Page 55 - A Tale of Two Cities

He explained that he had left France because he wanted to work
to pay for himself, and did not want to take from the people of his
village, as his father and uncle had done.

‘But you got married in England, to a French woman?’ asked the
president. ‘What is her name?’

‘Lucie Manette, the only daughter of Doctor Manette, who is
sitting there,’ said Charles, pointing at the doctor.
When the crowd heard the doctor’s name, there were loud cheers
in the court. Doctor Manette’s time in the Bastille, and the injustice
he had suffered, had made him well known through all of Paris.
‘Why did you come back to France?’ the president asked Charles,
when the crowd was quiet again.

‘The life of a Frenchman who had worked for me was in danger
because I was not here,’ said Charles. ‘I had to come back to save his
life.’
Gabelle was now called as a witness, and he told the court that
he had been freed as soon as it was known that the Marquis of
Evrémonde had returned to France.

The crowd, which were often so quick to cry for a prisoner’s
head, were roaring support for Charles now. However, there were
witnesses against the prisoner, too, and when the noise had died
down, the president read their names.

‘The three witnesses who now accuse the prisoner are Ernest
Defarge, café owner from Saint Antoine, his wife Madame Defarge ...
and Alexandre Manette, doctor.’
The crowd jumped to their feet, shouting in surprise, and in the
middle of them, Doctor Manette stood trembling.

47