"Yes, sir," said Sam, "but it's some ways from here. It'll be worth ten cents to lead you there."
The gentleman hesitated.
"Well," he said after a pause, "I'll give it to you."
"Will you give it to me now?" asked Sam.
"I will pay you when you have done your work."
"The reason I asked was, because I showed a man the other day, and then he wouldn't pay me."
"That was mean," said the stranger. "I hope you don't think I would serve you so."
"Oh, no, sir. You're a gentleman," said Sam. "You wouldn't cheat a poor boy that hasn't had any breakfast this mornin'."
"Dear me! you don't say so?" ejaculated the compassionate stranger, shocked at Sam's fiction. "Here, take this twenty-five cents. Do you often have to go without your breakfast?"
"Often, sir," said Sam, unblushingly. "It's hard times for poor boys like me."