Page 61 - A Tale of Two Cities

As soon as I got into the carriage, my arms were tied behind me. The two
brothers appeared from a dark corner of the street, looked at me and nodded
to the man, and the marquis then took my letter from his pocket and burned
it. I was brought here, to my cell, where I have been since then.

The day will come when the people of France will take their revenge for
the injustice of these times. When that day comes, I, Alexandre Manette,
demand that the Marquis of Evrémonde, and every member of his family,
should be punished.
A terrible noise rose up in the courtroom when this letter had
been read. There was no need now for any further accusation, but
Madame Defarge’s moment had come, and when the president had
called for silence, she rose to her feet.
‘That sister of the boy who died on the straw was my sister,’ she
cried. ‘That husband was my sister’s husband, that brother was my
brother, and that father was my father. I was the younger sister who
was taken by my brother from that place, and those dead are my
dead! I call now for revenge on the Evrémonde people!’

As the crowd roared for her and for Charles’s head, she looked
across at the doctor and thought to herself, ‘You have infl uence,
don’t you, Doctor? Then save him now!’ It was nothing to her that
an innocent man was going to die for the crimes of his father and
uncle. She did not see him, but them. It was nothing to her that his
wife was going to be a widow, and his daughter would have no
father. She was absolutely without pity.
And when Charles Darnay was told that he would be taken to
the prison of the Conciergerie that night and executed the next day,
there was wild excitement and not a bit of human sympathy among
the crowd.

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