The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-06-09
CRONJE'S KEEPER.
lie IL Lord Bathurst, whose Great
Grandfather sent Napoleon Into Ex-
lie.
(,rhe Matin, Paris.)


I looked at the company. At the table
opposite me We're the officers, clad in r'd
TUNES. and some gentlemen in smoking
Jackets The menu was passed round.
Terrible moment! l know nothing oil
English dishes.
"will you allow me to help you, sirY
have lived much in France, and 1
might be able to tell you what dishes
of your country ours correspond"
A harp playing on a stormy night
would not cause me greater joy. 1t Is
my neighbour ON the left who addresses
me thus, with just that slight lisping SO
| becoming to foreigners.
pour out my thanks.
"Ohi the least thing we can do Is 10
help you, since you are the only French
man here"
do not repent it.
~ would wager" says my neighbor,
THAT you believe in English pride, In
their contempt of the French, and In
British sans-gene."
try in my turn to find some amiable
phrases; then, Are you going TO the
| Cape, madam
"No, Sir; to ST. Helena" Profound
astonishment on my part; An, az
| England, it seems is going 10 St.
Helena" l say TO myself.
/ "And you, sirs'' .. ~
II, too, am going to st. Helena,
madam"
"Ah, what surprised
al am going TO see the grave OF Napo-
leon"
"You are right to do so, he was such n
great figure / am going to rejoin my
husband, who khas command sof the Is
land"
"Oh. the hazard OF the voyagel am
sitting next the Countess Bathurst whose
husband is in command at st. Helena,
and who is descended from the very Min
lister that sent Napoleon into exile. The
father of Lady Bathurst is the proprietor
of The Morning Post.
"Uow odd it isl" she says with n smile
ait was the t-grandtather of my hus-
band who exiled your emperor, anu III l
my husband who is charged with guard
ling Cronje But rest assured that III
Twill be better treated than Napoleon.
you think, then, that Napoleon was
badly treatedf'
"Oh. don't speak of i'll 1t Is one of th'
most deplorable pages of our history.
was the fault OF that stupid Hudson Lowe
whom they ought never to have selected
and who was so little of n gentleman
He wrote lying letters to London, hid tn
! real state of the Emperor, and deceived
all the world. This unfortunate man
has contributed more than anything TO
give us the reputation Of being cruel.
The Countess stopped. Then, excited.
1T was like that idea of calling hin
General Bonaparte.' 1t was stupid, an'
SO mean and useless just as II he ha'
not the right, more than any one, to b
r treated as an emperor to the end, he VIII
was so nobly vanquished. That Hudson
Lowe IL disgrace TO us. Unfortunately
Cronje is not the equal of the other, an'
I his exile will be less talked about.
The conversation continues abou
G Napoleon, and in the course of 1t tn
Countess reveals TO me that the manu-
. script of the Memorial of st. Helena
e belongs to her husband.
"But how, said she, ARE you goln
to put up mt St. Helenal" ---
rat the hotel.
"But there isn't one!'
: In She laughs very gayly. We'll, YOU
must go and put up at Longwood. BE
sides, there you will be on French soil.
j. A"WhatY"
-"Didn't you know 1t? didn't before
went there under Napoleon III. wante'
$ to buy 1t when my husband was sent ther,
audit was thus that l learned the fact.
4 Then / shall still be in France"