Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/297

Rh but also a free Italy, and even a United Germany might have arrived less quickly.

The sadness of Napoleon's last years modified the judgments of many who had been his bitter enemies. His personal charm made those who knew him forget the general selfishness of his whole career. Yet in weighing all that can be said for and against him, it would be unfair to have the balance against him. That Napoleon whom Betsy Balcombe knew at The Briars—fun-loving and considerate of those about him—was as truly Napoleon as the man before whom many had trembled—whom his enemies had so criticised—to look at him as his young neighbor looked at him is to understand a little the secret of his influence.