|
'Charles
Stuart-Dene,
Marquess of
Alverley,
looked at
humanity,
and wondered
why it was.'
And, with
this first
sentence,
the reader
is off into
another
world. A
world of
love and
adventure in
the company
of this
slightly
cynical,
always
imperturbable,
very
British, and
completely
bold young
man.
Alverley
stands
quietly
observing a
little scene
in a petty
German
court. He is
in the
Porcelain
Gallery with
the local
royal
family.
There are
many of
these tiny
kingdoms --
full of
intrigue and
cruelty,
music, heavy
food,
spartan
virtues (and
evils). The
Crown Prince
Fritz is
completing
the playing
of his own
composition.
The curtain
is already
going up on
a sinister
prelude to
the march of
Prussian
power. To a
greater
extent than
any other of
Mr.
Sabatini's
novels, this
reconstruction
of another
era throws a
strong light
upon the
happenings
of today. It
seems a
Germanic
pattern that
frustrated
artists go
off into
schemes of
military
conquest.
The heavy
tread of
Frederick's
grenadiers
has indeed
echoed down
to be heard
by our own
ears. |
