France, 1588: a Huguenot gentleman of forty with a good sword, a bad horse and no money is given a commission by the King of Navarre that cannot be admitted to and probably cannot be survived. Weyman failed at the bar and was briefly jailed in France as a suspected spy while on holiday; this 1893 novel made his name, and Stevenson admired it — the poverty of the hero is the fresh thing, and he counts every coin.