Summary
A Splendid Hazard unspools like a fever dream etched on celluloid: Karl Breitman, a man whose blood thrums with the delusion of imperial purple, stalks the gas-lit corridors of post-Commune Paris convinced that a Bonaparte pulse beats beneath his bourgeois skin. His obsession crystallizes around Hedda Gobert, a demi-mondaine custodian of brittle Napoleonic folios whose ink still smells of exile. Breitman’s courtship is a waltz of velvet gloves and iron ambition; once the marriage contract is sealed, he pilfers the papers and sails for the raw New World, chasing rumors of an emperor’s buried bullion stashed somewhere beneath the floorboards of crusty Admiral Killigrew’s salt-stained manor. There, amid dust moats and whale-oil shadows, he unearths a vellum map scrawled with Corsican coordinates—a promise of treasure, a mirage of throne. But Atlantic brine corrodes grandeur; on the maquis-scented island, mocking laughter drifts from a tavern terrace like grapeshot. Honor demands a duel at dawn. Lead kisses flesh; Breitman falls, crimson blooming on white linen, while Hedda—ever loyal, ever doomed—cradles his cooling hand, the secret of the hoard dying with their last exhalations.
Synopsis
Karl Breitman, obsessed with the notion that he is a descendant of Napoleon, is driven to restore the monarchy in France. To accomplish this, he courts Hedda Gobert, who, he has learned, possesses Napoleon's papers. Upon winning Hedda, Breitman steals the documents, which lead him to America and the home of Admiral Killigrew where, the papers allege, the emperor's hidden wealth resides. Breitman locates a treasure map in the Killigrew house, which sends him to Corsica. However, before he can reach the buried riches, he overhears some men mocking him and challenges them to a duel. Wounded, Breitman dies with Hedda, who has lovingly followed him, at his side, taking the secret of the treasure with him.
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