About the book: year / One of the most famous humorists in world literature, O. Henry created a unique panorama of American life at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, conveyed grotesque situations contrasts and paradoxes of their era, which opened up space for people with business acumen, whom the game of chance either lifts to the pinnacle of success, or casts down to the very bottom of life. “Entering the smoking car of the San Francisco-New York Express, I found Jefferson Peters there. Of all the people living west of the Wabash River, he is the only one endowed with real ingenuity. He is able to use both hemispheres of the brain at once, and even the cerebellum to boot. Jeff's profession is not a lawless scam. Widows and orphans should not fear him: he only takes away the surplus. Most of all, he likes to compare himself with that target in the form of a small bird, at which any spendthrift or reckless investor can shoot with two or three dollars that are lying around. His speaking abilities are well affected by tobacco; Knowing this, I, with the help of two thick and easily flammable Brava cigars, learned the story of his last adventure…»