Baroness Emma Magdalena Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy was born in Hungary. Her most popular
novel The Scarlet Pimpernel was published in 1905. Clothes enthusiast, seemingly not-so-clever by day Sir Percy Blakeney, aka the Scarlet Pimpernel, is at night the adept swordsman, master of disguise, who, along with his "League", rescues those condemned to the guillotine during the French Revolution. He always leaves his calling card, adorned with a single red flower.
"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?--Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel"--Chapter 12
Anagallis arvensis also known as red pimpernel, red chickweed, poorman's barometer, poor man's weather-glass, shepherd's weather glass or shepherd's clock, is "
generally considered a weed and is an indicator of light soils."
Weeds grow where you least expect them, often thriving in adverse conditions. They're sometimes lovely splashes of colour, and it can certainly be said they're tenacious. So also is the Scarlet Pimpernel, still in print over 100 years later.
