Fop meaning had been blunted by this time. In the 1900s (decade), fictional heroes began to pose as fops to conceal their true activities. Sir Percy Blakeney of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is a well-known example of this tendency; Sir Percy cultivates the image of being an overdressed and ineffectual social butterfly, the last person anyone would imagine being capable of dashing heroism. A similar image is cultivated by Zorro's public identity, Don Diego de la Vega. This continued with the pulp fiction and radio heroes of the 1920s and 1930s and expanded with the coming of comic books. The fashion and
The First Sir Percy Gilda more committed to him, so changing tack, Stoutenburg promises Gilda he will only spare Diogenes' life if she will agree to be his wife. She reluctantly agrees, but once she has gone to her room, Stoutenburg tells Jan to hang him anyway. Faced with the gallows, Diogenes barters his knowledge of the Stadtholder's plans for a mug of port. Stoutenburg them tells Gilda's father that his son-in-law is a traitor, and knowing the man's views on such behaviour, leaves him alone in the dining hall with Diogenes and a loaded gun... The First Sir Percy The First Sir Percy