1. The Sergeant-Major states that the wishes were granted so naturally that they seemed like coincidence. Explain the events of the story as coincidence.

In the case of the White family, the only wish that seems as if it might have occurred coincidently was the death of their son. Mr. White wishes for two-hundred pounds, their son is killed in an accident, and poof..... the settlement is exactly the amount Mr. White wished for. Even Mr. White declares it a coincidence.

"We had the first wish granted," said the old woman, feverishly; "why not the second."

"A coincidence," stammered the old man.

Mrs. White's wish doesn't seem as coincidental. She wishes for her son to return from the dead and shortly after there's a knock at the door. Mr. White bolted the door, made a third wish, and the knocking stopped. Was it their dead son, or was it possibly the appearance of a visitor..... a visitor who decided to move on just as Mr. White made his last wish. We'll never know.