Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/260

230 time Sir Hudson Lowe had been dissatisfied with the intimacy existing between Napoleon and the Balcombes. While he admitted that he had no tangible cause for complaint, he was constantly watching for one, and was always ready to call Mr. Balcombe to account for what he considered partiality for the illustrious exile. As the Governor himself put it, he was not without suspicion that his relations with Longwood were not limited to the ostensible duties of his office. The Governor at this time was very suspicious of Dr. O'Meara, and as Mr. Balcombe and he were intimate friends, the former was naturally regarded also with disfavor.

More than once had Betsy's careless behavior drawn a reprimand upon her father. But for the Governor's feeling against him, Mr. Balcombe and his family might have been on St. Helena during the last sad days of Napoleon.

As it was, they went back to England the middle of March, 1818, little more than three years before Napoleon's death. Their ship was the Winchelsea store-ship, on its way from China, and on the same vessel went