"Hearts and Hands" is a wonderfully ironic story by O. Henry. In the story, a passenger on a train in Denver named Miss Fairchild is seated across from an old acquaintance named Mr. Easton. She notes that Mr. Easton is handcuffed to an older, less attractive man, and the less attractive man asks her to intervene with the marshal, indicating Mr. Easton. Miss Fairchild believes that Mr. Easton is a marshal, a man of the law, and they have a conversation about old times. In the end, strangers on the train note that a marshal would never handcuff a man to his right hand. In other words, Mr. Easton is the prisoner, and the other man, older and heavier, is the marshal.
The theme of the story is that appearances can be deceiving. Miss Fairchild believes that her old friend must be a marshal because she knows him and because he is young and attractive. However, the reality is quite different, as he is a prisoner. O. Henry suggests that people often jump to conclusions that aren't true.
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