Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net PETTICOAT RULE BY BARONESS ORCZY AUTHOR OF "THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL," "I WILL REPAY," "THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL," ETC. [Illustration] HODDER & STOUGHTON NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY _Copyright, 1909,_ By Baroness Orczy _Copyright, 1910,_ By George H. Doran Company TO THEODORE WATTS-DUNTON THE KIND FRIEND WHOSE APPRECIATION HAS CHEERED ME, THE IDEALIST WHOSE WORK HAS GUIDED ME, THE BRILLIANT INTELLECT WHOSE PRAISE HAS ENCOURAGED ME THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED IN TOKEN OF ADMIRATION, REGARD, AND FRIENDSHIP EMMUSKA ORCZY CONTENTS PART I THE GIRL CHAPTER PAGE I.--A FAREWELL BANQUET 3 II.--THE RULERS OF FRANCE 10 III.--POMPADOUR'S CHOICE 23 IV.--A WOMAN'S SURRENDER 32 V.--THE FIRST TRICK 45 VI.--A FALSE POSITION 51 VII.--THE YOUNG PRETENDER 58 VIII.--THE LAST TRICK 72 IX.--THE WINNING HAND 82 PART II THE STATESMAN X.--THE BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK 95 XI.--LA BELLE IRÈNE 103 XII.--THE PROMISES OF FRANCE 112 XIII.--THE WEIGHT OF ETIQUETTE 127 XIV.--ROYAL FAVOURS 136 XV.--DIPLOMACY 148 XVI.--STRANGERS 160 PART III THE WOMAN XVII.--SPLENDID ISOLATION 179 XVIII.--CLEVER TACTICS 185 XIX.--A CRISIS 201 XX.--A FAREWELL 212 XXI.--ROYAL THANKS 215 XXII.--PATERNAL ANXIETY 221 XXIII.--THE QUEEN'S SOIRÉE 228 XXIV.--GOSSIP 233 XXV.--THE FIRST DOUBT 238 XXVI.--THE AWFUL CERTITUDE 245 XXVII.--A FALL 267 XXVIII.--HUSBAND AND WIFE 276 XXIX.--THE FATE OF THE STUART PRINCE 294 XXX.--M. DE STAINVILLE'S SECONDS 308 XXXI.--THE FINAL DISAPPOINTMENT 321 XXXII.--THE DAWN 328 XXXIII.--THE RIDE 333 XXXIV.--"LE MONARQUE" 338 XXXV.--THE STRANGER 349 XXXVI.--REVENGE 359 XXXVII.--THE LETTER 370 XXXVIII.--THE HOME IN ENGLAND 375 PART I THE GIRL PETTICOAT RULE CHAPTER I A FAREWELL BANQUET "D'Aumont!" "Eh? d'Aumont!"