The title was taken from a passage in Thomas Babbington Macaulay's poem Ivry, which its author adopted as a motto: "Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of war, "And be your oriflamme today, the helmet of Navarre.

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 young lady who achieved popularity at a single stroke, Miss Bertha Runkle, has written of an American fortnight almost as crowded with events as were those few amazing days in The Helmet of Navarre.

"[6]The Bookman had the following to say about The Scarlet Rider,"The scene of this new story is the Isle of Wight, the date is the period of the American Revolution, and the centre of interest is an aristocratic but impoverished family in which the title, in the absence of male heirs, will descend to the beautiful but headstrong and undisciplined daughter who has been left to bring herself up as best she could.

Her unhappy neglected and invalid mother seldom leaves her own chamber, while her dissolute spendthrift father is, for the most part, away from home, engaged in diversions of which drinking and gaming form the mildest elements.

Consequently, when Lettice, the madcap daughter of Lord Yarracombe, finds a handsome young stranger hiding behind a chest in a cobwebbed room of the old house, it is only natural that she should leap to the conclusion that he is the highwayman in question, and quite in keeping with her adventurous spirit that she should seek to shield him by letting him masquerade as the new assistant butler.

"[7]Country Life in America had the following to say about Runkle's fourth novel, Straight Down the Crooked Lane,"A straightforward story about folks who are recognizably human, as well as interesting; and the narrative gets off swiftly in the first chapter and never slackens until the end.

"Straight Down the Crooked Lane" has all the story-telling charm of "The Helmet of Navarre"; but it deals with people and places of today, and is enriched by the author's fuller years of artistic endeavor.