24 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



As the autumn came on the family returned to Pau, 

 and he remained with his son Douglas and his wife to 

 entertain a shooting party, and afterwards to pay some 

 visits. All went well till the end of October, when he 

 broke a blood-vessel ; this had occurred twice before 

 while in America ; the local doctor took a serious view 

 of it, and warned him that he must cease all exertion 

 and go out to Pau at once. 



Early in November he reached London and rested 

 for a day or two, dining with me the night before 

 starting. The bleeding had not recurred, and he 

 seemed to be fairly well and in good spirits. There 

 was only his nephew, Brinsley Brooke, present, and I 

 remember that the conversation was principally of 

 delightful old days he had spent with Sir William 

 Flower and Professor Huxley ; little did we think that 

 we were holding communion for the last time with that 

 bright, eager nature. He was to start for Pau in the 

 morning, and I saw him off; he looked very ill, and 

 told me that an hour before there had been a severe 

 recurrence of bleeding. Hasler, his valet, was very 

 anxious about him, and it seemed inadvisable to take 

 so long a journey ; but he would go, and perhaps the 

 mild southern air held more prospect of relief than any 

 advantage a temporary rest might have given, and so I 

 bade him good-bye. It is well, in a record intended to 

 be devoted entirely to his memory, that I should not 

 intrude any private feelings, but few men have bidden 

 farewell to a friend with a sadder heart than I did to 

 him that day. 



He reached Pau in safety, but for some days was 

 dangerously ill ; however he recovered rapidly, and got 

 so well that by the middle of the month he was able to 

 get on a horse and ride to the meet a few times, an 

 exertion that ought never to have been taken. But the 



