Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/205

Rh quite willing to admit Mr. Manning's greater knowledge of the Orient.

When the unusually long interview had ended, Napoleon turned to Betsy with an expression in which sadness was mingled with satisfaction. "This conversation," he cried, "has given me more pleasure than anything I have experienced for many long months."

Betsy, realizing the Emperor's capacity for finding entertainment in hearing about the small things that made up the life of St. Helena, always gratified him by describing the little festivities in which she took part, or even the larger affairs of which she knew only by what others told her. Like all places garrisoned by British regiments, there was always much going on, as the phrase is, on the island, and the gossip of the place, usually harmless enough in itself, never failed to entertain him. Sometimes he tried to draw from the little girl information that for one reason or another she did not care to give him—sometimes merely to tease him, sometimes because she feared that what she said might disturb him.

"So you have been calling on Lady Lowe