File:The drama of Saint Helena (1910) (14775896344).jpg

Identifier: dramaofsainthele00frem (find matches)
Title: The drama of Saint Helena
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Frémeaux, Paul Rieu, Alfred
Subjects: Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Publisher: New York : D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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zing military Odyssey. TheCountesses Bertrand and de Montholon, two brilliantwomen accustomed to society and luxury, suf-fered from isolation and privations. How couldthey avoid becoming somewhat soured and ill-humoured ? A fellow-feeling, their veneration for Napoleon,was unable to keep them united. On the contrary,it contributed to their disunion. What interest, whatoccupation could they find in their new and aimlessexistence, except a wrangle for the favours of thegenius whom they admired, of the sovereign whomthey had followed of their own accord ? And so,during the whole period of the exile, a secret rivalryand strained relations existed between the Bertrandand the Montholon families. The direction of theEmperors household should by right of office havedevolved on the Grand Marshal ; but he livedoutside, and his wife, who was always piteouslybewailing- the tedium of Saint Helena, engrossedhim too much, so that Count de Montholon replacedhim. The Grand Marshal was hurt by the sub-
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GENERAL GOURGAUD (1S44). THE TEDIUM OF SAINT HELENA 191 stitution, and Mesdames Bertrand and de Montholon,on this account and for various other motives ofjealousy, were not on good terms, and scarcely saweach other. But of all the inhabitants of Longwood, GeneralGourgaud was the most embittered, and showedhimself the least sociable. His character, as wellas circumstances, tended to bring about this result.In the existing portraits of him, the salient featureof his physiognomy is a projecting mouth, underwhich the chin recedes abruptly. This lower partof his face calls to mind the muzzle of a snarlingdog ever ready to bark and bite, and reveals thewhole nature of the man. His stay at Saint Helenawas marked by one unbroken sequence of noisycomplaints and fits of passion : complaints on thescore of a poor old mother left in France withoutresources, if he is to be credited, for whom, duringtwenty-nine months, he solicits and refuses a pensionby turns ; complaints on the score of his youth

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