You are in the middle of dinner at your lodgings in England when a
knock interrupts your meal. Opening the door, you find a courier with a
letter....an envelope sealed with the sign of the violet on it. You open
the note hurriedly..it is from Lady Hastings, an urgent message
requiring you to be at her home at 3:00 in the afternoon the day after
tomorrow.
You arrive at the Hastings home at the appointed time, stepping down
from your carriage with the invitation in hand...there seem to be no
servants or anyone anywhere about, save for a single maid who greets you
at the door. One look at the paper in your hand and she leads you
silently down the long hall into the parlour. As the wooden door slides
open to admit you, you hear the thunder of carriage wheels drawing up
behind you....and your suspicions that you were not the only Guilder
invited to this meeting are confirmed as you step into the richly
furnished parlour. Lady Hastings is sitting in a large armchair,
holding a folded paper in one hand, and several other people you
recognize as Guilders are sitting and standing in various positions
about the room. Eliza Hastings rises as you enter, holding the paper in
her hand tightly. You catch a glimpse of the signature.."Timothy
Hastings"...the missive is from her husband, a Bounder in the League of
the Scarlet Pimpernel.
"My friend, do sit down....there are only a few more to come, and I
only wish to make explanations once."
You take your seat, and spend the next half of an hour in idle
conversation with the other Guilders. Finally, the last person has
arrived, filling the large parlour quite full, and Lady Hastings rises
and looks around at all of you.
"My friends," she says quietly,"something very unusual has happened. The
Pimpernel requires our assistance almost more then he ever has hitherto,
but not in Paris, not even in France. No, Violet Guilders, our next
mission is right here, in England."
The marvelous story of Mlle. de Roche!
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