# Lady Blakeney's Rout explained — The Elusive Pimpernel

> Chapter companion for The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.

## What happens

Marguerite hosts a grand reception at Blakeney Manor, attended by fashionable London society and the Prince of Wales. She is anxious about Chauvelin's presence and his hidden schemes. Juliette Marny confides about her family jewels entrusted to Abbé Foucquet in Boulogne. Marguerite and Percy share a tender moment, but he dismisses her fears with affected nonchalance. The arrival of Désirée Candeille and Chauvelin heightens Marguerite's foreboding.

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Disguise

Chauvelin's humble demeanor and offers of friendship are a sham; Percy hides his true intentions behind affected laziness.

### Love and Marriage

Marguerite and Percy share a tender moment, revealing deep affection despite his past neglect and her anxiety.

### Class and Aristocracy

The rout displays elite society with historic names, royalty, and lavish jewels, contrasting with Juliette's lost family wealth.

## Character check-ins

### Marguerite Blakeney

Hosts the rout, anxious about Chauvelin's motives, shares a tender moment with Percy, and listens to Juliette's story about the jewels.

### Sir Percy Blakeney

Reassures Marguerite with affected carelessness, hints at his secret activities, and expresses regret for past neglect.

### Juliette Marny

Arrives in simple white gown, confides about her mother's jewels hidden with Abbé Foucquet in Boulogne.

### Citizen Chauvelin

Arrives with Candeille, dressed in black, and is viewed by Marguerite as the orchestrator of a hidden plot.

### Désirée Candeille

Arrives with Chauvelin, beautifully dressed with a diamond necklace, and curtsies elaborately to Marguerite.

### Abbé Foucquet

Mentioned by Juliette as the trusted guardian of her family jewels, hidden in the crypt of his Boulogne church.

### Prince of Wales

Attends the rout, having come by water from Carlton House.

## Key lines

> even now so little to deserve.

Percy admits he does not deserve Marguerite's devotion.

_Percy expresses self-reproach for his past neglect._

> He said they would be safe with the ornaments of his own little church at Boulogne. He feared no sacrilege, and thought they would be most effectually hidden there, for no one would dream of looking for the Marny diamonds in the crypt of a country church.

Juliette explains that Abbé Foucquet hid her mother's jewels in his church crypt for safekeeping.

_Juliette confides the location of the Marny diamonds._

> That unaccountable feeling of unreality was still upon her, that sense that she, and the woman Candeille, Percy and even His Royal Highness were, for the time being, the actors in a play written and stage-managed by Chauvelin.

Marguerite feels that everyone is a puppet in a scheme orchestrated by Chauvelin.

_Marguerite's intuition warns her of Chauvelin's hidden plot._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_elusive_pimpernel_se/chapters/x-lady-blakeney-s-rout
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_elusive_pimpernel_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_elusive_pimpernel_se/chapters