"The Laughing Cavalier: The Story of the Ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy is an adventure novel published in 1913. Set in 1623 Holland, the story follows Percy Blakeney, a dashing foreign mercenary who becomes entangled in a deadly conspiracy. When he's hired to kidnap Gilda Beresteyn, daughter of a wealthy merchant, Blakeney finds himself caught between a dangerous assassination plot, a vengeful nobleman, and his growing feelings for his captive—who could send him to the gallows with a single word. (This is an automatically generated summary.)