# XXII explained — Sir Percy Hits Back

> Chapter companion for Sir Percy Hits Back by Baroness Orczy.

## What happens

Chauvelin successfully maneuvers to have the President of the Tribunal and Public Prosecutor Isnard summoned to Paris, temporarily halting the Revolutionary Tribunal in Orange and buying himself three weeks to try to save Fleurette from execution. He plans to accompany them as far as Lyons, then secretly return to Orange. Amid his anguish, he reflects bitterly on the Scarlet Pimpernel, imagining how his enemy would exult if he knew of Chauvelin's suffering.

## Themes in this chapter

### Revolutionary Tyranny and Injustice

Chauvelin manipulates the very system of revolutionary justice to delay Fleurette's trial, highlighting the arbitrary and self-serving nature of the Tribunal's power.

### Family and Paternal Love

Chauvelin's desperate plan to save his daughter Fleurette, risking his own life, underscores his paternal devotion.

### Disguise and Deception

Chauvelin uses a false summons to deceive the President and Prosecutor, a strategic deception to gain time.

## Character check-ins

### Citizen Chauvelin

Heaves a sigh of satisfaction after successfully summoning the President and Prosecutor to Paris, buying time to save Fleurette; reflects on the Scarlet Pimpernel with bitter anguish.

### Public Prosecutor Isnard

Receives the summons to Paris, is flustered and scared, and taunts Chauvelin about Fleurette's impending trial.

### Fleurette

Mentioned as the subject of the indictment that Isnard had ready; Chauvelin's plan aims to save her from execution.

### The Scarlet Pimpernel

Chauvelin wonders what the Scarlet Pimpernel would do in his situation and dreads the thought of his enemy learning of his sorrow.

### Adèle

Referred to as the chief witness against Fleurette, described as a 'wench who looks like an anaemic rat'.

## Key lines

> With the President of the Tribunal and the Public Prosecutor out of the way, the business of the State would be at a standstill in Orange and he would have at least three weeks of freedom before him in which to act.

By removing the Tribunal's leaders, Chauvelin halts all official proceedings in Orange, giving himself three weeks to save Fleurette.

_Chauvelin's strategic success and his timeline for action._

> Strangely enough at this moment he fell to wondering what his arch-enemy, the Scarlet Pimpernel, would do under the circumstances and he longed for the possession of that same imaginative brain, that marvellous resource and unbounded pluck which had foiled him, Chauvelin, at every turn.

Chauvelin envies the Scarlet Pimpernel's creativity and courage, wishing he had those qualities to rescue Fleurette.

_Chauvelin's admiration and rivalry with the Scarlet Pimpernel._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/sir_percy_hits_back_se/chapters/xxii
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