{"product_id":"2940013106505","title":"THE LEAGUE OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI    SIR PERCY EXPLAINS\u003cbr\u003eII   A QUESTION OF PASSPORTS\u003cbr\u003eIII  TWO GOOD PATRIOTS\u003cbr\u003eIV   THE OLD SCARECROW\u003cbr\u003eV    A FINE BIT OF WORK\u003cbr\u003eVI   HOW JEAN PIERRE MET THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL\u003cbr\u003eVII  OUT OF THE JAWS OF DEATH\u003cbr\u003eVIII THE TRAITOR\u003cbr\u003eIX   THE CABARET DE LA LIBERTE\u003cbr\u003eX    \"NEEDS MUST--\"\u003cbr\u003eXI   A BATTLE OF WITS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSIR PERCY EXPLAINS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not, Heaven help us all! a very uncommon occurrence these days: a\u003cbr\u003ewoman almost unsexed by misery, starvation, and the abnormal excitement\u003cbr\u003eengendered by daily spectacles of revenge and of cruelty. They were to\u003cbr\u003ebe met with every day, round every street corner, these harridans, more\u003cbr\u003eterrible far than were the men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis one was still comparatively young, thirty at most; would have been\u003cbr\u003egood-looking too, for the features were really delicate, the nose\u003cbr\u003echiselled, the brow straight, the chin round and small. But the mouth!\u003cbr\u003eHeavens, what a mouth! Hard and cruel and thin-lipped; and those eyes!\u003cbr\u003esunken and rimmed with purple; eyes that told tales of sorrow and, yes!\u003cbr\u003eof degradation. The crowd stood round her, sullen and apathetic; poor,\u003cbr\u003emiserable wretches like herself, staring at her antics with lack-lustre\u003cbr\u003eeyes and an ever-recurrent contemptuous shrug of the shoulders.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woman was dancing, contorting her body in the small circle of light\u003cbr\u003eformed by a flickering lanthorn which was hung across the street from\u003cbr\u003ehouse to house, striking the muddy pavement with her shoeless feet, all\u003cbr\u003eto the sound of a be-ribboned tambourine which she struck now and again\u003cbr\u003ewith her small, grimy hand. From time to time she paused, held out the\u003cbr\u003etambourine at arm's length, and went the round of the spectators, asking\u003cbr\u003efor alms. But at her approach the crowd at once seemed to disintegrate,\u003cbr\u003eto melt into the humid evening air; it was but rarely that a greasy\u003cbr\u003etoken fell into the outstretched tambourine. Then as the woman started\u003cbr\u003eagain to dance the crowd gradually reassembled, and stood, hands in\u003cbr\u003epockets, lips still sullen and contemptuous, but eyes watchful of the\u003cbr\u003espectacle. There were such few spectacles these days, other than the\u003cbr\u003emonotonous processions of tumbrils with their load of aristocrats for\u003cbr\u003ethe guillotine!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo the crowd watched, and the woman danced. The lanthorn overhead threw\u003cbr\u003ea weird light on red caps and tricolour cockades, on the sullen faces of\u003cbr\u003ethe men and the shoulders of the women, on the dancer's weird antics and\u003cbr\u003eher flying, tattered skirts. She was obviously tired, as a poor,\u003cbr\u003eperforming cur might be, or a bear prodded along to uncongenial\u003cbr\u003ebuffoonery. Every time that she paused and solicited alms with her\u003cbr\u003etambourine the crowd dispersed, and some of them laughed because she\u003cbr\u003einsisted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Voyons,\" she said with a weird attempt at gaiety, \"a couple of sous for\u003cbr\u003ethe entertainment, citizen! You have stood here half an hour. You can't\u003cbr\u003ehave it all for nothing, what?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe man--young, square-shouldered, thick-lipped, with the look of a\u003cbr\u003ebully about his well-clad person--retorted with a coarse insult, which\u003cbr\u003ethe woman resented. There were high words; the crowd for the most part\u003cbr\u003eranged itself on the side of the bully. The woman backed against the\u003cbr\u003ewall nearest to her, held feeble, emaciated hands up to her ears in a\u003cbr\u003evain endeavour to shut out the hideous jeers and ribald jokes which were\u003cbr\u003ethe natural weapons of this untamed crowd.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSoon blows began to rain; not a few fell upon the unfortunate woman. She\u003cbr\u003escreamed, and the more she screamed the louder did the crowd jeer, the\u003cbr\u003euglier became its temper. Then suddenly it was all over. How it happened\u003cbr\u003ethe woman could not tell. She had closed her eyes, feeling sick and\u003cbr\u003edizzy; but she had heard a loud call, words spoken in English (a\u003cbr\u003elanguage which she understood), a pleasant laugh, and a brief but\u003cbr\u003eviolent scuffle. After that the hurrying retreat of many feet, the click\u003cbr\u003eof sabots on the uneven pavement and patter of shoeless feet, and then\u003cbr\u003esilence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe had fallen on her knees and was cowering against the wall, had lost\u003cbr\u003econsciousness probably for a minute or two. Then she heard that pleasant\u003cbr\u003elaugh again and the soft drawl of the English tongue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I love to see those beggars scuttling off, like so many rats to their\u003cbr\u003eburrows, don't you, Ffoulkes?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"They didn't put up much fight, the cowards!\" came from another voice,\u003cbr\u003ealso in English. \"A dozen of them against this wretched woman. What had\u003cbr\u003ebest be done with her?\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147461705968,"sku":"2940013106505","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013106505_p0.jpg?v=1763576900","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013106505","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}