I LAST DAYS AT COLEBROOKE 23 



studied the same species, as it were in miniature, and 

 one can understand the pleasure it gave him to see the 

 same kinds in America almost unrecognisable from their 

 vast height and size. He also gained much information 

 on the subject which had been the principal object of 

 his visit, and repeatedly speaks of the great hospitality 

 and kindness shown to him by American friends and 

 acquaintances. 



With Brooke's trip to America his diaries and letters 

 of general interest ended, and there is little to tell of 

 the last year of his life. On his return he had spent 

 the autumn with his wife and family at Veule, on the 

 coast of Normandy, and the following winter at Pau. 

 He was scarcely strong enough to take any severe exer- 

 cise, but managed to ride to the meets, and do a certain 

 amount of hunting ; later on he improved in health and 

 was able to take bicycle rides with his son Victor without 

 great fatigue. In all sports and amusements of those 

 around him he took the same interest, but it had to be 

 more or less as a spectator. Lady Brooke's health had 

 for many years prevented her returning to Ireland ; but 

 she was so much stronger in the summer of 1891, as to 

 be enabled to spend it at Colebrooke, and once more 

 there assembled under the old roof -tree the three 

 generations of the family. His son Ronald, in the 7th 

 Hussars, was home from India, and his brother Harry 

 and his wife, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. Basil Brooke, 

 were welcomed once again to the old home, by the 

 bright, hearty greeting that was soon to be met with no 

 more. When much else has faded, how his kindly 

 welcome will linger in the memory, and with it recollec- 

 tions of the grasp of his hand that never failed to meet 

 you on the threshold. And so the summer passed, 

 surrounded by so many that were dear to him, and amid 

 the scenes familiar to him from boyhood. 



