Towards the end, Mr Hobbs and Dick read Cedric's letter in New York, informing them of Minna's competing claim. Mr Hobbs shows Dick a newspaper article stating that the legitimate heir to Dorincourt had been found. The newspaper is dated January 24, 1872. This implies that the conversation between the two takes place after Christmas. In the following sequences, however, Mr Hobbs and the Tipton brothers travel to Dorincourt and spend Christmas there. Of course it is possible that the stay of the three at Dorincourt occurs over the next Christmas, but this would require almost a year to pass between Dick's discovery that Minna is a fraud and the revelation. This would be unlikely, given Havisham's and the Earl's urgency to resolve the matter.