Baroness Orczy starts the Scarlet Pimpernel by describing a scene during the French Revolution in 1792 in Paris at the West Barricade. In this scene, sergeant Bibot has stopped a covered vegetable cart that is being driven out of the city by an old hag. The old hag, who is around 60 years old with broad shoulders and masculine build, is wearing a dirty white peasant bonnet with ruffles. She has brown hair that is tangled and greasy which contrasts with her bulging dark blue eye, with one eye on the left that is lazy, and a nose that is long, sharp, and has flaring nostrils. Under her thin lips, that are curved downwards and have a mole close to the left top lip, she has a round, wrinkly chin. Her gray worn out shawl covers her black, bulky
