to remove even to the house at Tichborne. It
was at Upton that their only surviving child Kate
had spent her early years, and to return there and
enjoy the fresh sea breezes in the summer holidays
was always a fresh source of delight. It was
hard to think that even Upton must pass from them,
and that the day was probably not far distant when
there would be nothing left for them but to yield up
their home and estates to the new comer, and retire
even upon a widow’s handsome jointure and the
fortune of Miss Kate. But if such feelings ever
passed through the minds of the family at Tichborne,
they could have been only transient. The shy,
pale-faced boy with the long dark locks, came always
to Tichborne in his holidays, making his way steadily
in the favour of that household, and this not from
interested motives on the part of Lady Doughty, as
has been falsely alleged, and triumphantly disproved,
but clearly from something in the nature of the youth
which disarmed ill-feeling. Roger, despite his
early training abroad, soon showed good sound English
tastes. He took delight in country life; and
though he did not bring down the partridges in the
woods, or throw the fly upon the surface of the Itchen,
with a degree of skill that would command much respect
in the county of Hants, he did his best, and really
liked the out-door life. In hunting he took delight
from the time when he donned his first scarlet coat,
and he rarely missed an opportunity of appearing at
“the meet” in that neighbourhood.
The time soon came when Roger had to think of a profession,
and James Tichborne again gave mortal offence to his
wife by determining that the young man should go into
the army. Among the daughters of Sir Henry, was
one who had married Colonel William Greenwood of the
Grenadier Guards. Their house at Brookwood was
but half an hour’s ride from Tichborne, and Roger
was fond of visiting there. Colonel Greenwood’s
brother George was also in the army, and he took kindly
to Roger, and determined to do his best to get him
on. So he took him one morning to the Horse Guards,
and introduced him to the commander-in-chief, who
promised him a commission. There was a little
delay in keeping this promise, and the young man did
not go troubling uncles again, but took the self-reliant
course of writing direct to the Horse Guards, to remind
the Commander-in-chief of what he had said; and before
long Mr. Roger Charles Tichborne was gazetted a cornet
in the 6th Dragoons, better known as the Carabineers.
He passed his examination at Sandhurst satisfactorily,
and went straight over to Dublin to join his regiment.
From Dublin he went to the south of Ireland, and twice
he came over to England on short visits. He went
through the painful ordeal of practical joking which
awaited every young officer in those days, and came
out of it, not without annoyance and an occasional
display of resentment, yet in a way which conciliated
his brother officers; and few men were more liked
in the regiment than Roger Tichborne, affectionately


