You knew my brother John—­that is, you knew him when you knew that I was not present; but neither you nor, I believe, any human being could distinguish between him and me if we chose to seem alike.  Our parents could not; ours is the only instance of which I have any knowledge of so close resemblance as that.  I speak of my brother John, but I am not at all sure that his name was not Henry and mine John.  We were regularly christened, but afterward, in the very act of tattooing us with small distinguishing marks, the operator lost his reckoning; and although I bear upon my forearm a small “H” and he bore a “J,” it is by no means certain that the letters ought not to have been transposed.  During our boyhood our parents tried to distinguish us more obviously by our clothing and other simple devices, but we would so frequently exchange suits and otherwise circumvent the enemy that they abandoned all such ineffectual attempts, and during all the years that we lived together at home everybody recognized the difficulty of the situation and made the best of it by calling us both “Jehnry.”  I have often wondered at my father’s forbearance in not branding us conspicuously upon our unworthy brows, but as we were tolerably good boys and used our power of embarrassment and annoyance with commendable moderation, we escaped the iron.  My father was, in fact, a singularly good-natured man, and I think quietly enjoyed nature’s practical joke.

Soon after we had come to California, and settled at San Jose (where the only good fortune that awaited us was our meeting with so kind a friend as you) the family, as you know, was broken up by the death of both my parents in the same week.  My father died insolvent and the homestead was sacrificed to pay his debts.  My sisters returned to relatives in the East, but owing to your kindness John and I, then twenty-two years of age, obtained employment in San Francisco, in different quarters of the town.  Circumstances did not permit us to live together, and we saw each other infrequently, sometimes not oftener than once a week.  As we had few acquaintances in common, the fact of our extraordinary likeness was little known.  I come now to the matter of your inquiry.

One day soon after we had come to this city I was walking down Market street late in the afternoon, when I was accosted by a well-dressed man of middle age, who after greeting me cordially said:  “Stevens, I know, of course, that you do not go out much, but I have told my wife about you, and she would be glad to see you at the house.  I have a notion, too, that my girls are worth knowing.  Suppose you come out to-morrow at six and dine with us, en famille; and then if the ladies can’t amuse you afterward I’ll stand in with a few games of billiards.”

This was said with so bright a smile and so engaging a manner that I had not the heart to refuse, and although I had never seen the man in my life I promptly replied:  “You are very good, sir, and it will give me great pleasure to accept the invitation.  Please present my compliments to Mrs. Margovan and ask her to expect me.”