suffering. The Countess appeared a remarkably lady-like person; and what was more to our purpose, spoke English perfectly well, and soon gained our good-will by the active interest she took in the object we had so much at heart, and on which alone we could think or speak. In a short time she had wrought herself into s much anxiety about our seeing the Emperor, that a stranger coming in might have thought she was one of the party who were endeavouring to see him for the first time. Her husband was also very obliging, and seemed willing to forward our views as much as lay in his power; but he partook little of the vivacity of his wife, and seemed upon the whole rather out of spirits, and not altogether pleased with his situation. He described himself, indeed, as having suffered considerably in health from the confinement and the insalubrious air of the climate.
“After sitting for about half an hour chatting on various topics, but always coming round to the original subject which filled our thoughts. Count Bertrand caught some portion of the interest we felt, and in which his wife so strongly participated. He said it was just possible the Emperor might admit us; at all events he would wait upon him, to communicate our wishes, and return presently to let us know how he had fared in his mission. The interval was passed in a state of the utmost anxiety, and at every casual sound which we thought might be Count Bertrand’s footstep, we started up, in expectation of a summons. Madame Bertrand meanwhile alternately consoled us, and rallied us upon our taking the matter so much to heart. Half an hour at least elapsed before we heard anything of his success: at length the door opened, and instead of the Grand Marshal himself, a servant entered and said he was desired to tell us, that the Emperor, on returning from his walk, had thrown off his coat, and lain down on the sofa; in short, that he did not choose to receive any visitors.
“Here, then, was a termination to all our expectations; and we rose to take leave with a mixed feeling of regret at having lost the pleasure we had promised ourselves; some degree of provocation at Napoleon’s cavalier treatment of us; and perhaps a little dash of self-reproach, for having given the whole affair such immense importance.
“After mounting our horses, and riding away for about a quarter of a mile, it was recollected we had not seen Dr. O’Meara on leaving the grounds of Longwood; and, having heard that this gentleman was intimately acquainted with Buonaparte’s disposition and habits, we turned our horses’ heads back again, and found the Doctor at the gate. He gave us little or no hopes of accomplishing a sight of Buonaparte by any means he could think of; and we were just coming away, when I chanced to mention my regret at not seeing the Emperor, as I wished to ask about Brienne, where my father, Sir James Hall, had passed some time at the very period he was a student at the iMilitary College there. Dr. O’Meara said this materially altered the case, since Buonaparte took great interest