Second to None: A Military Romance, Volume 3 (of 3)

In Short

Set against the backdrop of the Seven Years' War, this military romance follows Basil Gauntlet, a hard-up British cavalry officer serving in Germany. Basil fights in major engagements like Minden and Corbach, confronts treacherous staff officers and enemy engineers, and untangles complicated romantic entanglements involving French aristocrats and his wealthy Scottish cousin, Aurora. Blending brisk historical action with domestic melodrama, the narrative charts Basil's journey from a disillusioned soldier to a restored landowner. It endures as a vivid, old-fashioned window into eighteenth-century campaign life and romantic convention.

The Story

The narrative begins in the winter quarters and campaign tents of the British army in Germany during the Seven Years' War. Cornet Basil Gauntlet reunites with the insincere and perfumed Major Shirley, learning of upcoming advances, and receives letters from his cousin Aurora, who is residing at Netherwood and altering his ancestral Scottish estate alongside local figures like Mr. Nathan Wylie. Following the bloody engagement at Minden—which yields vast stores of grain but is ultimately marred by Lord George Sackville's failure to order a cavalry pursuit due to Shirley's battlefield panic—Basil takes part in storming the stone bridge and tower of Freyenthal. There, he clashes with a hostile German baron who attempts to shoot his colonel, leading to the baron's imprisonment and his wife's transfer to a convent.

Soon afterward, Basil is captured by the Volontaires de Clermont and brought to the castle of Ysembourg under the gaze of the Duc de Broglie. Here, he encounters the gracious French engineer Monjoy and witnesses the swift drumhead court-martial and brutal execution of a disreputable soldier, Silvain de Pricorbin. Amid dinners and discussions with French officers like Boisguiller, Basil hears tales of court intrigues and the tragic romance of Monjoy, whose beloved Isabelle was sold into a miserable marriage to an older man. Basil eventually navigates further conflicts, surviving a treacherous crossing at a frozen river ford while hunted by the dead Pricorbin's vengeful brother. He also encounters his former flame, Jacqueline, only to realize his youthful heartbreak over her was entirely misplaced.

Rejoining his regiment with the aid of the mighty Hob Elliot—who escapes captivity through a vaulted trench—Basil fights in the bloody engagement on the heights of Corbach and participates in a daring nocturnal cavalry charge into the town against French forces. With the campaign eventually pausing, Basil receives six months' leave and travels back to London. Surrounded by the pomp of Kensington Palace and high-society drawing-rooms, he meets his wealthy cousin Aurora and her companion, Madam Blythe. Although his grandfather cruelly disinherited him with a token one-shilling legacy, Aurora surprises him with a legal disposition completely restoring Netherwood and its lands to his name. Refusing to profit from a property transaction, Basil promptly throws the deed into the fire to prove his affection is entirely genuine. Touched by his gesture, Aurora accepts him, bringing the military romance to a joyful and domestic close.

How It Unfolds

• The voyage begins — Cornet Basil Gauntlet joins the active army in Germany, where he encounters the sleek Major Shirley and receives long-delayed letters from his cousin Aurora. Her correspondence describes extensive alterations at his ancestral Scottish home, Netherwood, carried out alongside local figures.
• Battle of Minden — The allied forces secure a major victory against the French, capturing vast stores of grain and artillery. However, a decisive cavalry pursuit is entirely ruined because Major Shirley panics on the field and fails to deliver the general's forward orders.
• The tower of Freyenthal — Basil participates in a mission to secure a strategic bridge and storm a fortified stone tower. He intervenes just in time to prevent a hostile, irritable German baron from shooting his colonel, resulting in the baron's imprisonment and his wife's transfer to a convent.
• Ysembourg captivity — Taken prisoner by the Volontaires de Clermont, Basil is brought before the Duc de Broglie at Ysembourg castle. There, he befriends the courteous French engineer Monjoy and watches a drumhead court-martial quickly condemn and execute a degraded soldier.
• The frozen ford — Fleeing his captors across a perilous river filled with ice, floating willows, and hostile snipers, Basil fights his way through danger. He soon reunites with the immensely strong Hob Elliot, who has also escaped French custody through a vaulted trench.
• Heights of Corbach — Basil and his comrades fight in a bitter engagement against French forces arrayed on the mountain slopes. They culminate this phase of the campaign with a daring nocturnal cavalry charge that pushes straight through the narrow streets of the town.
• The London drawing-room — Returning to England on a six-month leave, Basil attends a crowded drawing-room at Kensington Palace. He discovers that his cousin Aurora has executed a legal deed restoring his disinherited estate, prompting him to burn the paper and claim her hand in marriage.

The People

Basil Gauntlet is a hard-up, self-possessed British cavalry cornet fighting in Germany who wants to survive the war, recover his inheritance, and punish those who wronged him. Standing in his way are battlefield hazards, French captors, and a cruel disinheritance by his grandfather, but he ultimately emerges as a vindicated landowner and happily engaged man. Major Shirley is a vain, unctuous staff officer driven by hidden self-interest and cowardice under fire; he wants to maintain high-society favor and avoid danger, but his battlefield panic permanently strips away his charming veneer. Aurora Gauntlet is Basil’s wealthy, affectionate Scottish cousin who manages Netherwood and longs to soothe Basil's wounded pride; she overcomes legal and personal barriers by voluntarily signing over her property to him, securing their romantic future. Gervais Monjoy is a gentle, honorable French engineer officer caught in a deeply unhappy professional and social world; he cherishes a tragic love for Isabelle d'Escombas, whose forced marriage to an older man leaves her trapped in gilded misery. Hob Elliot is a rugged, immensely strong soldier whose fierce loyalty and physical power repeatedly rescue Basil from desperate straits, demonstrating unwavering camaraderie amidst the horrors of campaign life.

In Its Own Voice

Basil reflects on his impoverished status compared to his cousin's lifestyle:

It was very pleasant to me, a poor devil of a cornet, half-starved on my pay... to read how this lovely interloper and her crusty Mentor cut and carved on my lands and woods.

Monjoy describes the tragic reality of his beloved's forced marriage:

Despite my love for him, a love of which I told them in my agony, my parents sell me to that odious and pitiless old man.

Basil remarks on the absence of genuine heartbreak after visiting his former flame:

And this was the Jacqueline about whom I had sighed, raved, and wept! So here was an extinction of love, and a great demolition of romance at one fell blow.

What It's Really About

The narrative explores the friction between romantic idealism and the mundane realities of military life. James Grant contrasts the grand pageantry of eighteenth-century warfare—marked by glittering uniforms, courtly manners, and formal sieges—with the brutal chaos of panicked retreats, drumhead executions, and bitter personal vendettas. Beneath the plot lies a sustained inquiry into inheritance, social status, and the rigidity of class expectations. Characters are repeatedly tested by how they handle sudden shifts in fortune, whether through the quiet endurance of women trapped in forced marriages or soldiers facing disgrace. Ultimately, the book argues that true fulfillment comes not from inherited lands or lost romantic illusions, but from mutual affection and grounded resilience.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers who appreciate classic historical fiction rich in period detail will find much to admire in this brisk military romance. Reading it feels like stepping directly into an eighteenth-century campaign journal, complete with the clinking of spurs, the smell of gunpowder, and the formal civilities exchanged between opposing officers. However, contemporary audiences should be prepared for certain period difficulties: the narrative features nineteenth-century prose conventions that can feel dense, occasional shifts into dialect, and nineteenth-century attitudes toward gender and class that reflect the author's Victorian perspective rather than the nominal mid-eighteenth-century setting. Despite these hurdles, those who stick with it will be rewarded by an engaging protagonist, vivid battle sequences, and a satisfyingly warm conclusion. The sharp contrast between the horrors of the Seven Years' War and the cozy resolution in a London drawing-room leaves a lasting impression of nineteenth-century storytelling at its most comforting and traditional.