"Why, yes! I fancy that when an old fellow like that does the vanishing trick, there are terrible results on the Bourse? Will you be kind enough to explain what does happen in such a case?"
Very much flattered by Fandor's request, Marville cried:
"But, my boy, you are asking for nothing less than a course of political economy—but I cannot do that—on the spur of the moment!... State precisely what you want to know."
"What I want to know is just this: Who loses money through Thomery's disappearance?"
The Financier raised his hands to Heaven.
"But everybody! Everybody!... Thomery was a daring fellow: without him his business is nothing!... There was a big failure on the market to-day."
"Good, but who gains by it?"
"How, who gains by it?"
"Yes. I presume Thomery's disappearance must be profitable to someone? Can you think of any people to whose interest it would be that this old fellow should disappear?"
The Financier reflected.