“What letter, Mabel?”

“Oh, about her aunt!  This note tells you, I suppose.  Evelyn is rich now; but she had to go to New York to see the lawyer, so Mr. Claude Bainrothe said, before she could claim the fortune.”

More and more bewildered, I made haste to tear open the sealed note which Mabel had given me.  Its contents were scanty, and not fully satisfactory.

“MY DEAR MIRIAM:  The ways of Providence are truly strange and inscrutable, and its balance ever shifting.  This morning I rose in despair, to-night I shall lie down rejoicing; for a way is again opened to us that will put it beyond his power to annoy or oppress us further.  God knows we have both suffered enough, already, at his hands!  My maiden aunt, Lady Frances Pomfret, is dead, and makes me her heir.  I will show you the lawyer’s letter when I return.  The legacy is spoken of in the letter as small, because English people compute property so differently from ourselves.  The attorney lives in New York, who is empowered by my aunt’s English executor to transact this business, and it seems I; must go to him, Mohammed-like, as this mountain cannot come to me.

“Claude Bainrothe is polite enough to offer to escort me to the boat, which I shall barely reach in time; so, farewell for the present, dear Miriam.  I shall stay with Emma Gilroy, and return in a very few days.  Write to me, however, if I should be detained, to her father’s care, and keep a good heart, until the return of your fortunate

“EVELYN.

“P.S.—­You know it is little matter, between sisters, which possesses the property, so all share it.  E.”

Claude Bainrothe called that afternoon, and placed in my hand the copy of the codicil that had been sent to Evelyn, together with the lawyer’s letter to which she had alluded, and which, on consulting with him, she found it unnecessary to take with her to New York, her identity being already established, beyond a doubt, with that of the legatee, in the eyes of the American agent in possession of all the facts of the case from the London attorney.  I examined the codicil closely, and could find no flaw!  It purported to be the last will of the Lady Frances Pomfret, who revoked all other bequests, in order to bestow her whole property on her niece, Evelyn Erle.

I confess I had felt some doubts as to the existence at all of such a person, of whom I had never before heard mention made, until I read her last bequest, and saw with my own eyes the business-like letter, confirming the whole transaction of Mr. James Mainwaring, the London attorney, with its foreign post-mark, and huge office seal.  This was accompanied by one from a legal gentleman of New York, whose name was familiar to me, as my father’s agent, and which confirmed the truth of the matter in the most effectual way; for, in his letter, Evelyn was advised to come to New York and receive her legacy.

There was nothing more to be said, certainly; still I had strange misgivings even then, which I felt to be both unjust and ungenerous, yet could not wholly banish, and again I examined the codicil.