The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

(New York: Barnes & Noble, 1905), 304

CHAPTER I PARIS: SEPTEMBER, 1792 (1)

The lust of blood grows with its satisfaction, there is no satiety: (3)
Those cursed aristos were becoming terrified and tried their hardest to slip out of Paris: men, women and children, whose ancestors, even in remote ages, had served those traitorous Bourbons, were all traitors themselves and right food for the guillotine. (3)
Madame la Guillotine. (4)
The crowd this time said nothing: the story certainly savoured of the supernatural, and though the Republic had abolished God, it had not quite succeeded in killing the fear of the supernatural in the hearts of the people. (7)
Everyone was awe-struck and silent, filled with horror for the loathsome malady, the one thing which still had the power to arouse terror and disgust in these savage, brutalised creatures. (9)

CHAPTER II DOVER: "THE FISHERMAN'S REST" (11)

The coffee-room indeed, lighted by two well-polished lamps, which hung from the raftered ceiling, looked cheerful and cosy in the extreme. (14)
Those Frenchies, I've 'eard it said, 'ave got the gift of gab—and Mr. 'Empseed 'ere will tell you 'ow it is that they just twist some people round their little finger like." (19)

CHAPTER III THE REFUGEES (23)

A good sportsman, a lively companion, a courteous, well-bred man of the world, with not too much brains to spoil his temper, (25)

CHAPTER IV THE LEAGUE OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (33)

"trust in God by all means, but believe also a little in your English friends, (34)
in every century, and ever since England has been what it is, an Englishman has always felt somewhat ashamed of his own emotion and of his own sympathy. And so the two young men said nothing, and busied themselves in trying to hide their feelings, only succeeding in looking immeasurably sheepish. (35)
"The Scarlet Pimpernel, Mademoiselle," he said at last "is the name of a humble English wayside flower; but it is also the name chosen to hide the identity of the best and bravest man in all the world, so that he may better succeed in accomplishing the noble task he has set himself to do." (36)
"But, tell me, why should your leader—why should you all—spend your money and risk your lives—for it is your lives you risk, Messieurs, when you set foot in France—and all for us French men and women, who are nothing to you?" "Sport, Madame la Comtesse, sport," asserted Lord Antony, with his jovial, loud and pleasant voice; "we are a nation of sportsmen, you know, and just now it is the fashion to pull the hare from between the teeth of the hound." (37)

CHAPTER V MARGUERITE (43)

CHAPTER VI AN EXQUISITE OF '92 (51)

"Demmed uncomfortable things, duels, ain't they, Tony?" (58)

CHAPTER VII THE SECRET (63)

"Oh! Armand!" she said quaintly, "I sometimes wish you had not so many lofty virtues. . . . I assure you little sins are far less dangerous and uncomfortable. But you WILL be prudent?" she added earnestly. (65)
Life and love have such strange vagaries. Could it be that with the waning of her husband's love, Marguerite's heart had awakened with love for him? Strange extremes meet in love's pathway: (68)

CHAPTER VIII THE ACCREDITED AGENT (71)

CHAPTER IX THE OUTRAGE (85)

she often wondered what went on in that slow-going head of his. He never told her, and she had never cared to ask. (85)

CHAPTER X IN THE OPERA BOX (93)

The Scarlet Pimpernel will be at Lord Grenville's ball to-night. Find out who he is, and I will pledge the word of France that your brother shall be safe." (106)

CHAPTER XI LORD GRENVILLE'S BALL (111)

CHAPTER XII THE SCRAP OF PAPER (119)

CHAPTER XIII EITHER—OR? (129)

CHAPTER XIV ONE O'CLOCK PRECISELY! (133)

The commands of a beautiful woman are binding on all mankind, (135)
Fate HAD decided, had made her speak, had made her do a vile and abominable thing, for the sake of the brother she loved. (139)

CHAPTER XV DOUBT (143)

CHAPTER XVI RICHMOND (149)

She was suffering from unconquerable heartache. (152)
"I humbly put the question to you, for my slow wits are unable to grasp the cause of this, your ladyship's sudden new mood. (155)
She need not complain now that he was cold and impassive; his very voice shook with an intensity of passion, which he was making superhuman efforts to keep in check. (159)
Instinctively, with sudden overmastering passion at the sight of her helplessness and of her grief, he stretched out his arms, and the next, would have seized her and held her to him, protected from every evil with his very life, his very heart's blood. . . . But pride had the better of it in this struggle once again; he restrained himself with a tremendous effort of will, and said coldly, though still very gently,— (161)
Only between these two hearts there lay a strong, impassable barrier, built up of pride on both sides, which neither of them cared to be the first to demolish. (163)

CHAPTER XVII FAREWELL (165)

since she always felt that behind his apparently slow wits there was a certain something, which he kept hidden from all the world, and most especially from her. (166)
A woman's heart is such a complex problem—the owner thereof is often most incompetent to find the solution of this puzzle. (166)
He had failed to discover the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel, of that she felt sure. Both Lord Fancourt and Chauvelin himself had assured her that no one had been in the dining-room at one o'clock except the Frenchman himself and Percy—Yes!—Percy! (172)

CHAPTER XVIII THE MYSTERIOUS DEVICE (173)

CHAPTER XIX THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (179)

he . . . the Scarlet Pimpernel . . . Percy Blakeney . . . her husband . . . whom she had betrayed last night to Chauvelin. (183)
In betraying a nameless stranger to his fate in order to save her brother, had Marguerite Blakeney sent her husband to his death? (184)
"What's to be done? What's to be done? Where to find him?—Oh, God! grant me light." (187)
now she must repay, not by empty remorse, but by prompt and useful action. (187)

CHAPTER XX THE FRIEND (191)

"Oh, I hope there are risks!" she murmured softly, "I hope there are dangers, too!—I have so much to atone for. (196)

CHAPTER XXI SUSPENSE (199)

He would, too, literally burn the ground beneath his horse's hoofs, (201)
The laws of this country do not permit of murder! It is only in our beautiful France that wholesale slaughter is done lawfully, in the name of Liberty and of brotherly love." (206)

CHAPTER XXII CALAIS (209)

CHAPTER XXIII HOPE (221)

CHAPTER XXIV THE DEATH-TRAP (229)

There was at that moment so much deadly hatred, such fiendish malice in the thin face and pale, small eyes, that Marguerite's last hope died in her heart, for she felt that from this man she could expect no mercy. (235)
He laughed, as Dante has told us that the devils laugh at the sight of the torture of the damned. (235)

CHAPTER XXV THE EAGLE AND THE FOX (237)

CHAPTER XXVI THE JEW (247)

CHAPTER XXVII ON THE TRACK (259)

CHAPTER XXVIII THE PERE BLANCHARD'S HUT (269)

She had abandoned all hope of saving him: she saw him gradually hemmed in on all sides, and, in despair, she gazed round her into the darkness, and wondered whence he would presently come, to fall into the death-trap which his relentless enemy had prepared for him. (269)

CHAPTER XXIX TRAPPED (279)

And now dear lady, let me remove this unpleasant coercion, which has been placed before your pretty mouth. You see I wish you to be perfectly free, in the choice which you are about to make." (282)

CHAPTER XXX THE SCHOONER (285)

With a wild shriek, she sprang to her feet, and darted round the rock, against which she had been cowering; (285)

CHAPTER XXXI THE ESCAPE (299)

"I do know, dear . . . everything," he said with infinite gentleness. "And can you ever forgive?" "I have naught to forgive, sweetheart; your heroism, your devotion, which I, alas! so little deserved, have more than atoned for that unfortunate episode at the ball." (303)
Sir Andrew was ready, too, to help with the precious burden, but Sir Percy would not entrust his beloved to any arms but his own. (309)

Created: 2019-06-17-Mon
Updated: 2023-02-07-Tue