“You don't understand it at all. It's no question of that kind. It's always a calculation of what gold is worth at Amsterdam, or some other place, and it's a difference of, maybe, one-eighth that determines the whole value of a bill.”
“I see,” said O'Shea, puffing his cigar very slowly. “I have no doubt that you bought your knowledge on these subjects dearly enough.”
“I should think I did! Until I came to understand the thing, I was always 'outside the ropes,' always borrowing with the 'exchanges against me,'—you know what I mean?”
“I believe I do,” said O'Shea, sighing heavily. “They have been against me all my life.”
“That's just because you never took trouble to study the thing. You rushed madly into the market whenever you wanted money, and paid whatever they asked.”
“I did indeed! and, what's more, was very grateful if I got it.”
“And I know what came of that,—how that ended.”
“How?”
“Why, you dipped your estate, gave mortgages, and the rest of it.”
O'Shea nodded a full assent.