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118
Recollections of
[Ch. XI.

Arthur, who was about a month old, and he repeated Madame Bertrand's speech on introducing the child to him: "Allow me to present to your majesty a subject who has dared to enter the gates of Longwood without a pass from Sir Hudson Lowe."

He sat a long time chatting, and quizzing me about the short waist and petticoats of my frock. He took great pleasure in teasing me about my trousers, and calling me a little boy, which he always made a point of doing whenever he espied the trousers. He thought the fashion of wearing short waists very frightful, and said if he were governor, he should issue an order that the ladies wore not to appear dressed in that style. Before leaving Madame Bertrand's cottage, he joined the children in a game of "puss in the corner," to which I acted as maîtresse de ballet.

Napoleon used to evince great curiosity about the subject of our conversations, when we called on Lady Lowe at Planta-

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