Human: Why does the Scarlet Pimpernel's mother disguise herself as a prostitute? Assistant: 
The Scarlet Pimpernel's mother disguises herself as a prostitute in order to find her only son who has been stolen by Citizen Jean Paul Marat. All she knows is that her child "is to be reared up in the company of all that is most vile and most degraded in the disease-haunted slums of indigent Paris" and that if she doesn't find him soon he risks becoming a criminal or a drink-sodden reprobate at best.<answer