Queen of the jesters, and her strange adventures in old Paris by Max Pemberton
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"Queen of the jesters, and her strange adventures in old Paris" by Max Pemberton is a historical adventure novel written in the late 19th century. It follows Corinne de Montesson, a dazzling philanthropist and daredevil of Louis XV’s Paris, as she moves between salons and slums, mastering plots that tangle rogues, scholars, and the police. Expect swift capers, clever deceptions, and moral reckonings as Corinne aids the wretched, spars with the Lieutenant
of Police, and rules an unruly city with wit and nerve. The opening of the novel introduces a starving newcomer, Ferdinand Dauberval, who seeks help at Corinne’s Hôtel Beautreillis, is fed and refitted, then tested: when he steals a diamond cross from his bedroom shrine, Corinne springs a silent trap, her hound drops him, and a maze sends him running in terror until dawn; stripped of the jewel and his pretensions, he is dismissed from Paris. The scene shifts to the highwayman Coq le Roi, who escapes a police raid through a well-tunnel with aid from a masked ally, sparking street cheers. Meanwhile Sartines, the new Lieutenant of Police, is wined and thoroughly outplayed at Corinne’s house: her “astrologer” narrates Coq le Roi’s day, Sartines views the “prisoner” asleep (a ruse), and even a royal note ties the outlaw’s liberty to stealing Sartines’s ring. Pursuing clarity to Versailles, Sartines meets a laughing young rider in green velvet who reveals Corinne’s theatrics and then, with a final flourish, hints that she herself is the disguised highwayman, leaving the chase and the joke squarely on him. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Pemberton, Max, 1863-1950 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Piffard, Harold, 1867-1938 |
| Title | Queen of the jesters, and her strange adventures in old Paris |
| Original Publication | New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1897. |
| Contents | The hunger of Ferdinand Dauberval -- The liberty of the little red man -- A prison of swords -- At the house of the scarlet witch -- The purple glass -- The Kingdom of Bourgorieau -- The Devil's bowl and the strange affair at Fontenay -- Yerut the dwarf. |
| Credits | an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | Paris (France) -- Fiction |
| Subject | Short stories, English |
| Subject | Adventure stories, English |
| Subject | France -- History -- Louis XV, 1715-1774 -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78828 |
| Release Date | Jun 8, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 2005 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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