human
Your generosity does you credit, dear, but we never shake the hand of a prisoner, except when he is leaving. Not always then.
gpt
Kate, wait a minute. Tell me all about that man. I thought the prisoners were kept under lock and key. I thought---- Oh! it's so awful, so incredible.
human
Why, Adrian! How foolish. Your artistic temperament, I suppose, and you cannot help it. No. They are by no means always kept so close. This one is a 'trusty.' So were all the orchestra. So are all whom you see about the house or grounds. This man is the model for the whole prison. He is worth more, in keeping order, than a hundred keepers. His influence is something wonderful, and his life is a living sermon. His repentance is unmistakably sincere, and his conduct will materially shorten his term, yet it will be a dark day for the institution when he leaves it. I cannot help but like him and trust him; and yet---- Dear, dear! I must not loiter here. I must get back to my guests.
gpt
Wait, wait. There's something I want to ask you. To tell you, too. Do you know who that man is?
human
Do I not? Oh! Adrian, though I have brought myself to look upon him so indulgently now, it was not so at first. Then I hated the sight of his face, and could scarcely breathe in the room where he was. He is under life-sentence for manslaughter and--I wonder if I ought to tell you! But I must. The situation is so dramatic, so unprecedented. The man whom Number 526 tried to kill, and whom he robbed of many thousands, was--our own father!