EBOOK THE POINT OF HONOR ***
Produced by David Widger
THE POINT OF HONOR
BY
A MILITARY TALE
BY
JOSEPH CONRAD
ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAN SAYRE GROESBECK
NEW YORK
THE MCCLURE COMPANY
MCMVIII
Copyright, 1908, by The McClure Company
Copyright, 1907, 1908, by Joseph Conrad
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"You will fight no more duels now" Frontispiece
"Bowing before a sylph-like form reclining on a couch"
"The angry clash of arms filled that prim garden"
"You take the nearest brute, Colonel D'Hubert"
I
Napoleon the First, whose career had the quality of a duel against the
whole of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The
great military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect
for tradition.
Nevertheless, a story of duelling which became a legend in the army runs
through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration of
their fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refined
gold or paint the lily, pursued their private contest through the
years of universal carnage. They were officers of cavalry, and their
connection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men
into battle seems particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to
imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry of the line,
for example, whose fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise and whose
valour necessarily must be of a more plodding kind.
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