"Well, what do you make of it—this puzzle?" She was looking steadily at a ring she was turning about on her finger.
"This!" He leaned forward. For the life of him he could not keep a faint ring of triumph out of his tone. "This, señorita. There is only one reasonable, credible solution—" He paused cruelly.
"Yes?" Her eyes were on his, eager, almost voracious. "Yes?"
"The present owners can not locate the mine, or else they think it not worth the trouble and expense of attempting to do so. That they have allowed the estate to lie idle and in a measure go to waste is also curious and puzzling. I can not explain that."
"Admitting such a thing for the sake of argument," she asked, "what then?"
"Well, I think we will have several things to say to each other then. For, if either of my suppositions is anywhere near correct their hands are tied just as much as mine, so I think we shall have to talk business, do not you?"
"I quite agree with you and I should add, the sooner the better."
"The sooner the better," he echoed, with emphasis.
She nodded. Again, she studied her nails, pink as almond‑flowers, with interest.
"And you really believe, you are quite convinced, that this lost or abandoned mine is all that tradition says of it?" she asked at last.