to France. The
second Carlist war was over February 29, 1876.

As they had been decreed rebels, the French Government of the day refused
Don Carlos and his officers permission to remain in France. They were,
however, allowed to proceed to England, provided no halt took place on
the way. Don Carlos notified the British Government of his intended
arrival in England, hoping he would receive the requisite permission to
proceed thither. It was the receipt of this telegram from Don Carlos that
was the cause of my being sent for by the War Office early in March,
1876.

On my calling at the War Office on receipt of their wire the Military
Secretary informed me that it was expected that Don Carlos, accompanied
by several officers, might arrive at any time in London, and instructed
me to make all the necessary arrangements for his comfort and welfare.
Soon after receiving these instructions I got a further telegram advising
me that Don Carlos would arrive that very same evening at about 8 p.m. at
Charing Cross Station, and further, that he and his party would actually
arrive in the very clothes in which they had left the field of battle,
for they had had no time or opportunity to obtain any personal effects
during their flight through France.

It was then that my mind took me back to Brown's Hotel and Mr. Ford, its
proprietor, at which hotel King Alfonso had often stayed, and Mr. Ford
promised me to arrange to put up Don Carlos and his suite. My next
business was to call upon tailors, hosiers, hatters and bootmakers in
Bond Street, and to arrange for them to have their representatives at the
hotel that evening to receive their orders.

I was at the station at the appointed time, and the travel-stained party,
in their picturesque Carlist uniforms, arrived. I can well remember the
impression that they made on their arrival. Such of the public as
happened to be present looked on in silent wonder at the group of foreign
officers. The rumour soon spread that the tall, commanding figure, erect
and distinguished, whose handsome face and black beard were surmounted by
the Carlist headgear, the "Boyna," was the celebrated Don Carlos himself,
of whom some of them had heard as a great leader and who was now seeking
refuge in England. We were not long in reaching our carriages--there was
no luggage to cause us any delay--and we were glad to arrive at Brown's
Hotel and sit down to the good dinner that awaited us.

The tradesmen who atten