payment page
Continue reading with a SparkNotes PLUS trial
Already have an account? Log in
Original Text | Modern Text |
| “Judged!” repeated the farrier, swinging his hammer. “Ay! and condemned as a traitor.” At this the crowd roared approval. | “Judged!” repeated the farrier, swinging his hammer. “Ay! and condemned as a traitor.” At this the crowd roared approval. |
| Checking the postmaster, who was for turning his horse’s head to the yard (the drunken patriot sat composedly in his saddle looking on, with the line round his wrist), Darnay said, as soon as he could make his voice heard: | Checking the postmaster, who was for turning his horse’s head to the yard (the drunken patriot sat composedly in his saddle looking on, with the line round his wrist), Darnay said, as soon as he could make his voice heard: |
| “Friends, you deceive yourselves, or you are deceived. I am not a traitor.” | “Friends, you deceive yourselves, or you are deceived. I am not a traitor.” |
| “He lies!” cried the smith. “He is a traitor since the decree. His life is forfeit to the people. His cursed life is not his own!” | “He lies!” cried the smith. “He is a traitor since the decree. His life is forfeit to the people. His cursed life is not his own!” |
| At the instant when Darnay saw a rush in the eyes of the crowd, which another instant would have brought upon him, the postmaster turned his horse into the yard, the escort rode in close upon his horse’s flanks, and the postmaster shut and barred the crazy double gates. The farrier struck a blow upon them with his hammer, and the crowd groaned; but, no more was done. | At the instant when Darnay saw a rush in the eyes of the crowd, which another instant would have brought upon him, the postmaster turned his horse into the yard, the escort rode in close upon his horse’s flanks, and the postmaster shut and barred the crazy double gates. The farrier struck a blow upon them with his hammer, and the crowd groaned; but, no more was done. |
| “What is this decree that the smith spoke of?” Darnay asked the postmaster, when he had thanked him, and stood beside him in the yard. | “What is this decree that the smith spoke of?” Darnay asked the postmaster, when he had thanked him, and stood beside him in the yard. |
| “Truly, a decree for selling the property of emigrants.” | “Truly, a decree for selling the property of emigrants.” |
| “When passed?” | “When passed?” |
| “On the fourteenth.” | “On the fourteenth.” |
| “The day I left England!” | “The day I left England!” |
| “Everybody says it is but one of several, and that there will be others—if there are not already—banishing all emigrants, and condemning all to death who return. That is what he meant when he said your life was not your own.” | “Everybody says it is but one of several, and that there will be others—if there are not already—banishing all emigrants, and condemning all to death who return. That is what he meant when he said your life was not your own.” |
| “But there are no such decrees yet?” | “But there are no such decrees yet?” |
| “What do I know!” said the postmaster, shrugging his shoulders; “there may be, or there will be. It is all the same. What would you have?” | “What do I know!” said the postmaster, shrugging his shoulders; “there may be, or there will be. It is all the same. What would you have?” |
| They rested on some straw in a loft until the middle of the night, and then rode forward again when all the town was asleep. Among the many wild changes observable on familiar things which made this wild ride unreal, not the least was the seeming rarity of sleep. After long and lonely spurring over dreary roads, they would come to a cluster of poor cottages, not steeped in darkness, but all glittering with lights, and would find the people, in a ghostly manner in the dead of the night, circling hand in hand round a shrivelled tree of Liberty, or all drawn up together singing a Liberty song. Happily, however, there was sleep in Beauvais that night to help them out of it and they passed on once more into solitude and loneliness: jingling through the untimely cold and wet, among impoverished fields that had yielded no fruits of the earth that year, diversified by the blackened remains of burnt houses, and by the sudden emergence from ambuscade, and sharp reining up across their way, of patriot patrols on the watch on all the roads. | They rested on some straw in a loft until the middle of the night, and then rode forward again when all the town was asleep. Among the many wild changes observable on familiar things which made this wild ride unreal, not the least was the seeming rarity of sleep. After long and lonely spurring over dreary roads, they would come to a cluster of poor cottages, not steeped in darkness, but all glittering with lights, and would find the people, in a ghostly manner in the dead of the night, circling hand in hand round a shrivelled tree of Liberty, or all drawn up together singing a Liberty song. Happily, however, there was sleep in Beauvais that night to help them out of it and they passed on once more into solitude and loneliness: jingling through the untimely cold and wet, among impoverished fields that had yielded no fruits of the earth that year, diversified by the blackened remains of burnt houses, and by the sudden emergence from ambuscade, and sharp reining up across their way, of patriot patrols on the watch on all the roads. |
| Daylight at last found them before the wall of Paris. The barrier was closed and strongly guarded when they rode up to it. | Daylight at last found them before the wall of Paris. The barrier was closed and strongly guarded when they rode up to it. |
| “Where are the papers of this prisoner?” demanded a resolute-looking man in authority, who was summoned out by the guard. | “Where are the papers of this prisoner?” demanded a resolute-looking man in authority, who was summoned out by the guard. |
Original Text | Modern Text |
| “Judged!” repeated the farrier, swinging his hammer. “Ay! and condemned as a traitor.” At this the crowd roared approval. | “Judged!” repeated the farrier, swinging his hammer. “Ay! and condemned as a traitor.” At this the crowd roared approval. |
| Checking the postmaster, who was for turning his horse’s head to the yard (the drunken patriot sat composedly in his saddle looking on, with the line round his wrist), Darnay said, as soon as he could make his voice heard: | Checking the postmaster, who was for turning his horse’s head to the yard (the drunken patriot sat composedly in his saddle looking on, with the line round his wrist), Darnay said, as soon as he could make his voice heard: |
| “Friends, you deceive yourselves, or you are deceived. I am not a traitor.” | “Friends, you deceive yourselves, or you are deceived. I am not a traitor.” |
| “He lies!” cried the smith. “He is a traitor since the decree. His life is forfeit to the people. His cursed life is not his own!” | “He lies!” cried the smith. “He is a traitor since the decree. His life is forfeit to the people. His cursed life is not his own!” |
| At the instant when Darnay saw a rush in the eyes of the crowd, which another instant would have brought upon him, the postmaster turned his horse into the yard, the escort rode in close upon his horse’s flanks, and the postmaster shut and barred the crazy double gates. The farrier struck a blow upon them with his hammer, and the crowd groaned; but, no more was done. | At the instant when Darnay saw a rush in the eyes of the crowd, which another instant would have brought upon him, the postmaster turned his horse into the yard, the escort rode in close upon his horse’s flanks, and the postmaster shut and barred the crazy double gates. The farrier struck a blow upon them with his hammer, and the crowd groaned; but, no more was done. |
| “What is this decree that the smith spoke of?” Darnay asked the postmaster, when he had thanked him, and stood beside him in the yard. | “What is this decree that the smith spoke of?” Darnay asked the postmaster, when he had thanked him, and stood beside him in the yard. |
| “Truly, a decree for selling the property of emigrants.” | “Truly, a decree for selling the property of emigrants.” |
| “When passed?” | “When passed?” |
| “On the fourteenth.” | “On the fourteenth.” |
| “The day I left England!” | “The day I left England!” |
| “Everybody says it is but one of several, and that there will be others—if there are not already—banishing all emigrants, and condemning all to death who return. That is what he meant when he said your life was not your own.” | “Everybody says it is but one of several, and that there will be others—if there are not already—banishing all emigrants, and condemning all to death who return. That is what he meant when he said your life was not your own.” |
| “But there are no such decrees yet?” | “But there are no such decrees yet?” |
| “What do I know!” said the postmaster, shrugging his shoulders; “there may be, or there will be. It is all the same. What would you have?” | “What do I know!” said the postmaster, shrugging his shoulders; “there may be, or there will be. It is all the same. What would you have?” |
| They rested on some straw in a loft until the middle of the night, and then rode forward again when all the town was asleep. Among the many wild changes observable on familiar things which made this wild ride unreal, not the least was the seeming rarity of sleep. After long and lonely spurring over dreary roads, they would come to a cluster of poor cottages, not steeped in darkness, but all glittering with lights, and would find the people, in a ghostly manner in the dead of the night, circling hand in hand round a shrivelled tree of Liberty, or all drawn up together singing a Liberty song. Happily, however, there was sleep in Beauvais that night to help them out of it and they passed on once more into solitude and loneliness: jingling through the untimely cold and wet, among impoverished fields that had yielded no fruits of the earth that year, diversified by the blackened remains of burnt houses, and by the sudden emergence from ambuscade, and sharp reining up across their way, of patriot patrols on the watch on all the roads. | They rested on some straw in a loft until the middle of the night, and then rode forward again when all the town was asleep. Among the many wild changes observable on familiar things which made this wild ride unreal, not the least was the seeming rarity of sleep. After long and lonely spurring over dreary roads, they would come to a cluster of poor cottages, not steeped in darkness, but all glittering with lights, and would find the people, in a ghostly manner in the dead of the night, circling hand in hand round a shrivelled tree of Liberty, or all drawn up together singing a Liberty song. Happily, however, there was sleep in Beauvais that night to help them out of it and they passed on once more into solitude and loneliness: jingling through the untimely cold and wet, among impoverished fields that had yielded no fruits of the earth that year, diversified by the blackened remains of burnt houses, and by the sudden emergence from ambuscade, and sharp reining up across their way, of patriot patrols on the watch on all the roads. |
| Daylight at last found them before the wall of Paris. The barrier was closed and strongly guarded when they rode up to it. | Daylight at last found them before the wall of Paris. The barrier was closed and strongly guarded when they rode up to it. |
| “Where are the papers of this prisoner?” demanded a resolute-looking man in authority, who was summoned out by the guard. | “Where are the papers of this prisoner?” demanded a resolute-looking man in authority, who was summoned out by the guard. |
Previous page
Book 3: The Track of a Storm, Chapter 1: In Secret, Page 2
Next page
Book 3: The Track of a Storm, Chapter 1: In Secret, Page 4
Test your knowledge
Take the Book the Third: The Track of a Storm Chapters 1-5 Quick Quiz
Read the Summary
Read the Summary of Book the Third: The Track of a Storm Chapters 1-5.
Take a study break
Every Literary Reference Found in Taylor Swift's Lyrics
Did you know you can highlight text to take a note?
x
