B920 <=> B922 [BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 921]

“And this same process proceeded in him because, in the letter I presented, the name of a certain other acquaintance of mine, also a Mister, was mentioned, who in the opinion of many, and of this ‘Mister’ also, was considered, as they call him behind his back, ‘a damn’ clever fellow,’ that is to say, a ‘dollar expert.’

“In spite of his having been entirely seized with this inherency, proper to your contemporary favorites, he nevertheless, as he talked with me, gradually calmed down, and eventually he informed me, that he was ‘ready to place himself entirely at my disposal.’ Suddenly, however, he remembered something, whereupon he added that to his profound regret, owing to circumstances over which he had absolutely no control, he could not possibly oblige me that day, but not until the following day, because he was extremely busy with important affairs.

“And, indeed, with the best will in the world, he could not have done so, for these unfortunate Americans, who are always governed by these dollar businesses of theirs, can do what they please only on Sundays, whereas it just happened that the day I went to see him was not a Sunday.

“There on that continent, all dollar and other businesses depend never upon the beings themselves: on the contrary, your favorites there always themselves depend entirely on these ‘businesses’ of theirs.

“In short, the day not being a Sunday, this genuine American Mister was unable to do as he pleased, namely, go along with me and introduce me to the people necessary to me, and we had therefore to agree to meet the following morning at a defined place on the famous street there called ‘Broadway.’

“This street Broadway is the foremost and principal street not only in this New York, but, as is said there, is the longest street in any of the large contemporary cities of your planet.