{"product_id":"2940013091580","title":"The Exploits of BRIGADIER GERARD","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. How the Brigadier slew the brothers of Ajaccio\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3. How the Brigadier held the King\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4. How the King held the Brigadier\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5. How the Brigadier took the field against the Marshal Millefleurs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e6. How the Brigadier played for a kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7. How the Brigadier won his Medal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e8. How the Brigadier was tempted by the Devil\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. HOW THE BRIGADIER CAME TO THE CASTLE OF GLOOM[A]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou do very well, my friends, to treat me with some little reverence,\u003cbr\u003efor in honouring me you are honouring both France and yourselves. It is\u003cbr\u003enot merely an old, grey-moustached officer whom you see eating his\u003cbr\u003eomelette or draining his glass, but it is a fragment of history. In me\u003cbr\u003eyou see one of the last of those wonderful men, the men who were\u003cbr\u003eveterans when they were yet boys, who learned to use a sword earlier\u003cbr\u003ethan a razor, and who during a hundred battles had never once let the\u003cbr\u003eenemy see the colour of their knapsacks. For twenty years we were\u003cbr\u003eteaching Europe how to fight, and even when they had learned their\u003cbr\u003elesson it was only the thermometer, and never the bayonet, which could\u003cbr\u003ebreak the Grand Army down. Berlin, Naples, Vienna, Madrid, Lisbon,\u003cbr\u003eMoscow--we stabled our horses in them all. Yes, my friends, I say again\u003cbr\u003ethat you do well to send your children to me with flowers, for these\u003cbr\u003eears have heard the trumpet calls of France, and these eyes have seen\u003cbr\u003eher standards in lands where they may never be seen again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven now, when I doze in my arm-chair, I can see those great warriors\u003cbr\u003estream before me--the green-jacketed chasseurs, the giant cuirassiers,\u003cbr\u003ePoniatowsky's lancers, the white-mantled dragoons, the nodding bearskins\u003cbr\u003eof the horse grenadiers. And then there comes the thick, low rattle of\u003cbr\u003ethe drums, and through wreaths of dust and smoke I see the line of high\u003cbr\u003ebonnets, the row of brown faces, the swing and toss of the long, red\u003cbr\u003eplumes amid the sloping lines of steel. And there rides Ney with his red\u003cbr\u003ehead, and Lefebvre with his bulldog jaw, and Lannes with his Gascon\u003cbr\u003eswagger; and then amidst the gleam of brass and the flaunting feathers I\u003cbr\u003ecatch a glimpse of _him_, the man with the pale smile, the rounded\u003cbr\u003eshoulders, and the far-off eyes. There is an end of my sleep, my\u003cbr\u003efriends, for up I spring from my chair, with a cracked voice calling and\u003cbr\u003ea silly hand outstretched, so that Madame Titaux has one more laugh at\u003cbr\u003ethe old fellow who lives among the shadows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough I was a full Chief of Brigade when the wars came to an end, and\u003cbr\u003ehad every hope of soon being made a General of Division, it is still\u003cbr\u003erather to my earlier days that I turn when I wish to talk of the glories\u003cbr\u003eand the trials of a soldier's life. For you will understand that when an\u003cbr\u003eofficer has so many men and horses under him, he has his mind full of\u003cbr\u003erecruits and remounts, fodder and farriers, and quarters, so that even\u003cbr\u003ewhen he is not in the face of the enemy, life is a very serious matter\u003cbr\u003efor him. But when he is only a lieutenant or a captain he has nothing\u003cbr\u003eheavier than his epaulettes upon his shoulders, so that he can clink his\u003cbr\u003espurs and swing his dolman, drain his glass and kiss his girl, thinking\u003cbr\u003eof nothing save of enjoying a gallant life. That is the time when he is\u003cbr\u003elikely to have adventures, and it is often to that time that I shall\u003cbr\u003eturn in the stories which I may have for you. So it will be tonight when\u003cbr\u003eI tell you of my visit to the Castle of Gloom; of the strange mission of\u003cbr\u003eSub-Lieutenant Duroc, and of the horrible affair of the man who was once\u003cbr\u003eknown as Jean Carabin, and afterwards as the Baron Straubenthal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou must know, then, that in the February of 1807, immediately after the\u003cbr\u003etaking of Danzig, Major Legendre and I were commissioned to bring four\u003cbr\u003ehundred remounts from Prussia into Eastern Poland.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079343358192,"sku":"2940013091580","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013091580_p0.jpg?v=1763576686","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013091580","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}