num_pages: 159
description: It is 1794 and Paris  despite the horrors that had stained her walls - has remained a city of pleasure and the knife of the guillotine did scarce descend more often than did the drop-scenes on the stage . The plot begins when Sir Percy the Scarlet Pimpernel reluctantly agrees to take Armand St. Just brother of his wife Marguerite with him to France as part of a plan to rescue the young Dauphin. Percy warns Armand not to renew any friendships while in Paris but it doesn't take long before Armand has ignored his warnings and renewed a friendship with the scheming Baron de Batz (in the pay of the Austrian government) who wants to free the Dauphin himself and despises the Scarlet Pimpernel and all he represents. Whilst attending the opera with De Batz Armand foolishly tells him that he is in the league of the Scarlet Pimpernel. While there he falls in love with a young actress named Citizeness Jeanne L'Ange. De Batz introduces the couple backstage at the theatre and once they have fallen for each other De Batz tells Citizen Heron of the general committee of Public Safety where and when they have arranged to meet. After covering for Armand at her house L'Ange is arrested and thrown into jail. Learning of her peril and in the throes of passion Armand fails to trust Sir Percy who has told him that he will rescue Jeanne and forgets his promise to his leader. Armand desperate to share Jeanne's fate runs to the gate of the Temple prison and screams Long Live the King. There he is intercepted by none other than Percy's arch enemy Chauvelin. Baroness Emma Orczy (full Emma Magdolna Rozlia Mria Jozefa Borbla Orczy de Orci) (; 23 September 1865  12 November 1947) usually known as Baroness Orczy (the name under which she was published) or to her family and friends as Emmuska Orczy was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. She is best known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney a wealthy English fop who turns into a quick-thinking escape artist in order to save French aristocrats from Madame Guillotine during the French Revolution establishing the hero with a secret identity in popular culture.Opening in London's West End on 5 January 1905 The Scarlet Pimpernel became a favourite of British audiences. Some of Orczy's paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. During World War I she formed the Women of England's Active Service League an unofficial organisation aimed at encouraging women to persuade men to volunteer for active service in the armed forces.
language: English
title: El Dorado: Baroness Emma Orczy
publisher: None