The Duc de St. Quentin and his son arrive in Paris to support the would-be king, Henry. However, as in any court of intrigue, there are others that would thwart Henry's ascension. From assassination attempts to spies within the family servants, will the St. Quentin family survive the royal court? Or will they take actions into their own hands and assure Henry's ascension by force? The New York Times made the following announcement on July 14, 1900, "A young romantic novelist, Miss Bertha Runkle, of New York City, will make her debut in the August Issue of The Century Magazine with the first chapters of a novel which will run through eight numbers of the periodical. The work is described as a dramatic romance of love and adventure, and is entitled "The Helmet of Navarre". The scene of the tale is laid in Paris during the siege by Henry of Navarre, and the action occupies the four days preceding the Sunday when Henry entered the city to accept the Roman Catholic faith. Miss Runkle is the daughter of Mrs. L.G. Runkle, a woman well known in New York literary circles."

Author Biography

Bertha Runkle (1879-1958) was an American novelist and playwright born in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. From a literary family, she wrote five novels. Her first and best known, The Helmet of Navarre, was made into a Broadway play. Bertha Runkle was only twenty-one years old when The Helmet of Navarre was first serialized in The Century Magazine. She had the story in her mind for two years or so and the actual writing took about four months. The title was taken from a passage in Thomas Babbington Macaulay's poem Ivry. Its first form was much shorter and it was a tale of political intrigue and martial adventure, without a heroine. But the editor of The Century Company insisted that a spoiled public would not be content without "the swish of the petticoats" and a dozen more chapters were called for, which she supplied. The magazine serialization had been so well received that 100,000 copies were printed for the first edition of the book. The book went on to become No. 3 on the list of bestselling novels in the United States for the entire year of 1901 as determined by the New York Times. The year of its release, she teamed up with playwright Lawrence Marston to adapt her story to the Broadway stage in a production by Charles Frohman.