II: Le Bouffay explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Class Conflict and Revolution

  The chapter contrasts Martin-Roget's brutish sansculottism with Chauvelin's aristocratic-turned-revolutionary idealism, highlighting the class struggle within the Revolution.

• Revenge and Betrayal

  Martin-Roget's personal vengeance against the Kernogans drives his actions, and Chauvelin warns of potential betrayal by the Scarlet Pimpernel.

• Deception and Disguise

  Chauvelin's suspicion that the Scarlet Pimpernel is in Nantes, scheming and plotting under disguise, underscores the theme of deception.

Characters to notice

• Martin-Roget

  Described as tall, broad-shouldered, bull-necked, the personification of sansculottism; he is confident in his plan to keep Yvonne imprisoned under his sister's watch and dismisses Chauvelin's warnings about the Scarlet Pimpernel.

• Citizen Chauvelin

  Thin, frail, ascetic, and calculating; he warns Martin-Roget that the Scarlet Pimpernel is in Nantes and will try to rescue Yvonne, recalling his own past failure in Boulogne.

• Yvonne de Kernogan

  Referred to as 'the Kernogan wench' and 'the wench'; she is the hostage Martin-Roget has imprisoned under his sister's care, and the target of the Scarlet Pimpernel's planned rescue.

• Sir Percy Blakeney

  Referenced as the Scarlet Pimpernel; Chauvelin claims to have seen his figure and heard his voice in Nantes, and warns that he is plotting to rescue Yvonne.

• Louise Adet

  Mentioned as Martin-Roget's sister, who is guarding Yvonne; she is described as a bitter gaoler due to her own suffering at the hands of the Kernogans.

• Lord Tony Dewhurst

  Referenced as the husband of Yvonne de Kernogan and a dear friend of the Scarlet Pimpernel; his secret marriage to Yvonne is mentioned as a past event.

• Jean Baptiste Carrier

  Mentioned as having suggested flinging the Kernogans into the Loire; his earlier conversation with Martin-Roget is referenced.

Key passages

• “who was not ready to see husband, father, wife or child sacrificed for the ultimate triumph of the Revolution was in Chauvelin’s sight a noxious creature, fit only to be trodden under heel and ground into subjection or annihilation as a danger to the State.”

  Chauvelin considered anyone unwilling to sacrifice their family for the Revolution's success as a dangerous pest that must be crushed.

  Illustrates Chauvelin's ruthless revolutionary ideology.

• “Martin-Roget was the personification of sansculottism, of rough manners and foul speech⁠—he chafed against the conventions which forced him to wear decent clothes and boots on his feet⁠—he would gladly have seen everyone go about the streets half-naked, unwashed, a living sign of that downward levelling of castes which he and his friends stood for”

  Martin-Roget embodied the crude, anti-aristocratic spirit of the sansculottes, resenting even the basic dress codes of civilization and wanting to abolish class distinctions entirely.

  Highlights the class conflict theme and Martin-Roget's character.

• “Chauvelin, on the other hand, was one of those who wore fine linen and buckled shoes and whose hands were delicately washed and perfumed whilst they signed decrees which sent hundreds of women and children to a violent and cruel death.”

  Chauvelin maintained an elegant, refined appearance even as he coldly authorized the mass murder of innocents.

  Contrasts the two revolutionaries' styles and underscores the hypocrisy of the Terror.

• “I mean that I know him⁠—to my cost⁠—and you do not. But you will, an I am not gravely mistaken, make acquaintance with him ere your great adventure with these Kernogan people is successfully at an end.”

  Chauvelin warns that he has personally suffered from the Scarlet Pimpernel's interference and that Martin-Roget will soon encounter him too.

  Foreshadows the Scarlet Pimpernel's involvement and Chauvelin's past failure.