"You are right, Don Arturo," continued Donna Dolores, behind her fan. "You see that, after all, your advice is necessary, and what I began as an explanation of my folly may be of business importance; who knows? It is good of you to recall me to that. We women are foolish. You are sagacious and prudent. It was well that I saw you!" Arthur nodded assent, and resumed his professional attitude of patient toleration--that attitude which the world over has been at once the exasperation and awful admiration of the largely injured client. "And the sister, the real heiress, is gone--disappeared! No one knows where! All trace of her is lost. But now comes to the surface an impostor! a woman who assumes the character and name of Grace Conroy, the sister!" "One moment," said Arthur, quietly, "how do you know that it is an impostor?" "How--do--I--know--it?" "Yes, what are the proofs?" "I am told so!" "Oh!" said Arthur, relapsing into his professional attitude again. "Proofs," repeated Donna Dolores, hurriedly. "Is it not enough that she has married this Gabriel, her brother?" "That is certainly strong moral proof--and perhaps legal corroborative evidence," said Arthur, coolly; "but it will not legally estop her proving that she is his sister--if she can do so. But I ask your pardon--go on!" "That is all," said Donna Dolores, sitting up, with a slight gesture of impatience. "Very well. Then, as I understand, the case is simply this: You hold a grant to a piece of laud, actually possessed by a squatter, who claims it through his wife or sister--legally it doesn't matter which--by virtue of a bequest made by one Dr. Devarges, who also held a grant to the same property?" "Yes," said Donna Dolores, hesitatingly. "Well, the matter lies between you and Dr. Devarges only. It is simply a question of the validity of the original grants. All that you have told me does not alter that radical fact. Stay! One moment! May I ask how you have acquired these later details?" "By letter." "From whom?" "There was no signature. The writer offered to prove all he said. It was anonymous." Arthur rose with a superior smile. "May I ask you further, without impertinence, if it is upon this evidence that you propose to abandon your claim to a valuable property?" "I have told you before that it is not a legal question, Don Arturo," said Donna Dolores, waving her fan a little more rapidly. "Good! let us take it in the moral or sentimental aspect--since you have purposed to honour me with a request for my counsel. To begin, you have a sympathy for the orphan, who does not apparently exist." "But her brother?" "Has already struck hands with the impostor, and married her to secure the claim. And this brother--what proof is there that he is not an impostor too?" "True," said Donna Dolores, musingly. "He will certainly have to settle that trifling question with Dr. Devarges's heirs, whoever they may be." "True," said Donna Dolores.