The Baroness De S——, &C

20th.—About four o’clock, I attended the Emperor, according to his orders, in the billiard-room. The weather still continued dreadful; it did not allow him to set his foot out of doors, and he was, he said, nevertheless, driven from his apartment and the saloon by the smoke. My looks told him, he said, that I was quite flustered; it was with the most lively indignation, and he wished to know the cause of it.

“Two or three years ago,” said I, “a clerk in the war office, a very worthy man, as far as I know, used to come to my house to give my son lessons in writing and in Latin. He had a daughter, whom he wished to make a governess, and begged us to recommend her, should an occasion present itself. Madame Las Cases sent for her; she was charming, and in every respect highly attractive. From that moment, Madame Las Cases invited her occasionally to her house, with the view of introducing her into the world, and obtaining some acquaintances for her who might prove useful. But, how strange! this young person, our acquaintance, our obliged friend, is actually at this moment the Baroness de S——, the wife of one of the Commissioners of the allied powers, who arrived nearly a month since, in the island.

“Your Majesty may judge of my surprise, and of all my joy at this singular freak of fortune. I am then about to have, I said to myself, positive, particular, and even secret information respecting every thing that interests me. Several days passed without any communication, but without any anxiety, and even with some satisfaction on my part. For, I thought, the greater the caution, the more I had to expect. At length, hurried on by my impatience, I sent three or four days ago my servant to Madame de S——; I had described her very properly, and, as an inhabitant of the island, he found no difficulty in gaining admittance. He returned soon with an answer from Madame de S——, that she did not know the person who had sent him. I might, under every circumstance, be still induced to think, that this was an excess of prudence, and that she was unwilling to place confidence in one unknown to her. But this very day, I received notice from the governor, not to attempt to form any secret connexion in the island; that I ought to be aware of the danger to which I exposed myself; and that the attempt with which he reproached me was not a matter of doubt; for he was put in possession of it by the very person to whom I had addressed myself. Your Majesty now knows what has confounded me. To find that so villainous a charge should come from a quarter where I had a right to expect some interest in my affairs, and even gratitude, has irritated me beyond measure; I am no longer the same person.”

The Emperor laughed in my face: “How little do you know of the human heart! What! her father was your son’s tutor, or something of that kind; she enjoyed your wife’s protection when she was in want of it, and she is become a German baroness! But, my dear Las Cases, you are the person whom she dreads most here, who lay her most under constraint; she will allege that she never saw your wife at Paris, and besides, this mischievous Sir Hudson Lowe may have been delighted with giving an odious turn to the thing; he is so artful, so malignant.” And he then began to laugh at me and my anger.

After dinner, the Emperor resumed his reading of the Tartuffe, which he had not finished yesterday, and there was enough left for to-day. The Emperor was quite dejected; the bad weather has a visible effect upon him.