Double Trouble

In Short

When Florian Amidon vanishes from his quiet banking career in Wisconsin, he reappears five years later on a train with no memory of the intervening time. He discovers he has been living as Eugene Brassfield—a wealthy, sharp-elbowed politician and real estate magnate in Pennsylvania who is engaged to the high-minded Elizabeth Waldron. Desperate to keep his double life from unraveling, Amidon hires a German scientist and his occultist daughter to hypnotically retrieve Brassfield's memories. Herbert Quick's 1906 novel endures for its witty, fast-paced blend of psychological mystery, municipal corruption, and romantic farce.

The Story

In June 1896, Florian Amidon steps off his normal track of life and completely forgets who he is. Five years later, on a train bound for New York in January 1901, he snaps back to his original consciousness. He finds himself wearing foreign clothes, carrying pocketfuls of money, and bearing documents made out to "Eugene Brassfield." Overwhelmed by the sudden realization of his missing years, he faints and is taken to the Calumet House in New York, where the staff and hotel clerks greet him as a regular, wealthy patron.

Desperate to understand his condition, Amidon seeks the help of Professor Blatherwick, a German scientist studying dual personalities, and his daughter, Madame le Claire (Clara), a talented professional hypnotist. Blatherwick diagnoses Amidon with a classic case of subconscious takeover. Under Clara's hypnotic trances, the "Brassfield" persona emerges, allowing the professor and Judge Blodgett—Amidon's trusted attorney—to take extensive, cross-referenced notes about his secret second life in the town of Bellevale, Pennsylvania.

Armed with this notebook of facts, Amidon travels to Bellevale to assume Brassfield's identity, but managing the alt-ego's chaotic affairs proves treacherous. Brassfield was a fast-talking opportunist: he was deeply involved in machine politics, ran a local business empire, belonged to fraternal lodges with elaborate rituals, and had negotiated shady franchise deals with figures like Mr. Edgington and Barney Conlon. Worse still, Amidon inherits Brassfield's romantic entanglements. Brassfield is engaged to the refined Elizabeth Waldron, but he has also led on the flamboyant Daisy Scarlett—the town's "Strawberry Blonde"—and made promises to local saloon keepers to secure political backing for a mayoral run.

Amidon attempts to steer Brassfield's business and political interests using high-minded morality, causing immediate outrage among his corrupt political allies who expect him to grant lucrative street franchises and ignore saloon closing hours. Meanwhile, as Clara hypnotizes Amidon repeatedly to extract information and restore his identity, she falls deeply in love with him herself. Elizabeth, sensing frightening shifts in her fiancé's personality, speech, and moral stances, grows suspicious of his sudden duplicity. The tension reaches a climax when Daisy Scarlett sues Brassfield for breach of promise after a public scene, and Elizabeth witnesses a trance session that reveals the full truth of Amidon's dual existence. Amidon sheds the ruthless persona of Brassfield for good, wins Elizabeth's forgiveness, and leaves the chaos of his alternate identity behind as Clara quietly departs town to continue her travels.

How It Unfolds

A sudden awakening Florian Amidon comes to his senses on a train in 1901, discovering that five years of his life have completely vanished. He realizes he has been living under the name Eugene Brassfield and faints from the shock before reaching New York.

Consulting the occultist Amidon visits Professor Blatherwick and his hypnotist daughter, Madame le Claire, to diagnose his psychological breakdown. Clara puts Amidon into a trance, bringing out the "Brassfield" personality so her father and Judge Blodgett can compile detailed notebooks on his secret life.

Return to Bellevale Amidon travels to Pennsylvania to inhabit Brassfield's home and business, relying entirely on his index of notes to navigate his daily interactions. He immediately struggles to mimic Brassfield's familiarity with local society, municipal politics, and lodge rituals.

Navigating two women Amidon meets his high-minded fiancée, Elizabeth Waldron, but stumbles through discussions of literature and their future home because he lacks Brassfield's memories. Shortly after, he accidentally stumbles into the arms of Daisy Scarlett, a former flame who expects his continued affection.

Political sabotage Refusing to honor Brassfield's backroom deals to grant city street franchises to political bosses, Amidon alienates his political manager, Edgington. Amidon's sudden moral crusade throws the local mayoral campaign into complete disarray.

The public collapse During a public gathering, Brassfield enters a catatonic trance state while holding Daisy Scarlett's hands in front of the horrified guests. The scandal sparks a breach-of-promise lawsuit against him, threatening to ruin his reputation entirely.

Unmasking the double Elizabeth secretly listens in on a session with Madame le Claire and learns the truth about Florian Amidon's dual personality. With the mystery solved, Amidon secures Elizabeth's love as his true self, and Clara bids them a bittersweet farewell.

The People

• Florian Amidon / Eugene Brassfield: A respectable, moral banker from Wisconsin who disappears into an alternate persona, Eugene Brassfield, for five years. As Amidon, he wants to maintain his honor, repair his missing life, and win Elizabeth's genuine affection; as Brassfield, he was a smooth, opportunistic politician and businessman. He ends the novel fully restored to his true self, freed from Brassfield's corrupt schemes.
• Elizabeth Waldron: A thoughtful young woman just out of school who is engaged to Brassfield. She wants a deep, honest, and high-minded partnership, but she becomes deeply disturbed by her fiancé's wild shifts in character and apparent lies. By the end, she learns the truth behind his psychological affliction and chooses to marry the genuine Florian.
• Madame le Claire (Clara): A professional hypnotist and daughter to Professor Blatherwick. She wants to help Amidon navigate his condition, but in doing so, she secretly falls in love with him. She ultimately sacrifices her own desires to bring Amidon and Elizabeth together before slipping away into her nomadic life.
• Judge Blodgett: Amidon's elderly, pragmatic lawyer and friend. He wants to protect Amidon's property, legal standing, and personal reputation at all costs, working tirelessly to build indexed reference notes to keep the charade going.
• Daisy Scarlett: A woman of "fervid complexion" and fiery personality who claims Brassfield made romantic promises to her. She wants marriage or restitution, and her fierce pursuit of him creates the scandal that brings the plot to its crisis.

In Its Own Voice

"Vat does she do? She calls te supchectife mind up abofe te threshold of gonsciousness, ant you are restored to te Chones blane of mentality."

Professor Blatherwick explains the mechanics of dual personality to Amidon, outlining how hypnotic trance can bring his alternate persona's hidden memories back to the surface.

"The colonial," said he, "is not good unless indulged in in great moderation."

Amidon awkwardly attempts to discuss architectural plans with Elizabeth, relying on high-sounding aesthetic theories to mask the fact that he has no memory of choosing their future home.

"I won't foul my hands with the dirty mess!"

Amidon shocks his political manager, Edgington, by refusing to engage in the backroom bribery and franchise-stealing schemes that Eugene Brassfield had previously masterminded.

What It's Really About

At its heart, Double Trouble explores the fragile boundary between the respectable self and the buried desires of the subconscious mind. By splitting its protagonist into the timid, high-minded Florian Amidon and the aggressive, worldly Eugene Brassfield, the novel examines how modern society forces individuals to compartmentalize their moral standards. It satirizes small-town Gilded Age politics, where business interests and civic corruption blend seamlessly under the guise of respectability. The story also digs into the ethics of identity and personal responsibility: can a man be held accountable for the political bribes, romantic promises, and financial contracts made by a secondary self he cannot even remember?

Why Read It Today

Double Trouble offers a charming, surprisingly modern take on psychological alter-egos that reads like a cross between The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and a lighthearted screwball comedy. Readers who enjoy Victorian turn-of-the-century farces, identity-swap hijinks, and early sci-fi/psychological concepts will appreciate Herbert Quick’s snappy narrative drive and razor-sharp satire of Gilded Age politics.

The book's minor hurdles lie in its period-specific details and stylized dialogue. Modern readers will need to adjust to Professor Blatherwick's heavily phonetic German dialect, as well as the occasionally dated lodge-ritual humor and early-1900s regional political jargon. However, these elements add authentic historical flavor rather than stalling the narrative. What stays with you is the clever mechanics of the plot—watching a bewildered, principled man try to manage a cutthroat political career and a complicated love life using nothing but a set of alphabetized index cards.