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One of the first comments I wrote down was: each chapter seemed like a stage setting. As I later discovered, there's a really good reason for that, the story started life as a stage play. (If I knew that in the past I had since forgotten.)
It's been a very long time since I last read this, and this time around I found it an odd mix. Generally good fun, but with more obvious flaws than I remember from before - but it's short, it moves quickly, and it's amusing, so I'm happy to forgive a fair amount.
The many descriptions lack much in the way of subtlety but their over-the-top exuberance lends a lightness to the text that goes well with the story. Some of the information dumps are not only too apparently information dumps, they over-explain, which gets a bit monotonous in some places.
And I must say that reading the story this time it seemed more romance than adventure, whereas my memory of it had been of adventure, the derring-do of the Scarlet Pimpernel ... but maybe I'm getting mixed up with the books that come later.
Probably my biggest disappointment in this story is that, despite her reputation for intelligence, Marguerite remains essentially just a witness to the events. Not that this is surprising for a book of this age and type, but it is something that stands out more to me now, and I found myself wishing she had been able to play a more active role in the dénouement.
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