"No; but she is right in the main. Her report continues:
"'Madame, however, hesitated to go into the venture, partly because Mr. L. insisted that the matter be kept secret from her husband, and more particularly because the money in exchange was not to be forthcoming immediately. On the yacht she changed her mind impulsively. The result of that you know.'
"That is all," said Mr. Barnes, folding the paper and returning it to his pocket.
"That is all you know?" asked Mr. Mitchel.
"No; that is all that Lucette knows. I know how the fabulous sum of money was to be had in exchange for the two opals."
"Ah; that is more to our immediate purpose. How have you made this discovery?"
"My spies learned practically nothing by shadowing Livingstone, except that he has had several meetings with a half-breed Mexican who calls himself Pedro Domingo. I decided that it would be best for me to interview Señor Domingo myself, rather than to entrust him to a second man."
"What a compliment to our friend Livingstone!" said Mr. Mitchel, with a laugh.
"I found the Mexican suspicious and difficult to approach at first. So I quickly decided that only a bold play would be successful. I told him that I was a detective, and related the incident of the stealing of the opal. At this his eyes glistened, but when I told him that the gem had been sold to a man of enormous wealth who would never again part with it, his eyes glared."