Publisher's Synopsis
The setting is on or near the north coast of France. The year is approximately 1806. Napoleon is Emperor of France and is still married to Josephine. Louis de Lavale, a young French exile who has grown from childhood to manhood in Ashford, Kent, is returning to France at the invitation of his Uncle Charles Bernac and with a desire to enter the military service of Emperor Napoleon. On the outside of the sealed invitation from Uncle Bernac some other hand has written, "Don't come." Louis is landed at night on the coast of France, near his royalist family's former estate that is now in possession of Uncle Bernac. With his landing Louis' adventure begins. In the space of a few weeks, fate, circumstances, determination and effort take Louis from the salty marshes where he first sets foot onto French soil to his former family estate, from there to the military encampment from which Napoleon was planning to cross the English Channel, and then to the temporary Imperial Court at Pont de Briques. Along the way he encounters conspirators, traitors and murderers, learns of the evil intentions and potential treachery of his Uncle Bernac, comes to admire the beauty, honor and determination of Bernac's daughter, Sibylle, and is taken into service as one of Napoleon's aides-de-camp. In addition, Louis encounters and establishes a friendship bond with a young lieutenant of Hussars, Etienne Gerard, who is the principal fictional character in a related group of Conan Doyle's light historical adventure stories.
