CHAPTER I
PARIS 0
: SEPTEMBER , 1792
A surging , seething , murmuring crowd of beings that are human only in name , for to the eye and ear
they 1
seem naught but
savage creatures 102
, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and of hate
1 .
The hour , some little time before sunset , and the place , the West Barricade , at the very spot where , a decade later ,
a proud tyrant 55
raised an undying monument to the nation 's glory and
his 2
own vanity .
During the greater part of the day the guillotine had been kept busy at its ghastly work : all that
France 3
had boasted of in the past centuries , of ancient names , and blue blood , had paid toll to
her 3
desire for liberty and for fraternity .
The carnage had only ceased at this late hour of the day because there were other more interesting sights for
the people 4
to witness , a little while before the final closing of the barricades for the night .
And so
the crowd 7
rushed away from
the Place de la Greve 5
and made for the various barricades in order to watch this interesting and amusing sight .
It was to be seen every day , for
those aristos 6
were
such fools 99
!
They 6
were
traitors to
the people 4
103 of course , all of
them 6
,
men , women , and children , who happened to be
descendants of
the great men who since the Crusades had made the glory of
France 3
10 :
.
had oppressed
the people 4
, had crushed
them 4
under the scarlet heels of
their 6
dainty buckled shoes , and now
the people 4
had become
the rulers of
France 3
12 and crushed
-- not beneath
their 4
heel , for
they 4
went shoeless mostly in these days -- but a more effectual weight , the knife of the guillotine .
And daily , hourly , the hideous instrument of torture claimed
its many victims 13
--
old men 14
,
young women 15
,
tiny children 16
until the day when it would finally demand the head of
a King 17
and of
a beautiful young Queen 18
.
But this was as it should be : were not
the people 4
now
the rulers of
France 3
12 ?
Every aristocrat 19
was
a traitor 100
, as
had been before
him 19
: for two hundred years now
the people 4
had sweated , and toiled , and starved , to keep a lustful court in lavish extravagance ; now
the descendants of
those who had helped to make those courts brilliant 21
6 had to hide for
their 6
lives -- to fly , if
they 6
wished to avoid the tardy vengeance of
the people 4
.
And
they 6
did try to hide , and tried to fly : that was just the fun of the whole thing .
Every afternoon before the gates closed and
the market carts 22
went out in procession by the various barricades ,
some fool of
an aristo 24
23 endeavoured to evade the clutches of
the Committee of Public Safety 25
.
In various disguises , under various pretexts ,
they 6
tried to slip through the barriers , which were so well guarded by
citizen soldiers of
the Republic 27
26 .
Men in
women 29
's clothes
28 ,
women in male attire 30
,
children disguised in
beggars 32
' rags
31 : there were some of all sorts :
CI-DEVANT counts , marquises , even dukes , who wanted to fly from
France 3
, reach
England 34
or
some other equally accursed country 98
, and there try to rouse foreign feelings against the glorious Revolution , or to raise
an army 35
in order to liberate
the wretched prisoners in
the Temple 37
, who had once called
themselves 36
sovereigns of
France 3
38 .
But
they 6
were nearly always caught at the barricades ,
Sergeant Bibot 39
especially at
the West Gate 40
had a wonderful nose for scenting
an aristo in the most perfect disguise 41
.
Then , of course , the fun began .
Bibot 39
would look at
as a cat looks upon the mouse , play with
him 42
, sometimes for quite a quarter of an hour , pretend to be hoodwinked by the disguise , by the wigs and other bits of theatrical make-up which hid the identity of
a CI-DEVANT noble marquise or count 43
.
Oh !
Bibot 39
had a keen sense of humour , and it was well worth hanging round that West Barricade , in order to see
him 39
catch
an aristo 44
in the very act of trying to flee from the vengeance of
the people 4
.
Sometimes
Bibot 39
would let
actually out by the gates , allowing
him 42
to think for the space of two minutes at least that
he 42
really had escaped out of
Paris 0
, and might even manage to reach
the coast 45
of
England 34
in safety , but
Bibot 39
would let
the unfortunate wretch 42
walk about ten metres towards
the open country 46
, then
he 39
would send
two men 47
after
him 42
and bring
him 42
back , stripped of
his 42
disguise .
Oh !
that was extremely funny , for as often as not
the fugitive 42
would prove to be
a woman 48
,
some proud marchioness , who looked terribly comical when
she 48
found
herself 48
in
Bibot 39
's clutches after all , and knew that a summary trial would await
her 48
the next day and after that , the fond embrace of Madame la Guillotine
104 .
No wonder that on this fine afternoon in September the crowd round
Bibot 39
's gate was eager and excited .
The lust of blood grows with its satisfaction , there is no satiety :
the crowd 49
had seen a hundred noble heads fall beneath the guillotine to-day , it wanted to make sure that it would see
another hundred 50
fall on the morrow .
Bibot 39
was sitting on an overturned and empty cask close by the gate of the barricade ; a small detachment of
citoyen soldiers 51
was under
his 39
command .
The work had been very hot lately .
Those cursed aristos 6
were becoming terrified and tried
their 6
hardest to slip out of
Paris 0
:
men , women and children ,
whose ancestors 97
, even in remote ages , had served
those traitorous Bourbons 52
6 , were all
traitors 105
themselves 6
and right food for the guillotine .
Every day
Bibot 39
had had the satisfaction of unmasking
some fugitive royalists 53
and sending
them 53
back to be tried by
the Committee of Public Safety 25
, presided over by
that good patriot 54
,
Citoyen Foucquier-Tinville 106
.
Robespierre 55
and
Danton 56
both had commended
Bibot 39
for
his 39
zeal and
Bibot 39
was proud of the fact that
he 39
on
his 39
own initiative had sent
at least fifty aristos 57
to the guillotine .
But to-day
all the sergeants in command at the various barricades 58
had had special orders .
Recently a very great number of
aristos 59
had succeeded in escaping out of
France 3
and in reaching
England 34
safely .
There were curious rumours about these escapes ;
they 59
had become very frequent and singularly daring ;
the people 4
's minds were becoming strangely excited about it all .
Sergeant Grospierre 60
had been sent to the guillotine for allowing
a whole family of aristos 61
to slip out of the North Gate under
his 60
very nose .
It was asserted that these escapes were organised by
a band of Englishmen , whose daring seemed to be unparalleled , and who , from sheer desire to meddle in what did not concern
them 62
, spent
their 62
spare time in snatching away
lawful victims destined for Madame la Guillotine 6
62 .
These rumours soon grew in extravagance ; there was no doubt that
this band of meddlesome Englishmen 62
did exist ; moreover ,
they 62
seemed to be under the leadership of
a man whose pluck and audacity were almost fabulous 63
.
Strange stories were afloat of how
he 63
and
those aristos whom
he 63
rescued
64 became suddenly invisible as
they 64
reached the barricades and escaped out of the gates by sheer supernatural agency .
No one 65
had seen
these mysterious Englishmen 62
; as for
,
he 63
was never spoken of , save with a superstitious shudder .
Citoyen Foucquier-Tinville 54
would in the course of the day receive a scrap of paper from some mysterious source ; sometimes
he 54
would find it in the pocket of
his 54
coat , at others it would be handed to
him 54
by someone in
the crowd 66
, whilst
he 54
was on
his 54
way to the sitting of
the Committee of Public Safety 25
.
The paper always contained a brief notice that
the band of meddlesome Englishmen 62
were at work , and it was always signed with a device drawn in red -- a little star-shaped flower , which
we 67
in
England 34
call the Scarlet Pimpernel .
Within a few hours of the receipt of this impudent notice ,
the citoyens of
the Committee of Public Safety 25
68 would hear that
so many royalists and aristocrats 69
had succeeded in reaching
the coast 45
, and were on
their 69
way to
England 34
and safety .
The guards at the gates 70
had been doubled ,
the sergeants in command 71
had been threatened with death , whilst liberal rewards were offered for the capture of
these daring and impudent Englishmen 62
.
There was a sum of five thousand francs promised to
the man who laid hands on
the mysterious and elusive Scarlet Pimpernel 63
72 .
Everyone 73
felt that
Bibot 39
would be
that man 74
, and
Bibot 39
allowed that belief to take firm root in
everybody 75
's mind ; and so , day after day ,
people 76
came to watch
him 39
at
the West Gate 40
, so as to be present when
he 39
laid hands on
any fugitive aristo who perhaps might be accompanied by
that mysterious Englishman 63
77 .
“ Bah ! ”
he 39
said to
his 39
trusted corporal
78 , “
Citoyen Grospierre 60
was
a fool 101
!
Had it been
me 39
now , at
that North Gate 79
last week . . . ”
Citoyen Bibot 39
spat on the ground to express
his 39
contempt for
's stupidity .
“ How did it happen ,
citoyen 39
? ” asked
the corporal 78
.
“
Grospierre 60
was at the gate , keeping good watch , ” began
Bibot 39
, pompously , as
the crowd 80
closed in round
him 39
, listening eagerly to
his 39
narrative .
“
We 81
've all heard of
this meddlesome Englishman 63
,
this accursed Scarlet Pimpernel 107
.
He 63
wo n't get through
MY 39
gate , MORBLEU !
unless
he 63
be
.
But
Grospierre 60
was
a fool 84
.
The market carts 85
were going through the gates ; there was one laden with casks , and driven by
an old man 86
, with
.
Grospierre 60
was a bit drunk , but
he 60
thought
himself 60
very clever ;
he 60
looked into the casks -- most of them , at least -- and saw they were empty , and let
the cart 88
go through . ”
A murmur of wrath and contempt went round the group of
ill-clad wretches , who crowded round
Citoyen Bibot 39
89 .
“ Half an hour later , ” continued
the sergeant 39
, “ up comes
a captain of
the guard 91
90 with a squad of
some dozen soldiers with
him 90
92 .
' Has
a cart 93
gone through ? '
he 90
asks of
Grospierre 60
, breathlessly .
' Yes , ' says
Grospierre 60
, ' not half an hour ago . '
' And
you 90
have let
them 94
escape , ' shouts
the captain 90
furiously .
'
You 60
'll go to the guillotine for this ,
citoyen sergeant 60
!
that cart 93
held concealed
the CI-DEVANT Duc de Chalis 95
and
! '
' What ! '
thunders
Grospierre 60
, aghast .
' Aye !
and
the driver 63
was none other than
that cursed Englishman 63
,
the Scarlet Pimpernel 108
. ' ”
A howl of execration greeted this tale .
Citoyen Grospierre 60
had paid for
his 60
blunder on the guillotine , but what
a fool 60
!
oh !
what
a fool 60
!