#By the way Dugan's book is very good but she has all these little inaccuracies that bother me -

[burnsopale]

"Another self-referential touch comes at a scene in a tavern when Sir Percy, in disguise as a fat gap-toothed cross-eyed sailor, places a pepper pot on Chauvelin’s table (Way, p. 196). This apparently innocuous gesture, carried out with slow deliberation and accompanied by Sir Percy’s distinctive laugh, produces an instantaneous reaction from Chauvelin. He clenches his knife and fork, his cheeks turn ashen grey, and he strides quickly out of the room. This is a double humiliation, betraying emotional weakness and underlining Sir Percy’s power over him. Having failed to penetrate the disguise, he is depicted as a gullible victim of the Englishman."

From Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel: A publishing history by Sally Dugan

*pulling out my megaphone* BARONESS ORCZY'S POOR LITTLE MEOW MEOW

*puts away megaphone*

Actually, no, I need to-*pulls out megaphone again* DO Y'ALL THINK BARONESS WAS AWARE THAT AS HER UNIVERSE BECAME SERIALIZED, THE SISYPHEAN NATURE OF THE VILLAIN'S BATTLE AGAINST THE HERO WOULD MAKE HIM INCREASINGLY PITIABLE? DID SHE REALISE THAT SHE WAS SLOWLY TURNING HER VILLAIN INTO A SYMPATHETIC PROTAGONIST AND MAKING HER HERO A TERRIFYING, MERCILESS FORCE OF NATURE?