Sir Percy Hits Back

Sir Percy Hits Back by Emma Orczy

Sir Percy Hits Back is the fourth book in the Scarlet Pimpernel series by Emma Orczy. It follows the adventures of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English baronet who leads a double life as the Scarlet Pimpernel, a daring rescuer of French aristocrats during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. In this book, Sir Percy and his band of rescuers are determined to save the life of the Comte de Tournay, a French nobleman who is being held prisoner in Paris. The Scarlet Pimpernel and his men must use all their cunning and courage to outwit the ruthless agents of the French Republic and rescue the Comte. Along the way, they must also contend with the machinations of the mysterious and powerful Chauvelin, who is determined to capture the Scarlet Pimpernel and put an end to his daring exploits. Sir Percy Hits Back is a thrilling adventure story that is sure to captivate readers of all ages. With its exciting plot, memorable characters, and vivid descriptions of the French Revolution, it is a classic of historical fiction that is sure to remain a favorite for many years to come.

By Emma Orczy · First published 1927 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Romance · 39 chapters · 88,936 words

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On the spot where the Hotel Moderne now rears its more ambitous head, there stood at that time a cottage with sloping red-tiled roof and white-washed walls. It was owned by one Baptiste Portal, an old peasant of the Dauphine, who dispensed refreshments to travellers and passers-by, as his father and grandfather had done before him, in the shape of somewhat thin vin du pays and an occasional glass of eau-de- vie, while he spent his slack time chiefly in grumbling at the fact that the new posting-inn on the high road had taken all his trade away. He did not see the necessity of the posting-inn, did not old Baptiste, nor for that matter that of the high-road or the post- chaise. Before all these new notions had come into the heads of the government people up in Paris, travellers had been content to come squelching through the mud on the back of a good horse, or come ploughing through inches of dust in the old coche. So why not now? And was not the old wine of Les Amandiers as good and better than the vinegar dispensed at the more pretentious posting-inn? The place was called Les Amandiers because at the back of the house there were two anaemic almond-trees with gaunt, twisted arms which covered themselves in the spring with sickly blooms, and in the summer with dust. In the front of the house, up against the white-washed wall, there was a wooden bench on which Baptiste's priveleged customers were wont to sit on fine evenings, to drink their vin du pays and join the old man in his wholesale condemnation of the goverment "up in Paris" and its new- fangled ways. From this vantage-point a glorious view was obtained over the valley of the Bueche, and beyond Laragne as far as the peaks of Pelvoux: whilest to the right towered in the distance the grand old citadel of Sisteron with its turets and fortifications dating from the fourteenth century, and the stately church of Notre Dame. But views and winding rivers, snowy peaks, and medieval fortresses did not interest Baptiste Portal's customers nearly as much as the price of almonds or the alarming increase in the cost of living.

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Historical Fiction · Mystery Fictionandadventure Romances · adèle · amédé · bibi · chauvelin · child · citizen · colombe · danou · daughter · day

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