The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
The second collection of short stories written by Baroness Orczy about the gallant English hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel and his League.
Episodes
The Scarlet Pimpernel must rescues the Baroness Suzanne de Fleury from Chauvelin, but she is reluctant to leave because Chauvelin has her son. The Scarlet Pimpernel must rescue the boy and not give away his identity as Sir Percy Blakeney.
Outwardly foppish and simple and always ready to make a wager Sir Percy bets with Countess la Valliere, Chauvelin's agent at court, that the Pimpernel can rescue Lady Caroline Wells. However, betting on the outcome of the Pimpernel's latest escapade could be dangerous - and even cost him his freedom.
The Pimpernel rescues the Marquise de Manton and returns to Paris disguised as Pierre, a peasant, to rescue her maid, Ginette. She is a lovely and spirited young woman and he finds himself falling for her and wondering what might be if he was not an aristocrat.
Chauvelin's scheme to capture the Princess Melanie de Monsantes before she can escape to England succeeds and she and her servant fall into his trap. Sir Percy hears about it and hatches his own scheme, rescuing the Princess and her servant from under Chauvelin's nose and smuggling them to England. Outraged, Chauvelin travels to England, planning to kidnap the Princess and bring her back to France. Meanwhile, the Prince Regent has hired a Chinese decorator to remodel a wing of the palace, and Sir Percy decides to use the man in his plan to thwart Chauvelin's plot.
The Pimpernel plans to free a woman from the guillotine but it is a trap by Chauvelin and the beautiful Cecille, who holds the Pimpernel responsible for her brother's death.
Sir Percy is asked by Princess Melanie de Monsantes, whom the Pimpernel once rescued, to bring her brother Jacques Fleury to safety from France. The Pimpernel finds him but Jacques refuses to leave and instead asks the Pimpernel for weapons to fight Chauvelin.
In his strangest mission yet, the Pimpernel must rescue a young man accused of being the Pimpernel — and discover whether Chauvelin was behind a plot to plant the false avenger in France. Sir Percy must travel to France to rescue the young man but can only accomplish it disguised as Chauvelin.
Hearing that the Scarlet Pimpernel is being impersonated in France by an Englishman who is robbing and murdering French aristocrats, Sir Percy engineers a plan that allows the imposter's capture and execution by Chauvelin.
Myra Rawlinson, an American woman, is arrested by Chauvelin, and her brother, Frank Rawlinson, needs the Pimpernel's help to rescue her. But Frank Rawlinson challenges Sir Percy to a duel to the death, so Sir Percy must find a way to protect his second identity and protect the man, at the same time.
While smuggling aristocrats out of France, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes and Lord Richard Hastings are pursued by Chauvelin's agents. Andrew is shot and wounded, and Richard is forced to leave him behind. Sir Percy must return to Paris to find Andrew and get him out of the country, a task complicated by the fact that Percy doesn't know where Andrew is and Chauvelin has his agents out looking for Andrew, too. The only clue to his whereabouts is a girl Collette and her friend Madame Tussaud.
Chauvelin, to Sir Percy's amazement, appoints Jacques Fleury as French ambassador. Lord Richard Hasing's eye for Fleury's wife, Renee, becomes the talk of the court, but Renee Fleury is secretly complicit in Chauvelin's plan to kill her husband, and blame Lord Richard so France can declare war on Britain.
Sir Percy must forsake a quiet Christmas at home and go to France to rescue four aristocrats from Chauvelin's clutches. To Percy's astonishment, the four aristocrats are small children, and to keep them amused during their flight, he tells them a story. In his effort to save them he collects a donkey and a dog, despite pursuit by Chauvelin's soldiers, and brings them home, much to his housekeeper Mrs Burton's pleasure.
The lovely Comtesse la Valliere, formerly a spy for Chauvelin, changes sides when she learns of the impending execution of dozens of moderate French revolutionaries. Teaming with the Scarlet Pimpernel and his men, the Comtesse plans to rescue the condemned men — from under Chauvelin's nose. Sir Percy, dressed as a blind man and the Comtesse as a flower woman, try to save the prisoners in an event known as the September Massacres. However, only 30 are saved and they find that her friend has already been executed.
Sir Percy discovers that Chauvelin is blackmailing the banker Rothstein by holding his daughter, Rachelle, captive. Rothstein is ill with worry, Chauvelin is ill with gout, Rothstein's daughter is also ill. Sir Percy disguised as Chauvelin's doctor effects her rescue.
Innocent newlyweds, Antoine and Antoinette, are falsely arrested and sentenced to death by Chauvelin. Elise, the younger sister of Antoinette, who has a crush on the Pimpernel, escapes to try to reach England when she meets Sir Percy and his two associates, Sir Andrew and Lord Richard on the road. Sir Percy hatches a plot, disguised as the local judge, to rescues them and bring them all three to England.
The Abbey of Nanterre has been plundered by Chauvelin, and many of its monks lie dead. A girl trying to sell the The Winged Madonna, an icon, to raise money for the monks draws Sir Percy and Hastings into devising not one, but two plans of rescue when the Father Guardian refuses to leave so he can attend a pregnant woman. Disguised as an undertaker, the Pimpernel visits Chauvelin to arrange a funeral.
When a beautiful woman shows an unusual interest in the Prince of Wales's affairs, Sir Percy uncovers a plot to assassinate the Hanoverian Prince George using highwaymen, so as to restore a Stuart King to the throne of Great Britain. The Scarlet Pimpernel becomes a gentleman of the road to thwart the plan.
The Pimpernel rescues Andre, one of his agents from Chauvelin, but has to find Jeanette, the man's daughter, before Chauvelin does. Disguised as a farm worker, he seeks a job at a farm owned by the girl's miserly uncle and meets a 'boy' working at the farm — the disguised Jeanette.
