relying in great measure on Lady Tichborne’s recognition, and the numerous affidavits that had been made, had supported the Claimant, held a meeting at the Swan, at Alresford, at which, among other documents, certain mysterious letters to the Orton sisters were produced.  These letters were signed, “W.H.  Stephens,” and they contained inquiries after the Orton family, and also after Miss Mary Anne Loader, who was an old sweetheart of Arthur Orton’s, long resident in Wapping.  They enclosed as portraits of Arthur Orton’s wife and child, certain photographic likenesses which were clearly portraits of the Claimant’s wife and child; and though they purported to be written by “W.H.  Stephens,” a friend of Arthur Orton’s just arrived from Australia, it was suspected that the letters—­which were evidently in a feigned hand—­were really written by the Claimant.  They manifested that desire for information about Wapping folks, and particularly the Ortons, which the Claimant was known to have exhibited on more occasions than one; and they indicated a wish to get this information by a ruse, and without permitting the writer to be seen.  But the correspondence showed that the sisters of Orton had discovered, or at least believed that they had discovered, that the writer was in truth their brother Arthur.  The Claimant, however, being called in and questioned, solemnly affirmed that the letters were “forgeries,” designed by his enemies to “ruin his cause.”  Nor was it until he was pressed in cross-examination, three years later, that he reluctantly confessed that his charges of forgery were false; and that, in fact, he, and no one else, had written the Stephens’ letters.  The Claimant’s solemn assurances did not convince all his supporters at the meeting at the Swan, but they satisfied some; and funds were still found for prosecuting the Chancery, and next the great Common Law suit which was technically an action for the purpose of ejecting Col.  Lushington from Tichborne house, which had been let to him.  Col.  Lushington was then a supporter of the Claimant, and had not the least objection to be ejected.  But the action at once raised the question whether the Claimant had a right to eject him.  Of course that depended on whether he was, or was not, the young man who was so long believed to have perished in the “Bella;” and accordingly this was the issue that the jury had to try on Thursday, the 11th of May, 1871, that Sergeant Ballantine rose to address the jury on behalf of the Claimant, and it was not until the 6th of March, 1872, that the trial was concluded—­the proceedings having extended to 103 days.  On both sides a large number of witnesses were examined, many being persons of respectability, while some were of high station.  The military witnesses for the Claimant were very numerous; and among them were five of Roger Tichborne’s old brother officers, the rest being sergeants, corporals, and privates.  There were Australian witnesses, and medical witnesses, old servants,