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Reduce the age of the protagonist and dispose with the final marriage celebrations and we have a Napoleonic adventure that would be at home in a pre-1914 Chums or Boy's Own Paper. It could have been written by S. Walkey, or G. Godfray Sellick, or W. Bourne Cook; there were lots of them to choose from and all much alike. And it is rather like a novel written by a short story writer.

The story involves Louis de Laval, the son of an exiled aristocrat, who is persuaded to return to his native France by his scheming uncle. He finds that his uncle is a police spy who, among other ambitions, wants him to marry his daughter to legitimise his possession of the family château. The daughter's lover, who is a coward of no small repute, is being held in prison for plotting against the Emperor. Said daughter's judgement of character is somewhat clouded by romance and wants Louis to help win the young man's freedom by capturing his brave and ferocious co-conspirator Toussac � with the help of the soldier who would become Brigadier Gerard in later stories. Of course, all works out well in the end.

The problem is, to make that story long enough to be a novel we have, sandwiched in the middle, a large chunk of Napoleon fan-worship when Louis is brought to the camp of the Grande Armee at Boulogne. We are introduced to Napoleon the commander, Napoleon the strategist, Napoleon the judge of human character, Napoleon the colossus towering over Talleyrand, Ney, Murat, Lannes, Auguereau, and the rest. All interesting enough, but it would be more at home in an introductory textbook.

Uncle Bernac meets his deserved end. Which provides the moral of the story: be careful when doing owl impersonations.