Adventures of The Scarlet Pimpernel - Contents - The Little Doctor

The Little Doctor

Late September 1793 in a picturesque corner of Brittany and the Scarlet Pimpernel and Docteur Lescar are watching a schooner disappear over the horizon towards England and safety. The old Docteur, who helped Sir Percy save the La Forest family (who are on the schooner), is voicing concern for the Englishman's safety - though not his own, asserting that "Even the most hot-headed patriot knows that the country could not afford to send all its doctors to the guillotine". Despite his confidence, several days later Lescar finds himself being questioned about the English spy by a stranger. Lescar is popular in the area and the crowd in the tavern starts to get uneasy at the treatment of the good Doctor especially when it is revealed that the stranger is none other than Citizen Péret, a member of the Committee of Public Safety. Péret senses the atmosphere and backs off, but before long his attention turns to a conversation between three mariners / smugglers who are discussing seeing an Englishman (who might be the Pimpernel) being attended by Docteur Lescar in the Rue des Pipots. Péret sends some soldiers to check the address and they report that, although the house was empty, they have found a quantity of smuggled English goods...as well as note addressed to Citizen Dieudonné (one of the mariners) from the Pimpernel arranging to meet him at the usual place at 10pm that evening. Threatened with the guillotine, Dieudonné eventually tells Péret that the trysting place is the house of Docteur Lescar and denounces the little Doctor as a traitor...