HIS MARRIAGE 



life depended more than once upon making no 

 mistake. 



With his brother Harry he repeatedly paid visits 

 to Castle Caldwell, a property belonging to his cousin, 

 John Bloomfield, a wild, sporting place teeming with 

 every kind of game. Here he learnt how to trap 

 badgers and otters, and every form of venery, and 

 spent many days among the Donegal Mountains after 

 wild swans and geese. After leaving Harrow he went 

 to a tutor in Northamptonshire, and while there he 

 learnt how to ride well to hounds under the tuition of 

 the best horseman in England, Jim Mason. In 1862 

 he was rapidly approaching his majority and decided 

 to travel, selecting Switzerland for his first trip, followed 

 by one to Norway ; and in October of the same year 

 started on a shooting expedition to Southern India, 

 extending over sixteen months. 



On the 5th January 1864, while still in India, 

 Brooke came of age, and in his absence his brother 

 Harry represented him at a great dinner given to the 

 tenantry. In February he reached Colebrooke, and 

 had not been there a month before the old thirst for 

 sport and adventure overcame him, and with his 

 brother he planned an expedition to Africa. They 

 started for London to make arrangements, stopping a 

 week in Dublin on the road. But here all his plans 

 were entirely altered by his meeting at a party his 

 future wife, Miss Bellingham, daughter of Sir Alan 

 Bellingham, to whom he became engaged shortly 

 afterwards, and whom he married on the 28th July of 

 that year. 



Brooke's engagement to Miss Bellingham was of a 

 decidedly romantic character. At the party mentioned 

 he pointed out to his brother and his cousin, Hastings 

 Brooke, a young lady, and used these words : " Do 



