"What is your son in for?" asked the porter.
"For an unfortunate resemblance he bears to a notorious brigand."
"Bah!" exclaimed the porter. "They don't imprison a man for being like another."
"Yes, they do; my unlucky son has been taken for Mathias the brigand."
"What," ejaculated the doorkeeper, "do you mean that Mathias is not Mathias?"
"I mean that my son has been taken for Mathias, to whom, indeed, he is so like that nothing but the capture of the real culprit can save my son."
The doorkeeper eyed the cripple sharply.
But the latter stood it coolly enough.
"Well," said the door porter, "if that is the case, it is certainly a very hard job for your son. What do you want me to do for him? I can't let him out."
"My friend," exclaimed the cripple, "think you I would suggest such a thing? No, all I would ask of you is to soothe him with a kind word."