In the Rue Monge
Baroness Emma Orczy
Adventure Fiction
Published 1931
Synopsis
In the Rue Monge is a short historical tale set in the blood-soaked streets of revolutionary Paris, focusing on one of the many perilous missions of Sir Percy Blakeney, aka the Scarlet Pimpernel. When a scientist is arrested as an enemy of the revolutionary government and sentenced to imminent execution, his English friends, led by the resourceful Pimpernel, devise a daring rescue plan and spirit him safely to England. The story vividly evokes the narrow alleyways, the revolutionary gloom, and climate of deep suspicion that pervaded Paris during the French Revolution. The narrative encapsulates the recurring theme of individual heroism against systemic terror and explores the value of intellectual life when threatened by ideological zealotry in an age of brutality.
Novel Excerpt
The Professor swung himself round on the high stool on which he was sitting, and blinked tired, watery eyes at his interlocutor.
“You were saying, milor’?” he asked in his shaky, high-pitched voice.
And the other resumed with exemplary patience:
“I was trying to explain to you, my friend, that no one is safe these days, and that at any moment one of those devils on the Committee of Public Safety might set your name down on the list of the suspects. Now, I promised your daughter over in England that my friends and I would look after you; but even without such a promise—”
He paused, for obviously the little man was not really listening. He had begun by trying to be attentive, by trying to understand the import of what his friend was saying; but his attention was already wandering and his pale, tired eyes were turned longingly in the direction of his test-tubes, his microscopes and other scientific paraphernalia which littered his table. Now, when his friend ceased speaking, he again tried to appear interested.
“Yes, yes, my daughter!” he murmured vaguely. “Pretty girl, she was. Married that nice man Tessan; a prosperous farmer he was. They were on their honeymoon in England when this awful revolution fell upon us here. Lucky for them! They were never able to return to France.”