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What if keeping your promise means betraying the person you love?
In Baroness Orczy’s I Will Repay, Juliette de Marny carries a vow made to her grieving father: avenge her brother’s death in a duel with Paul Déroulède. But when Déroulède offers her protection, hatred gives way to love. The man she promises to destroy becomes someone who trusts her.
Around them, revolutionary Paris turns suspicion into a threat to life. Noble birth invites danger, and an accusation can lead toward the guillotine. Déroulède’s sympathy for people in peril puts him at risk despite his standing. As Juliette struggles with her conscience, Sir Percy Blakeney—the Scarlet Pimpernel—brings courage and deception into this tightening conflict.
What you’ll discover
- A promise turned burden Follow Juliette as loyalty to her father clashes with her own sense of right.
- Love against inherited hatred Discover a romance in which trust makes an old vow harder to bear.
- Kindness under suspicion Enter a Paris where helping someone in danger can put your own life at risk.
- The Scarlet Pimpernel intervenes Meet Sir Percy Blakeney, whose daring rescues offer a different way to understand loyalty.
- Honor put to the test Face the question of whether a promise can ever justify betraying someone who trusts you.
Who will love it
Readers who love swashbuckling romance, the French Revolution, secret plots and daring rescues will feel at home here. It suits anyone who enjoys honor, faith, jealousy and love colliding.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Mercy cannot stop the duel
- Grief becomes an oath of vengeance
- Juliette turns kindness into an opening
- Love grows beside a dangerous secret
- Betrayal gives way to desperate protection
- A false paper reveals real guilt
- A public defense becomes a trap
- The defense puts Déroulède in danger
- Promises made in grief bend lives
Who’s who
- Juliette de MarnyA young aristocrat who swore at fourteen to avenge her brother, and who now lives hidden in Paris, torn between her oath and her heart.
- Paul DéroulèdeA rich, generous deputy loved by the Paris poor, who is determined to help the imprisoned Queen and who falls deeply in love with Juliette.
- Anne MieDéroulède's crippled foster cousin, who loves him in silence and distrusts the beautiful guest who has entered the house.
- Sir Percy BlakeneyThe English dandy who secretly leads the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel and wants to save his friends from the guillotine.
- MerlinA filthy, cruel politician who wrote the Law of the Suspect and is eager to bring down Déroulède.
- Foucquier-TinvilleThe Public Prosecutor, a bony and bloodthirsty man who sends prisoners to the guillotine by the dozen and enjoys a clever trap.
- PétronelleJuliette's loyal old nurse, who follows her young mistress everywhere and cannot bear to leave her alone.
- LenoirA giant coal heaver from the provinces who rises in a violent club and proposes a plan to destroy Déroulède.
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I Will Repay
by Baroness Orczy · 1906
A girl swears vengeance over her brother's body, then finds herself in love with the man she swore to ruin.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What would you do if you swore, at fourteen, over your dead brother's body, to bring down the man who killed him? Now picture that you find him ten years later, and he is the kindest man in Paris.
I Will Repay at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 10 min3 h 20 min fast, 4 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 59,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1906by Baroness Orczy
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A quarrel over a lady ends in death
The story begins in Paris in 1783, in a famous gaming room. The young Vicomte de Marny, rich, spoiled and drunk on wine, is infatuated with a notorious beauty. When a man named Paul Déroulède shrugs at her name, the boy throws cards in his face and calls him a coward.
Déroulède is the outsider in that room. His wealth has bought him a place among nobles, but he has few friends. He sees his blunder too late and would gladly apologize. The stiff code of honor forbids it. In the duel he is the better swordsman and only wants to disarm the boy. But the shamed Vicomte demands more, and in a reckless lunge he falls dead on the older man's blade.
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Details
- First published
- 1906
- Language
- English
- Level
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Cite this edition
Orczy, Emmuska. I Will Repay. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/i-will-repay.
Orczy, E. (2026). I will repay. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/i-will-repay (Original work published 1906)
Orczy, Emmuska. I Will Repay. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/i-will-repay.
@book{orczy2026i,
author = {Orczy, Emmuska},
title = {I Will Repay},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/i-will-repay},
note = {First published 1906}
}
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What is I Will Repay about?
It tells of Juliette de Marny, who swears as a child to avenge her brother's death. Years later, in Revolutionary Paris, she meets his killer, Paul Déroulède, and must choose between her oath and her feelings.
Is the Scarlet Pimpernel in I Will Repay?
Yes. Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel, comes to Paris to help his friend Déroulède. His League of English gentlemen plays a central part in the later chapters of the book.
Is I Will Repay a true story?
No, the main characters are invented. It is set in real events, the Terror of 1793, with real figures such as Merlin, Tinville, Santerre and Robespierre, and real places such as the Conciergerie and Père Lachaise.
The author
Baroness Orczy
1865–1947 · Hungarian-born British novelist
Baroness Orczy (1865–1947) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. Born Emma Orczy in Tarnaörs, Hungary, she moved to London in 1880. She wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel, published in 1905, and detective stories, including The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. She died in London.
More by Baroness Orczy
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