Lady Blakeney herself, the wife of that notorious English
spy, had already quitted Boulogne. The whole town knows by now that you
are in our hands--you, the most precious hostage we can hold for the
ultimate capture of the man whom we all fear and detest. Virtually the
town-crier is at the present moment proclaiming to the inhabitants of
this city: 'We want that man, but we already have his wife, see to it,
citizens, that she does not escape! for if she do, we shall summarily
shoot the breadwinner in every family in the town!'"

A cry of horror escaped Marguerite's parched lips.

"Are you devils then, all of you," she gasped, "that you should think of
such things?"

"Aye! some of us are devils, no doubt," said Chauvelin drily; "but why
should you honour us in this case with so flattering an epithet? We are
mere men striving to guard our property and mean no harm to the citizens
of Boulogne. We have threatened them, true! but is it not for you
and that elusive Pimpernel to see that the threat is never put into
execution?"

"You would not do it!" she repeated, horror-stricken.

"Nay! I pray you, fair lady, do not deceive yourself. At present the
proclamation sounds like a mere threat, I'll allow, but let me assure
you that if we fail to capture the Scarlet Pimpernel and if you on
the other hand are spirited out of this fortress by that mysterious
adventurer we shall undoubtedly shoot or guillotine every able-bodied
man and woman in this town."

He had spoken quietly and emphatically, neither with bombast, nor with
rage, and Marguerite saw in his face nothing but a calm and ferocious
determination, the determination of an entire nation embodied in this
one man, to be revenged at any cost. She would not let him see the depth
of her despair, nor would she let him read in her face the unutterable
hopelessness which filled her soul. It were useless to make an appeal
to him: she knew full well that from him she could obtain neither
gentleness nor mercy.

"I hope at last I have made the situation quite clear to your ladyship?"
he was asking quite pleasantly now. "See how easy is your position: you
have but to remain quiescent in room No. 6, and if any chance of escape
be offered you ere the Scarlet Pimpernel is captured, you need but to
think of all the families of Boulogne, who would be deprived of their
breadwinner--fathers and sons mostly, but there are girls too, who
support their mothers or sisters; the fish curers