The Four Feathers

CHAPTER I "Lieutenant Sutch was the first of General Feversham's guests to reach Broad Place. He arrived about five o'clock on an afternoon of sunshine in mid June, and the old red-brick house, lodged on a southern slope of the Surrey hills, was glowing from a dark forest depth of pines with the warmth of a rare jewel. Lieutenant Sutch limped across the hall, where the portraits of the Fevershams rose one above the other to the ceiling, and went out on to the stone-flagged terrace at the back. There he found his host sitting erect like a boy, and gazing southward toward the Sussex Downs..." Against the background of the Mahdist War, a young man disgraces himself by quitting the army, which friends perceive as cowardice, symbolized by the four white feathers they give him. He redeems himself, feather by feather, with acts of physical courage to save his friends. He also wins back the heart of the woman he loves. A. E. W. Mason's classic has been the basis for numerous successful film adaptations, including the acclaimed 2002 version starring Heath Ledger.