Hearts and Hand begins in what i believe to be a train, where their are two men handcuffed to each other; one is scruffy and "glum-faced" while the other is very handsome. They're new-comers to the coach and sit directly in front of an attractive young woman. It turns out, the woman knew the handsome man and they began small talk which led to him revealing that he was a marshall, and that explained why he had a prisoner handcuffed to his RIGHT hand. At the end, the two men disappear but two other passengers had heard the conversation.
[Said one of them: "That marshal's a good sort of chap. Some of these Western fellows are all right."
"Pretty young to hold an office like that, isn't he?" asked the other.
"Young!" exclaimed the first speaker, "why--Oh! didn't you catch on? Say--did you ever know an officer to handcuff a prisoner to his right hand?"]
This clearly shows that the handsome man was in fact the prisoner.