’Roused by the sound of her voice, Arthur placed his hand on his heart, and mutely plead excuse for the silence which his sufferings imposed on him.

’As for me, I spoke no word, but mentally consigned my mysterious neighbors to a distant port, whence consignments never return.

‘’My dear sir,’ I replied at length, ’Pepito’s treachery, which appears so deeply to affect you, is not yet carried into execution, it is only contemplated.  I will give you word for word what transpired.’

’When I had concluded my narrative, to which they listened with breathless attention, Adele exclaimed: 

’’Our hopes are not yet crushed, the case is not utterly desperate; but alas! it is evident our secret is suspected, if not known.  Arthur,’ she continued, ’now is the time to display all our energy.  We have some enemy to dread, as I have long suspected.  If we do not at once steal a march on him, then farewell forever to all our dreams of happiness, of wealth, or even of subsistence.’

‘’Sir,’ said she, again addressing me; ’your honor alone has kept you in ignorance of our secret.  You could easily have tempted and corrupted Pepito.  We prefer you should learn it from us rather than from an accidental source.  We merely request your word of honor that you will not use it to your own advantage, without our joint consent, nor in any way thwart our plans.’

’’I am deeply sensible, madame, of the confidence you repose in me; but I must beg you will allow me to remain in ignorance.’

‘’You refuse, then, to give us the promise?’ exclaimed Adele, ’I see it all! you will thwart us; you would preserve your liberty of action without forfeiting your word.’

’If you had known me longer, such a suspicion would not have crossed your mind.  However, as I have no other means of proving it unjust, I will give the pledge you desire, I am now ready to hear whatever you have to communicate.’

’Mr. Livermore resumed the conversation: 

’’The secret which Adele imparted to me will, I dare say, appear at first very extravagant, but before you laugh at it, give me time to explain.  It is the existence of a marvelous opal mine in the interior; the precise location of which is known to no one save Adele and myself.’

’In spite of the greatest effort, I could not suppress a smile of incredulity, at this announcement.  Mexico is so full of strange stories of fabulous mines, that this wondrous tale of opals looked to me like some new confidence game, and I felt sure my neighbors were duped or else trying to dupe me.

‘’Oh!  I see you think we are deceived?’

‘’I admit,’ I replied, ’it strikes me as possible that you have been the victims of some crafty scheme.  Did you hear of this mine before or since your arrival in Mexico?’

‘’Before we left New-Orleans.’

‘’And yet it is not known to the natives?’

‘’It was from a Mexican we had our information.’