When Past and Present Collide — The Scarlet Pimpernel

The coffee-room turns to confusion the moment the stable boy shouts the names. Lord Antony tells Jellyband to keep Lady Blakeney talking outside while the ladies withdraw. The Comtesse rises rigid and repeats that she will not see her. Outside, a sweet voice tells the crowd to leave a beggar alone and give him supper at her expense. Then Marguerite sweeps in, wet as a herring, pushes the landlord aside like a turkey with a sore foot, and holds out both arms to Suzanne.

The Comtesse forbids her daughter to speak to that woman, and she says it in English so the whole inn can hear. Marguerite's face goes white; her hand on the beribboned stick clenches. A moment later she asks, gaily, what fly stings the citizeness. The Comtesse will not let Suzanne touch her hand in friendship, curtseys to the Englishmen, and sails out.

Little Suzanne catches the childlike look in Marguerite's eyes, runs back, and kisses her. The tension breaks. Marguerite mimics the rebuke until Tony and Sir Andrew shout Bravo. The Vicomte steps forward to champion his mother. From the doorway comes a pleasant, inane laugh, and an unusually tall, richly dressed figure fills the frame.