Summary
Louis XVI’s Paris, a powder-keg of lace and subterfuge, receives Francis Burnham—escaped American tar, salt still crusted in his hair—whose hunger for republican counsel from Franklin is derailed by the Minister’s absence. In the vacuum, destiny deals a double hand: a chance reunion with a cash-strapped shipmate and a moonlit skirmish that leaves a nameless beauty—her veil like smoke—alive in his arms. Fortune soon curdles; the gaming tables strip him to the bone and deliver him, shackled by debt, into the perfumed talons of the Marquis de Tremignon, a grand seigneur of malice. Blackmail becomes ballet: filch a slipper from the Countess de Villars, compromise her chastity, force a betrothal. Burnham, cornered, ghosts through candle-lit corridors, claims the satin token, and comes face-to-face with the very woman he once rescued—eyes now blazing with righteous betrayal. Honor re-ignites; he refuses the bargain, brandishes the slipper like a gauntlet, and is hurled into a rat-swollen cell. Enter the old sea-dog Bucknall, the queen’s glittering chambers, and a final act where marquises are humbled, borders are breached, and a single slipper—delicate as a butterfly’s wing—becomes the hinge upon which an empire of feeling swings shut on injustice.
Synopsis
Francis Burnham, a young American naval officer in the time of King Louis XVI of France, escapes from a British convict ship. He is desirous of reaching Paris to see Benjamin Franklin, then his country's Minister, but upon his arrival there learns Franklin is away. He meets Bucknall, an old shipmate, and earns his everlasting gratitude by helping him out of financial difficulties. Later, strolling through the suburbs of Paris, he has the good fortune to rescue a beautiful lady from a highwayman, but does not learn her name. Meanwhile his restless nature gets him into gambling, he loses all and becomes indebted to a stranger who proves to be the Marquis de Tremignon. By threats and promises to wipe out his obligations, the Marquis secures Burnham's aid in the scheme he has in mind. He tells the young American that he is in love with the Countess De Villars. and she with him but her grandfather objects, so the Marquis plans to force his consent by securing some article of wearing apparel from the Countess and thus compromise her. Burnham is to be his agent. He does not think very highly of the job, but when the Marquis threatens him with imprisonment, he consents. That night he enters the Countess' apartments and succeeds in securing one of her slippers but is confronted a moment later by the lady herself. She proves to be the lady he rescued from the highwayman. Crushed and humiliated, Burnham tells his story and she believes him. He learns that she hates the Marquis and that the rascal is really trying to force her into a marriage in this cowardly fashion. Before she goes she gives him her slipper to take to the Marquis, but instead he keeps it and denounces that gentleman to his face for which he is imprisoned. The slipper Burnham entrusts to Bucknell for safe keeping, and the old seaman takes it to the Countess, telling her what has transpired. She helps Burnham to escape from prison, but he is captured by the Marquis's soldiers before he can reach the border. The Countess's influence, however, secures an audience with Queen Marie Antoinette, as a result of which the Marquis is humiliated while Burnham is freed, and marries the Countess.
