The Four Feathers

Front Cover
Penguin, Oct 1, 2001 - Fiction - 320 pages

Just before sailing off to war in the Sudan, British guardsman Harry Feversham quits his regiment. He immediately receives four white feathers-symbols of cowardice-one each from his three best friends and his fiancée. To disprove this grave dishonor, Harry dons an Arabian disguise and leaves for the Sudan, where he anonymously comes to the aid of his three friends, saving each of their lives. Having proved his bravery, Harry returns to England, hoping to regain the love and respect of his fiancée. This suspenseful tale movingly depicts a distinctive code of honor that was deeply valued and strongly promoted by the British during the height of their imperial power.

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Selected pages

Contents

A Crimean Night
5
Captain Trench and a Telegram
15
The Last Ride Together
22
The Ball at Lennon House
28
The Pariah
40
Harry Fevershams Plan
45
The Last Reconnaissance
55
Lieutenant Sutch Is Tempted to Lie
62
Mrs Adair Intervenes
157
East and West
166
Ethne Makes Another Slip
173
Durrance Lets His Cigar Go Out
181
Mrs Adair Makes Her Apology
189
On the Nile
196
Lieutenant Sutch Comes Off the HalfPay List
201
General Fevershams Portraits Are Appeased
214

At Glenalla
69
The Wells of Obak
78
Durrance Hears News of Feversham
83
Durrance Sharpens His Wits
90
Durrance Begins to See
104
Captain Willoughby Reappears
112
The Story of the First Feather
121
Captain Willoughby Retires
132
The Melusine Overture
141
The Answer to the Overture
147
The House of Stone
220
Plans of Escape
232
Colonel Trench Assumes a Knowledge of Chemistry
242
The Last of the Southern Cross
253
Feversham Returns to Ramelton
261
Again Plays the Melusine Overture
267
Ethne Again Plays the Melusine Overture
275
The End
281
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About the author (2001)

Gary Hoppenstand is a professor in the Department of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University. He has researched and published widely in the areas of popular culture and popular fiction studies, and he edited the Penguin Classics editions of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda/Rupert of Hentzau and A.E.W. Mason's The Four Feathers. He is the past president of the Popular Culture Association, and the current editor of The Journal of Popular Culture.

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