Gourgaud is the next to leave.  The sensitive young man has long been tormented by jealousy.  His diary becomes the long-drawn sigh of a generous but vain nature, when soured by real or fancied neglect.  Though often unfair to Napoleon, whose egotism the slighted devotee often magnifies into colossal proportions, the writer unconsciously bears witness to the wondrous fascination that held the little Court in awe.  The least attention shown to the Montholons costs “Gogo” a fit of spleen or a sleepless night, scarcely to be atoned for on the morrow by soothing words, by chess, or reversi, or help at the manuscript of “Waterloo.”  Again and again Napoleon tries to prove to him that the Montholons ought to have precedence:  it is in vain.  At last the crisis comes:  it is four years since the General saved the Emperor from a Cossack’s lance at Brienne, and the recollection renders his present “humiliations” intolerable.  He challenges Montholon to a duel; Napoleon strictly forbids it; and the aggrieved officer seeks permission to depart.

Napoleon grants his request.  It seems that the chief is weary of his moody humours; he further owes him a grudge for writing home to his mother frank statements of the way in which the Longwood exiles are treated.  These letters were read by Lowe and Bathurst, and their general purport seems to have been known in French governmental circles, where they served as an antidote to the poisonous stories circulated by Napoleon and his more diplomatic followers.  Clearly nothing is to be made of Gourgaud; and so he departs (February 13th, 1818).  Bidding a tearful adieu, he goes with Basil Jackson to spend six weeks with him at a cottage near Plantation House, when he is astonished at the delicate reserve shown by the Governor.  He then sets sail for England.  The only money he has is L100 advanced by Lowe.  Napoleon’s money he has refused to accept.[580]

And yet he did not pass out of his master’s life.  Landing in England on May 1st, he had a few interviews with our officials, in which he warned them that Napoleon’s escape would be quite easy, and gave a hint as to O’Meara being the tool of Napoleon.  But soon the young General came into touch with the leaders of the Opposition.  No change in his sentiments is traceable until August 25th, when he indited a letter to Marie Louise, asserting that Napoleon was dying “in the torments of the longest and most frightful agony,” a prey to the cruelty of England!  To what are we to attribute this change of front?  The editors of Gourgaud’s “Journal” maintain that there was no change; they hint that the “Journal” may have been an elaborate device for throwing dust into Lowe’s eyes; and they point to the fact that before leaving the island Gourgaud received secret instructions from Napoleon bidding him convey to Europe several small letters sewn into the soles of his boots.  Whether he acted on these instructions may be doubted; for at his departure he gave his word of honour to Lowe that he was not the bearer of any paper, pamphlet, or letter from Longwood.  Furthermore, we hear nothing of these secret letters afterwards; and he allowed nearly four months to elapse in England before he wrote to Marie Louise.  The theory referred to above seems quite untenable in face of these facts.[581]