The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel is a sequel book to the classic adventure tale, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Written by Baroness Orczy
and first published in 1919, the book consists of eleven short stories
about Sir Percy Blakeney's exploits in rescuing various aristos and
French citizens from the clutches of the guillotine.
The stories are set in 1793 but appear in no
particular order. They occasionally refer to events in other books in
the series.
Sir Percy Explains
Madeleine
Lannoy, whose husband was killed at Versailles defending the Queen from
the mob, has become a street dancer in the worst parts of Paris. She
has taken on this guise in the hope of finding her only son who has been
stolen by Citizen Jean Paul Marat, annoyed by her spurning his
advances. All she knows is that her child "is to be reared up in the
company of all that is most vile and most degraded in the
disease-haunted slums of indigent Paris" and that if she doesn't find
him soon he risks becoming a criminal or a drink-sodden reprobate at
best.
A Question of Passports
Citizen
Bibot of the Town Guard has command of the Porte Montmartre – the last
commandant there, citizen Ferney, was guillotined for having allowed a
whole batch of aristos to escape and find safety outside the walls of
Paris. Citizen Marat arrives to warn Bibot to be watchful because the
Pimpernel has promised to rescue the Duc and Duchesse de Montreux and
their family, (who are on their way to the Conciergerie prison) that
very evening, but Bibot is determined that the Scarlet Pimpernel will
not get one over on him.
Two Good Patriots
Being
the desposition of citizeness Fanny Roussell, who was brought up
together with her husband, before the Tribunal of the Revolution on a
charge of Treason – both being subsequently acquitted.
The Old Scarecrow
Nobody
in the quartier could quite recollect when it was that citizen Lepine,
the new public letter-writer first set up in business at the angle
formed by the Quai des Augustins and the Rue Dauphine; but he certainly
was there on the 28th day of February 1793, when Agnes, with eyes
swollen with tears, a market basket on her arm and a look of dreary
despair on her young face, turned that self same angle on her way to the
Pont Neuf, and nearly fell over the rickety construction which
sheltered him and his stock.
Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy de Orci (23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947), pen name as Baroness Orczy, was a
Hungarian-born British novelist, playwright, and artist of noble
origin. She is most known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who transforms into a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist, representing the original "hero with a secret identity".
Opening in London's West End on 5 January 1905, The Scarlet Pimpernel became a favourite of British audiences. Some of her paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy
in London. During World War I, Orczy formed the Women of England's
Active Service League, an unofficial organisation aimed at the
recruitment of female volunteers for active service.
