his own diabolical wickedness,
but at the same time casting upon her the cruellest of imputations.
This, he said, was what he had sealed up and given to Mr. Gosford. Mr.
Bulpett, the banker, put his initials solemnly to the document, and
within a few months all Hampshire had whispered the wicked story. It
is to be observed that, during all this time, no word had been spoken
by the Claimant of his having confided to Mr. Gosford a vow to build a
church. Four years later, when under examination, he was asked whether
he had ever left any other private document with Mr. Gosford, and he
answered, "I think not." Then it was that counsel produced the copy of
the vow to build the church in Roger Tichborne's hand, which he had
fortunately given to his cousin on the sorrowful day of their last
parting; and finally there was found and read aloud the letter of
Roger Tichborne to Mr. Gosford, dated January 17th, 1852, in which
occur the precious words, "I have written out my will, and left it
with Mr. Slaughter; the only thing which I have left out is about the
church, which I will only build under the circumstances which I have
left with you in writing." Happily these facts render it unnecessary
to enter upon the question, Whether this story was not wholly
irreconcilable, both with itself and with the ascertained dates and
facts in Roger Tichborne's career?

The estates of Tichborne were not likely to be left undefended either
by the trustees or by the family, who, with the exception of the
Dowager Lady Tichborne, had, with one accord, pronounced the Claimant
an impostor. Accordingly, very soon after his arrival in England, a
gentleman named Mackenzie was despatched to Australia to make
inquiries. Mr. Mackenzie visited Melbourne, Sydney, and Wagga-Wagga,
and up to a certain time was singularly successful in tracing
backwards the career of Thomas Castro. He discovered that, some months
before the Dowager's advertisement for her son had appeared, and Mr.
Gibbes' client had set up his claim, the slaughter-man of Wagga-Wagga
had married an Irish servant-girl named Bryant, who had signed the
marriage register with a cross. He also found that the marriage was
celebrated, not by a Roman Catholic priest, but by a Wesleyan
minister. Searching further he found out that immediately after the
date of the arrival of a letter from the Dowager, informing Mr. Gibbes
that her son was a Roman Catholic, Thomas Castro and Mary Anne Bryant
had again g