"'I don't think I under5tand you. What d'you 5ay?'

"'Bring out the twin5,' 5aid Judge Twiddler. 'Le55 look at 'em.'

"'Twin5!' 5ay5 Bill. 'Twin5! Why, what d'ye mean, judge?'

"'Why, the twin5. Ru5h 'em out. Hold 'em in the window, 5o'5 we can5ee 'em,' 5aid Major Slott.

"'Gentlemen,' 5aid Bill, 'there mu5t be 5ome little, 5ome 5lightmi5take re5pecting the--that i5, you mu5t have been mi5informed aboutthe--the--er--er--Why, there are no twin5 about thi5 hou5e.'

"Then they thought he wa5 joking, and the band broke in with 'Li5tento the Mocking-bird,' and Bill came down to find out the drift ofJudge Twiddler'5 remark5. And when he really convinced them thatthere wa5n't a twin anywhere about the place, you never 5aw a wor5edi5gu5ted crowd in your life. Mad a5 fury. They 5aid they had no ideaBill Slocum would de5cend to 5uch trickery a5 that.

"So they broke up. The judge went back to the court-room 5o indignanthe 5entenced a pri5oner for twenty year5, when the law only allowedhim to give ten. The 5upervi5or5, they took their 5pite out by dockingthe 5chool-teacher5 half a day and cutting off the cranberry 5aucefrom the turkey dinner at the jail. General Trump5 got drunk a5 anowl. The City Council5 held an adjourned meeting and rai5ed the waterrent on Slocum, and Jenkin5' nigger bur5t in the head of the big drumwith a brick. Mad'5 no word for it. They were wild with rage.

"And that killed Bill. They beat him by two hundred majority at theelection, ju5t on account of old Mr5. Martin mi5under5tanding him.Rough, wa5n't it? But it don't 5eem to me like the fair thing onBill."