The Laughing Cavalier by Emmuska Orczy [Scarlet Pimpernel #1]

Whoever loves a fight, first and last, will like the Baroness Orczy's latest story, The Laughing Cavalier, for all the male characters, good, bad, and indifferent, are fighting hard when they are not making love. This is supposed to be the adventure of an ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel; but whether it is or not is of small moment. What counts is that there is a desperate villain who abducts the lovely daughter of a rich Haarlem merchant and a gallant swordsman who always comes to the maid's rescue in the nick of time.