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el dorado-第1部分

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El Dorado

by Baroness Orczy





FOREWORD

There has of late years crept so much confusion into the mind of
the student as well as of the general reader as to the identity of
the Scarlet Pimpernel with that of the Gascon Royalist plotter
known to history as the Baron de Batz; that the time seems
opportune for setting all doubts on that subject at rest。

The identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel is in no way whatever
connected with that of the Baron de Batz; and even superficial
reflection will soon bring the mind to the conclusion that great
fundamental differences existed in these two men; in their
personality; in their character; and; above all; in their aims。

According to one or two enthusiastic historians; the Baron de Batz
was the chief agent in a vast network of conspiracy; entirely
supported by foreign moneyboth English and Austrianand which
had for its object the overthrow of the Republican Government and
the restoration of the monarchy in France。

In order to attain this political goal; it is averred that he set
himself the task of pitting the members of the revolutionary
Government one against the other; and bringing hatred and
dissensions amongst them; until the cry of 〃Traitor!〃 resounded
from one end of the Assembly of the Convention to the other; and
the Assembly itself became as one vast den of wild beasts wherein
wolves and hyenas devoured one another and; still unsatiated;
licked their streaming jaws hungering for more prey。

Those same enthusiastic historians; who have a firm belief in the
so…called 〃Foreign Conspiracy;〃 ascribe every important event of
the Great Revolutionbe that event the downfall of the Girondins;
the escape of the Dauphin from the Temple; or the death of
Robespierreto the intrigues of Baron de Batz。  He it was; so
they say; who egged the Jacobins on against the Mountain;
Robespierre against Danton; Hebert against Robespierre。  He it was
who instigated the massacres of September; the atrocities of
Nantes; the horrors of Thermidor; the sacrileges; the noyades:
all with the view of causing every section of the National
Assembly to vie with the other in excesses and in cruelty; until
the makers of the Revolution; satiated with their own lust; turned
on one another; and Sardanapalus…like buried themselves and their
orgies in the vast hecatomb of a self…consumed anarchy。

Whether the power thus ascribed to Baron de Batz by his historians
is real or imaginary it is not the purpose of this preface to
investigate。  Its sole object is to point out the difference
between the career of this plotter and that of the Scarlet
Pimpernel。

The Baron de Batz himself was an adventurer without substance;
save that which he derived from abroad。  He was one of those men
who have nothing to lose and everything to gain by throwing
themselves headlong in the seething cauldron of internal politics。

Though he made several attempts at rescuing King Louis first; and
then the Queen and Royal Family from prison and from death; he
never succeeded; as we know; in any of these undertakings; and he
never once so much as attempted the rescue of other equally
innocent; if not quite so distinguished; victims of the most
bloodthirsty revolution that has ever shaken the foundations of
the civilised world。

Nay more; when on the 29th Prairial those unfortunate men and
women were condemned and executed for alleged complicity in the
so…called 〃 Foreign Conspiracy;〃 de Batz; who is universally
admitted to have been the head and prime…mover of that conspiracy
if; indeed; conspiracy there wasnever made either the
slightest attempt to rescue his confederates from the guillotine;
or at least the offer to perish by their side if he could not
succeed in saving them。

And when we remember that the martyrs of the 29th Prairial
included women like Grandmaison; the devoted friend of de Batz;
the beautiful Emilie de St。 Amaranthe; little Cecile Renaulta
mere child not sixteen years of agealso men like Michonis and
Roussell; faithful servants of de Batz; the Baron de Lezardiere;
and the Comte de St。 Maurice; his friends; we no longer can have
the slightest doubt that the Gascon plotter and the English
gentleman are indeed two very different persons。

The latter's aims were absolutely non…political。  He never
intrigued for the restoration of the monarchy; or even for the
overthrow of that Republic which lie loathed。

His only concern was the rescue of the innocent; the stretching
out of a saving hand to those unfortunate creatures who had fallen
into the nets spread out for them by their fellow…men; by those
whogodless; lawless; penniless themselveshad sworn to
exterminate all those who clung to their belongings; to their
religion; and to their beliefs。

The Scarlet Pimpernel did not take it upon himself to punish the
guilty; his care was solely of the helpless and of the innocent。

For this aim he risked his life every time that he set foot on
French soil; for it he sacrificed his fortune; and even his
personal happiness; and to it he devoted his entire existence。

Moreover; whereas the French plotter is said to have had
confederates even in the Assembly of the Convention; confederates
who were sufficiently influential and powerful to secure his own
immunity; the Englishman when he was bent on his errands of mercy
had the whole of France against him。

The Baron de Batz was a man who never justified either his own
ambitions or even his existence; the Scarlet Pimpernel was a
personality of whom an entire nation might justly be proud。


CONTENTS

PART I
I    IN THE THEATRE NATIONAL
II    WIDELY DIVERGENT AIMS
III    THE DEMON CHANCE
IV    MADEMOISELLE LANGE
V    THE TEMPLE PRISON
VI    THE COMMITTEE'S AGENT
VII    THE MOST PRECIOUS LIFE IN EUROPE
VIII    ARCADES AMBO
IX    WHAT LOVE CAN DO
X    SHADOWS
XI    THE LEAGUE OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL
XII    WHAT LOVE IS
XIII    THEN EVERYTHING WAS DARK
XIV    THE CHIEF
XV    THE GATE OF LA VILLETTE
XVI    THE WEARY SEARCH
XVII    CHAUVELIN
XVIII    THE REMOVAL
XIX    IT IS ABOUT THE DAUPHIN
XX    THE CERTIFICATE OF SAFETY
XXI    BACK TO PARIS
XXII    OF THAT THERE COULD BE NO QUESTION
XXIII    THE OVERWHELMING ODDS

PART II
XXIV    THE NEWS
XXV    PARIS ONCE MORE
XXVI    THE BITTEREST FOE
XXVI   IN THE CONCIERGERIE
XXVIII    THE CAGED LION
XXIX    FOR THE SAKE OF THAT HELPLESS INNOCENT
XXX    AFTERWARDS
XXXI    AN INTERLUDE
XXXII    SISTERS
XXXIII    LITTLE MOTHER
XXXIV    THE LETTER

PART III
XXXV    THE LAST PHASE
XXXVI    SUBMISSION
XXXVII    CHAUVELIN'S ADVICE
XXXVIII    CAPITULATION
XXXIX    KILL HIM!
XL    GOD HELP US ALL
XLI    WHEN HOPE WAS DEAD
XLII    THE GUARD…HOUSE OF THE RUE STE。ANNE
XLIII    THE DREARY JOURNEY
XLIV    THE HALT AT CRECY
XLV   THE FOREST OF BOULOGNE
XLVI    OTHERS IN THE PARK
XLVII    THE CHAPEL OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
XLVIII    THE WANING MOON
XLIX    THE LAND OF ELDORADO



PART I
CHAPTER I
IN THE THEATRE NATIONAL

And yet people found the opportunity to amuse themselves; to dance
and to go to the theatre; to enjoy music and open…air cafes and
promenades in the Palais Royal。

New fashions in dress made their appearance; milliners produced
fresh 〃creations;〃 and jewellers were not idle。  A grim sense of
humour; born of the very intensity of ever…present danger; had
dubbed the cut of certain tunics 〃tete tranche;〃 or a favourite
ragout was called 〃a la guillotine。〃

On three evenings only during the past memorable four and a half
years did the theatres close their doors; and these evenings were
the ones immediately following that terrible 2nd of September the
day of the butchery outside the Abbaye prison; when Paris herself
was aghast with horror; and the cries of the massacred might have
drowned the calls of the audience whose hands upraised for
plaudits would still be dripping with blood。

On all other evenings of these same four and a half years the
theatres in the Rue de Richelieu; in the Palais Royal; the
Luxembourg; and others; had raised their curtains and taken money
at their doors。  The same audience that earlier in the day had
whiled away the time by witnessing the ever…recurrent dramas of
the Place de la Revolution assembled here in the evenings and
filled stalls; boxes; and tiers; laughing over the satires of
Voltaire or weeping over the sentimental tragedies of persecuted
Romeos and innocent Juliets。

Death knocked at so many doors these days!  He was so constant a
guest in the houses of relatives and friends that those who had
merely shaken him by the hand; those on whom he had smiled; and
whom he; still smiling; had passed indulgently by; looked on him
with that subtle contempt born of familiarity; shrugged their
shoulders at his passage; and envisaged his probable visit on the
morrow with lighthearted indifference。

Parisdespite the horrors that had stained her walls had remained
a city of pleasure; and the knife of the guillotine did scarce
descend more often than did the drop…scenes on the stage。

On this bitterly cold evening of the 27th Nivose; in the second
year of the Republicor; as we of the old style still persist in
calling it; the 16th of Jan
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