Nor did this indistinction work badly: that the other was just
as likely to suffer as the doer of the wrong, wrought rather as a
deterrent. The mode of behaviour may have had its origin in the
instinctive perception of the impossibility of proving innocence; but had
we, loving as we did, been capable of truthfully accusing each other, I
think we should have been capable of lying also. The delight of existence
lay, embodied and objective to each, in the existence of the other.
"At school we learned the same things, and only long after did any
differences in taste begin to develop themselves.
"Our brother, elder by five years, who would succeed to the property, had
the education my father thought would best fit him for the management of
land. We twins were trained to be lawyer and doctor--I the doctor.
"We went to college together, and shared the same rooms.
"Having finished our separate courses, our father sent us to a German
university: he would not have us insular!
"There we did not work hard, nor was hard work required of us. We went
out a good deal in the evenings, for the students that lived at home in
the town were hospitable. We seemed to be rather popular, owing probably
to our singular likeness, which we found was regarded as a serious
disadvantage. The reason of this opinion we never could find, flattering
ourselves indeed that what it typified gave us each double the base and
double the strength.
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