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