How the Brigadier Slew the Brothers of Ajaccio

Name: How the Brigadier Slew the Brothers of Ajaccio
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Lieutenant Etienne Gerard of the 10th Hussars is unexpectedly summoned by the Emperor Napoleon at Fontainebleau in 1807, shortly after the Treaty of Tilsit, through Colonel Lasalle. Before the audience, Lasalle and the statesman Talleyrand, who are intensely curious about the Emperor's business, press Gerard for information; he refuses, bound by the secrecy Napoleon later demands. In the private cabinet, Napoleon questions Gerard about his swordsmanship and his dueling record, sharply rebukes him for risking himself in duels, then orders him to meet him that night at a great double fir-tree in the forest, armed with a sword but no pistols. He warns Gerard to make no remarks, to obey without question, and tells him that if two men appear under a certain tree and swords are drawn, neither must escape alive. When Gerard starts to offer his own thoughts, Napoleon angrily cuts him off, insisting he wants Gerard's sword, not his brains. Back at his quarters, Gerard finds Lasalle and Talleyrand waiting; he again refuses to divulge anything, and Lasalle backs him, angering Talleyrand, who storms off with Lasalle trailing to placate him. Gerard spends an anxious evening, dresses for the woods in shoes and gaiters with his sword outside his greatcoat, and slips away to the forest, passing cafés full of unsuspecting comrades. He meets the hooded, grey-coated figure he takes for the Emperor at the appointed tree, and the two walk silently for over a mile to the Abbot's Beech, a spot with a sinister reputation. Two cloaked men in black caps await there. At a hissed signal, the taller one lunges; Gerard springs between him and the Emperor just as the shorter man darts past and stabs the grey-coated figure through the heart with a poniard. Gerard runs the first assassin through, killing him instantly, then pursues the fleeing second man across glades and heath toward the Fontainebleau quarry, where the man vanishes into a tool-house on a platform below the rim; Gerard follows and kills him in a short, desperate struggle. Gerard returns to the Abbot's Beech in anguish, believing he has let the Emperor be murdered under his protection, and despairs of his honor, resolving to fall on his own sword. At that moment Napoleon himself appears, alive, having followed the whole episode unseen through the woods. He leads Gerard back to the body, revealing it to be Monsieur de Goudin, a double who resembled the Emperor and died in his place, attended now by the Mameluke servants Roustem and Mustafa. Napoleon explains that the two slain men were the chiefs of the Brothers of Ajaccio, a secret Corsican society from his youth bound by severe rules; they had summoned him to answer for breaking faith with the order, a summons he could not safely ignore or defy, and he could not risk taking them alive for fear an assassin's confession would cause scandal. Using Lasalle's hussars let him choose an agent, Gerard, who would act bravely without probing too deeply into the affair. Napoleon curtly rebukes Gerard for swaggering with pride on the walk back to the palace, warning him against drawing attention. In the Emperor's cabinet, Napoleon extracts Gerard's renewed promise of silence for as long as he lives, and Gerard agrees to erase the affair from his mind entirely. Napoleon then dismisses him, addressing him for the first time as Captain rather than Lieutenant, marking his secret reward for the night's service.

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · First published 1895 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Political Intrigue · 10,325 words

First lines

When I told you some little time ago how it was that I won the special medal for valour, I finished, as you will doubtless remember, by repeating the saying of the Emperor that I had the stoutest heart in all his armies. In making that remark, Napoleon was showing the insight for which he was so famous. He disfigured his sentence, however, by adding something about the thickness of my head. We will pass that over. It is ungenerous to dwell upon the weaker moments of a great man. I will only say this, that when the Emperor needed an agent he was always very ready to do me the honour of recalling the name of Etienne Gerard, though it occasionally escaped him when rewards were to be distributed. Still, I was a colonel at twenty-eight, and the chief of a brigade at thirty-one, so that I have no reason to be dissatisfied with my career. Had the wars lasted another two or three years I might have grasped my bâton, and the man who had his hand upon that was only one stride from a throne. Murat had changed his hussar's cap for a crown, and another light cavalry man might have done as much. However, all those dreams were driven away by Waterloo, and, although I was not able to write my name upon history, it is sufficiently well known by all who served with me in the great wars of the Empire.

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Genres

Historical Fiction — The narrative is set during the Napoleonic Wars (Treaty of Tilsit 1807) and features authentic historical figures and events as the framework, with the protagonist directly witnessing and influencing historical moments through Napoleon's court and military campaigns.
Military Fiction — The entire story centers on military life, hierarchy, and protocol; the protagonist is a cavalry officer whose identity and values are defined by military service, and military tactics and swordplay are central to the plot.
Political Intrigue — The core narrative involves diplomatic machinations, secret government missions, the manipulation of power, and the complex relationships between military and political figures like Talleyrand and Napoleon, with covert operations at the story's heart.
Adventure — The plot structure follows a classic adventure narrative with a mysterious summons, a dangerous mission into the forest, pursuit and combat, and the revelation of a hidden truth, evoking the excitement and wonder characteristic of the genre.

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How the Brigadier Slew the Brothers of Ajaccio is listed on Textopian as a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, dated 1895 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Date: 1895 CE
Language: English
Genres: Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Political Intrigue, Adventure, Spy Fiction
Length: 10,325 words
Structure: 1 section, 150 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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