ing in that vast continent,
he would try to find occupation for the mind, and get through the long
time of waiting which he had undertaken to bear patiently. His scheme
was to spend a twelvemonth in Chili, Guayaquil, and Peru, seeing not
only wild scenes but famous cities; thence to visit Mexico, and so by
way of the United States find his way back to England. Having taken
this resolution, he set about putting his affairs in order, for Roger
was a man of business-like habits, and by no means prone to neglect
his worldly interests. He made his will,--saying, however, as he
remarked in one of his letters, "nothing about the church or chapel at
Tichborne," which he said he would only build under the conditions
mentioned in a paper which he had left in the hands of his dearest and
most trusted friend, Mr. Gosford, the steward of the family estates. In
truth, months before the day when he gave Miss Doughty a copy of "The
Vow" in the garden at Tichborne, he had solemnly signed and sealed up
a compact with his own conscience, and deposited it with other
precious mementoes of that time in his friend's safe keeping. Parting
with friends in England cost him, perhaps, but little sorrow, for his
mind was full of projects to be carried into effect on his return. He
aspired to the character of a traveller, and to be qualified for
membership at the Travellers' Club, where, in one of his letters while
abroad, he requests that his name may be inscribed as a candidate. He
had an old habit of keeping diaries, and he promised to send extracts,
and, after all, the time would not be long. There was one house in
which Roger naturally shrank from saying farewell. He had made a
solemn resolution that he would go to Tichborne no more while matters
remained thus, and his pride was wounded by what appeared to him to
be a want of confidence on the part of Lady Doughty. In a worldly
point of view it is difficult to conceive any union more desirable
than that of the two cousins. But it is clear that the mother trembled
for the future of her child. Hence she still gave ready ear to tales
of the wild life of the regiment, and hinted them in her letters to
her nephew in a way that made him angry, but not vindictive. He was
asked to go and see his uncle, Sir Edward, before starting; but his
will was inflexible, and he went away, as he had all along said that
he would, resolved to bury his sorrows within himself. Roger went away
in February, and spent near