Sitting by the window of her convent, Sister Barbara opens a letter from home. Inside the letter is a $100 bill sent by her elderly parents. Smiling warmly at their generosity despite their straitened circumstances, she is about to tuck it into her purse when, through the window, she notices a shabbily dressed stranger leaning against the lamp post below.
Quickly, she writes, “Don't despair, Sister Barbara,” on a piece of paper, wraps the $100 bill in it, gets the man's attention, and tosses it out the window to him. The stranger picks it up, and with a puzzled expression and a tip of his hat, trots off. The next day, Sister Barbara is told that a man is at the convent door, and he insists on seeing her. She goes down to find the stranger waiting.
Without a word, he hands her a huge wad of $100 bills.
“What's this?” she asks.
“That's the $8000 you have coming Sister,” he replies, “less my small commission.”
“Don't Despair paid 80-to-1 at Belmont.”