{"product_id":"2940013106475","title":"THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL","description":"Contents\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I.       Paris: 1793\u003cbr\u003e     II.      A Retrospect\u003cbr\u003e     III.     Ex-Ambassador Chauvelin\u003cbr\u003e     IV.      The Richmond Gala\u003cbr\u003e     V.       Sir Percy and His Lady\u003cbr\u003e     VI.      For the Poor of Paris\u003cbr\u003e     VII.     Premonition\u003cbr\u003e     VIII.    The Invitation\u003cbr\u003e     IX.      Demoiselle Candeille\u003cbr\u003e     X.       Lady Blakeney's Rout\u003cbr\u003e     XI.      The Challenge\u003cbr\u003e     XII.     Time -- Place -- Conditions\u003cbr\u003e     XIII.    Reflections\u003cbr\u003e     XIV.     The Ruling Passion\u003cbr\u003e     XV.      Farewell\u003cbr\u003e     XVI.     The Passport\u003cbr\u003e     XVII.    Boulogne\u003cbr\u003e     XVIII.   No. 6\u003cbr\u003e     XIX.     The Strength of the Weak\u003cbr\u003e     XX.      Triumph\u003cbr\u003e     XXI.     Suspense\u003cbr\u003e     XXII.    Not Death\u003cbr\u003e     XXIII.   The Hostage\u003cbr\u003e     XXIV.    Colleagues\u003cbr\u003e     XXV.     The Unexpected\u003cbr\u003e     XXVI.    The Terms of the Bargain\u003cbr\u003e     XXVII.   The Decision\u003cbr\u003e     XXVIII.  The Midnight Watch\u003cbr\u003e     XXIX.    The National Fete\u003cbr\u003e     XXX.     The Procession\u003cbr\u003e     XXXI.    Final Dispositions\u003cbr\u003e     XXXII.   The Letter\u003cbr\u003e     XXXIII.  The English Spy\u003cbr\u003e     XXXIV.   The Angelus\u003cbr\u003e     XXXV.    Marguerite\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter I: Paris: 1793\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was not even a reaction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn! ever on! in that wild, surging torrent; sowing the wind of anarchy,\u003cbr\u003eof terrorism, of lust of blood and hate, and reaping a hurricane of\u003cbr\u003edestruction and of horror.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn! ever on! France, with Paris and all her children still rushes\u003cbr\u003eblindly, madly on; defies the powerful coalition,--Austria, England,\u003cbr\u003eSpain, Prussia, all joined together to stem the flow of carnage,--defies\u003cbr\u003ethe Universe and defies God!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParis this September 1793!--or shall we call it Vendemiaire, Year I.\u003cbr\u003eof the Republic?--call it what we will! Paris! a city of bloodshed, of\u003cbr\u003ehumanity in its lowest, most degraded aspect. France herself a gigantic\u003cbr\u003eself-devouring monster, her fairest cities destroyed, Lyons razed to the\u003cbr\u003eground, Toulon, Marseilles, masses of blackened ruins, her bravest sons\u003cbr\u003eturned to lustful brutes or to abject cowards seeking safety at the cost\u003cbr\u003eof any humiliation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat is thy reward, oh mighty, holy Revolution! apotheosis of equality\u003cbr\u003eand fraternity! grand rival of decadent Christianity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFive weeks now since Marat, the bloodthirsty Friend of the People,\u003cbr\u003esuccumbed beneath the sheath-knife of a virgin patriot, a month since\u003cbr\u003ehis murderess walked proudly, even enthusiastically, to the guillotine!\u003cbr\u003eThere has been no reaction--only a great sigh!... Not of content or\u003cbr\u003esatisfied lust, but a sigh such as the man-eating tiger might heave\u003cbr\u003eafter his first taste of long-coveted blood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA sigh for more!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA king on the scaffold; a queen degraded and abased, awaiting death,\u003cbr\u003ewhich lingers on the threshold of her infamous prison; eight hundred\u003cbr\u003escions of ancient houses that have made the history of France; brave\u003cbr\u003egenerals, Custine, Blanchelande, Houchard, Beauharnais; worthy patriots,\u003cbr\u003enoble-hearted women, misguided enthusiasts, all by the score and by the\u003cbr\u003ehundred, up the few wooden steps which lead to the guillotine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn achievement of truth!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd still that sigh for more!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut for the moment,--a few seconds only,--Paris looked round her mighty\u003cbr\u003eself, and thought things over!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe man-eating tiger for the space of a sigh licked his powerful jaws\u003cbr\u003eand pondered!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSomething new!--something wonderful!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe have had a new Constitution, a new Justice, new Laws, a new Almanack!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat next?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy, obviously!--How comes it that great, intellectual, aesthetic Paris\u003cbr\u003enever thought of such a wonderful thing before?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA new religion!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChristianity is old and obsolete, priests are aristocrats, wealthy\u003cbr\u003eoppressors of the People, the Church but another form of wanton tyranny.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLet us by all means have a new religion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlready something has been done to destroy the old! To destroy! always\u003cbr\u003eto destroy! Churches have been ransacked, altars spoliated, tombs\u003cbr\u003edesecrated, priests and curates murdered; but that is not enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere must be a new religion; and to attain that there must be a new\u003cbr\u003eGod.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Man is a born idol-worshipper.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVery well then! let the People have a new religion and a new God.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStay!--Not a God this time!--for God means Majesty, Power, Kingship!\u003cbr\u003eeverything in fact which the mighty hand of the people of France has\u003cbr\u003estruggled and fought to destroy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot a God, but a goddess.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA goddess! an idol! a toy! since even the man-eating tiger must play\u003cbr\u003esometimes.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147461574896,"sku":"2940013106475","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013106475_p0.jpg?v=1763576898","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013106475","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}