The prisoner in the mask

The Prisoner in the Mask (Duke de Richleau series of novels, #1 of 11)
by Dennis Wheatley: the sin-filled alleyways of XIX Century Paris for la Belle Époque: Jan. 1894 - Oct. 1903. The Duke de Richleau had British nationality. But why? Why should a French aristocrat renounce his country and live in exile? The answer lay in the Paris of the 1900s; a world of superficial glamour, and under the surface, deep social and political trouble. The army, discredited by the Dreyfus case, was being purged. The young de Richleau, cadet and then instructor at the military academy of St. Cyr, became involved in a conspiracy. A conspiracy to restore the French monarchy. The Duc de Vendome was secretly coached in his future role of King. Then, the conspiracy was betrayed. The results: death for some. For Richleau, the life of a fugitive, but a fugitive who had declared a single-handed vendetta against the government; who was determined to rescue the Prince. === "I was an instrument of torture as well as an effective means of hiding the identity of the prisioner- for the prisioner was the heir to the throne of France. The young Duke de Richleau was prepared to die in an attempt at the Prince´s rescue.He was even prepared to take prisioner´s place, and to wear the mask himself!"