Page 53 - A Tale of Two Cities

Barsad started to walk away, but something in Sydney Carton’s
face, when he stopped him, made him see that this man meant every
word he said.

‘What do you want from me, Mr Carton?’ said Barsad.
‘Not very much,’ said Carton. ‘Do you work sometimes as a

prison officer at the Conciergerie?’
‘Yes,’ said Barsad.
‘Then come with me,’ said Carton, ‘and while we walk, I will
explain what you must do for me.’
When Charles was brought into the court the next morning, Lucie
looked at him with such deep love and gentle pity, that it lifted
his heart and brought colour into his face. She was there with her
father and Mr Lorry, but Charles recognised another face in the large

crowd that filled the courtroom that day. It was Defarge, the man
he had met at the gates of Paris. Next to him was a woman who sat
knitting – and Charles noticed that although they sat in the front
row of the court, not far from him at all, they did not look at him.
Charles Evrémonde was accused of being an emigrant, one of a
group of people who now faced execution under the laws of the new
republic of France.
‘Cut off his head!’ the crowd cried when the accusation was read
out. ‘He is an enemy of the republic!’
During Doctor Manette’s visits to the prison of La Force, he and
Charles had spent hours carefully preparing for this day, and when
the president of the court began to ask questions, Charles answered
exactly as the doctor had told him to.

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