The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy [best big ereader .txt] 📗

of that awful revolutionary tribunal was nothing short of a miracle⁠—and all done by you and your friends⁠—”

“We were but the hands, Madame la Comtesse⁠ ⁠…”

“But my husband, Monsieur,” said the Comtesse, whilst unshed tears seemed to veil her voice, “he is in such deadly peril⁠—I would never have left him, only⁠ ⁠… there were my children⁠ ⁠… I was torn between my duty to him, and to them. They refused to go without me⁠ ⁠… and you and your friends assured me so solemnly that my husband would be safe. But, oh! now that I am here⁠—amongst you all⁠—in this beautiful, free England⁠—I think of him, flying for his life, hunted like a poor beast⁠ ⁠… in such peril⁠ ⁠… Ah! I should not have left him⁠ ⁠… I should not have left him!⁠ ⁠…”

The poor woman had completely broken down; fatigue, sorrow and emotion had overmastered her rigid, aristocratic bearing. She was crying gently to herself, whilst Suzanne ran up to her and tried to kiss away her tears.

Lord Antony and Sir Andrew had said nothing to interrupt the Comtesse whilst she was speaking. There was no doubt that they felt deeply for her; their very silence testified to that⁠—but 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.

“As for me, Monsieur,” said Suzanne, suddenly, as she looked through a wealth of brown curls across at Sir Andrew, “I trust you absolutely, and I know that you will bring my dear father safely to England, just as you brought us today.”

This was said with so much confidence, such unuttered hope and belief, that it seemed as if by magic to dry the mother’s eyes, and to bring a smile upon everybody’s lips.

“Nay! You shame me, Mademoiselle,” replied Sir Andrew; “though my life is at your service, I have been but a humble tool in the hands of our great leader, who organised and effected your escape.”

He had spoken with so much warmth and vehemence that Suzanne’s eyes fastened upon him in undisguised wonder.

“Your leader, Monsieur?” said the Comtesse, eagerly. “Ah! of course, you must have a leader. And I did not think of that before! But tell me where is he? I must go to him at once, and I and my children must throw ourselves at his feet, and thank him for all that he has done for us.”

“Alas, Madame!” said Lord Antony, “that is impossible.”

“Impossible?⁠—Why?”

“Because the Scarlet Pimpernel works in the dark, and his identity is only known under the solemn oath of secrecy to his immediate followers.”

“The Scarlet Pimpernel?” said Suzanne, with a merry laugh. “Why! what a droll name! What is the Scarlet Pimpernel, Monsieur?”

She looked at Sir Andrew with eager curiosity. The young man’s face had become almost transfigured. His eyes shone with enthusiasm; hero-worship, love, admiration for his leader seemed literally to glow upon his face.

“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.”

“Ah, yes,” here interposed the young Vicomte, “I have heard speak of this Scarlet Pimpernel. A little flower⁠—red?⁠—yes! They say in Paris that every time a royalist escapes to England that devil, Foucquier-Tinville, the Public Prosecutor, receives a paper with that little flower designated in red upon it.⁠ ⁠… Yes?”

“Yes, that is so,” assented Lord Antony.

“Then he will have received one such paper today?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Oh! I wonder what he will say!” said Suzanne, merrily. “I have heard that the picture of that little red flower is the only thing that frightens him.”

“Faith, then,” said Sir Andrew, “he will have many more opportunities of studying the shape of that small scarlet flower.”

“Ah, monsieur,” sighed the Comtesse, “it all sounds like a romance, and I cannot understand it all.”

“Why should you try, Madame?”

“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.”

“Ah, no, no, not sport only, Monsieur⁠ ⁠… you have a more noble motive, I am sure for the good work you do.”

“Faith, Madame, I would like you to find it then⁠ ⁠… as for me, I vow, I love the game, for this is the finest sport I have yet encountered.⁠—Hair-breath escapes⁠ ⁠… the devil’s own risks!⁠—Tally ho!⁠—and away we go!”

But the Comtesse shook her head, still incredulously. To her it seemed preposterous that these young men and their great leader, all of them rich, probably wellborn, and young, should for no other motive than sport, run the terrible risks, which she knew they were constantly doing. Their nationality, once they had set foot in France, would be no safeguard to them. Anyone found harbouring or assisting suspected royalists would be ruthlessly condemned and summarily executed, whatever his nationality might be. And this band of young Englishmen had, to her own knowledge, bearded the implacable and bloodthirsty tribunal of the Revolution, within the very walls of Paris itself, and had snatched away condemned victims, almost from the very foot of the guillotine. With a shudder, she recalled the events of the last few days, her escape from Paris with her two children, all three of them hidden beneath the hood of a rickety cart, and lying amidst a heap of turnips and cabbages, not daring to breathe, whilst the mob howled, “