Under Two Flags guide

Summary

Characters

• BertieAlso Cecil, Bel-a-faire-peur, VictorLeadFrom Chapter 1
• RakeHelperFrom Chapter 1
• RoyallieuGuardianFrom Chapter 1
• PhilipAlso Seraph, RockinghamHelperFrom Chapter 1
• WillonVillainFrom Chapter 1
• BerkeleyVillainFrom Chapter 1
• BenVillainFrom Chapter 3
• GuenevereSuitorFrom Chapter 3
• VenetiaAlso Petite Reine, CoronaLoveFrom Chapter 10
• BaroniVillainFrom Chapter 10
• Rire-pour-toutHelperFrom Chapter 13
• ChanrellonHelperFrom Chapter 13
• CigaretteSuitorFrom Chapter 15
• TataOtherFrom Chapter 15
• ChateauroyVillainFrom Chapter 15
• Khalifa IlderimOtherFrom Chapter 17
• The MarshalGatekeeperFrom Chapter 18
• LeonAlso RamonHelperFrom Chapter 18
• PicponHelperFrom Chapter 22
• Beltran Corona d'AmagueSuitorFrom Chapter 22
• ZackristVillainFrom Chapter 28

Chapter by chapter

Storylines

• Rake serves as Bertie's trusted attendant, offering unrestricted service and carrying out his personal and military preparations.

  • Rake brings Bertie the urgent summons to weigh in, and Bertie entrusts him with telling the officials to wait while he dresses.
  • The retrospective account establishes the source of Rake's enduring loyalty: Bertie protects his hound and rescues him from military service, after which Rake becomes his indispensable attendant.
  • Rake prepares and enables Bertie's escape, follows despite dismissal, and receives Bertie's explicit recognition of his worth and fidelity.
  • Rake continues his personal service under military conditions by secretly performing Bertie's chores whenever possible.
  • Rake continues to esteem and privately serve Bertie as a gentleman despite Bertie's objections, suffers at his hopelessness and apologizes for exposing his former name.
  • Rake accompanies Bertie into Algerian exile, relieves his misery through continued devotion, and undertakes the recurring sale of his carvings.
  • Bertie discovers that Rake sacrifices advancement to remain subordinate to him. Their private encounter deepens their mutual affection and Bertie's gratitude.
  • Bertie chooses Rake as his companion on the dangerous mission; Rake gladly undertakes the horses' preparation.
  • Rake's final sacrifice and Bertie's refusal to abandon him culminate in an acknowledgment of mutual loyalty. Bertie's explicit denial of wrongdoing consoles Rake before his death ends their living companionship.

• Bertie plans to inspect his horses after duty and transport them with Willon on his noon train the following day.

  • Bertie completes his inspection of Forest King and confirms his excellent condition; the planned transport is not established as completed.

• Bertie delegates deliveries of a note, bracelets and flowers, together with arrangements concerning his gun, chargers and dogs, to Rake.

  • Rake leaves the horse's box intending to deliver Bertie's note to Zu-Zu; delivery is not yet established.

• Bertie intends to buy a blue Dandy Dinmont and take it to Lady Guinevere.

• Bertie supports Zu-Zu financially, enabling her luxurious circumstances; she also provides companionship that relieves his dejection.

  • Bertie secures a house for Zu-Zu, continuing his material support, while her jealousy complicates their attachment.
  • Zu-Zu repeatedly spends Bertie's money and racing winnings, extending his financial support of her.

• Berkeley seeks fifty pounds from Bertie to repay Poulteney that morning after a gambling loss.

• Bertie becomes Berkeley's financial rescuer, protecting his name and promising further help when able; Berkeley responds with gratitude and shame.

  • Bertie's protection of Berkeley extends to intervening in his dealings with a disreputable bookmaker, but Berkeley now resents that interference.
  • The retrospective account establishes Bertie's maternal charge to care for Berkeley as a prior obligation underlying his protective role.
  • Bertie has continued rescuing Berkeley and used his race winnings to discharge debts, but now lacks money and refuses to borrow from a friend for him. Berkeley interprets the refusal as cruelty and fails to understand Bertie's moral objection.

• Military duty interferes with Bertie's comfort and personal arrangements, threatening lateness and leaving him dejected.

  • Prolonged duty in full military equipment leaves Bertie physically depleted.

• Bertie's generosity and expensive way of life strain his available money and encumber his future income.

  • Financial reverses leave Bertie exceptionally short of money. His substantial racing stake makes the coming result financially consequential, producing unusual anxiety and self-doubt.
  • Gambling winnings add funds, but Bertie's continuing expenditure and his father's denunciation of his dependence keep the financial conflict active; no settlement of his encumbrances is recorded.
  • Zu-Zu's repeated expenditure of Bertie's funds and winnings continues the drain on his resources.
  • Continued spending and payments for Berkeley bring Bertie to acknowledge imminent financial ruin. He cannot meet the new request and hopes promotion or racing winnings will save him.
  • Possible financial ruin becomes explicit enough for Bertie to discuss earning his living, astonishing Philip.
  • Bertie continues spending despite creditors' threats, makes his financial recovery depend on further wagers, and loses the race on which he has relied.
  • The defeat leaves Bertie with losses he cannot meet and removes his expected escape from debt. He believes ruin inevitable, rejects financial help, and discovers that his accustomed indifference cannot withstand actual suffering.

• Bertie's intimacy with Lady Regalia brings him into an awkward encounter with Lord Regalia, which Bertie turns into a display of socially celebrated impudence.

• Bertie seeks to win the coming race on Forest King, having staked substantial money on his own ride and made his financial prospects dependent on the result.

  • Bertie overcomes a broken stirrup and wins the race on Forest King. The events establish the victory but do not establish that his wider financial difficulties are settled.

• Bertie's confidence in Forest King's condition and racing ability faces reports of a competitive rival and concern that rain will disadvantage his horse.

  • Bay Regent proves a close rival and gains an advantage after Bertie's stirrup breaks, but Forest King recovers the lead and wins when Bay Regent refuses the final obstacle.

• The smoking party ends its gathering to preserve Bertie's fitness for the race.

• A titled lady gives Bertie an embroidered riding jacket, prompting his tentative belief that their affection is sufficiently mutual.

• Bertie carries the Household's collective hopes and wagers, draws renewed resolve from their cheering, and wins the race as their representative.

  • The Household's reliance on Bertie now brings heavy losses and public humiliation; his companions' generosity intensifies his guilt over having involved them.

• Philip and Bertie affirm their agreement that the race obstacle should remain difficult despite Bertie's participation.

• Bertie's protective intervention in Berkeley's betting provokes Berkeley's resentment of his brother's interference.

  • Berkeley again resents Bertie's interference with his gambling, abandons promises of reform and treats his refusal to borrow as unjust punishment. Bertie's unprecedented severity briefly silences him.

• Bertie's enforcement of Ben's exclusion from the betting ring turns their earlier antagonism into a sworn enmity; Ben vows to stop Bertie's future victories.

  • Ben celebrates the revenge he claims to have accomplished, profits from betting against Forest King, pays Willon's share, and pursues Bertie's complete ruin.

• Bertie and Jimmy Delmar affirm mutual respect through Bertie's generous acknowledgment of his rival and Delmar's sincere congratulations after defeat.

• Bertie falls in love with Guenevere, who claims to have feared for his safety during the race.

  • Bertie rejoins Guenevere, grows more attached than he considers expedient, and participates in clandestine exchanges that strengthen both lovers' belief in their endangered love.
  • Bertie's devoted attentions reassure Guenevere of his attachment.
  • Their private outing awakens Bertie's desire for genuine affection; shared mortal danger deepens their mutual attachment, and his rescue is followed by tender reassurance.
  • Their intimate exchange continues at Baden, and Guenevere gives Bertie the lock of hair he requests.
  • Bertie's love deepens and their farewell leaves lasting grief, but they part forever; he releases Guenevere from obligation and she chooses to abandon his interests.

• Royallieu's hatred of Bertie's resemblance to Alan produces a cold, accusatory paternal relationship, sharpened by his affectionate treatment of Berkeley.

  • Bertie's attempt to reassure his father meets explicit hatred and an accusation against his mother. His filial regard gives way to a resolve to regard Royallieu as her unforgivable slanderer.
  • The estrangement is described as irrevocable. Royallieu has dishonored Bertie's mother's name, and Bertie's ignorance of the threatened foreclosure exposes his exclusion from family affairs.
  • Royallieu extends his rejection of Bertie beyond his presumed death, forbidding mourning and ordering his portrait burned.
  • Royallieu's death ends the possibility of further direct paternal hostility or reconciliation; Bertie learns of the death from its published notice.

• Lady Royallieu marries Royallieu reluctantly while loving Alan Bertie and strives to give her husband loyalty and tenderness.

• Scandal over Lady Royallieu's renewed contact with Alan threatens her reputation, prompting Alan to leave; his subsequent death ends their possibility of reunion.

• Bertie is charged by his dying mother to love and care for Berkeley.

  • Berkeley's injury brings Bertie to his bedside and renews his sense of responsibility under his mother's charge, together with guilt that his example has harmed Berkeley.
  • Bertie continues trying to protect Berkeley through persuasion, debt payments and advice, while blaming his own example for Berkeley's conduct. His inability to provide more money makes that responsibility painful.
  • Bertie continues protecting Berkeley at the cost of his own vindication and inheritance, while demanding that Berkeley live better.

• Royallieu privately suspects his dead wife's fidelity and Bertie's parentage after discovering Alan's miniature; the suspicions remain unverified.

  • Royallieu reveals his suspicion of Bertie's parentage to Bertie. The suspicion remains unverified, and Bertie interprets the accusation as mania.

• Bertie and Guenevere coordinate private messages and rendezvous through Spanish correspondence, ciphers, newspaper notices and signals.

  • Further rendezvous are agreed, discreet return arrangements are made, and Bertie renews his commitment to secrecy after the accident threatens exposure.

• Bertie's simultaneous attachments provoke Zu-Zu's jealousy of Guenevere and Philip's unsuccessful attempts to dissuade him.

  • Bertie manages Zu-Zu's displeasure by arranging Philip's company while attending to Guenevere; Guenevere's renewed contempt for Zu-Zu reinforces the antagonism surrounding his attachments.

• Philip maintains attachments in St. John's Wood that give him refuge from other romantic and matrimonial pursuers.

• Rake develops a passionate attachment to Forest King, strengthened by the horse's victory.

• Warne's persecution of Rake escalates when he orders Rake's hound hanged; Rake strikes and threatens him, incurring arrest and imprisonment.

• Bertie determines to buy Rake's military discharge and employ him privately, arranging care for his hound while Rake serves his punishment.

• Willon's concealed meeting with a red-bearded stranger comes partly to Rake's attention; Rake doubts the cousin explanation but cannot identify the familiar-looking stranger or establish the meeting's purpose.

  • The reader now sees Willon and his companion agree to sabotage Forest King. Their purpose is disclosed to the reader, but no event establishes that Rake learns it or identifies the companion.
  • Rake identifies Willon as responsible for tampering with Forest King and reports his assault on him to Bertie, though the stranger's identity and the covert meeting's full purpose remain unestablished.

• Rake seeks to discover what Willon is doing in the covert, but his unruly colt interrupts his investigation.

• Bertie enlists Philip to occupy Zu-Zu so that he can devote his attentions to Guenevere.

• Berkeley's hunting fall leaves him with a fractured arm and contusions, alarming Bertie and Royallieu; medical assurances establish that he will recover, but his recovery remains pending.

  • Berkeley recovers beyond danger, ending the immediate uncertainty over his hunting injuries.

• Berkeley seeks money to meet his gambling obligations, including £75 borrowed from Granville Lee and promised for the following day; Bertie cannot supply it.

  • Berkeley assures Bertie that the previously discussed matter is settled, but the assurance does not establish how his obligations were met.

• At Bertie's urging, Berkeley promises to visit his father, confess his difficulties and request help; whether he will keep his word remains uncertain.

• The heavily mortgaged family estate faces foreclosure, which Royallieu is working to avert; Bertie learns of the danger while remaining excluded from family affairs.

• Berkeley proposes that Bertie borrow £500 from Rockingham for him, but Bertie refuses on grounds of honor.

• Willon agrees with his companion to paint Forest King to incapacitate him for the German race, accepting a two-thousand-to-nothing bargain despite his fear.

  • Willon achieves the intended incapacitation through an opiate on the bit rather than the previously proposed painting; Forest King cannot continue and loses.

• Bertie considers employment as a hotel groom of the chambers if financial ruin forces him to earn a living.

  • Bertie adopts foreign military service and concealed identity as his intended future, displacing his earlier consideration of hotel employment.

• Philip contemplates seeking active combat under a foreign flag and prompts Bertie to consider foreign military service.

  • Bertie now commits to seeking foreign military service as a private soldier; Philip's own contemplated service receives no further development.
  • Philip's earlier contemplation of foreign combat becomes a declared intention to leave the Household, with Austrian service and an Indian cavalry command as alternatives.

• Bertie and Guenevere arrange another meeting tomorrow and a rendezvous at Baden next month, while considering winter plans in Paris.

  • Bertie reaches Baden and resumes his intimate exchanges with Guenevere there; the proposed winter arrangements remain unsettled.
  • Permanent separation, Bertie's withdrawal from his acquaintances and Guenevere's abandonment of his interests defeat their projected meetings and shared travel.

• The carriage accident threatens to expose the clandestine evening; Beatrice believes disclosure is inevitable, while Bertie undertakes to preserve secrecy.

  • Guenevere reaches home unnoticed, averting the immediate threatened exposure through her return.

• Bertie promises to conceal the evening and arrange Beatrice's safe return to town alone.

  • Her unnoticed return home fulfills the immediate objective of returning her without exposing the clandestine evening.

• Bertie stakes his financial recovery on winning the Prix de Dames and increases his exposure by ordering his companions to accept every bet against him; Forest King's withdrawal defeats this attempt.

  • The attempt to recover financially through the Prix de Dames has definitively failed, leaving additional unpayable losses.

• Suspicious betting against Forest King precedes his incapacitation and defeat, while Bertie receives warning of a possible betting operation against his horse.

  • Ben's winnings and payment to Willon confirm the betting operation to the reader. Philip investigates suspected foul play, but the veterinary inquiry cannot establish how or when the horse was doctored.

• Chesterfield becomes angry at Bertie's uncertainty after Bertie has encouraged substantial wagers on his success.

• Willon's poisoning disables Forest King despite the horse's efforts to continue, forcing Bertie to abandon the race.

  • The opiate's effects are established as more severe than the conspirators intended, turning an intended reduction in speed into conspicuous incapacitation.
  • Rake's treatment restores Forest King's strength sufficiently for him to carry Bertie safely through the flight, ending the immediate incapacitation.

• Willon administers an opiate through Forest King's bit; Bertie discovers the horse's illness without being shown discovering its cause or the culprit.

  • The reader learns the intended degree of impairment and Willon's payment from Ben, while investigators find no drug trace and Ben deliberately conceals his participation. Bertie is not shown learning the culprit or method.
  • Bertie learns that Forest King was poisoned and that Rake identifies Willon as the culprit; the specific method is not shown being disclosed.

• Bertie seeks veterinary examination for Forest King after recognizing that continuing the race would make the horse fall.

  • Veterinary investigation has taken place, fulfilling the request for examination, but it fails to identify a drug trace or establish the circumstances of the doctoring.

• Philip seeks to uncover the suspected doctoring of Forest King and punish the culprit; Bertie claims personal vengeance if the culprit is discovered.

  • Rake identifies and assaults Willon, and Bertie learns of this retaliation, though neither Philip's investigation nor Bertie's claimed personal vengeance is shown completed.

• Bertie seeks solitude and escape from his thoughts, separating from his companions and resisting Venetia's attempts to remain or obtain help.

• Venetia offers Bertie her savings out of compassion, moving him deeply; he refuses financial help but accepts her sweetmeat box as a keepsake. Her limited understanding leaves her hurt by his refusal, while the narration anticipates their adult reunion and a greater grief associated with her.

  • The preserved childhood gift enables mutual recognition, renewing their friendship; Venetia accepts Bertie across the difference in rank and declares faith in his innocence.

• An urgent English letter reveals to Bertie an unspecified disgrace affecting himself and his family. He destroys it and secures Venetia's promise of silence and no appeals for help; the reader is denied its contents.

  • The earlier letter's concealed significance is disclosed: Berkeley confessed forging the bill and impersonating Bertie, who accepted suspicion to protect him and a woman's reputation.

• Ben commissions Baroni to continue the pressure against Bertie, rejecting any settlement that would prevent complete ruin and intending to reveal his own involvement only afterward.

  • Ben's instructions against compromise govern Baroni's refusal of unlimited payment; the campaign proceeds through threatened prosecution, attempted arrest and paid pursuit.

• A bill bearing Bertie's name and an apparently forged endorsement by Philip exposes Bertie to an accusation of forgery. Baroni presents the evidence to Philip, whose denial of the endorsement and violent defense of Bertie leave the charge unresolved.

  • Bertie is formally accused over the £750 bill and denies both signatures and any prior sight of it. The accusation remains unproved but escalates into custody, attempted handcuffing and flight.
  • Bertie accepts being thought guilty and withdraws, while Guenevere chooses silence about his innocence; the accusation remains publicly unanswered.
  • The criminal charge still obstructs Bertie's restoration. He explicitly denies the charged wrongdoing to Rake, confirming Rake's faith without obtaining legal vindication.
  • The reader learns that Bertie bore disgrace for Berkeley's crime and that Berkeley received forged signatures; Bertie's renewed silence leaves his public disgrace uncorrected.
  • Bertie is exonerated from the guilt of another person.

• Philip sends his servant to find Bertie and summon him to confront Baroni's accusation, then waits in agonizing suspense.

  • Bertie arrives in Philip's room and confronts Baroni's explicit accusation.

• Philip struggles with involuntary suspicions but affirms enduring public loyalty to Bertie, defending him and offering unlimited financial help.

  • Philip grieves deeply for Bertie, reportedly pays the disputed sum to reduce pursuit, and protects Bertie's last gift from sale or further riding.
  • Seeing Philip revives Bertie's brotherly love and desire to declare his innocence, reinforced by the remembered promise of Philip's public friendship, but Bertie withholds recognition.
  • Venetia reports Philip's enduring grief and affection and assures Bertie that Philip never condemned him; Bertie accepts her assurance.
  • Their reunion confirms Philip's enduring loyalty; his assurance of belief in Bertie's innocence consoles Bertie, and he attempts to save his life.

• Bertie refuses to disclose his whereabouts despite the need to establish his innocence; his reason for withholding this possible defense remains concealed.

  • Bertie resolves to preserve his secret even through suicide and accepts apparent guilt; Guenevere's decision establishes that she possesses exculpatory knowledge she will not disclose.
  • Bertie reaffirms that he will not establish his innocence by betraying the protected man or compromising the protected woman's name; their identities remain undisclosed.
  • His protection of Berkeley explains his acceptance of blame and continued refusal to vindicate himself, although the withheld whereabouts are not established here.
  • Bertie's protective motive is made explicit to the reader, but he continues withholding the exonerating truth from Venetia, who only infers a sacrifice.

• Philip attempts to prevent proceedings by purchasing the disputed bill, but Bertie destroys his check and Baroni refuses his renewed offer.

  • Philip is alleged to have paid the entire disputed sum to reduce pursuit of Bertie. The report does not establish that he purchased the bill or ended proceedings.

• Bertie agrees to accompany Baroni and await legal justification without resistance, but abandons this compliance when he discovers that Baroni has deceived him into an arrest.

  • Bertie continues flight and commits to disappearance instead of accompanying Baroni or awaiting legal justification.

• Bertie asks Philip to keep Forest King while deferring his own justification and reckoning.

  • Bertie explicitly gives both horses to Philip and orders their return, but Rake instead brings them on the train and Bertie becomes willing to finance Forest King's continued presence.
  • Forest King passes to Philip as Bertie's last gift; Philip undertakes his permanent keeping and places him at stud.

• Baroni mobilizes officers and a growing crowd against Bertie, misrepresenting him as a cheating croupier and offering gold for his capture.

  • Pursuers fire at Bertie and later approach his hiding place, but a mistaken inference and his mounted escape defeat immediate capture; no warrant or description is apparent at the station.

• Bertie seeks to escape capture, preferring death to being led away as a felon; after fighting free and outrunning obstacles, exhaustion forces him to hide on a balcony with pursuers immediately below.

  • Bertie survives renewed danger, escapes the immediate pursuit on Forest King and departs by train, armed and determined to conceal himself; lasting safety remains uncertain.
  • The retrospective account establishes that Bertie escaped pursuit, exploited the railway wreck to conceal his survival, and crossed unnoticed to Algeria.

• Bertie believes poverty requires permanent separation from Forest King, but Rake brings the horse after him and Bertie becomes willing to pawn his remaining valuables to keep him.

  • Bertie ultimately parts with Forest King, giving him to Philip, who keeps him at stud at Lyonnesse.

• Bertie's determination to spare Rake exile and hardship conflicts with Rake's insistence on accompanying him; Rake follows secretly and wins Bertie's acknowledgment of his loyalty.

  • Bertie now makes service alongside his companion a condition of joining, advancing his acceptance of Rake's determination to accompany him; the requested arrangement remains pending.
  • Rake's accompaniment becomes an accomplished arrangement: Bertie seeks passage for them both, and Rake follows him into Algerian exile.

• Bertie commits to abandoning his former life, concealing his name and identity, travelling farther by train and seeking service as a private soldier abroad.

  • Bertie turns his intention of foreign military service into a commitment to join the French and report to barracks, affirming his choice of a new life under another flag. His enlistment and concealment of identity are not yet established as completed.
  • The disputed report of Bertie's death helps sever his former identity from his continuing life; his former service eventually ceases to speak of or remember him.
  • Bertie has entered military service and endured extensive campaigning, while his origins remain concealed despite Cigarette's investigation.
  • Bertie has entered French service as a volunteer, endured privation, fever and wounds, distinguished himself in action and become a corporal.
  • French enlistment fulfills the military part of Bertie's plan, while repeated demands for secrecy renew his continuing effort to bury his former identity.
  • Bertie completes his abandonment of his former public identity, enters French service as Louis Victor, and wholeheartedly adopts that service.

• Guenevere withholds what she knows of Bertie's innocence to protect her reputation and jewels, burning his farewell letter and abandoning his interests despite her grief.

• Frustrated by the lack of combat, Rire-pour-tout seeks a fight by challenging six Arab warriors to successive duels for France and brandy; he defeats all six but dies of his wounds.

• The Chasseurs honor Rire-pour-tout's memory and begin to regard Bertie as a possible successor whose isolated, unarmed position earns their protective respect.

  • Bertie's generosity wins the regiment's affection, while his military exploits establish his standing among the Chasseurs.
  • Bertie's endurance, battlefield leadership, generosity and protection of comrades deepen the soldiers' respect into ardent affection.
  • Bertie's love for the Chasseurs accompanies increased authority; his comrades recognize his suffering and restraint and strive to imitate his conduct.

• Chanrellon seeks to recruit Bertie into his regiment, securing his commitment through an agreed dice game and undertaking to seek his requested service arrangements.

  • Bertie's entry into military service fulfills the recruitment sought by Chanrellon.

• Bertie's defense of the Arabs angers the Chasseurs, but they agree to respect his freedom while dice determine which side he will join; he accepts the outcome binding him to French service.

• Bertie stipulates service alongside his companion and immediate active service; Chanrellon agrees to seek these arrangements, and Bertie promises to report to barracks the next morning.

  • Bertie has enlisted, Rake remains close enough to perform his chores, and Bertie has seen active combat. These events do not establish the exact timing or all terms of their service arrangements.
  • His enlistment and subsequent combat service fulfill the active-service portion of his requested arrangements; these events do not establish the arrangement concerning his companion.
  • Bertie and Rake have entered French service and are posted together; Bertie's campaign experience establishes that his request for active service has also been fulfilled.

• Reports identify Bertie and Rake among the unrecognizable victims of a train wreck. Luggage evidence persuades some acquaintances that Bertie is dead, concealing his continued life abroad, although the identification remains disputed.

  • Bertie deliberately leaves his baggage in the wreck and permits the false report of his death to stand; public belief and Philip's mourning establish its continuing effectiveness.
  • The newspaper continues to report Bertie dead and identifies Berkeley as successor, while Bertie learns that he himself is the rightful heir.
  • Bertie confirms that Philip believes him dead and insists that this belief continue; he leaves camp without revealing himself.
  • Berkeley, who accepted the death reports and consequently withheld confession, now becomes certain that Bertie survives.
  • Venetia discovers Bertie survived, while Philip still believes him dead; her promise preserves the concealment from further discovery.
  • Philip recognizes Bertie alive and abandons the belief in his death; Bertie's subsequent restoration ends his concealed existence.

• Philip vows to leave the Household, considering Austrian service or a heavy cavalry command in India.

• Philip preserves Forest King as Bertie's last gift, rejecting an offer to buy him and resolving that nobody shall ride or hunt him; the horse is placed at stud at Lyonnesse.

  • Forest King survives to recognize and welcome Bertie on his return, fulfilling Philip's preservation of the horse.

• Cigarette intends to die in battle.

  • Cigarette dies from shielding Bertie against the firing squad. Her earlier wish for death gives way to terror and renewed courage as death becomes imminent.

• Cigarette resolves to discover Bertie's origins. She alternately accepts and doubts that he is English, judges him a nobleman, and learns only fragments of his former life.

  • Bertie's keepsakes and delirious speech give Cigarette further clues: she infers that he ruined himself for another person and hears him connect a lost birthright with another woman's love, without learning his identity.
  • Cigarette learns that the English visitor is Bertie's best-loved friend, believes him dead, and must not recognize him. She also learns that his cherished ring belonged to his mother, without discovering his identity.
  • Information about Philip and Bertie's Guards-like riding helps Cigarette infer the painful outline of Bertie's concealed past and separation from his friend, without establishing his full identity.
  • Cigarette learns of Bertie's former friendship with Philip and receives confirmation of his aristocratic origins; she also believes his concealment protects someone else.
  • Cigarette discovers Bertie's brother, true identity, rightful title and the sacrifice underlying his exile.

• Cigarette repeatedly supports her mother financially despite suffering her physical abuse; her mother's death ends this relationship.

• Bertie's failure to flatter Cigarette provokes irritation and wounded pride. His wishes concerning her education and appearance unsettle her, while the suggestion that he is her lover embarrasses her.

  • Cigarette seeks Bertie's attention and briefly fascinates him through her dancing, but overhears his judgment that her life unsexes her. His failure to soften the remark leaves her bitterly hurt and determined on revenge.
  • Cigarette's hurt at Bertie's judgment provokes destruction of his work, followed by contrition, appreciation of his artistry and absorbed pity for him.
  • Cigarette forgives Bertie and renews her affection for him.
  • Bertie's formality and distracted attention renew Cigarette's wounded pride, but reconciliation and his hand-kiss produce unfamiliar shyness; he develops deeper pity for her upbringing and prospects.
  • Cigarette experiences Bertie's response to her rescue and his description of her as rejection. His recognition of her vulnerability brings tenderness, but she recognizes his lack of romantic desire and leaves hurt; her familiar pleasures subsequently fail to console her.
  • Bertie learns of Cigarette's tender nursing but later mistakes her festive gaiety for cruelty. His disgust deepens their estrangement while she remains hurt by his praise of Venetia.
  • Cigarette's unsettled attachment deepens into love she does not acknowledge, accompanied by fear for Bertie's life and jealousy of his attachment elsewhere.
  • Cigarette renews their friendship and delights in Bertie's praise, but his pity wounds her. His grateful gift briefly offends her through a mistaken interpretation; his explanation reconciles her, while his farewell kiss reveals no answering passion.

• Cigarette conditionally threatens to have soldiers punish Bertie if he offends her.

• Chateauroy's hostility toward Bertie becomes apparent to Cigarette, who interprets it as jealousy without knowing its cause; Chateauroy threatens to have Bertie shot if he demoralizes the army.

  • Chateauroy's enmity obstructs Bertie's advancement despite his exceptional service and appears in a public reprimand over a conscript's accidental damage.
  • Chateauroy attempts to suppress Bertie's generosity, deliberately assigns him an embassy hoping Ilderim will kill him, and develops open, savage hatred after Djelma's restoration and the retaliatory attack.
  • Chateauroy publicly threatens Bertie with demotion and orders him back to his place. Bertie struggles with hatred but rejects violent resistance, while his comrades recognize his restraint under abuse.
  • Chateauroy turns military authority into public humiliation, coerces Bertie over his chessmen and insinuates to Venetia that his concealed past is criminal.
  • Chateauroy subjects the exhausted Bertie to prolonged mounted exposure in the sun and leaves without releasing him; Picpon finally intervenes.
  • Chateauroy subjects Bertie to another calculated humiliation, falsely attributing the insulting payment to Venetia.
  • Chateauroy's hostility has intensified since Zaraila, and he assents to sending Bertie on the dangerous assignment.
  • Chateauroy's adverse reports obstruct Bertie's promised military recognition and subject his claims to investigation.
  • Chateauroy delights in provoking disobedience, threatens flogging, insults Venetia, draws a pistol and orders Bertie's arrest.
  • Chateauroy's hostility culminates in allegations of sedition before the council, while Bertie publicly condemns his persecution and is sentenced to death.

• Discovering his colonel's hostility draws Cigarette into sympathy and partisanship toward Bertie as the weaker party.

  • Cigarette publicly defends Bertie by humiliating Barbe-grise and striking him with a bottle, then feels embarrassed at the possibility that Bertie overheard her defense.
  • Cigarette's partisanship becomes material assistance: she spends her winnings and coerces the dealer into paying Bertie while concealing her role.
  • Cigarette's forgiveness and renewed affection strengthen her attachment to Bertie.
  • Cigarette seeks reconciliation, offers champagne and persuades Bertie to protect his comrades by accepting restraint. He acknowledges her as a comrade, and she later witnesses Chateauroy's deliberate humiliation of him.
  • Cigarette saves Bertie's life and, despite renewed resentment, acts to repair his hurt, secure a fair report and obtain promotion for him.
  • Cigarette's partisanship becomes decisive battlefield aid: she reaches Bertie's side and leads the fresh cavalry whose intervention saves the French detachment.
  • Cigarette protects Bertie from recognition, pledges discretion and obtains the assignment he urgently requests, moved by his helplessness and sorrow.

• Cigarette resolves to prevent further handsome men from fighting over her after Coqueline's death and disfigurement.

• Bertie's refusal to plunder civilians provokes his comrades' suspicion and reproach, though his generosity repeatedly overcomes their resentment of his reserve.

  • Bertie's sharing of food, pay and carving proceeds reinforces the generosity through which he wins his comrades' affection despite his reserve.
  • Bertie actively punishes brutality and theft and risks his life against injustice; his comrades increasingly restrain their conduct and imitate him.

• Bertie loves the captive Zelme and sacrifices part of his pay for her comforts; her death ends their living relationship.

• Bertie and a fellow Chasseur must reach the Djied camp by dawn and remain there; Bertie summons his companion and leaves the ballroom.

• Deeply hurt by Bertie's judgment of her, Cigarette resolves to hate him and take revenge.

  • After briefly venting her anger on a carving, Cigarette regrets the destruction and forgets her vow of vengeance in pity for Bertie.
  • Her earlier vow of revenge is explicitly abandoned in favor of acting beyond her private resentment.

• Ilderim makes tribal allegiance conditional on Djelma's timely restoration and threatens destruction of the French force otherwise; Bertie's intervention ultimately secures tribal neutrality toward France.

• Bertie and Ilderim's mutually respectful combat rivalry becomes enduring brotherhood after Bertie restores Djelma; Ilderim and his tribe offer Bertie protection, honor and welcome.

• Chateauroy offers a reward for Ilderim's head or Djelma's capture, then uses the captive Djelma to impose coercive terms on Ilderim.

• Bertie's sympathy for Ilderim and objection to warfare against women conflict with his service to France, attachment to its honor and submission to military discipline.

  • Bertie rejects rebellion against Chateauroy and reaffirms military obedience, while continuing to oppose his comrades' injustice even at personal risk.

• Ilderim vows to recover Djelma and attack Chateauroy, threatening greater vengeance if she is killed or dishonored; her restoration is followed by a retaliatory attack on the French camp.

• Bertie pledges to restore Djelma unharmed or return to face execution, obtains her release from Chateauroy and brings her back to Ilderim.

• Bertie secures Djelma's release through an interview with Chateauroy whose contents and means of persuasion remain undisclosed.

  • Bertie's account reveals that he secured the woman's release by threatening exposure, making Chateauroy credit the threat through disclosures about his past and connections.

• Bertie's former identity remains vulnerable to discovery through English speech, Rake's deferential service and use of the name Cecil; Rake supplies conflicting false origin stories while Bertie repeatedly demands concealment.

  • Bertie resists inquiry and withdraws from an Englishman who suspects a resemblance, but concealment is demonstrably imperfect: the Marshal recognizes him beneath his assumed identity.
  • Bertie continues withholding his thoughts, but Venetia infers gentlemanly origins from his voice while Chateauroy supplies a competing insinuation of criminality; his actual identity remains undisclosed.
  • Venetia records his assumed name, notices a possible suppressed additional name and infers concealed aristocratic origins, but tentatively misidentifies him as French. Bertie explicitly seeks obscurity.
  • Bertie's bearing and selective disclosures reveal privileged origins, and Venetia's decision to investigate creates a fresh threat to his concealed identity.
  • Bertie's delirium exposes fragments of his concealed history to Cigarette, including a lost birthright and an apparent sacrifice for someone else.
  • Philip's presence creates an immediate risk of recognition. Bertie hides, recruits Cigarette's assistance and departs while preserving his concealed identity.
  • Berkeley recognizes Bertie despite Bertie's attempt to pass without acknowledgment, breaching concealment within the family.
  • The childhood keepsake exposes Bertie's identity to Venetia. Philip's approach creates an immediate further risk, contained by her promise of secrecy.
  • Philip's presence makes recognition an immediate danger. Delayed honors spare Bertie public exposure, and he conceals his face while passing the reviewing party; Philip sees the indicated trooper without recognizing his friend.
  • Philip's intended visit makes recognition imminent; Bertie relies on the army's size for concealment and renews his commitment to separation and secrecy.
  • Bertie continues to conceal his origins at trial, but Berkeley's declaration identifies him to Cigarette and the Marshal, who recognizes his former friend.

• Chanrellon accepts Bertie's rebuke of intrusive questioning and publicly offers personal fellowship, moving Bertie deeply despite their unequal military stations.

• Bertie's distinguished service earns affection and promotion, but his subordinate rank continually confronts him with the loss of his former independence and standing.

  • Noncommissioned authority does not protect Bertie from public humiliation. The visitor's refusal intensifies his awareness of poverty and lost standing, after which he commits himself to a soldier's life.
  • Compulsory attendance sharpens Bertie's resentment of subordination and briefly tempts him to disobedience despite the risk of execution. Concern for his comrades secures his submission, while Venetia's compassionate caste distinction deepens the injury.
  • His identification with French soldiering persists, but Venetia revives his former life and makes his subordinate condition and regimental routine more painful.
  • Appearing before Venetia and the aristocracy in subordinate military rank renews Bertie's humiliation, which Leon detects in his tone.
  • His command ability earns official recognition, while discovering his rightful title and entering Venetia's household intensify the pain of his subordinate station; Venetia explicitly recognizes his gentility.
  • The disparity between Bertie's merits and rank now obstructs Rake's advancement too: Rake refuses to outrank him despite earning promotion through gallantry.
  • Despite his subordinate rank, Bertie assumes effective command after the officers fall; the survivors rally around him and ratify his refusal to surrender.
  • The general recognizes Bertie as the Victor of Zaraila, and official praise makes promotion expected, though no promotion is recorded.
  • His lost inheritance and bitterness about military honors remain painful, although Venetia's renewed friendship restores equality within their personal encounter.
  • Release from imposed servitude and restoration to his birthright end Bertie's subordinate military condition.

• The skipper's gratitude for Bertie's earlier rescue of his wife and fellow passengers secures Bertie and Rake passage to Algeria.

• Bertie supplements his military pay by carving miniatures and assigning Rake to sell them, using the proceeds to relieve others' needs.

  • Bertie withdraws the cherished chessmen from sale and offers them as a gift, but the visitor will accept them only through purchase; the encounter ends without a transfer.
  • Military compulsion overrides Bertie's control over his carvings; he leaves the cherished chessmen with Venetia without a settled payment.
  • Ben learns of the ivory carving and insists on receiving Bertie's future work, opening a prospective outlet despite Bertie's reluctance to exploit his gratitude.
  • Further ivory carvings are sold to provide for Leon.
  • Bertie's practice of useful craft extends into the regiment's communal life, encouraging comrades to work alongside him instead of drinking or stealing.

• Bertie seeks money from his carvings to buy comforts for the dying Leon; the dealer's initial refusal obstructs him, but subsequent payment enables his intended purchases.

  • Bertie's carvings are sold for Leon's benefit, and he brings comforts to his bedside, including flowers and peaches from Venetia's gifts. Leon's death ends the continuing need.

• Cigarette secretly finances the purchase of Bertie's carvings and coerces the dealer into concealing her intervention. Bertie accepts the supposed sale without discovering his benefactor.

• Rake longs for an opportunity to attack Chateauroy in response to his treatment of Bertie.

  • Rake makes a specific threat to kill Chateauroy if Bertie attempts to procure his promotion, and Bertie recognizes that he would carry it out.

• Bertie's courteous offer of his cherished chessmen meets the patrician visitor's insistence on purchase, leaving him painfully conscious of the social distance between them.

  • The dispute between gift and purchase continues. Venetia defends Bertie and retains the chessmen, but compensation remains unsettled and her compassionate tone wounds his sense of social equality.
  • Giving Venetia his cherished chessmen continues to pain Bertie, while learning that she defended his gentlemanly character gives him unexpected gratification.
  • The chessmen remain a contested expression of gentlemanly generosity. Venetia finally stops pressing personal payment, while both remain conscious of the social distance between them.
  • The payment misunderstanding is cleared, restoring goodwill and developing their acquaintance into personal sympathy, intimate conversation and confidence; the cherished chessmen remain intact and displayed.

• Bertie plans to request an assignment outside the city after the painful encounter with the patrician visitor.

  • Renewed distress strengthens Bertie's determination to avoid Venetia, while the dawn marching orders provide an impending departure from the city without establishing that he requested it.

• Bertie commits himself to remaining solely a soldier.

  • Bertie affirms his attachment to soldiering and refuses patronage that would bring recognition, returning to regimental life.
  • Despite renewed longing for his inherited position, Bertie again relinquishes restoration and accepts remaining a soldier.
  • Bertie reaffirms his renunciation of former privileges and fulfills his soldierly commitment through leadership and defense of the Eagle.
  • Despite renewed longing for his former honor, Bertie maintains the renunciation that binds him to his present life and leaves on military service.
  • Bertie rejects renewed temptation to recover his former position and commits to continuing his present life.
  • Bertie's commitment to remaining solely a soldier is superseded by his release and restoration.

• Bertie promises to endure indignity rather than provoke resistance that could draw his comrades into a fatal mutiny; he keeps this promise during the compulsory presentation of his carvings.

  • Cigarette reveals that she attended the villa to check his compliance with his promise; the chessmen pass to Venetia.
  • Bertie endures renewed abuse and requires Picpon to express loyalty through discipline rather than insubordination.
  • Recognizing his comrades' readiness to revolt, Bertie restrains his response to the payment and explicitly renews his promise to endure Chateauroy's treatment.
  • Chateauroy's insult to Venetia breaks Bertie's restraint: he assaults and threatens the colonel, abandoning his promise to endure abuse for his comrades' safety.

• Cigarette regards Venetia as a romantic rival, and comparison with her beauty and aristocratic grace turns jealousy into painful awareness of her own deprivation and self-hatred.

  • Cigarette interprets Bertie's pleasure in Venetia's approval as valuing it above her rescue. Jealousy renews her determination to appear callous, and recognizing his absence of desire deepens her hurt.
  • Venetia's charity and Bertie's praise intensify Cigarette's jealousy. She urges rejection of the gifts, contemplates killing Bertie, and seeks compensation for her unrecognized sacrifice in revelry.
  • Cigarette identifies Venetia as the woman behind Philip's inquiry, reacts with jealous suspicion and learns that her aristocratic rival is his sister.
  • Seeing Venetia renews Cigarette's jealousy and hatred and intensifies her sense of social inferiority and anxiety about her future.
  • Jealousy and class resentment escalate into a threat against Venetia, whose composure leaves Cigarette humiliated. Jealousy revives when she is asked to act as messenger, but she ultimately cannot sustain her hatred.
  • Cigarette carries out her service to Bertie despite renewed consuming jealousy and resentment toward Venetia.
  • Her jealousy partly becomes a longing to resemble Venetia; despite inferring that Bertie's fatal offense defended her rival, Cigarette chooses his rescue.

• Venetia recognizes Chateauroy's deliberate humiliation of Bertie and intervenes to protect him, provoking Chateauroy's increased anger at her defense.

  • Venetia's defense of Bertie's gentlemanly character reaches him through Cigarette and moves him.
  • Venetia's protective interest deepens into pity and proposed intervention with senior authorities, although Bertie refuses her patronage.
  • Venetia's protection expands from requesting leniency to condemning Chateauroy, excluding him and offering influence on Bertie's behalf.

• Chateauroy offers Bertie's chessmen as his own gift to Venetia and threatens their destruction to compel Bertie's obedience.

• Venetia seeks a fitting way to compensate Bertie after retaining his chessmen despite his refusal of payment.

  • Venetia abandons personal recompense after understanding why payment affronts him and accepts hospital charity as the alternative he suggests; the charity itself remains to be carried out.

• Bertie's intervention against four intoxicated riders brings a lethal attack; Cigarette's armed intervention frees him and drives the survivors away.

• Bertie remains with the dead rider to secure a decent burial and protect innocent passers-by from suspicion; Cigarette undertakes to report the fight and send men with a stretcher.

• Bertie seeks to identify whom the Princesse resembles from his former life.

  • Recognition of the bonbonniere reveals Venetia as the Petite Reine of his former life.

• Cigarette seeks fair recognition of Bertie's conduct and his promotion.

  • Cigarette reports Bertie's battlefield leadership to the commandant and obtains a promise of due recognition; no promotion is yet recorded.
  • Cigarette recommends Bertie directly to the general, who recognizes his battlefield distinction; promotion is expected but remains unconfirmed.
  • Cigarette offers her own Cross for Bertie, publicly credits his leadership and secures the Marshal's assurance that his claims will be investigated and rewarded; his promotion remains unconfirmed.
  • Her pursuit of recognition becomes an urgent demand for vindication. She obtains acknowledgment of Bertie's innocence in the old disgrace and a promise to clear his honor.
  • Cigarette's intervention secures the suspension of his sentence, followed by vindication and restoration rather than military promotion.

• Bertie sustains his determination to live through caring for his fellow soldiers despite renewed despair.

  • Bertie continues caring for a fellow soldier through material help, comfort and attempted rescue, but Leon's death renews his grief and loneliness.
  • Helping his comrades gives Bertie purpose and supports contentment in military life, though encountering Venetia again disrupts that serenity.
  • Philip's appearance renews Bertie's wish for death and anguish over his lost honor. Bertie credits Cigarette's help with sparing him suicidal temptation and proceeds on the mission.
  • Affection for his comrades and the rescue interrupt his despair and restore attention to duty, though he still imagines death as his only escape.

• Bertie's rescue of Picpon transforms sustained persecution into enduring loyalty; Bertie asks that this loyalty take the form of obedience and self-control.

  • Picpon acts as Bertie's trusted informant, bringing news of the march, Rake's arrest and the loyal motive behind Rake's deliberate misconduct.
  • Picpon's loyalty culminates in taking a mortal thrust intended for Bertie; his fall and trampling end their living relationship.
  • Picpon's death ends his living relationship of loyalty to Bertie.

• Picpon plans to steal an officer's gold and frame the recipient's servant, but regard for Bertie makes him restore and deliver the consignment.

• Ben Arsli's gratitude for Bertie's protection provides refuge and prompts his insistence that Bertie bring him future ivory work; Bertie has withheld it to avoid exploiting that gratitude.

• Venetia undertakes to remember Bertie's request for comforts to be sent to hospitalized soldiers after he refuses money for himself or distribution through him.

  • Venetia fulfills Bertie's request by sending wine, fruit and flowers to the hospital, and her gifts reach Leon.
  • Her hospital beneficence confirms that she has acted on Bertie's request, while his account deepens her knowledge of the soldiers' suffering.
  • The reported delivery of Venetia's fruit and wine to hospital patients confirms that her promised assistance has been carried out.

• Venetia's repeated rejection of Beltran gives way to marriage in gratitude for his rescue of Philip; his deliberate fatal removal of his dressings ends the marriage and leaves her enduring self-blame.

• Cigarette sacrifices her possessions and holiday pleasures to comfort wounded soldiers and nurse Leon through his final illness.

• Cigarette urges Miou-Matou to refuse the aristocratic benefactor's gifts, without securing his agreement.

• Shared adversity creates a loving friendship between Bertie and Leon; Leon's death in Bertie's arms leaves Bertie grieving and acutely lonely.

• Leon's account reveals Cigarette's longstanding loyalty and their connection through the portrait that launched his artistic reputation.

• Leon recounts his passionate attachment to an aristocratic patron whose rejection led him to abandon painting and seek exile in Algeria.

• Cigarette maintains an impoverished, isolated veteran with her earnings and arranges continuing care during her absences.

  • As Cigarette dies, Bertie promises to continue care for her dependent old man.

• Bertie's discovery that he is the rightful Lord Royallieu renews his longing for restoration, but reclaiming his name and position would come at another person's expense; he relinquishes the claim and accepts continued military service.

  • Bertie reaffirms his voluntary relinquishment of his former standing and rejects regret over his renunciations.
  • The opportunity to approach Philip renews Bertie's longing for vindication, but he again refuses restoration at the expense of those he protects.
  • Rake learns that Berkeley holds the title and presses Bertie's claim. Bertie invokes the unresolved criminal charge and remains determined not to challenge Berkeley, leaving Rake sorrowful and perplexed.
  • Confronted directly with Berkeley's possession of his rightful inheritance, Bertie withstands the temptation to reclaim it and explicitly renews his surrender of vindication and title.
  • Love for Venetia and doubts about Berkeley renew the temptation to reclaim his birthright, but Bertie maintains his pledge against dispossessing his brother.
  • The possibility of winning Venetia makes restoration an acute temptation, but Bertie preserves his silence and chooses separation.
  • Bertie regains his birthright while responding to Berkeley with compassion rather than punishment.

• Bertie seeks a personal audience with Venetia to return the insulting payment attributed to her; after learning she did not send it, he asks her to return the coins to Chateauroy.

• Venetia seeks Bertie's personal history and resolves to have Lyon investigate after Bertie refuses to disclose it.

  • Venetia learns Bertie's identity and the forgery accusation, but not the protected culprit; she eventually promises to stop questioning his renunciation.
  • Cigarette independently voices the suspicion that Bertie sacrifices himself to protect another person, reinforcing Venetia's understanding without identifying that person.

• Venetia discovers that Chateauroy used her name to humiliate Bertie, withdraws her goodwill and resolves to exclude him and prevent further misuse of her name.

• Venetia receives Bertie's private account of how he compelled Chateauroy to release the Emir's wife and promises to preserve his confidence unless he authorizes disclosure.

• Venetia proposes securing imperial redress for Bertie, but his refusal to permit exposure obstructs the proposal; she offers her family's influence and intends to enlist her brother's persuasion.

  • Philip makes inquiries prompted by Venetia's admiration and wish to help, but abandons them to avoid further discussion of his sister after Cigarette's allegations and Chateauroy's disparaging account.
  • Cigarette urges Bertie's rescue despite her own romantic interests. Venetia renews her promise of help and chooses a private appeal for him to confide in Philip, maintaining that decision despite misgivings.

• Bertie seeks to improve his regiment's effectiveness and daily life by cultivating his comrades' abilities, encouraging useful crafts and conscientious duty, and restraining violence and coarseness.

• Bertie resolves not to see Venetia again because their encounters revive painful longing for his former life and destroy his hard-won contentment.

  • The recovered chain gives Bertie a reason to seek Venetia, overriding his resolution to avoid her; they agree to another meeting.
  • Bertie breaks his earlier resolution by answering the summons, then renews it explicitly by declaring this their last meeting and leaving.

• Military command orders the regiments to march into the interior at dawn for renewed fighting.

• Rake's stabbing of a rival leaves him under arrest as the regiment prepares to march; Bertie is anxious about his misconduct and safety.

• Rake deliberately forfeits promotion through misconduct rather than accept a rank above Cecil, treating advancement as an insult to the man he serves.

• Bertie undertakes to report Rake's loyalty and merits to the Bureaus to secure his advancement, but Rake's refusal and credible threat to kill Chateauroy obstruct his efforts.

• The Arab tribes renew their alliance and armed resistance to French conquest, recovering strength despite French expectations of their submission and attacking French forces.

  • French reinforcements defeat this attack, kill the chief opposing Bertie and drive the Arab troops into retreat; the wider resistance is not shown ending.
  • Renewed rebellion places hostile forces along the dispatch route; their attack endangers both riders and mortally wounds Rake.
  • French operations drive the Arab forces from the contested territory toward the desert, with substantial campaign deaths.

• Bertie acknowledges that he loves Venetia, despite his attempt to banish remembrance of her and his commitment to renouncing his former life.

  • His love intensifies into longing to court Venetia as an equal. He seeks her presence and finds comfort in her sympathy while suppressing disclosure of his feelings.
  • Cigarette reports Bertie's feverish avowal to Venetia, making his love known to her as a possibility that causes sadness and fear.
  • Bertie declares his love and learns that Venetia might eventually reciprocate; his desperate appeals give way to acknowledgment of her rebuke and her forgiveness.
  • Restoration permits Bertie's love for Venetia to develop into a mutual attachment.

• The encircled Chasseurs struggle against annihilation; repeated charges fail to secure escape, but Cigarette and fresh cavalry ultimately save the French detachment.

  • The relief force saves the surrounded soldiers from destruction and establishes French victory on the battlefield.

• Bertie seeks to preserve the cohesion of the surviving Chasseurs after every officer falls, assuming command and rallying them into a reunited troop.

  • Bertie's assumption of command and preservation of the troop are confirmed, and the relief force saves the survivors.

• Bertie and the surviving Chasseurs commit to defending the Eagle rather than surrendering, accepting death when offered quarter.

  • Bertie's refusal to surrender holds through the chief's attack until reinforcements save the troop.

• The Arab chief attempts to obtain the surrounded French survivors' surrender, then renews the assault and singles out Bertie when they refuse.

  • Bertie kills the Arab chief, and the arriving relief force defeats the attempt to overcome the French survivors.

• Cigarette abandons a direct approach to the surrounded troops, obtains the general's authorization and Spahis, and leads reinforcements to their rescue.

  • The reported account confirms that Cigarette obtained reinforcements and reached the threatened troop in time to rescue it.

• The Zouave commandant promises to secure the Cross for Cigarette and due recognition for Bertie, conditional on surviving to write his dispatches.

  • The Zouave commander renews his promise to report and reward Bertie's conduct, while Cigarette's decisive service becomes known and receives public homage. Neither the Cross nor Bertie's formal reward is yet recorded.
  • Cigarette receives the promised Cross, but Bertie's recognition remains delayed by adverse reports and investigation.

• Cigarette searches for Bertie among the casualties, rescues him from beneath his dead horse and nurses him through unconsciousness and fever until refreshing sleep begins.

  • Cigarette's care averts immediate danger and reduces Bertie's fever. She supplies food and accompanies his evacuation, but his exhaustion and suffering continue.
  • Bertie's recovery from the effects of Zaraila is recorded, completing the immediate rescue-and-recovery development.

• Cigarette's growing love for Bertie conflicts with the attachment to his past and another woman that she infers from his keepsakes and delirium, turning the pleasure of nursing him into jealous, bitter vigilance.

  • Cigarette regains much of her buoyancy without losing her heartache, recognizes that love cannot simply be dismissed, and feels renewed admiration for Bertie's generosity.
  • Cigarette's tenderness and sympathetic devotion deepen alongside hurt at Bertie's pity and fear that he will die. Her suspicion that the ring belonged to a mistress is corrected, but she recognizes that his kiss carries no romantic tenderness.
  • Love produces unprecedented fear for Bertie's safety, shame at his apparent indifference, renewed jealousy of Venetia and compassion for his concealed suffering.
  • Bertie's absorption in grief, his delirious naming of her rival and his weary kindness deepen Cigarette's hurt at his apparent emotional indifference.
  • Cigarette recognizes Bertie's love for Venetia as the cause of her hatred and realizes she is exposing her own feelings. She nevertheless puts his relief first and accepts the painful task of carrying Venetia's summons.
  • Cigarette's wish to rescue and serve Bertie prevails in action, while her jealousy revives with violent intensity.
  • Jealous withdrawal gives way to remorse and full acknowledgment of her love; she commits to saving Bertie at the cost of her own life despite believing he struck Chateauroy for Venetia.
  • Cigarette sacrifices herself for Bertie, receives his tenderness and dies; her love is finally recognized without becoming a shared romantic future.

• Cigarette disguises her concern for Bertie and vows that he shall never learn she rescued and nursed him.

  • Cigarette renews her determination to conceal her rescue and nursing, secures Georges's agreement to silence, and believes Bertie remains ignorant of her help.
  • Cigarette discloses her rescue and care of Bertie in her account to Philip; these events do not show Bertie learning of her intervention.
  • Cigarette's retreat is explicitly intended to escape her passion and keep it concealed from Bertie.
  • Her attempt to conceal her devotion is overtaken by Bertie's recognition of her fatal rescue and love; disclosure of the earlier nursing is not specified.

• Cigarette commits to accompanying the wounded evacuation and riding beside Bertie, extending her care to the suffering troopers throughout the journey.

• Bertie seeks to avoid hospital and obtain evacuation to headquarters with men expected to return to service; permission is granted.

• Bertie's generosity toward Zackrist, despite Zackrist's earlier theft and near-disgracing of him, creates grateful attachment; Zackrist reciprocates by exposing his own wounded body to insects to protect Bertie.

• Discovering Zackrist's concealed sacrifice overturns Cigarette's adverse judgment of him and prompts her to give him extra relief.

• Zackrist wishes to conceal from Bertie his use of his own shirt to protect him, and Cigarette agrees to preserve the secret.

• The main army publicly honors Cigarette for her decisive service; its devotion moves her deeply, and she demonstrates her influence by first inflaming and then stilling its patriotic rejoicing.

  • Cigarette again demonstrates authority over the soldiers, controlling access to provisions and directing their attention; the adjutant trusts her to maintain order.
  • Army acclaim becomes national and imperial recognition, culminating in public decoration and further celebration of her courage and generosity.
  • Cigarette uses her decoration to secure access to the Marshal, whose response adds personal recognition of her exceptional heroism.
  • The army's devotion becomes grief and rage at her shooting, followed by repeated military homage at her grave.

• Cigarette undertakes the dying Biribi's delivery of provisions, letters and commissions to the soldiers, brings his convoy into camp and completes the distribution.

• Cigarette and the soldiers vow to avenge Biribi's murder; she seeks to identify the escaped attacker, while military discipline prevents the soldiers from immediately pursuing vengeance.

• Bertie seeks dangerous service outside camp to avoid recognition by Philip and the temptation to reveal himself. Cigarette secures authorization, and Bertie chooses Rake to accompany him before riding out.

  • Bertie carries out the dangerous assignment away from Philip, survives an attack and resumes his duty after Rake's death. Delivery of the dispatches remains unconfirmed.
  • The mission brings Bertie near Venetia's travelling party, and his remembered sight of his old friend underscores the continuing pressure of recognition and reunion.
  • Bertie explains his deliberate flight from Philip and continues avoiding recognition, now with Venetia pledged to conceal him.
  • Bertie now plans to conceal himself within the army rather than leave on dangerous service; Philip intends to seek him, and arrest further restricts his movements.
  • Philip finds and recognizes Bertie, ending the effort to avoid recognition through dangerous service.

• Bertie entrusts Cigarette with concealing him from his best-loved friend; after wounding her by questioning her discretion, he retracts his doubt, affirms trust and receives her pledge of fidelity to death.

  • Cigarette's understanding of Bertie's painful separation from his friend deepens her compassionate concern despite jealousy and wounded pride.
  • After learning that Venetia also holds Bertie's confidence, Cigarette assents to preserving his secret.
  • Cigarette fulfills her pledge of fidelity to death by shielding Bertie from the volley.

• Bertie undertakes to carry the general's dispatches rapidly and silently through hostile country. After escaping an attack and losing Rake, he resumes the mission despite his grief.

  • Despite exhaustion, injury and his horse's lameness, Bertie resumes the errand and delivers the entrusted military instructions.

• Bertie's order that Rake prioritize the dispatches and escape if he falls meets Rake's private determination never to abandon him.

• Cigarette's account of Victor's attachment to Venetia provokes Philip's injured family pride, displacing his interest in helping the trooper and leading him to abandon further inquiry.

  • Philip resumes his inquiry, discovers the soldier is Bertie and commits himself to saving him.

• Mortally wounded, Rake conceals his injury and falls behind so that Bertie can escape; Bertie returns, discovers the sacrifice and refuses Rake's request to leave him.

• Bertie seeks to carry Rake's body away and protect it from scavengers while continuing his mission.

  • Bertie brings Rake's body to shelter, completes his mission, then returns and secures burial with military honors.

• Rake's death leaves Bertie consumed by grief and a sense of personal guilt despite his successful completion of the mission and Rake's burial.

  • Bertie tells Venetia of Rake's death and his recovery of the body; her understanding and sympathy bring him some comfort without ending his grief.
  • Cigarette perceives Bertie as still absorbed in the dead man's memory during the review.

• Berkeley regards Bertie's survival as a threat to his position, while Bertie's enduring brotherly tenderness is wounded by Berkeley's regret and ingratitude.

  • Bertie questions whether Berkeley deserved his sacrifice but still hopes for brotherly conscience or love and renews his protection.
  • Faced with Bertie's impending death and Cigarette's condemnation, Berkeley moves from treating his brother as a threat to acknowledging his sacrifice and attempting restitution.
  • Berkeley's shame and apologies replace his earlier ingratitude, while Bertie maintains compassion and asks for an honorable future.

• Berkeley's responsibility for the crime is disclosed to the reader but remains protected from public exposure by Bertie, who renews his promise of silence.

  • The reader receives confirmation of Berkeley's confession and impersonation. Bertie reveals his own accusation to Venetia while continuing to conceal Berkeley's guilt.
  • Bertie resists the strongest personal temptation to disclose the truth and continues protecting Berkeley through silence.
  • Berkeley's admissions expose his responsibility to Cigarette, whose account enables the Marshal and officers present to recognize that Bertie bore another man's guilt.
  • The concealed truth reaches Philip and Bertie is exonerated; Berkeley acknowledges a debt requiring reparation.

• Bertie charges Berkeley to redeem his past wrongdoing through his future conduct.

  • Berkeley begins acting toward the reparation Bertie demanded by signing an acknowledgment of Bertie's rights and his own wrongdoing.
  • Bertie renews his demand that Berkeley repay his debt through an honest, honorable life; its fulfillment remains unshown.

• Bertie resolves to separate permanently from Berkeley and instructs him to leave Algeria immediately.

  • The instruction to leave Africa is reiterated. Berkeley later leaves the party's location, but his destination and compliance remain unknown.

• Bertie and Venetia agree to meet again despite his continued concealment and the danger of deepening his attachment.

  • The agreed further meeting takes place and ends with Bertie's departure.

• Venetia learns Bertie's identity and accusation, suspects a concealed sacrifice, and promises to conceal his identity until he releases her, including from Philip.

  • Venetia maintains Bertie's confidence despite distress, actively discouraging Philip's inquiries and misleading him to preserve the concealment.
  • Venetia tells Cigarette of Bertie's concealed identity, former friendship with Philip and her promise of secrecy, securing Cigarette's cooperation. She seeks Bertie's voluntary disclosure to Philip.
  • Venetia seeks permission to tell Philip, but Bertie's obligation prevents disclosure; she accepts his decision and his identity remains concealed.
  • Philip learns Bertie's identity and the concealed truth, and Bertie resumes his rightful position.

• Venetia urges Bertie to reclaim his inheritance and former position, but his promise never to dispossess Berkeley prevents restoration.

  • Venetia presses for disclosure and restoration, but recognizes her own partiality and abandons efforts to override Bertie's conscience.
  • Berkeley's voluntary acknowledgment and the Marshal's recognition create a route toward restoring Bertie's identity and honor, although his inheritance has not been restored.
  • Bertie is released and restored to his birthright, achieving the restoration Venetia urged.

• Philip seeks to see the soldier at camp, but Bertie's absence on an expedition prevents the encounter.

  • Philip renews his intention to seek Victor personally after seeing him from behind, but Venetia withdraws her request for inquiry and attempts to prevent the encounter.
  • Philip's interest in the ivory-carving soldier develops into an intention to seek him the following day.
  • Philip reaches the prisoner and discovers that the soldier he sought is Bertie.

• Venetia's efforts to prevent Philip from investigating Victor require misleading explanations that provoke her self-disgust and Philip's persistent unease.

  • Venetia initially seeks Cigarette's help in keeping Bertie away from Philip, then abandons simple avoidance when reminded of military compulsion and resolves to urge voluntary confidence instead.
  • Philip's recognition and receipt of the concealed truth end the need to mislead him about Victor.

• Venetia develops an unprecedented attraction to Bertie's self-sacrificing heroism, while his suffering and her concealment of him disturb her deeply.

  • Venetia learns explicitly of Bertie's love, recognizes that she might love and marry him, and begins to connect her own future happiness with his deliverance.
  • Venetia's attraction deepens into romantic love and tenderness, accompanied by sorrow over Cigarette's sacrifice.

• Having attained her cherished military distinction, Cigarette finds public admiration unable to sustain her happiness and falls into despair over slaughter and the limits of relieving suffering.

  • Cigarette's lost happiness deepens into loneliness, while the immediate dangers of rescuing Bertie restore her courage and steadiness.

• Cigarette enters Venetia's tent intending to humiliate her and escalates to an armed threat, but Venetia's composure defeats the attack and induces her to surrender her pistol.

• Venetia's courage and appeals to justice overcome Cigarette's sustained hatred; Venetia recognizes Cigarette's selfless love and feels compassion for her, although Cigarette's jealousy persists.

  • Cigarette honors her undertaking to Venetia and serves Bertie's interests despite a resurgence of hatred toward her rival.

• Venetia resolves to summon Bertie privately and urge him to confide in Philip; Cigarette overcomes renewed jealousy and agrees to carry the summons.

  • Cigarette delivers the summons and Venetia personally urges Bertie to confide in Philip; the interview concludes without securing disclosure.

• Bertie declares his interview with Venetia their last and seeks permanent separation to preserve his secret, asking her to forget him and regard him as dead.

  • Bertie's intended permanent separation from Venetia is superseded by exoneration, restoration and their deepened love.

• Venetia determines to maintain her concern for Bertie and establish a means of receiving news that he remains alive.

  • Bertie's restoration and their mutual attachment supersede Venetia's need for a distant means of learning whether he lives.

• Bertie's refusal to explain his absence escalates into an assault on Chateauroy after the colonel insults Venetia; Bertie is disarmed and arrested.

  • The assault leads to a formal trial and death sentence. Bertie withholds his motive, refuses further vindication and acquiesces in the sentence; the reprieve has not yet reached him.
  • The arrest culminates in an attempted execution, but Cigarette's intervention and the Marshal's order save Bertie, who is subsequently released.

• Chateauroy conceals Bertie's arrest and the incident during the night's celebrations, with the field officers agreeing to leave the festivities undisturbed; Venetia departs without learning his fate.

  • Bertie concludes that Venetia's name will remain outside the accusation, relieving his anxiety about her exposure. News of his arrest and sentence nevertheless reaches Cigarette.
  • Philip learns of the execution despite the earlier concealment, while Venetia leaves Africa without hearing of the sentence.

• Cigarette resolves to leave camp temporarily to visit Blanc-Bec and rides away without warning or farewell.

  • Cigarette withdraws to her tower refuge, but news of Bertie's sentence ends her retreat and redirects her departure into a rescue mission.

• Cigarette seeks to prevent Bertie's execution and vindicate his honor, obtaining a reprieve and undertaking its delivery before dawn despite exhaustion and mortal danger.

  • Cigarette delivers the reprieve and saves Bertie by taking the volley herself; his subsequent exoneration completes the vindication she sought.

• Berkeley undertakes reparation by surrendering his claim to Bertie's position and signing a declaration of Bertie's identity, rightful title and his own unlawful possession of it.

  • Bertie's identity and innocence are established and his birthright restored, fulfilling the intended reparation through Berkeley's surrender of the claim.

• The Marshal orders Bertie's execution halted pending inquiry, promises to clear his honor even if rescue fails, and authorizes immediate delivery of the reprieve.

  • The Marshal's suspension order reaches the execution ground and is read, and Bertie survives to be exonerated and released.

• Cigarette's offer to sacrifice herself wins the Arab chief's respect and protection; he releases her and gives her his prized charger, transforming her view of his faith and prompting a promise to return.

• Philip commits to preventing Bertie's execution, offering to interpose himself before the firing squad and repeatedly seeking time for an appeal; the officers refuse and soldiers restrain him.

• Bertie asks Philip to conceal his impending execution from Venetia, who has left Africa without learning of his sentence.

• Recognition of Cigarette's love and fatal sacrifice leaves Bertie with remorse and enduring grief; Venetia's happiness with him is shadowed by her sense of unworthiness beside Cigarette.

• The soldiers blame Bertie for Cigarette's mortal wounds, turning their grief and rage against the man she saved.

• Bertie promises to assume care of Cigarette's dependent old man and animals.

Places

Green Park, Piccadilly, Paris, Shires, London, England, Baden, Star and Garter, Lyonnesse, Europe, York, Nice, Hindostan, Holt Wood, Beebyside, Burkby village, Hamilton Farm, The Spinnies, Valley of the Wreake, Glenn Gorse, Market Harborough, Royallieu Park, The Scrubs, Richmond, Algeria, Hyde Park, Hampton Court, Thames, Asnieres, Seine, Richmond Park, Eton, Iffesheim, France, Stephanien, Gardens of the Stephanien, Black Forest, Badischer Hof, Leyden, Lubeck, The Kursaal, The Sahel, Place du Gouvernement, Marseilles, Africa, Cashbah, Algiers, Ruined mosque, Oran, Sahara, Beylick, Granaila, Brest Harbor, Rue Babazoum, Le Chateau de Cigarette, Mentone, Villa Aioussa, The Chambree, Languedoc, Sabasasta, Zaraila, As de Pique