Note 9 — Chapter XIV

I recall one engagement broken off in consequence; and also a rift between two lifelong friends which still remained unhealed long after the "unhappy nobleman languishing in prison" (as his most notorious supporter used to call him) had been consigned to the limbo of penal servitude. The cost of the two trials was said to be at least £200,000, and seriously crippled the valuable Tichborne estates for a whole generation. My father prohibited the public discussion of the case at Blairquhan, either in dining-room or smoking-room, or even at a shooting-luncheon in the open air!