The Protos Experiment - Simon Clark

A young man of a less than solid background is dismissed as a pretender for the hand of a rich young lady, Yolande. Balthazar, a teacher of “practical philosophy” for young ladies, dabbling also in wine tasting and dance lessons, has no money, no title, no respectable profession, no home worthy of the name, and his lineage is somewhat vague. Determined to meet the demands of his beloved’s father, Balthazar no sooner returns home than he finds a letter indicating not only that he has come into the inheritance of a small fortune, but also a grand and noble title from an unknown father. But, it transpires that there is not one, but two letters and not one or even two fathers claiming parentage, but no less than four!

For a young man believing wholeheartedly in the down-to-earth doctrine of “practical philosophy” that he teaches, such an adventurous background doesn’t sit comfortably with Balthazar, and blinds him also to the loving devotion of his young secretary Coloquinte. Leblanc plays the whole contradiction of this unlikely hero as something of a parody of adventure novels, and the farce does lose a little steam as the novel progresses from one extraordinary revelation to another, but of course the author is such a great writer in this area (notably his Arsène Lupin novels) that The Extravagant Life of Balthazar ends up itself being a dazzling exercise in romantic adventure fiction, Leblanc capably wrapping it all up in a thoroughly satisfying manner.