Don't believe people who tell you not to drink and smoke at the same time.

Wine is better without smoke, and smoke is better without wine, but the combination is better than either separately." I obeyed his commands, and we sat smoking and sipping in silence for some moments.

Then the President said, suddenly: "Mr.Martin, this country is in a perilous condition." "Good God, your Excellency!" said I, "do you refer to the earthquake ?" (There had been a slight shock a few days before.) "No, sir," he replied, "to the finances.

The harbor works have proved far more expensive than I anticipated.

I hold in my hand the engineer's certificate that nine hundred and three thousand dollars have been actually expended on them, and they are not finished--not by any means finished." They certainly were not; they were hardly begun.
"Dear me," I ventured to say, "that seems a good deal of money, considering what there is to show for it." "You cannot doubt the certificate, Mr.Martin," said the President.
I did doubt the certificate, and should have liked to ask what fee the engineer had received.