LONGWOOD
Almost every day some form of amusement offered itself—races, balls, picnics, and sham fights. There was also a pretty little theatre on the island, established by the popular Commissary General, where amateur plays were performed by the officers, to the great entertainment of all who saw them.
Madame Montholon and Madame Bertrand and, to a certain extent, the gentlemen of the Emperor's suite entered more or less into the festivities of the place. It was only Napoleon who always stayed at home alone. Betsy, who was an especial favorite of Madame Bertrand, was often at Longwood, and very often the latter was the young girl's chaperon at balls or other entertainments.
Yet even when no special gayety was in view, Betsy enjoyed her visits to Longwood, and the ingenuous girl with her frank speech certainly brightened the lives of the exiles. As for Betsy herself it was a great advantage for her to be so much in the society of these French people, with their cultivation and gayety. On cool evenings chairs were brought out on the lawn leading to the billiard-room, and there the Countess of Montholon and Madame Bertrand, with their husbands and children, would spend the hour after sunset listening to the crickets, of which there were thousands. Sometimes they sat on the lawn in the moonlight, gazing long at the sky, which at St. Helena is of a peculiarly deep blue.
Doubtless at such times the hearts of the poor exiles were far away among home scenes in France, and even lively Betsy for the time was quiet and subdued.
One splendid starry night, as they were all on the lawn near the billiard-room steps after a very sultry day, they heard a sound as if heavy wagons were lumbering over the ground beneath. Those nearer the house thought that it was about to fall about their heads. Dr. O'Meara and Major Blakeney, Captain of the Guard, hastening from the room, expected to find the ladies half dead with fright. All the household, some from their beds, rushed out, looking wonderingly into the sky, and little Tristram Montholon ran to his mother, screaming that some one had tried to throw him out of his bed.
This was in September, and the strange rumbling was caused by an earthquake, the first one in St. Helena for a long time. Many feared for their friends in the valleys with the sharp precipices, but fortunately in the end it was shown that there had been no loss of life.
Napoleon was in bed at the time of the shock.