El Dorado by Emma Orczy (1926)

Name: El Dorado
Author: Emma Orczy

El Dorado follows an English secret agent known as the Scarlet Pimpernel and his League as they attempt, during the Terror in Paris in January 1794, to rescue the young imprisoned Dauphin, Louis XVII, from the Temple prison. The story opens with Armand St. Just, brother of Marguerite Blakeney, newly arrived in Paris after over a year in England, meeting the pompous Royalist conspirator Baron de Batz at the Théâtre National, where they watch Foucquier-Tinville and Héron, chief agent of the Committee of General Security, among the audience. De Batz, motivated by the promise of Austrian reward money rather than loyalty, boasts that he alone should have the honor of saving the Dauphin and resents any English interference. In the greenroom, Armand is introduced to and falls for the actress Mlle. Jeanne Lange. Afterward, de Batz visits Héron at the Temple, bribing him for three weeks' immunity and witnessing the degraded state of the imprisoned Dauphin, tormented and made to curse his mother's memory by his brutal guardian Simon the cobbler and his wife. De Batz then betrays Armand to Héron as a follower of the Scarlet Pimpernel, hoping to eliminate English rivals to his scheme. The next day Armand visits Jeanne again; when Héron's spies come to arrest him, Jeanne cleverly disguises the situation as a rehearsal with a "cousin from Orléans," fooling Héron and saving Armand. The two fall deeply in love. That evening Armand joins his chief, Sir Percy Blakeney (the Scarlet Pimpernel), and fellow League members Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, Lord Tony Dewhurst, and Lord Hastings, who lay detailed plans to extract the Dauphin from the Temple on Sunday the 19th, when the Simons are being replaced as his guardians, and to smuggle him out of Paris via Villette, St. Germain, and Courbevoie. Blakeney, sensing Armand's infatuation and its danger to the mission, orders him to leave Paris at once with the others, overriding Armand's protests by invoking his oath of obedience. Before dawn, however, Armand rushes to Jeanne's lodgings and learns she has been arrested by Héron's agents. Devastated, he seeks out Blakeney, who reveals he already knows and has pledged to keep her safe, instructing Armand to proceed to La Villette and wait for news. Armand, tormented by guilt and fear for Jeanne, spends the day doing manual labor as part of his disguise, but when Blakeney fails to appear by nightfall, he panics, becomes convinced Jeanne will be guillotined, and abandons his post to re-enter Paris in search of her—thereby breaking his word and jeopardizing the entire rescue plan. Once inside, he learns from an overheard reference to "Capet" that today is the very day set for the Dauphin's rescue, and bitterly assumes Blakeney has abandoned Jeanne to focus on the mission. He resolves to search for her alone, working his way through the Palais de Justice and the prison registers at La Tournelle, trying to locate her whereabouts among the female prisoners awaiting trial. The available text breaks off as Armand, having found the registry office closed, is inquiring when the clerk will return, still searching for Jeanne amid the machinery of the Terror.

By Emma Orczy · First published 1926 · Genre: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Romantic · 49 chapters · 143,387 words

First lines

And yet people found the opportunity to amuse themselves, to dance and to go to the theatre, to enjoy music and open-air cafés and promenades in the Palais Royal.

New fashions in dress made their appearance, milliners produced fresh "creations," and jewellers were not idle. A grim sense of humour, born of the very intensity of ever-present danger, had dubbed the cut of certain tunics "tête tranchée," or a favourite ragoût was called "à la guillotine. "

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El Dorado is listed on Textopian as a novel by Emma Orczy, dated 1926 CE.

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Work type: Novel
Author: Emma Orczy
Date: 1926 CE
Language: English
Genres: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Romantic, Suspense, Mystery
Length: 143,387 words
Structure: 49 chapters, 2,875 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Adventure — The book is primarily an adventure novel, as it involves Sir Percy Blakeney's daring rescue missions during the French Revolution.
Historical Fiction — The plot is set during the French Revolution, and incorporates historical figures and events of the time.
Romantic — There are elements of romance in relationships in this book, particularly between the characters Sir Percy Blakeney and his wife Marguerite.
Suspense — The novel keeps the readers on edge through various elements of suspense as they anticipate what happens next in the plot.