Summary: Chapter 11: Dusk
The courtroom crowd pours into the streets to celebrate
Darnay’s condemnation. John Barsad, charged with ushering Darnay
back to his cell, lets Lucie embrace her husband one last time.
Darnay insists that Doctor Manette not blame himself for the trial’s
outcome. Darnay is escorted back to his cell to await his execution
the following morning, and Carton escorts the grieving Lucie to
her apartment. Carton tells Manette to try his influence one last
time with the prosecutors and then meet him at Tellson’s, though
Lorry feels certain that there is no hope for Darnay, and Carton
echoes the sentiment.
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Chapter 11: Dusk →
Summary: Chapter 12: Darkness
Carton goes to Defarge’s wine shop. The Defarges marvel
at how much he physically resembles the condemned Darnay. Carton
overhears Madame Defarge’s plan to accuse Lucie and Manette of spying,
and to accuse Lucie’s daughter as well. Defarge himself finds this
course unnecessary, but his wife reminds him of her grievance against
the family Evrémonde: she is the surviving sister of the woman and
man killed by the Marquis and his brother. She demands the extermination
of their heirs. Carton pays for his wine and returns to Tellson’s.
At midnight, Manette arrives home completely out of his
mind. He looks about madly for his shoemaking bench. After calming Manette,
Carton takes from the doctor’s coat the papers that will allow Lucie,
the doctor, and the child to leave the city. He gives the documents
to Lorry. Then, Carton gives Lorry his own papers, refusing to explain
why. Afraid that the papers may soon be recalled because Madame
Defarge intends to denounce the entire family, Carton insists to
Lorry that time is of the essence: the family must leave tomorrow.
Alone in the street that night, Carton utters a final good-bye and
blessing to Lucie.
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Chapter 12: Darkness →
Summary: Chapter 13: Fifty-two
Fifty-two people have been condemned to die the next day.
Darnay resolves to meet his death bravely. Carton appears at the
door to Darnay’s cell, and Darnay observes something new and bright
in Carton’s face. Carton tricks Darnay into switching clothes with him,
dictates a letter of explanation, and then drugs him with the substance
that he had purchased at the chemist’s shop. He orders Barsad to
carry the unconscious Darnay to the carriage waiting outside Tellson’s.
At two o’clock, guards take Carton from Darnay’s cell, believing
him to be Darnay. He stands in the long line of the condemned. A
poor seamstress, also falsely sentenced to death, realizes that
Carton is not Darnay and asks, “Are you dying for him?” He replies,
“And his wife and child.” Meanwhile, Barsad delivers the real Darnay
to Manette, Lorry, and Lucie, and sends the carriage on its way.
Lorry presents the family’s papers at the city gates as they leave.
They flee through the countryside, fearing pursuit.
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Chapter 13: Fifty-two →
Summary: Chapter 14: The Knitting Done
Meanwhile, Madame Defarge heads toward Lucie’s apartment
to try to catch Lucie in the illegal act of mourning a prisoner.
Evidence of such a crime, she believes, will strengthen her case
against the family. At the apartment, Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher
are in the middle of making final arrangements to depart Paris.
To avoid drawing the suspicion that leaving together might engender,
Miss Pross tells Cruncher to wait for her with the carriage at the
cathedral. When Cruncher leaves, Madame Defarge barges in and demands
to know Lucie’s whereabouts. The women fight, and Madame Defarge
draws a gun. In the struggle, however, Miss Pross shoots her. She
meets Cruncher as planned and reports that she has gone deaf from
the gunshot.
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Chapter 14: The Knitting Done →
Summary: Chapter 15: The Footsteps Die Out Forever
Crush humanity out of shape once
more . . . and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms.
Sow the same seed of . . . oppression over again, and it will surely yield
the same fruit according to its kind.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Carton and the young seamstress reach the guillotine.
The Vengeance and the other revolutionary women worry that Madame Defarge
will miss the beheading of Charles Darnay. The seamstress reflects
that the new Republic may make life easier for poor people like
herself and her surviving cousin. She kisses Carton and goes calmly
to her death. Carton then goes to his.
