Hearts and Hands

Written by O. Henry

Narrated by Maria Tolkacheva

The story "Hearts and Hands" of the well-known American writer O. Henry was published for the first time in the collection "Remains" in 1917.

In the Baltimore express all places were taken, only one bench opposite an young nice lady was free. At this time two guys entered the coach: one of them was impudent, and the second one - glum-faced. These two characters didn't represent anything unusual, except the handcuffs which held their hands among themselves.

The lady recognized one of them and addressed him. The young man showed the girl the handcuffs and said that he couldn't shake her hand. He wanted to explain something but the second forestalled him. This man introduced himself as a criminal and his attendant as a marshal. The story seems to be quite plain, but its salt is hidden in the last two sentences which reveal the real state of things.

A SmartTouch Media production.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SmartTouch Media
• Release date: Jan 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781467607346

O. Henry

O. Henry (1862-1910) was an American short story writer. Born and raised in North Carolina, O. Henry—whose real name was William Sydney Porter—moved to Texas in 1882 in search of work. He met and married Athol Estes in Austin, where he became well known as a musician and socialite. In 1888, Athol gave birth to a son who died soon after, and in 1889 a daughter named Margaret was born. Porter began working as a teller and bookkeeper at the First National Bank of Austin in 1890 and was fired four years later and accused of embezzlement. Afterward, he began publishing a satirical weekly called The Rolling Stone, but in 1895 he was arrested in Houston following an audit of his former employer. While waiting to stand trial, Henry fled to Honduras, where he lived for six months before returning to Texas to surrender himself upon hearing of Athol’s declining health. She died in July of 1897 from tuberculosis, and Porter served three years at the Ohio Penitentiary before moving to Pittsburgh to care for his daughter. While in prison, he began publishing stories under the pseudonym “O. Henry,” finding some success and launching a career that would blossom upon his release with such short stories as “The Gift of the Magi” (1905) and “The Ransom of Red Chief” (1907). He is recognized as one of America’s leading writers of short fiction, and the annual O. Henry Award—which has been won by such writers as William Faulkner, John Updike, and Eudora Welty—remains one of America’s most prestigious literary prizes.