Ouida

Under Two Flags Ouida

Handsome young Bertie Cecil, star horseman, pride of the Queen's guards, and heir to the Royallieu fortune, is forced to flee England when he accepts the blame for a scandal that threatens the honour of his mistress and the reputation of his younger brother. Faking his death, Cecil heads to Algeria, where he enlists anonymously in the Foreign Legion and serves under the French flag. Determined to live and die in obscurity and sworn never to return to England, Cecil finds his resolution shaken by his relationships with two women who love him, the haughty Princess Venetia Corona and the young "unsexed" soldier Cigarette. And when Cecil is forced to make a choice between the two flags of England and France, a terrible sacrifice will have to be made, which will lead to tragedy.