In the short story “Hearts an Hands” by O. Henry,
In ”Hearts and Hands,” a woman, Miss Fairchild, spots an old friend named Mr. Easton on a train handcuffed to another man. That man calls her friend Mr. Marshal when she sees the cuffs. Turns out, the man is actually the marshal, and Mr. Easton is the prisoner. But the marshal is a kind man, and lies to her that he is the prisoner. He helps save Mr. Easton from the embarrassment of being a prisoner to a friend. He sees the horror on Miss Fairchild’s face when she first sees the handcuffs on Mr. Easton and speaks up. He calls Easton ”Marshal” to detour her thoughts. Later, after he sees that she seems interested in Mr. Easton, he cuts the conversation short without revealing the truth to save her from embarrassment. After that, he helps Mr. Easton get out of the conversation by asking to go and smoke, leaving Miss Fairchild oblivious to the fact that he was the prisoner, although people who were listening knew that Mr. Easton wasn’t the real marshal.
The theme of the story is kindness. He sees that Mr. Easton doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his old friend, and decides to play along with the fact that he was the prisoner, although he doesn’t gain anything from it, and is just being helpful and kind. This is an important lesson, and a pretty interesting story to go with it.