"So you think that Domingo might try murder?"
"It is not impossible."
"But, Mr. Barnes, he does not want my life. He wants the opal, and as that is, or rather has been until to-day, in the safety-vaults, how could he get it, even by killing me?"
"You have just admitted that it is not in the vaults at present."
"But it is quite as much out of his reach in my safe here in this room."
"But you might take it out of the safe. You might, in some manner, be persuaded to do so, to show it to some one."
"Very true. In fact, that is why it is here. I must compare my opal with the one which Mr. Livingstone offers for sale, before I part with twenty-five thousand dollars. For you must remember that such a sum is a fabulous price for an opal, even though, as you know, these are the largest in the world."
"From a money standpoint, of course, your precaution is proper. But do you not see that you are really making possible the very danger of which I came to warn you?"
"You mean——"
"Murder in order to get possession of that accursed ill-luck stone. But I fear my warning is not appreciated."