged to you for the pains you have taken. But I was a good
deal interested in that account of Aaron Burr's funeral. Would you mind
telling me what particular circumstance it was that made you think Burr
was such a remarkable man?
A. Oh! it was a mere trifle! Not one man in fifty would have noticed it
at all. When the sermon was over, and the procession all ready to start
for the cemetery, and the body all arranged nice in the hearse, he said
he wanted to take a last look at the scenery, and so he got up and rode
with the driver.
Then the young man reverently withdrew. He was very pleasant company,
and I was sorry to see him go.