The Cavalier, Vol. 1, No. 2

# An Aristocrat

Eleanor M. Ingram, serial story, November 1908

The opening chapter "The Opened Book" depicts a dying French marquis on his deathbed addressing a boy, Esmé de Gérin, about mysterious words above the door ("Rather death than wrong"). The marquis reveals he met Esmé's mother years ago and mentions Jean, the blacksmith's son at the forge—both born the same year. The marquis dies after the doctor visits, and Esmé, now inheriting the title, unexpectedly discovers Jean is his half-brother at the forge. Despite their vastly different stations, Esmé brings the boy to the chateau to educate him.

"The First Page" jumps forward seven years. The brothers, now young men, prepare to journey to Paris for Esmé's twenty-second birthday. A mysterious gentleman caller named Dubois arrives seeking shelter, revealing he races to Paris to save a woman accused of poisoning—caught as the instrument while the actual noble poisoner escapes justice. Jean rejects Dubois's cynicism about survival without honor.