Nay more; when on the 29th Prairial those unfortunate men and women were condemned and executed for alleged complicity in the so-called " Foreign Conspiracy," de Batz, who is universally admitted to have been the head and prime-mover of that conspiracy --if, indeed, conspiracy there was--never made either the slightest attempt to rescue his confederates from the guillotine, or at least the offer to perish by their side if he could not succeed in saving them.

And when we remember that the martyrs of the 29th Prairial included women like Grandmaison, the devoted friend of de Batz, the beautiful Emilie de St. Amaranthe, little Cecile Renault--a mere child not sixteen years of age--also men like Michonis and Roussell, faithful servants of de Batz, the Baron de Lezardiere, and the Comte de St. Maurice, his friends, we no longer can have the slightest doubt that the Gascon plotter and the English gentleman are indeed two very different persons.

The latter's aims were absolutely non-political. He never intrigued for the restoration of the monarchy, or even for the overthrow of that Republic which lie loathed.

His only concern was the rescue of the innocent, the stretching out of a saving hand to those unfortunate creatures who had fallen into the nets spread out for them by their fellow-men; by those who--godless, lawless, penniless themselves--had sworn to exterminate all those who clung to their belongings, to their religion, and to their beliefs.

The Scarlet Pimpernel did not take it upon himself to punish the guilty; his care was solely of the helpless and of the innocent.

For this aim he risked his life every time that he set foot on French soil, for it he sacrificed his fortune, and even his personal happiness, and to it he devoted his entire existence.

Moreover, whereas the French plotter is said to have had confederates even in the Assembly of the Convention, confederates who were sufficiently influential and powerful to secure his own immunity, the Englishman when he was bent on his errands of mercy had the whole of France against him.

The Baron de Batz was a man who never justified either his own ambitions or even his existence; the Scarlet Pimpernel was a personality of whom an entire nation might justly be proud.

CONTENTS

PART I I IN THE THEATRE NATIONAL II WIDELY DIVERGENT AIMS III THE DEMON CHANCE IV MADEMOISELLE LANGE V THE TEMPLE PRISON VI THE COMMITTEE'S AGENT VII THE MOST PRECIOUS LIFE IN EUROPE VIII ARCADES AMBO IX WHAT LOVE CAN DO X SHADOWS XI THE LEAGUE OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL XII WHAT LOVE IS XIII THEN EVERYTHING WAS DARK XIV THE CHIEF XV THE GATE OF LA VILLETTE XVI THE WEARY SEARCH XVII CHAUVELIN XVIII THE REMOVAL XIX IT IS ABOUT THE DAUPHIN XX THE CERTIFICATE OF SAFETY XXI BACK TO PARIS XXII OF THAT THERE COULD BE NO QUESTION XXIII THE OVERWHELMING ODDS

PART II XXIV THE NEWS XXV PARIS ONCE MORE XXVI THE BITTEREST FOE XXVI IN THE CONCIERGERIE XXVIII THE CAGED LION XXIX FOR THE SAKE OF THAT HELPLESS INNOCENT XXX AFTERWARDS XXXI AN INTERLUDE XXXII SISTERS XXXIII LITTLE MOTHER XXXIV THE LETTER

PART III XXXV THE LAST PHASE XXXVI SUBMISSION XXXVII CHAUVELIN'S ADVICE XXXVIII CAPITULATION XXXIX KILL HIM!