. In the footsteps of Napoleon, his life and its famous scenes. lly her father fitted out for thecouple one of his own ships, the Erin, and they sailed underthe American flag. With the French ports all closed to it, the Erin put in atLisbon, where the French consul came aboard and inquired ofthe bride, What can I do for Miss Paterson? The missspiritedly replied: Tell your master that Mme. Bonaparteis ambitious, and demands her rights as a member of the im-perial family! Jerome was confident that he needed only to arrange to haveNapoleon expose himself to Betsys beauty and wit to insureher conq
. In the footsteps of Napoleon, his life and its famous scenes. lly her father fitted out for thecouple one of his own ships, the Erin, and they sailed underthe American flag. With the French ports all closed to it, the Erin put in atLisbon, where the French consul came aboard and inquired ofthe bride, What can I do for Miss Paterson? The missspiritedly replied: Tell your master that Mme. Bonaparteis ambitious, and demands her rights as a member of the im-perial family! Jerome was confident that he needed only to arrange to haveNapoleon expose himself to Betsys beauty and wit to insureher conquest of the Emperor. Filled no doubt with highhopes of bringing the two together, he left his wife in Lisbonharbour to go to his brother. The groom, however, found admission to the imperial pres-ence barred until he surrendered without conditions. Hisapproaching obligations as a father constituted no valid argu-ment with the Emperor. Apparently they were borne lightlyenough by Jerome himself, who, after eleven days, submittedhimself absolutely to his THE MATCHMAKEE 209 So, sir, the Emperor said to the youth of the whitefeather, you shamefully abandoned your post! It will re-quire many splendid actions to wipe out that stain. As toyour love affair with your little girl, I do not regard it. AsNapoleon bowed the penitent out, he remarked to his suite:He needs a little more weight in his head, but I hope tomake something of him. In three months more Jeromes dishonour was complete whenhe stood before the world a faithless father as well as a faith-less husband, his deserted wife giving birth to a son in aLondon suburb and dutifully christening him Jerome NapoleonBonaparte. The baby hands did not prove strong enough todraw Jerome away from his vanity, and Betsy, giving uphope, sailed home. And she accepted such solace for herwounded pride as a pension of $12,000 a year from Napoleonafforded. Jerome, after idling about the sea for awhile, was rewardedfirst with the rank of r
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1915
