han they were General (Count) Montholon and his wife--he, a short but
handsome man, his consort, a sweet unassuming woman--who showed their
devotion to the ex-Emperor by exchanging a life of luxury for exile in
his service. Count Las Cases, a small man, whose thin eager face and
furtive glances revealed his bent for intrigue, was the eldest of the
party. He had been a naval officer, had then lived in England as an
_emigre_, but after the Peace of Amiens took civil service under
Napoleon; he now brought with him his son, a lad of fifteen, fresh
from the Lycee. We need not notice the figures of Savary and
Lallemand, as they were soon to part company. Maingaud the surgeon,
Marchand the head valet, several servants, and the bright little boy
of the Montholons completed the list.

The voyage passed without incident. Napoleon's health and appetite
were on the whole excellent, and he suffered less than the rest from
sea-sickness. The delicate Las Cases, who had donned his naval
uniform, was in such distress as to move the mirth of the crew,
whereupon Napoleon sharply bade him appear in plain clothes so as not
to disgrace the French navy. For the great man himself the crew soon
felt a very real regard, witness the final confession of one of them
to Maitland: "Well, they may abuse that man as much as they like, but
if the people of England knew him as well as we do, they would not
hurt a hair of his head."--What a tribute this to the mysterious power
of genius!

On passing Ushant, he remained long upon deck, silent and abstracted,
casting melancholy looks at the land he was never more to see. As they
neared Torbay, the exile was loud in praise of the beauty of the
scene, which he compared with that of Porto Ferrajo. Whatever
misgivings he felt before embarking on the "Bellerophon" had
apparently disappeared. He had been treated with every courtesy and
had met with only one rebuff. He prompted Mme. Bertrand, who spoke
English well, to sound Maitland as to the acceptance of a box
containing his (Napoleon's) portrait set in diamonds. This the captain
very properly refused.[535]

In Torbay troubles began to thicken upon the party. Gourgaud rejoined
them on the 24th: he had not been allowed to land. Orders came on the
26th for the "Bellerophon" to proceed to Plymouth; and the rumour
gained ground that St. Helena would be their destination. It was true.
On July 31st, Sir Henry Bunbury, Secretary to the Admiralty, and Lord
Keith, A