The Ring's Revelation — The Scarlet Pimpernel

Under the sycamore Marguerite turns the ring and tells herself it is ridiculous. Everyone in town wears the little flower. She wears it in gems herself. What connection could there be between her exquisite dandy and the daring plotter who snatches victims from Paris? Suzanne runs across the lawn, fresh as a rosebud, wanting a day of old convent secrets. Marguerite hides the ring in her kerchief and tries to sound gay. Suzanne speaks of Sir Andrew and of waiting until papa is safe. The Comte de Tournay is one of those Chauvelin would kill if he named the Pimpernel. Then Suzanne, unconscious of the blow, says Lord Hastings came this morning: all is well with papa, and the great Scarlet Pimpernel himself has gone to save him. He was in London this morning. He will be in Calais perhaps tomorrow. The names collapse. Percy. Her husband. The man she betrayed last night. The mask of the inane fop had been a good one. No wonder Chauvelin's spies missed him. Last night the agent found only a sleeping fool on a sofa. In saving Armand, has she sent her husband to the guillotine?

Suzanne, alarmed by her colour, offers to go. A groom brings a sealed letter by runner. It is Armand's compromised note, returned. Chauvelin has kept his word because he is already on the track. The runner says a gentleman at the Rose and Thistle, opposite Charing Cross, was waiting for a special coach posted straight to Dover.

Marguerite sends Suzanne in, orders a travelling dress, and calls for her coach and the four swiftest horses. Alone on the lawn she murmurs, What's to be done? Where to find him? Then she stops rehearsing guilt. Percy has sailed from London Bridge. Chauvelin will post to Dover and reach Calais about the same time. The Comte, the other fugitives, and Armand all wait for a man who does not know he is followed. She cannot find him in Calais alone; Chauvelin stole the itinerary. She will go first to Sir Andrew Ffoulkes. Without haste, but without hesitation, she walks into the house.