The Count of Monte Cristo

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nothing."

"But you were speaking of Haitians?" said Monte Cristo.

"Ah, Haitians,--that is quite another thing! Haitians are the ecarte
of French stock-jobbing. We may like bouillotte, delight in whist, be
enraptured with boston, and yet grow tired of them all; but we always
come back to ecarte--it is not only a game, it is a hors-d'oeuvre! M.
Danglars sold yesterday at 405, and pockets 300,000 francs. Had he but
waited till to-day, the price would have fallen to 205, and instead of
gaining 300,000 francs, he would have lost 20 or 25,000."

"And what has caused the sudden fall from 409 to 206?" asked Monte
Cristo. "I am profoundly ignorant of all these stock-jobbing intrigues."

"Because," said Albert, laughing, "one piece of news follows another,
and there is often great dissimilarity between them."