And then, to the porter's surprise, he dropped a coin into his hand.
The porter looked hard at the coin in his hand, and then at the cripple.
He was a man of no sentiment, this porter, and so he asked the generous donor bluntly what he wanted for the money.
"I only want you to show some consideration and kindness, if possible, to some of the unfortunate inmates of this place," was the reply.
"Prisoners?"
"Yes."
"If you expect that," said the porter "you had better take back your money, for I have nothing to do with the prisoners."
The cripple looked grave, and he muttered to himself—
"This fool is beastly conscientious. If he had only proved a bit of a rogue, there was a chance—the ass!"
But he did not mean to yield the point yet.