Of course, I’d had plenty of admiration when I came home from Afghanistan, but that was different. Then they’d said: ‘There’s the heroic Flashman, the bluff young lionheart who slaughters niggers* and upholds old England’s honour. Gad, look at those whiskers!’ Which was splendid but didn’t suggest that I was more than human.
Royal Flash, p.145, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.
*Flashman's use of racial epitahs is a continuing problem for more enlightened, contemporary readers. The inclusion of these passages should not be taken as tacit support for his misanthropic, 19th century view of race relations.
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