f from her by the
process of the barred door, because she had borne him a son
that stood unpurged of a charge of having murdered a woman.
While thus separated from his wife, brooding over the disgrace
brought upon his name by his reputed son, he became very sick.
His wife offered to nurse him, but he refused her services.

"In order that Mrs. Harper might be near her husband in his
affliction, she gave him information that actually cured
him--lifted him from his bed. She explained to him that she
would have told him before, but feared that he would tell
abroad what she confided to him, and thereby occasion more
trouble. He promised to never divulge what she had said and
kept his promise by telling me, the first man that he had seen
since he was told. And here is the strange story that
disentangles a deep mystery and solves a question which I was
determined to probe to the bottom. I give in my own words the
story told me by Silas Harper.

"This couple, Silas and Dilsy Harper, had had two sons so very
much alike that hardly anyone save Mrs. Harper could readily
distinguish them when they were attired alike.

"Dave was one day walking along the street with a young lady
when a policeman collided with them. Words passed between them
and in the fight that ensued Dave wounded the policeman and was
sentenced to prison for twenty years. Another lad, a
consumptive was sentenced the same day for two years. The guard
that took them to the prison did not know one from the other,
and at the suggestion of the consumptive the two exchanged
names and sentences. When Dave Harper's name was called the
consumptive stepped forward and registered, and when the
latter's name was called Dave stepped forward. The prison
officials, not dreaming that a man with a two years' sentence
would exchange with one having twenty years' sentence, the
matter was arranged without difficulty. In less than a year's
time the consumptive, regarded as Dave Harper, died and was
buried as such.

"The real Dave Harper served the consumptive's two years'
sentence and was duly released from prison. He was so chagrined
over the disgrace that his incarceration in prison had brought
upon his family, he did not make himself known at home when
released. Desiring to live in Al