could you play such a joke on me?

THE CALIFORNIAN. I didn't know there'd been any joke; but I suppose
there must have been, if you say so. Who am I now, ma'am--your husband,
or your baby, or your husband's wife, or--

MRS. ROBERTS. How funny you are! You _know_ you're Willis Campbell, my
only brother. Now _don't_ try to keep it up any longer, Willis.

[Voices from various berths. "Give us a rest, Willis!" "Joke's too
thin, Willis!" "You're played out, Willis!" "Own up, old fellow--own
up!"]

THE CALIFORNIAN (issuing from his berth, and walking up and down the
aisle, as before, till quiet is restored). I haven't got any sister, and
my name ain't Willis, and it ain't Campbell. I'm very sorry, because I'd
like to oblige you any way I could.

MRS. ROBERTS (in deep mortification). It's I who ought to apologize, and
I do most humbly. I don't know what to say; but when I got to thinking
about it, and how kind you had been to me, and how sweet you had been
under all my--interruptions, I felt perfectly sure that you couldn't be a
mere stranger, and then the idea struck me that you must be my brother in
disguise; and I was so certain of it that I couldn't help just letting
you know that we'd found you out, and--

MR. ROBERTS (offering a belated and feeble moral support). Yes.

MRS. ROBERTS (promptly turning upon him). And _you_ ought to have kept
me from making such a simpleton of myself, Edward.