The Scarlet Pimpernel

At ten o’clock, Lord Grenville opens the stately rooms of the Foreign Office and receives guests for an elaborate ball there. Chauvelin stands nearby; he’s greeted courteously by government officials but pointedly ignored by the ladies and the rest of the guests. He ignores the snubs and focuses on any signs of the Scarlet Pimpernel, whom he hates with a vengeance for his daring rescue of 90 percent of the aristocrats who have escaped the guillotine.

The major-domo announces the arrival of the Prince of Wales and his friends Sir Percy Blakeney and Lady Blakeney. The prince, stout but ornate in salmon velvet, greets Chauvelin formally. Marguerite offers her hand cheerfully to the French representative. The Comtesse de Tournay and her children are introduced; the prince welcomes them on behalf of himself and his father, the king. He introduces Marguerite; the two foes curtsy as if there were no enmity between them.

The Vicomte de Tournay offers his thanks to the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvelin suggests that the prince might enlighten the gathering by explaining the mysterious flowery symbol of the Pimpernel. The prince replies that only the man’s associates know his identity but that all of England admire him. Marguerite adds that the ladies worship him. At that tense moment, Sir Percy chimes in with his patented odd laugh, saying that the men simply must tolerate their ladies’ love for the hero. The gathering laughs with relief. 

Though feted by the crowd and smiling at everyone, Marguerite privately feels the anguish of someone condemned to death. She aches to confide in her husband, but he’s busy reciting inane doggerel to his admirers, and she realizes yet again that he’s not one to whom she can turn.

Sir Andrew and Lord Antony arrive, and Andrew and Suzanne soon are off to one side, chatting intimately. Both men hide well their recent disaster, which now risks the life of their leader.

Despite her anxiety, Marguerite realizes she’s intensely curious to know which of the men at the ball is the Scarlet Pimpernel she has so admired. She detaches herself from a group of adoring men and moves toward Andrew, who, for the moment, stands forlornly at a doorway, bereft of Suzanne, who was hurried away by her mother. As Marguerite approaches, Lord Hastings walks by and passes a note to Andrew, who immediately walks off. She follows him silently into a small room. His back to her, he reads the note.

As she nears him, he turns. She feigns heat prostration and totters. Andrew catches her and settles her into a chair. She leans back, eyes nearly closed, and sees him set a candle flame to the note. Instinctively, she grabs the note, puts it out, and inhales the smoke, thanking him for preparing the time-honored use of burnt paper to cure faintness.

Andrew, stunned for a moment, doesn’t know what to do. Marguerite then suggests that perhaps he was burning a rejection note from Suzanne. He tries to retrieve the paper, but playfully she stands, holds it away, and backs into the candelabra table, knocking over the candles. As Andrew hurriedly picks up the flaming candelabra, Marguerite steals a glance at the note: The unburned portion contains handwriting she recognizes, alongside the symbol of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

The note flutters to the floor. Andrew snatches it up while Marguerite chides him for his pursuit of the young Suzanne and suggests that he really should burn the embarrassing note. He does so, and Marguerite suggests that he now ask her to join him in the dance hall for a minuet. 

As Marguerite and Andrew, smiling and graceful, lead the last minuet, she ponders the words on the burnt note: They instruct Andrew to meet the Scarlet Pimpernel at exactly one o’clock that night in the supper-room. Silently she frets about the awful decision she must make—Armand or the Pimpernel?

After the dance, Andrew escorts her to a side room, where the Prince of Wales hosts a supper. He greets her jovially and says, of her and Sir Percy, “I vow, Madam, that this life would be but a dreary desert without your smiles and his sallies” (73). 

The supper is a great success, and the guests greatly enjoy the Blakeneys’ presence. Marguerite, despite her anxieties, is at her brilliant best with the others, who also laugh and sing to Sir Percy’s silly doggerel about the Scarlet Pimpernel.

After dinner, Marguerite asks a Cabinet Minister, Lord Fancourt, to escort her to the room where she read the note. They sit, and he makes witty chatter while she smiles engagingly, all the while thinking how she should resolve her dilemma. She decides that she must save her brother, who had raised her lovingly after their parents had died, and that the resourceful Scarlet Pimpernel will somehow have to find a way to extricate himself from the discovery of his identity.

Marguerite sees Chauvelin watching her from beyond the door. She asks Lord Fancourt to inform her husband that she is tired and would like to depart soon. She assures the Cabinet Minister that she’ll be quite safe by herself here. He leaves, and Chauvelin enters. She describes to him the contents of Sir Andrew’s burnt note. She adds that Sir Andrew will likely warn the Scarlet Pimpernel about the burnt note problem.

Chauvelin replies that he’s kept an eye on Andrew all evening and that young Mr. Ffoulkes has been held continuously in conversation by the ladies. Tonight he intends to discover the Pimpernel’s identity and then follow him to France on his next mission. Chauvelin assures her that once the elusive man is in his hands, her brother will be in hers, safe and sound.

He walks downstairs to the now-deserted supper-room. Empty glasses and napkins lie on the table; chairs stand about in disarray; splayed on a sofa in a corner, snoring loudly, is Sir Percy. Chauvelin realizes he can spy on the upcoming secret meeting by feigning sleep. He lies down on another sofa, closes his eyes, and makes snoring noises. 

The Lord Fancourt returns and informs Marguerite that he found Sir Percy asleep in the supper-room and, with difficulty, roused him to deliver her message. He invites Marguerite to dance, but she politely turns him down on account of the heat in the ballroom. The Cabinet Minister escorts her to the conservatory, where it’s much cooler.

He tries to entertain her with conversation, but she’s distracted. She interrupts and asks when he visited the supper-room; Fancourt says it was about ten minutes past one. She asks if anyone else was there; he replies that Chauvelin also was in the room asleep.

She asks Fancourt to check on her coach. She hopes Chauvelin will appear and give news, but he doesn’t show, and she fears that something went wrong and that Chauvelin will decide she deceived him.

The coach arrives; Lord Granville escorts her to the front steps. Many partygoers are leaving, but most wait to say goodbye to her. Chauvelin appears, and she takes his arm down the stairs through the noisy crowd. She demands to know what happened in the supper-room; Chauvelin says he was “asleep” in one corner and her husband slept in another. No one else appeared at one o’clock. He says there’s still a thin hope that he’ll find the Scarlet Pimpernel traveling to France. Thus, there’s still hope for Armand. 

As usual, Percy drives the coach, and Marguerite sits with him, enjoying the cool night air. As they make the one-hour trip west, Marguerite quietly frets about what she’s done. Though she feels contempt for her husband’s decadent ways, she believes he’d have even more contempt for her were he to know of her latest treachery.

They arrive at their mansion on the river, its gardens and massive trees especially beautiful in the moonlight. Percy helps her down; she steps past the servants and wanders over to the lawn, where the peaceful surroundings calm her nerves. Still, she’s never felt so lonely.

Turning, she sees Percy also walking out late. She calls to him; surprised, he waits as she goes to him. She asks him what has happened to their love; he replies that she caused the Marquis de St Cyr to be executed. She protests that she’d explained to him her mistake but that he believed rumors instead of her. Because of her pride, she hadn’t told him of how others had duped her and of her attempts, through various channels, to save the marquis.

He stares at her, rigid. Suddenly she realizes that he’s loved her all along and that pride had stayed both their voices. In a rush, she continues, explaining how the marquis had ordered her beloved brother beaten severely for the sin of loving the man’s daughter. She meant only to get the marquis into trouble, not suspecting that the people who encouraged her were intent on having the marquis executed.

Percy replies that she’d insisted he take her word for her innocence without explanation simply based on his love for her and that this was more than his honor could bear. She then abandoned him for weeks to visit her brother. Had she given him any excuse at all, he would have believed her.

She says she regretted her prideful decisions, but he kept his distance by acting like a foolish fop when she returned. Now her brother is in peril of his life, and she has no one to turn to for advice.

She bursts into tears. Sobbing, she leans against a wall. He wants to hold her but restrains himself. He asks how he can help; she asks if he can do anything for Armand. Percy suggests she talk to her friend Chauvelin.

She wants to tell him everything, but she dares not, fearing it’ll be too much: “After all, he might not understand; he might not sympathise with her struggles and temptation. His love still dormant might sleep the sleep of death” (91).

Percy assures her that he’ll keep Armand safe. Hoping for affection, she leans in close, asking him to “accept my gratitude” (91). He says it’s too soon, as he hasn’t yet done anything for her brother. Sighing with disappointment, Marguerite walks up the stairs. She looks back; he hasn’t moved. Tears welling up again, she hurries inside to her rooms.

Percy bends down and kisses the steps where she walked. 

Eyes half-closed from lack of sleep, the maid Louise greets Marguerite at five o’clock. She expresses worry over Lady Blakeney’s exhaustion. Marguerite insists that Louise simply help her change from her gown to a nighttime wrap and then go get some sleep.

Alone, Marguerite opens the curtains and gazes out on the lawn, bathed in the golden light of dawn. She realizes that, throughout the past months of misunderstandings, she all along has loved Percy despite his mask of flippant nonchalance.

She drifts off to sleep; her dreams are troubled. Footsteps and muffled voices outside her door waken her. The clock says 6:30; the morning sun still shines outside. She opens her door and finds a letter at her feet. She reads a note from Percy saying that he’s suddenly been called away to the North on business for a week and will miss her party.

No messages from his holdings in the North have arrived; she realizes that he’s headed elsewhere. Wanting to see him before he goes, Marguerite hurries downstairs, unlocks the front doors, and sees Percy’s favorite mount at the ready. Percy strides around the corner, dressed in his riding clothes.

She calls to him, saying she has deduced that he’s headed elsewhere than indicated in his note. Mildly impatient, he admits that his duties involve Armand. She worries that he’ll be in danger; he assures her he’ll be safe. She begs him again to accept her gratitude, and her hands reach out to him. He takes one hand and kisses it tenderly, a brief look of longing in his eyes, then stands back and formally requests her leave to depart. Knowing now that he hides his love for her behind his cool demeanor, she bids him farewell. He jumps aboard the steed and gallops away, his groom riding hard to keep up.

Vastly reassured both about Percy’s love for her and the safety of Armand, Marguerite returns to her rooms and quickly falls into a dreamless sleep. 

Around noon, Marguerite wakes and learns from Louise that the groom left Sir Percy in London, where he believes the baronet boarded his schooner, the Day Dream. Puzzled at this—Where might Percy sail to use his influence on events?—Marguerite decides that all will be explained on his return.

She focuses instead on the afternoon’s visit from Suzanne, whose company Marguerite wangled by suggesting it last night in the presence of the prince, who had immediately seconded the idea and promised to visit them, which neatly cut off any objections from Suzanne’s mother.

Before Suzanne arrives, Marguerite wanders past her husband’s suite of rooms. Most are open for cleaning, including the study, which is usually locked and forbidden to all staff save for Percy’s valet, Frank. Suddenly curious to see the study—where she imagines the chief piece of furniture is an armchair for naps—Marguerite tiptoes to the study door and peers in.

The room has heavy furniture, including a large desk near the center. On one wall is a towering portrait of Percy’s mother. The painting portrays a woman of great beauty whose blue eyes, passionate behind apparent laziness, resemble Percy’s.

On the desk lie neatly arranged sets of papers. Clearly, her husband has the brainpower to manage these records of his vast estates; clearly also, his silly public behavior is an act meant to hide his abilities. Percy’s antics are much more elaborate than he needs to keep Marguerite at bay; they’re intended for some other purpose.

Two maps on a wall show Paris and the northern coast of France. Suddenly Marguerite begins to worry: “a nameless dread, before all this strange, unaccountable mystery, had begun to seize upon her” (99). She turns to leave, but her foot kicks something on the floor that rolls away. She picks it up: It’s a gold ring; embossed on its shield is the image of a pimpernel flower. 

Gripping the ring, Marguerite hurries out to the garden, where she examines the jewelry closely. Lately, everyone, even she, wears the pimpernel symbol as embroidery or jewelry. Her mind reels in confusion.

Just then, Suzanne arrives and hugs Marguerite, who immediately insists that her guest confide in her about her new love interest, Sir Andrew. Suzanne admits she’s very happy and that her mother is likely to approve. Of course, her mind also is on the fate of her father, still trapped in France.

Marguerite realizes that if Chauvelin finds and captures the Scarlet Pimpernel, Suzanne’s father will lose his rescuer. Marguerite asks for news of him; Suzanne says Lord Hastings brought word that the Scarlet Pimpernel left this morning from London for Calais and that her father will be in England in four days.

At this, Marguerite realizes the truth: Her husband is the Scarlet Pimpernel, and she has betrayed him to Chauvelin. Percy, meanwhile, kept his secret from her and, with his band of men, went galivanting off to France for the risky rich man’s sport of saving aristos from the guillotine. No doubt her confession about her part in the death of the Marquis de St Cyr had silenced him for fear she might also betray him.

Percy’s foppish act had fooled both her and the French spies. Now she wishes desperately that she had not succumbed to Chauvelin’s treachery. Suzanne worries at the sudden alarm on her friend’s face. Marguerite assures her that she’s all right but needs to cut short their time together. Suzanne, sad but understanding, kisses her goodbye and turns to leave.

A groom runs toward Marguerite, carrying a message delivered by a runner. It’s Armand’s letter to Sir Andrew, the sign that Chauvelin is hot on the Scarlet Pimpernel’s trail and that her brother will be returned to her. She totters; Suzanne grabs her. She collects herself then orders the groom to bring her the runner. She sends Suzanne to the house with orders for the servants to prepare clothing for her travels.

The runner explains that he received the note from a man waiting for a coach to Dover. Marguerite sends the groom to prepare her coach and four fast horses. Alone, she berates herself for letting her pride obscure the truth about her husband, who now heads for France, not knowing a deadly opponent pursues him. “By her own blindness she had sinned; now she must repay, not by empty remorse, but by prompt and useful action” (105).

The problem now is to find Percy before Chauvelin catches him and the latest escapees. She wants to warn him, or at least share the dangers with him, and, if necessary, to die with him. Her first stop will be Sir Andrew, who knows well the Scarlet Pimpernel.