Sentence:  “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne <WSD>case</WSD>, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (law) A legal proceeding, lawsuit.