The Pavilion On The Links is a short 80 page book by Robert Louis Stevenson. It tells the story of two men who were once good friends, but drifted apart over the course of years, who end up coming back together to protect a man on the run from Italian revolutionaries.
Frank Cassilis has been living his life as something of a vagrant, travelling around the UK and sleeping in the countryside. When he returns to Graden Easter, where he once stayed with an old friend, Northmour, he discovers strange happenings. The pavilion where the two of them used to stay has been locked down for the season, but he keeps seeing strange lights within late into the night. He discovered that Northmour is secretly preparing the pavilion.
One night Northnour sneaks in a older man and his daughter, attacking Frank when he approaches. Frank soon discovers that Northmour is helping a banker named Bernard Huddlestone and his daughter Clara to escape the country. Huddlestone was a banker, who lost thousands of pounds, including the money that belonged to a group of Italian revolutionaries, who are now hunting them down for revenge. Putting aside their differences, and their competition for Clara's love, Frank and Northmour team-up to defend the Huddlestone's from the revolutionaries.
I was honestly surprised when reading Pavilion On The Links with how the plot actually went. To be honest, this was in part due to the fact that I'd never read a Robert Louis Stevenson book before, and had no idea what to expect. Of course, I knew of his other works, with titles such as Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde being so well known as to come to mind instantly when thinking of the author. But when it came to reading this book I never expected such a short book that begun with a man rambling across the British countryside to end with an armed siege against Italian revolutionaries.
We don't get a lot of time with the characters in this book, but each of them is very clearly established, and it's easy to figure out what kind of people they are in just a scene or two. The conflict between Northmour and Frank is set up long before the two come face to face, so when they actually interact the reader feels like it's a natural thing for the two of them.
The sudden love between Frank and Clara feels like it comes out of nowhere, though, and feels a little rushed. The two of them only know each other a few days, and seem to mainly talk about the situation with the Italian's, so for them to so strongly declare their love for each other, and state that they want to be married is a bit of a shock. I appreciate that they're in a very stressful situation, and may be drawn together because of it, and it's a different time, but it doesn't quite sit right with me.
My biggest dissapointment with the story, however, is the conclusion. The book spends so long setting up the coming confrontation, and there are some great tense moments where the two men are ready to defend the pavilion, armed with guns. Sadly, the siege doesn't last a whole long, and ends rather abruptly when Huddlestone gives his life to save his daughter. Whilst there's nothing wrong with this conclusion I was hoping for a big more action as I was really enjoying it.
The Pavilion On The Links was described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as 'the high watermark of Stevenson's genius', and I have to agree that this short story was very well crafted, and was enjoyable throughout, and makes me eager to read more of Stevenson's work.
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