Book of the duchess: escape from execution

Number 20: With the help of their sympathisers, the prisoners escape at the very foot of the scaffold and turn the tables on their enemies

The plot episode 19 (summarised from the text of Lorna’s novel)

Unbeknown to Michael and Raoul - and perhaps more importantly Guillot - Duchess Jacqueline had prepared an insurrection to save the condemned men at the eleventh hour.

Her plan included the substitution of Guillot’s executioner Pierre le Grand for Léon de Belavise.  Léon’s role was to allow his fellow Saint Étiennists to come near to their leader Michael, cut the prisoners’ bonds, place a sword in Michael’s hands, and give an axe to Raoul. Guillot, surprised and furious, was powerless to stem the onslaught of the crowd.

Lorna’s remarks

Again, I am not convinced, although the movement in this redeems it from the banality of the previous one. The background is cardboard again, and the relative sizes of those near and those afar seems to have been ignored.

However, the difficulty of a picture of this sort for one so young and inexperienced were enormous, and I do not think therefore that this deserves to be so criticised as the other. But where did the giant behind the man in purple come from, and where is Raoul?