# XIV: The Ruling Passion explained — The Elusive Pimpernel

> Chapter companion for The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.

## What happens

After a brilliant but tense evening, Marguerite Blakeney reflects on her husband Percy's dangerous adventures and her own fears. She encounters Désirée Candeille in the garden, who offers her a passport to accompany Percy to France, hoping to prove her loyalty. Marguerite, torn between mistrust and a desire to be with her husband, ultimately retrieves the passport.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Marriage

Marguerite's internal conflict between her love for Percy and her resentment of his dangerous adventures highlights the strains within their marriage.

### Sacrifice for the Greater Good

Percy's repeated risks for others contrast with Marguerite's desire to keep him safe, exploring the theme of self-sacrifice.

### Deception and Disguise

Candeille's secretive offer of the passport and Marguerite's mistrust underscore the theme of deception.

## Character check-ins

### Marguerite Blakeney

Struggles with anxiety over Percy's safety and her own feelings of selfishness and envy towards those who keep their husbands safe.

### Sir Percy Blakeney

Mentioned as the object of Marguerite's fears and love; his ruling passion for adventure is highlighted.

### Désirée Candeille

Approaches Marguerite in the garden, offering her maid's passport and expressing a desire to help, though Marguerite remains suspicious.

### Sir Andrew Ffoulkes

Last guest to leave; his devotion to his wife Suzanne is contrasted with Percy's adventurous nature.

### Citizen Chauvelin

Referenced as the dark bird of prey and the orchestrator of the plot against Percy.

## Key lines

> Is not a woman who loves—be it husband or child—the most truly selfish, the most cruelly callous creature in the world, there, where the safety and the well-being of the loved one is in direct conflict with the safety and well-being of others.

A loving woman is selfish when her loved one's safety conflicts with others' welfare.

_Marguerite reflects on her own selfish desire to keep Percy safe at the expense of others._

> She would right gladly have closed her eyes to every horror perpetrated in France, she would not have known what went on in Paris, she wanted her husband!

She would ignore the horrors in France just to have her husband with her.

_Marguerite's internal struggle between her love and the greater good._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_elusive_pimpernel_se/chapters/xiv-the-ruling-passion
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_elusive_pimpernel_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_elusive_pimpernel_se/chapters