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.