The Project Gutenberg EBook of General Bramble, by Andre Maurois

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Title: General Bramble

Author: Andre Maurois

Translator: Jules Castier
Ronald Boswell

Release Date: December 3, 2009 [EBook #30596]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GENERAL BRAMBLE ***

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GENERAL BRAMBLE

_by_

ANDRE MAUROIS

_translated by_

JULES CASTIER and RONALD BOSWELL

JOHN LANE
THE BODLEY HEAD LTD

First Published 1921

First Published in The Week-End Library 1931

MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY

MORRISON AND GIBB LTD, LONDON AND EDINBURGH

CONTENTS

I. Portraits
II. Diplomacy
III. The Tower of Babel
IV. A Business Man in the Army
V. The Story of Private Biggs
VI. An Air Raid
VII. Love and the Infant Dundas
VIII. A Great Chef
IX. Prelude a la Soiree d'un General
X. Private Brommit's Conversion
XI. Justice
XII. Variations
XIII. The Cure
XIV. The Beginning of the End
XV. Danse Macabre
XVI. The Glory of the Garden
XVII. Letter from Colonel Parker to Aurelle
XVIII. General Bramble's Return

GENERAL BRAMBLE

CHAPTER I

PORTRAITS

"As to what the picture represents, that depends upon who looks
at it."--Whistler.

The French Mission in its profound wisdom had sent as liaison officer
to the Scottish Division a captain of Dragoons whose name was
Beltara.

"Are you any relation to the painter, sir?" Aurelle, the interpreter,
asked him.

"What did you say?" said the dragoon. "Say that again, will you? You
_are_ in the army, aren't you? You are a soldier, for a little time
at any rate? and you claim to know that such people as painters
exist? You actually admit the existence of that God-forsaken species?"

And he related how he had visited the French War Office after he had
been wounded, and how an old colonel had made friends with him and
had tried to find him a congenial job.