After the lapse of a considerable period, _Calthorpe_ being reported as dead, _Lady Elizabeth Calthorpe_, his mother, experiences a change of heart, and advertises for information about his widow. _Beatrice, la belle Russe_, poor and resident in Italy, hears of this inquiry and, believing her twin sister to be dead, determines to present herself in the assumed person of _Geraldine_, as the widow of _Calthorpe_, and thus to obtain for herself and her young daughter (of whom _Brand_ is the father) a luxurious home and an enviable social station. In this fraud she partially succeeds, being accepted as _Calthorpe’s_ widow by both _Lady Elizabeth_ and her family lawyer, _Monroe Quilton_, who evince a confiding acquiescence singularly characteristic of proud old English aristocrats and their astute legal advisers. Almost in the moment of her success, however, _Sir Philip_ having come from Australia, she finds herself installed not as his widow but as his wife,--and also she finds that _Sir Philip_ is accompanied by her former companion, _Captain Brand_, those wanderers having met in Australian wilds and become close friends. _Philip_ is sure she is his wife and gladly accepts her as such. _Brand_, on the contrary, promptly identifies the spurious _Geraldine_ as _Beatrice_, and, privately, demands that she abandon her fraudulent position. This she refuses to do, defying _Brand_ to oust her from the newly acquired affections of _Calthorpe_ and his mother,--and thus, practically, the situation is created wherein _Stéphanie de Mohrivart_ defies _Sir Horace Welby_, in the play of “Forget Me Not.” _Beatrice_, having made an unsuccessful attempt to poison _Brand_, in order to remove all obstacles and maintain her place, is finally defeated and driven to confession and surrender when that inexorable antagonist reveals to her not an avenging Corsican (the dread apparition which overwhelms _Stéphanie_), but the approaching figure of her twin sister, the true _Geraldine_ and the actual wife of _Calthorpe_,--who, also, is conveniently resurrected for the family reunion.