“What kind of a dump is this you’re running?” demanded Williams. “I’ve just been skinned out of four hundred dollars.”
“Who brought you in here?” said Brown.
“I brought myself in,” said Williams.
“Oh, if that’s the case,” said Brown, “I owe you eighty dollars.”
“How come?”
“Well, you see, I pay twenty per cent. apiece for all suckers that are steered in. You appear to have steered yourself in. Here’s your eighty.”
§ 280 Going and Coming
Two scholars, a Frenchman and an Italian, were having an argument. Each insisted his own country had produced the most distinguished literary figure that had ever lived.
“Dante,” said the Italian, “was the greatest of all writers. Dante went to hell.”
“Bah!” cried the Frenchman, “Baudelaire was a thousand times greater than Dante. Baudelaire came from hell.”