The Scarlet Pimpernel

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 Pimpernel.

English novelist and playwright Baroness Emmuska Orczy (1865-1947) achieved her greatest success with her 1905 novel set in the time of Robespierre. Dramatized in collaboration with her husband that same year, in its movie version, starring Leslie Howard and James Mason, The Scarlet Pimpernel has become a perennial favorite.