Sir Henry Tichborne, who had succeeded in 1821, though blessed with
seven beautiful daughters, had no son. Still there was their uncle
Edward, who had taken the name of Doughty, and he, after Sir Henry,
was the next heir. Edward, too, had a son and daughter. But, one day,
news came to James and his wife, in France, that their little nephew
was dead; and with the possibilities which this change opened up, it
brought home to the father the error he had committed in permitting
Roger to grow up ignorant of the English tongue and habits. It was
manifest that Mr. James F. Tichborne was not unlikely to become the
next baronet, and he felt it his bounden duty to make good his previous
neglect, by providing his son with an English education, such as would
fit him for his probable position as head of the house of Tichborne.
In this praiseworthy intention he met with strong opposition from his
wife whose great aim it was to see her son grow up a Frenchman. To her,
France was the only land worth living in. She cared nought for family
traditions; her dream was that her darling boy should marry into some
distinguished family in France or Italy. If he was to enter the army,
then it should be in some foreign service. But to England he should
not go if she could prevent it.
James Tichborne, like many weak men with self-willed wives, put off
the inevitable day as long as he could; and in the end only achieved
his purpose by strategy. Roger was sixteen years of age when news
arrived of the death of Sir Henry. Naturally James arranged to be
present at his brother’s funeral and it was only reasonable that he
should be accompanied by his son Roger, whom everyone now regarded as
the heir. Accordingly the boy took leave of his mother, but under the
solemn injunction to return quickly. However, his father had determined
otherwise. After attending the funeral of his uncle, at the old chapel
at Tichborne, Roger was, by the advice of relatives and friends, and
with the consent of the boy himself, taken down to the Jesuit College
at Stonyhurst. When Mrs. Tichborne learned of this step, her fury knew
no bounds. She upbraided her husband violently; and there was a renewal
of the old scenes in the Tichborne establishment. Roger wrote his
mother filial, if ill-spelt, letters in French; but, for a year, the
son, though ardently looking for a letter, got no token of affection
from the incensed and indignant lady.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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