Welcome to Episode Twenty of our nightly audio adventure, The Scarlet Pimpernel. From Florida, Peter Jones, a first-weekend Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, writes:
Jeeze luweeze I'm so enjoying this current Tale for Our Time! Would you be kind enough to post the remaining episodes so that I won't have to wait to hear the outcome?!
No can do, Peter. But we're barreling down toward the thrilling finale, and the excitement can't linger that much longer as we need to start striking the set and moving in our various Christmas entertainments. However, we certainly give you bonus points for "Jeeze luweeze", which I'm pretty sure is one of those minced oaths I was referring to.
In tonight's episode, they seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere ...but they never thought to seek him among the Jews of Calais:
'I have further news for you, citoyen.'
'What is it?'
'A tall Englishman had a long conversation about three-quarters of an hour ago with a Jew, Reuben by name, who lives not ten paces from here.'
'Yes—and?' queried Chauvelin, impatiently.
'The conversation was all about a horse and cart, which the tall Englishman wished to hire, and which was to have been ready for him by eleven o'clock...'
'Send one of the men to find out if the stranger has driven off in Reuben's cart.''Yes, citoyen...'
About five minutes later, Desgas returned, followed by an elderly Jew, in a dirty, threadbare gaberdine, worn greasy across the shoulders. His red hair, which he wore after the fashion of the Polish Jews, with the corkscrew curls each side of his face, was plentifully sprinkled with grey—a general coating of grime, about his cheeks and his chin, gave him a peculiarly dirty and loathsome appearance. He had the habitual stoop those of his race affected in mock humility in past centuries, before the dawn of equality and freedom in matters of faith, and he walked behind Desgas with the peculiar shuffling gait which has remained the characteristic of the Jew trader in continental Europe to this day.Chauvelin, who had all the Frenchman's prejudice against the despised race, motioned to the fellow to keep at a respectful distance.
Golly, it's like a Jeremy Corbyn committee meeting in Calais. If you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club you can hear Part Twenty of our serialization of The Scarlet Pimpernel simply by clicking here and logging-in. All previous episodes can be found here.
~Membership in The Mark Steyn Club is not for everyone, but it helps keep all our content out there for everyone - in print, audio, video, around the world, and hopefully changing a mind or two here and there. And, aside from Tales for Our Time, being a Steyn Club member does come with a few other benefits:
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, CDs and other items in the Steyn store;
~The opportunity to engage in live Q&A sessions with yours truly, such as last week's Clubland Q&A, and our video editions of Mark's Mailbox;
~Transcript and audio versions of our video content, such as SteynPosts and The Mark Steyn Show;
~Comment Club privileges;
~Our weekend series of video poetry and other specials;
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world, including the first ever Dennis Miller/Mark Steyn tour and the second annual Mark Steyn Club Cruise;
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the opportunity to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the world.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and don't forget our special Christmas Gift Membership. This holiday season it comes with a special personalized Christmas card from yours truly and a handsomely-engraved gift-boxed USB stick with a trio of our most popular Tales for Our Time for your loved one to listen to in the car or perambulating through the wilderness or almost anywhere else. (The three tales are The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Time Machine and The Thirty-Nine Steps.) For more details on our special Christmas Gift Membership, see here - and please join me tomorrow for Part Twenty-One of The Scarlet Pimpernel.
