Not long after breakfast the visitors from The Briars and several from Longwood went to the town and to the Newcastle in the bay, on board of which Sir Pultney and Lady Malcom were to give a breakfast in honor of Lord Amherst.
When next the sisters visited Longwood, "Ah, Mees Betsee," cried Napoleon, "I have heard great stories of you. You locked up little Miss P. the other day, while the other ladies were being shipped over the side of the frigate to return to shore. When they missed her Captain G. had to go back to rescue her."
As Betsy did not deny this charge, Napoleon, turning to her father, exclaimed:
"Balcombe, you must set her a task."
"Indeed I must," responded Betsy's father gravely.
"But I have been punished enough," protested Betsy. "Lady Lowe scolded me, too, and desired me to use my reason and not to be childish. I wondered at her lack of perception in giving me credit for what I never possessed. But I did admire Lord Amherst," she added, a few minutes later.
"He must be a very fascinating man," responded Napoleon, "so to have impressed your youthful fancy."
The kindness that Madame Montholon showed Betsy in allowing her maid to arrange the young girl's hair in a style suitable for a ball, an undoubted kindness in spite of the discomfort it produced, was in a line with many other things that she and Madame Bertrand did for the Balcombe girls. Madame Bertrand was particularly fond of Betsy and often invited her to her house. She advised her about her studies and, to a certain extent, supervised some of them. Madame Bertrand had many accomplishments, some of which she tried to impart to Betsy. Singing was one of them, and under her instruction Betsy made considerable progress. Napoleon sometimes listened to their little concerts in the drawing-room at Longwood. One evening when Betsy was to sing a part from "Les Styriens," the piano was so out of tune that Napoleon was greatly distressed. He at once sent for Mr. Guiness, the bandmaster of the General Kid, then in St. James's Harbor, the only man at hand who could properly tune it, and was naturally annoyed when the Governor expressed his unwillingness to have Mr. Guiness come.
Of all those who accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena, Madame Bertrand had made, perhaps, the greatest sacrifices. She was born in Martinique and was partly of Irish descent, through her father, whose name was Dillon. In spite of her warm devotion to Napoleon, she almost went out of her mind when she heard that he was doomed to imprisonment in St. Helena and that her husband would follow him. Later, however, she became resigned and did not try to dissuade her husband from accompanying the fallen Emperor. Undoubtedly she thought of her children and all that they would lose in living so far from France, but when they were at last in their new home she bore inconveniences patiently and tried in every way to make life pleasant for those around her.
"Come," said Napoleon one day when Betsy was wandering around the Longwood grounds, "come, and I will show you some pretty toys."