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THE LAUGHING CAVALIER
THE STORY OF THE ANCESTOR OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL
BARONESS ORCZY
Author of "Unto Caesar," "The Scarlet Pimpernel," "El Dorado,""Meadowsweet," etc.
NEW YORKGEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Copyright, 1914,BY THE RIDGWAY COMPANY
Copyright, 1914,BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
CONTENTS
AN APOLOGY
THE PROLOGUE
THE ADVENTURE
I NEW YEAR'S EVE
II THE FRACAS BY THE POSTERN GATE
III AN INTERLUDE
IV WATCH-NIGHT
V BROTHER AND SISTER
VI THE COUNSELS OF PRUDENCE
VII THREE PHILOSOPHERS AND THEIR FRIENDS
VIII THE LODGINGS WHICH WERE PAID FOR
IX THE PAINTER OF PICTURES
X THE LAUGHING CAVALIER
XI THE BARGAIN
XII THE PORTRAIT
XIII THE SPANISH WENCH
XIV AFTER EVENSONG
XV THE HALT AT BENNEBROCK
XVI LEYDEN
XVII AN UNDERSTANDING
XVIII THE START
XIX IN THE KINGDOM OF THE NIGHT
XX BACK AGAIN IN HAARLEM
XXI A GRIEF-STRICKEN FATHER
XXII A DOUBLE PLEDGE
XXIII A SPY FROM THE CAMP
XXIV THE BIRTH OF HATE
XXV AN ARRANT KNAVE
XXVI BACK TO HOUDEKERK
XXVII THENCE TO ROTTERDAM
XXVIII CHECK
XXIX CHECK AGAIN
XXX A NOCTURNE
XXXI THE MOLENS
XXXII A RUN THROUGH THE NIGHT
XXXIII THE CAPTIVE LION
XXXIV PROTESTATIONS
XXXV THE WITNESS FOR THE DEFENCE
XXXVI BROTHER PHILOSOPHERS
XXXVII DAWN
XXXVIII THE HOUR
XXXIX "SAUVE QUI PEUT"
XL THE LOSER PAYS
XLI "VENGEANCE IS MINE"
XLII THE FIGHT IN THE DOORWAY
XLIII LEYDEN ONCE MORE
XLIV BLAKE OF BLAKENEY
XLV THE END
AN APOLOGY
Does it need one?
If so it must also come from those members of the Blakeney family inwhose veins runs the blood of that Sir Percy Blakeney who is known tohistory as the Scarlet Pimpernel--for they in a manner are responsiblefor the telling of this veracious chronicle.
For the past eight years now--ever since the true story of The ScarletPimpernel was put on record by the present author--these gentle, kind,inquisitive friends have asked me to trace their descent back to anancestor more remote than was Sir Percy, to one in fact who by his lifeand by his deeds stands forth from out the distant past as a conclusiveproof that the laws which govern the principles of heredity are asunalterable as those that rule the destinies of the universe. They havepointed out to me that since Sir Percy Blakeney's was an exceptionalpersonality, possessing exceptional characteristics which his friendspronounced sublime and his detractors arrogant--he must have had anancestor in the dim long ago who was, like him, exceptional, like himpossessed of qualities which call forth the devotion of friends and therancour of enemies. Nay, more! there must have existed at one time oranother a man who possessed that same sunny disposition, that sameirresistible laughter, that same careless insouciance and adventurousspirit which were subsequently transmitted to his descendants, of whomthe Scarlet Pimpernel himself was the most distinguished individual.
All these were unanswerable arguments, and with the request thataccompanied them I had long intended to comply. Time has been my onlyenemy in thwarting my intentions until now--time and the multiplicity ofmaterial and documents to be gone through ere vague knowledge could beturned into certitude.
Now at last I am in a position to present not only to the Blakeneysthemselves, but to all those who look on the Scarlet Pimpernel as theirhero and their friend--the true history of one of his most notedforebears.
Strangely enough his history has never been written before. And yetcountless millions must during the past three centuries have stoodbefore his picture; we of the present generation, who are the proudpossessors of that picture now, have looked on him many a time, alwayswith sheer, pure joy in our hearts, our lips smiling, our eyes sparklingin response to his; almost forgetting the genius of the artist whoportrayed him in the very realism of the personality which literallyseems to breathe and palpitate and certainly to laugh to us out of thecanvas.
Those twinkling eyes! how well we know them! that laugh! we can almosthear it; as for the swagger, the devil-may-care arrogance, do we notcondone it, seeing that it has its mainspring behind a fine straightbrow whose noble, sweeping lines betray an undercurrent of dignity andof thought.
And yet no biographer has--so far as is known to the author of thisveracious chronicle--ever attempted to tell us anything of this man'slife, no one has attempted hitherto to lift the veil of anonymity whichonly thinly hides the identity of the Laughing Cavalier.
But here in Haarlem--in the sleepy, yet thriving little town where helived, the hard-frozen ground in winter seems at times to send forth amemory-echo of his firm footstep, of the jingling of his spurs, and theclang of his sword, and the old gate of the Spaarne through which hepassed so often is still haunted with the sound of his merry laughter,and his pleasant voice seems still to rouse the ancient walls fromtheir sleep.
Here too--hearing these memory-echoes whenever the shadows of eveningdraw in on the quaint old city--I had a dream. I saw him just as helived, three hundred years ago. He had stepped out of the canvas inLondon, had crossed the sea and was walking the streets of Haarlem justas he had done then, filling them with his swagger, with his engagingpersonality, above all with his laughter. And sitting beside me in theold tavern of the "Lame Cow," in that self-same tap-room where he waswont to make merry, he told me the history of his life.
Since then kind friends at Haarlem have placed documents in my handswhich confirmed the story told me by the Laughing Cavalier. To them do Itender my heartfelt and grateful thanks. But it is to the manhimself--to the memory of him which is so alive here in Haarlem--that Iam indebted for the true history of his life, and therefore I feel thatbut little apology is needed for placing the true facts before all thosewho have known him hitherto only by his picture, who have loved him onlyfor what they guessed.
The monograph which I now present with but few additions of minordetails, goes to prove what I myself had known long ago, namely, thatthe Laughing Cavalier who sat to Frans Hals for his portrait in 1624 wasthe direct ancestor of Sir Percy Blakeney, known to history as theScarlet Pimpernel.