nd finally Castro determined to take
with him his wife and family. One of his earliest steps was to take
into his service the old black man Bogle, and pay the passage-money
both of himself and his son to Europe with him. Certain relics of
Upton and of Tichborne which the Claimant forwarded to a banker at
Wagga-Wagga from whom he was trying to obtain advances, were described
by the Claimant himself as brought over by "my uncle Valet who is now
living with me." The bankers, however, were cautious; and "declined to
make loans." Nevertheless, the Claimant had the good fortune to
convince a Mr. Long, who was in Sydney, and had seen Roger "when a boy
of ten years old riding in Tichborne Park," and accordingly this
gentleman advanced him a considerable sum. Finally the Claimant
embarked aboard the "Rakaia," on his way to France _via_ Panama, and
accompanied by his family, and attended by old Bogle, his son, and a
youthful secretary, left Sydney on September 2d, 1866, and was
expected by the Dowager in Paris within two months from that date. But
nearly four months elapsed, and there were no tidings. Between
Christmas day and New Year's eve of 1866, there arrived in Alresford a
mysterious stranger, who put up at the Swan Hotel in that little town,
and said that his name was Taylor. He was a man of bulk and eccentric
attire. He wrapped himself in large greatcoats, muffled his neck and
chin in thick shawls, and wore a cap with a peak of unusual
dimensions, which, when it was pulled down, covered a considerable
portion of his features. The stranger, at first very reserved, soon
showed signs of coming out of his shell. He sent for Rous, the
landlord, and had a chat with him, in the course of which he asked
Rous to take him the next day for a drive round the neighbourhood of
Tichborne. Rous complied, and the innkeeper, chatting all the way on
local matters, showed his guest Tichborne village, Tichborne park and
house, the church, the mill, the village of Cheriton, and all else
that was worth seeing in that neighbourhood. In fact, Mr. Taylor became
very friendly with Rous, invited him to drink in his room, and then
confided to him an important secret--which, however, was by this time
no secret at all, for Mr. Rous had just observed upon his guest's
portmanteau the initials "R.C.T." Indeed it was already suspected in
the smoking-room of the Swan that the enormous stranger was the
long-expected heir. Suspicion became certainty when the s