More than this, although she tried to persuade herself that in the future she might revisit St. Helena, she could hardly believe that when that day arrived, Napoleon would still be there to receive her with his accustomed cordiality.
Indeed, as a true friend of the Emperor's, Betsy could scarcely wish to find him there on that indefinite day of her return, since that would mean long-continued captivity for him. Rather, if she hoped to see him again, the young girl more probably imagined that after no very long time some change in the sentiments of those in power might result in freeing him from his galling bondage.
Though we to-day may not be certain just what form Betsy's thoughts took on that monotonous homeward voyage, we can be sure that Napoleon had no small part in them. Already she knew the chief facts in his meteoric career; and her vivid fancy must have brought before her many scenes in which he had had part.
Like Betsy, you and I may see the panorama of Napoleon's life unfold in a series of pictures melting into one another, some clearer than the others, yet all leaving an ineffaceable impression.
First, there is the thin, pale, serious-eyed boy running half wild over the hills of his native Corsica. He is an affectionate brother—this young Napoleon—to the six younger brothers and sisters, and a close companion of Joseph, only a year older. He is devoted to his high-spirited and energetic mother, once the beautiful Letitia Ramolino, whose life, since her marriage, has been so hard. He is dutiful to his father, the improvident, though ambitious Charles Marié de Buonaparte. Yet, although dutiful, he resents his father's lack of patriotism in seeking favors from the Frenchmen in authority in Corsica, for the boy, born only a year after Corsica had passed under French rule, had small love for those outsiders who had made it impossible for his native island to gain independence.
One of our pictures would show us Napoleon, a timid boy in the military school at Brienne, where his father had secured a place for him by showing he was of noble descent. The boy works hard at his tasks, his teachers commend his industry, while calling him reserved and obstinate.
The young Napoleon is not happy in the society of his one hundred and twenty fellow-pupils, who, like himself, are supported by the Government at Brienne. They are largely the sons of poor nobles—vain and indolent—and they love to tease the timid boy.
"I am tired of poverty and the jeers of insolent scholars. If fortune refuses to smile upon me, take me from Brienne, and make me if you will a mechanic." In spite of this letter, the father wisely keeps the little boy at Brienne, and gradually he makes friends, especially among the teachers.
"I have seen a spark here which cannot be too carefully cultivated," writes the aged Chevalier de Keralio, an inspector of the school, who is anxious to have Napoleon sent to the military school at Paris.
Our pictures are now painted in somewhat brighter colors.