There have been more escapes -- engineered by a band of Englishmen of unparalleled daring who, in a mad spirit of sheer meddling, devote their spare hours to snatching away lawful victims destined for Madame la Guillotine No one has seen these mysterious Englishmen. As for their leader, he is never spoken of, save with a superstitious shudder. Scraps of paper appear from some mysterious source -- announcing that the band of meddlesome Englishmen are at work . . . and always it is signed with a singular device drawn in red, of a little star-shaped flower -- called in England the Scarlet...

Citizen Chauvelin, of the Committee of Public Safety, presents citizen Fouquier-Tinville, the Public Prosecutor, with the most extraordinary claim:

"The dangerous English spy known to the world as the Scarlet Pimpernel," he says, "is now safely under lock and key. He must be transferred to the Abbaye prison forthwith -- and to the guillotine as quickly as might be. No one is to take any risks this time. There must be no question either of discrediting his famous League, or of obtaining other more valuable information out of him. Such methods have proved disastrous "

There are no safe...