The Brigadier in England

Name: The Brigadier in England
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Brigadier Etienne Gerard recalls his months as a prisoner and guest of Lord Rufton at High Combe in Dartmoor, where the Englishman treats him with generous friendship. Gerard prides himself on mastering English sports: he shoots roosting pheasants, misunderstands cricket as a violent contest and injures the gardener Rudd, and defeats the Honourable Baldock in a boxing match by grappling, biting, and attacking him with exuberant ferocity. At High Combe, Gerard becomes close to Lord Rufton’s sister, Lady Jane Dacre, a beautiful, melancholy woman with whom he believes himself mutually in love. Though longing to declare himself, he regards himself as a captive guest and keeps silent. Walking near Okehampton, he sees Lady Jane fleeing in her phaeton from a foxhunter on a grey horse. The rider stops her and demands that she forgive him and return to him. Gerard attempts to intervene, but the man contemptuously dismisses him. Lady Jane then reveals that the pursuer is her husband, Lord George Dacre. She has left Dacre after he wronged her, and she makes Gerard promise not to tell Lord Rufton, fearing a duel between brother and husband. Three days later, Lady Jane disappears after a woman is heard screaming in a chaise racing along the Tavistock Road. Lord Rufton concludes that Dacre has abducted her, and he and Gerard ride to Gravel Hanger, Dacre’s home. Though determined to rescue her, they learn that the law supports a husband’s right to take his wife, so they enter the grounds secretly. Dacre discovers them, brings them inside, and challenges Gerard after Gerard strikes him across the face with a riding glove in defence of Lady Jane. Dacre insists upon an immediate pistol duel across a table. Lord Rufton refuses to act as second, but Colonel Berkeley declares the arrangement valid and agrees to drop the handkerchief. When it falls, Dacre fires first, narrowly missing Gerard as he bends for a pistol. Before Gerard can return fire, Lady Jane rushes in, clings to him, and begs him not to shoot. She explains that Dacre has repented and is again the best and dearest of husbands. Gerard recognizes that she and Dacre have reconciled, though she leaves Dacre’s life and her happiness to Gerard’s judgment. To show his command while sparing Dacre, Gerard fires at Colonel Berkeley’s cigar and shoots off its ash, though he accidentally snaps the cigar close to the colonel’s lips. He apologizes with elaborate courtesy, saying he meant only to trim the ash. Dacre is won over by Gerard’s conduct, Berkeley abandons his anger, and Lord Rufton silently shows his approval. Gerard and Rufton leave the reunited Dacres alone, and Gerard later hears that their household remains happy. He preserves Lady Jane in his memory as one of the great consolations of his old age.

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · First published 1895 · Genre: Historical Adventure, Comic Fiction, Historical Fiction · 8,175 words

First lines

I have told you, my friends, how I triumphed over the English at the foxhunt when I pursued the animal so fiercely that even the herd of trained dogs was unable to keep up, and alone with my own hand I put him to the sword. Perhaps I have said too much of the matter, but there is a thrill in the triumphs of sport which even warfare cannot give, for in warfare you share your successes with your regiment and your army, but in sport it is you yourself unaided who has won the laurels. It is an advantage which the English have over us that in all classes they take great interest in every form of sport. It may be that they are richer than we, or it may be that they are more idle; but I was surprised when I was a prisoner in that country to observe how widespread was this feeling, and how much it filled the minds and the lives of the people. A horse that will run, a cock that will fight, a dog that will kill rats, a man that will box -- they would turn away from the Emperor in all his glory in order to look upon any of these.

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Genres

Historical Adventure — Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the story follows Colonel Gerard through pursuit, infiltration, abduction, and a pistol duel in rural England.
Comic Fiction — Gerard's boastful first-person narration, his misunderstandings of English customs, and the absurdly precise cigar-shot create sustained satire and humor.
Historical Fiction — The narrative uses an early-nineteenth-century English setting, Anglo-French wartime relations, aristocratic manners, dueling conventions, and contemporary legal attitudes toward marriage.
Napoleonic War Fiction — Gerard is a French officer and prisoner of war whose identity, loyalties, military experience, and reflections on the Peninsular conflict frame the tale.

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The Brigadier in England 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 Adventure, Comic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Napoleonic War Fiction, Military Fiction
Length: 8,175 words
Structure: 1 section, 108 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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