Pudd'nhead Wilson

What happens to the twins? Why do you think the audience receives limited information on their future whereabouts?

chapter 19-21

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The weeks drag by and the date for the twins' trial finally arrives. The State, with Pembroke Howard prosecuting, has a strong circumstantial case against Luigi and Angelo, and the convictions seem all but certain. When it comes time for Wilson to present the defense's case, he announces that he has only three witnesses - the Misses Clarkson - who will testify that they saw a veiled woman escaping the Judge's house through the back gate, a few minutes after Judge Driscoll's cries for help were heard. He states that this testimony, combined with other circumstantial evidence he will offer, will show that there is another person involved in this crime, who has not yet been found.

Despite feeling secure that his deeds cannot be detected, the early part of the trial has made Tom feel somewhat uneasy. However, once he sees just how weak Wilson's case is, all feelings of concern melt away. In fact, Tom feels so confident that he has escaped all liability that he decides to stop by Pudd'nhead Wilson's house that night to tease him about it. He finds Wilson in his house, still pouring over his glass slides, trying to match the knife prints to the fingerprints of some town woman. Tom notices a slide with Roxy's name marked on it, and picks it up to take a better look. In doing so, he inadvertently leaves his own fingerprint on the glass. When Wilson sees the print, he immediately recognizes it as the print from the knife. He chastises himself for not considering that the mysterious girl might be a man disguised in girls' clothing. After Tom leaves, Wilson takes out and examines the various fingerprints he collected from Tom over the years. This leaves him perplexed, as Tom's baby prints do not match his later records. Wilson goes to bed still confused, but when he awakes from a dream, the puzzle is solved.