# Then Everything Was Dark explained — El Dorado

> Chapter companion for El Dorado by Baroness Orczy.

## What happens

Armand St. Just, tormented by conflicting loyalties to Jeanne Lange and Sir Percy Blakeney, rises before dawn to visit Jeanne before leaving Paris. At her lodgings, the concierge informs him that Jeanne and Madame Belhomme were arrested the previous evening by the Committee of General Security. Overcome with horror and despair, Armand flees through the streets and eventually collapses at the home of his chief.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Loyalty

Armand is torn between his love for Jeanne and his loyalty to Sir Percy, a conflict that drives him to reckless action and ultimately to despair.

### Betrayal and Guilt

Armand feels that Jeanne's arrest is his fault, and his guilt overwhelms him, leading to a mental breakdown.

### Innocence and Suffering

Jeanne, an innocent woman, is arrested and imprisoned, causing Armand intense suffering and horror.

## Character check-ins

### Armand St. Just

Spends a sleepless, agonizing night torn between love for Jeanne and loyalty to Percy; goes to Jeanne's lodgings at dawn, learns of her arrest, and runs in despair to his chief's house.

### Jeanne Lange

Armand's beloved; has been arrested from her lodgings by agents of the Committee of General Security, along with Madame Belhomme.

### Madame Belhomme

Jeanne's landlady; arrested alongside Jeanne the previous evening.

### Sir Percy Blakeney

Armand's chief, to whom he has sworn allegiance; Armand collapses at his door after learning of Jeanne's arrest.

### Lord Hastings

Mentioned as having arranged to meet Armand at the Neuilly Gate at seven o'clock.

## Key lines

> The night that Armand St. Just spent tossing about on a hard, narrow bed was the most miserable, agonising one he had ever passed in his life.

Armand St. Just endured the worst night of his life, lying awake on a cramped, uncomfortable bed.

_Opens the chapter with Armand's physical and emotional torment._

> His love for Jeanne! His loyalty to the man to whom he owed his life, and to whom he had sworn allegiance and implicit obedience!

He was torn between his love for Jeanne and his duty to the man who had saved him and whom he had promised to obey.

_Highlights the central conflict of the chapter._

> Jeanne had been arrested! Jeanne was in the hands of those brutes, whom he, Armand, had regarded yesterday with insurmountable loathing!

Jeanne had been taken by the very people Armand despised, and he blamed himself.

_Armand's reaction to the news of Jeanne's arrest._

> Then suddenly everything was dark.

Then everything went black.

_The chapter title and a moment of collapse or despair._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/el_dorado_se/chapters/part-i-xiii-then-everything-was-dark
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/el_dorado_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/el_dorado_se/chapters