The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-05-10

to pace back and forth in his room
with quick, nervous tread. Sir
William and his friends were talking
in ordinary tones with the emperor's
suite, but above their voices rose the
sound of his restless footsteps. Hour
after hour went by and still the mo-
notonous pacing in that inner room
was unbroken. The first rays of light
which ushered in a gray morning
found the English visitors worn OFT
with their strange vigil, but there was
no sign of fatigue in the unfaltering
footsteps"
"Sir William was young man then,
with steady nerves." said Mrs. Carroll
continuing, but he told me that long
before the sun came up he felt that if
something did not happen to stop the
maddening mOnOtOny of those foot
steps he would have to force his way
into the emperor's presence and stop
it himself.
ut was after s o'clock, however,
before Napoleon came out to bid his
guests good morning and thank them
for their kindness. There was faint
smile on his lips as he glanced at the
weary party. In his own eyes was a
tired look, but otherwise there was no
indication Of the strain which he had
undergone Sir William said that was
the hardest battle Napoleon ever
fought. He told me when l visited the
spot that he then understood the loyal
ty and devotion of the soldiers TO the
man who silently and alone faced
the future that to him was far worse
than DEATH"
The "reminiscences are not all sc
unhappy" Mrs. Carroll went on. "The
next morning Napoleon rode out with
Admiral Cockburn to see LOngwood
1t was in such dilapidated condition
that it would take at least two months
to make it habitable. On their return
they saw small villa with pavilion
attached to it, about two miles from
town. This was the residence OF a
merchant of the village, Mr.. Bal
combe. The emperor expressed his
pleasure at the place and arrange
ments were made for him to take uL
his residence there the same day and
he remained until Longwood was
ready for him.
On the walls of Mrs. CAROLS liv'
ing rooms are numerous pictures OF
St. Helena. One is of THE Briars,
as the BalcOmbe home was called.
1T was only small place" she eX'
planned, but it was ideally located
Mr.. Balcombe offered Napoleon one
of the rooms in their home, but Ma
poleOn did not desire to disturb them
and had the pavilion fitted up for his
use. This pavilion was about tWo
hundred feet from the house and com
manded magnificent view OF tao
ocean and the beautifully wooded foot
hills. A winding path led from The
Balcombe home up to this retreat. The
solitude of the place particularly ap
pealed to the emperor and he never
was so happy as when left alone in
this spot.
an one corner of the grounds was
a small arbor' When Napoleon was
there the arbOr was covered with can
vas and a chair and table were placed
in it. Here he dictated great part
of his memoirs.
81 have picked many bouquets of
flowers from the Balcombe garden.
where Napoleon used to play with the
BalcOmbe children, who were great
favorites of his. No story of this gar
den is complete without mentioning
Tobey, the negro gardener. The en-
peror took a great fancy to him and
wanted to know his history. When
told that he was a Malay Indian who
had been brought there as a slave,