Part 1 (1/2)

The Adventures of Gerard

by Arthur Conan Doyle

PREFACE

I hope that some readers may possibly be interested in these little tales of the Napoleonic soldiers to the extent of following thee was rich in military material, some of it the most hu aside historical works or the biographies of the leaders there is as and their experiences, stated always from the point of view of the particular branch of the service to which they belonged The Cavalry were particularly happy in their writers of uerre des Francais en Espagne” has given the narrative of a Hussar, while De Naylies in his ”Mens frooon Then we have the ”Souvenirs Militaires du Colonel de Gonneville,” which treats a series of wars, including that of Spain, as seen from under the steel-bri all these works, and a all military memoirs, are the falish forain we obtain the Cavalry point of view A of the Napoleonic soldier I would specially reconet,” which treat the wars from the point of view of the private of the Guards, and ”Les Meoyne,” as a non-coeant Fricasse and the Recollections of de Fezenac and of de Segur complete the ive a true historical and ure

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

March, 1903

I How Brigadier Gerard Lost His Ear

It was the old Brigadier as talking in the cafe

I have seen a great many cities, my friends I would not dare to tell you how ht hundred ofbehind me The cavalry were in front of the Grande Armee, and the Hussars of Conflans were in front of the cavalry, and I was in front of the Hussars But of all the cities which we visited Venice is the ine how the people who laid it out thought that the cavalry coulda squadron into that square of theirs For this reason we left Kellerade and also my own Hussars at Padua on the mainland But Suchet with the infantry held the town, and he had chosen me as his aide-de-camp for that winter, because he was pleased about the affair of the Italian fencing-ood swordsman, and it was fortunate for the credit of French arms that it was I as opposed to him Besides, he deserved a lesson, for if one does not like a pri one can always be silent, but it is intolerable that a public affront should be put upon a pretty woman So the sympathy was all with me, and after the affair had blown over and the alloper, and I followed hie adventure which I am about to tell you

You have not been to Venice? No, for it is seldoreat travellers in those days From Moscow to Cairo we had travelled everywhere, but ent in larger parties than were convenient to those e visited, and we carried our passports in our limbers It will be a bad day for Europe when the French start travelling again, for they are slow to leave their homes, but when they have done so no one can say how far they will go if they have a guide like our little one and the greatwine of Suresnes and telling old tales in a cafe

But it is of Venice that I would speak The folk there live like water-rats upon a mud-bank, but the houses are very fine, and the churches, especially that of St Mark, are as great as any I have seen

But above all they are proud of their statues and their pictures, which are the most famous in Europe There are many soldiers who think that because one's trade is toand plunder There was old Bouvet, for example--the one as killed by the Prussians on the day that I won the Emperor's medal; if you took him away from the camp and the canteen, and spoke to him of books or of art, he would sit and stare at you But the highest soldier is a s of thewhen I joined the army, and that the quarter-o about the world with your eyes open you cannot help learning a great deal

Thus I was able to adreat elus, and the others, who had painted them No one can say that Napoleon did not ad which he did when he captured the toas to send the best of theet, and I had two pictures for my share

One of them, called ”Nymphs Surprised,” I kept for myself, and the other, ”Saint Barbara,” I sent as a present for my mother

It must be confessed, however, that some of our men behaved very badly in this matter of the statues and the pictures The people at Venice were very much attached to theate of their great church, they loved them as dearly as if they had been their children I have always been a judge of a horse, and I had a good look at these ones, but I could not see that there was much to be said for thees and they had not the weight for the gun-teams

However, they were the only four horses, alive or dead, in the whole town, so it was not to be expected that the people would know any better They wept bitterly when they were sent away, and ten French soldiers were found floating in the canals that night As a punishreat many more of their pictures were sent away, and the soldiers took to breaking the statues and firing their lass s

Thisin the town Many officers andthat winter, and even their bodies were never found

For myself I had plenty to do, and I never found the time heavy on my hands In every country it has been e For this reason I always look round for soh to teach it to ether This is theit up, and before I was thirty I could speak nearly every tongue in Europe; but it must be confessed that what you learn is not of much use for the ordinary purposes of life My business, for example, has usually been with soldiers and peasants, and what advantage is it to be able to say to them that I love only them, and that I will come back when the wars are over?

Never have I had so sweet a teacher as in Venice Lucia was her first naets second names I can say this with all discretion, that she was of one of the senatorial fae of the town

She was of an exquisite beauty--and when I, Etienne Gerard, use such a word as ”exquisite,” ment, I have memories, I have the means of comparison Of all the women who have loved me there are not twenty to whoain that Lucia was exquisite

Of the dark type I do not recall her equal unless it were Dolores of Toledo There was a little brunette who under Massena in Portugal--her name has escaped ure nor the grace of Lucia

There was Agnes also I could not put one before the other, but I do none an injustice when I say that Lucia was the equal of the best

It was over this matter of pictures that I had first met her, for her father owned a palace on the farther side of the Rialto Bridge upon the Grand Canal, and it was so packed all-paintings that Suchet sent a party of sappers to cut soone doith them, and after I had seen Lucia in tears it appeared to me that the plaster would crack if it were taken from the support of the wall I said so, and the sappers ithdrawn After that I was the friend of the family, and many a flask of Chianti have I cracked with the father and hter Some of our French officers ht have done the same, for I loved her with all iment, his mother, his Emperor, and his career A debonair Hussar has rooht then, my friends, but I did not see the lonely days when I should long to clasp those vanished hands, and turn my head ahen I saw old co round their chairs This love which I had thought was a joke and a plaything--it is only now that I understand that it is the s--Thank you, ood wine, and a second bottle cannot hurt

And noill tell you how my love for Lucia was the cause of one of the most terrible of all the wonderful adventures which have ever befallen ht ear