Under Two Flags

The novel is about The Hon. Bertie Cecil (nicknamed Beauty of the Brigades). At the beginning of the novel, Bertie has strong homoerotic ties to his best friend and servant. He exiles himself to Algeria where he joins the Chasseurs d'Afrique, a regiment comprising soldiers from various countries, rather like the French Foreign Legion. Bertie's "inconvenient" admirers are erased, with the result that Bertie is converted to a person whose identity is socially acceptable.