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The Great Gatsby — Chapter 4 — Page 14

As for me, I am fifty years old, and I wont impose myself on you any longer. As he shook hands and turned away his tragic nose was trembling. I wondered if I had said anything to offend him. He becomes very sentimental sometimes, explained Gatsby. This is one of his sentimental days. Hes quite a character around New Yorka denizen of Broadway. Who is he, anyhow, an actor? No. A dentist? Meyer Wolfshiem? No, hes a gambler. Gatsby hesitated, then added, coolly: Hes the man who fixed the Worlds Series back in 1919. Fixed the Worlds Series? I repeated. The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the Worlds Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened, the end of some inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million peoplewith the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe. How did he happen to do that? I asked after a minute. He just saw the opportunity. Why isnt he in jail? They cant get him, old sport. Hes a smart man. I insisted on paying the check. As the waiter brought my change I caught sight of Tom Buchanan across the crowded room. Come along with me for a minute, I said; Ive got to say hello to someone.