- Paladin: Ellsworth! I don't like you! I don't like where you find your pleasures! I don't like anything about you! But I'm interested. I've heard about cases like yours.
- John Ellsworth: Just what do you think my case is, Mr Paladin?
- Paladin: You might imagine yourself the victim of an old Bengali legend. The Tiger Curse.
- Paladin: Checkmate. There are of course certain unexplained mysteries, certain things in life for which we have no logical explanation.
- John Ellsworth: Such as the power of one thousand dollars.
- Paladin: A thousand dollars, Mr Ellsworth, would scarcely pay me for the pain of enduring your company. I'd have to have at least another thousand to protect you from a tiger. Paid in advance whether or not I succeed.