Charles Dickens: Fiction
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter XV
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter XV. The Footsteps Die Out For Ever Along the Paris streets, the death-carts rumble, hollow and harsh. Six tumbrils carry the day’s wine to La Guillotine. All the devouring and insatiate Monsters imagined since imagination could record itself, are fused in the one realisation, Guillotine.
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter XIV
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter XIV. The Knitting Done In that same juncture of time when the Fifty-Two awaited their fate Madame Defarge held darkly ominous council with The Vengeance and Jacques Three of the Revolutionary Jury. Not in the wine-shop did Madame Defarge confer with these ministers, but in
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter XIII
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter XIII. Fifty-two In the black prison of the Conciergerie, the doomed of the day awaited their fate. They were in number as the weeks of the year. Fifty-two were to roll that afternoon on the life-tide of the city to the boundless everlasting sea. Before
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter XII
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter XII. Darkness Sydney Carton paused in the street, not quite decided where to go. “At Tellson’s banking-house at nine,” he said, with a musing face. “Shall I do well, in the mean time, to show myself? I think so. It is best that these people
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter XI
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter XI. Dusk The wretched wife of the innocent man thus doomed to die, fell under the sentence, as if she had been mortally stricken. But, she uttered no sound; and so strong was the voice within her, representing that it was she of all the
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter X
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter X. The Substance of the Shadow I, Alexandre Manette, unfortunate physician, native of Beauvais, and afterwards resident in Paris, write this melancholy paper in my doleful cell in the Bastille, during the last month of the year, 1767. I write it at stolen intervals, under
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter IX
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter IX. The Game Made While Sydney Carton and the Sheep of the prisons were in the adjoining dark room, speaking so low that not a sound was heard, Mr. Lorry looked at Jerry in considerable doubt and mistrust. That honest tradesman’s manner of receiving the
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter VIII
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter VIII. A Hand at Cards Happily unconscious of the new calamity at home, Miss Pross threaded her way along the narrow streets and crossed the river by the bridge of the Pont-Neuf, reckoning in her mind the number of indispensable purchases she had to make.
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter VII
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter VII. A Knock at the Door Ihave saved him.” It was not another of the dreams in which he had often come back; he was really here. And yet his wife trembled, and a vague but heavy fear was upon her. All the air round
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter VI
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter VI. Triumph The dread tribunal of five Judges, Public Prosecutor, and determined Jury, sat every day. Their lists went forth every evening, and were read out by the gaolers of the various prisons to their prisoners. The standard gaoler-joke was, “Come out and listen to
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter V
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter V. The Wood-Sawyer One year and three months. During all that time Lucie was never sure, from hour to hour, but that the Guillotine would strike off her husband’s head next day. Every day, through the stony streets, the tumbrils now jolted heavily, filled with
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter IV
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter IV. Calm in Storm Doctor Manette did not return until the morning of the fourth day of his absence. So much of what had happened in that dreadful time as could be kept from the knowledge of Lucie was so well concealed from her, that
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter III
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter III. The Shadow One of the first considerations which arose in the business mind of Mr. Lorry when business hours came round, was this:—that he had no right to imperil Tellson’s by sheltering the wife of an emigrant prisoner under the Bank roof. His own
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter II
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter II. The Grindstone Tellson’s Bank, established in the Saint Germain Quarter of Paris, was in a wing of a large house, approached by a courtyard and shut off from the street by a high wall and a strong gate. The house belonged to a great
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Third – Chapter I
Book the Third – the Track of a Storm Chapter I. In Secret The traveller fared slowly on his way, who fared towards Paris from England in the autumn of the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two. More than enough of bad roads, bad equipages, and bad horses, he would have encountered to delay
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XXIV
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XXIV. Drawn to the Loadstone Rock In such risings of fire and risings of sea—the firm earth shaken by the rushes of an angry ocean which had now no ebb, but was always on the flow, higher and higher, to the terror and wonder of the beholders
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XXIII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XXIII. Fire Rises There was a change on the village where the fountain fell, and where the mender of roads went forth daily to hammer out of the stones on the highway such morsels of bread as might serve for patches to hold his poor ignorant soul
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XXII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XXII. The Sea Still Rises Haggard Saint Antoine had had only one exultant week, in which to soften his modicum of hard and bitter bread to such extent as he could, with the relish of fraternal embraces and congratulations, when Madame Defarge sat at her counter, as
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XXI
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XXI. Echoing Footsteps Awonderful corner for echoes, it has been remarked, that corner where the Doctor lived. Ever busily winding the golden thread which bound her husband, and her father, and herself, and her old directress and companion, in a life of quiet bliss, Lucie sat in
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XX
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XX. A Plea When the newly-married pair came home, the first person who appeared, to offer his congratulations, was Sydney Carton. They had not been at home many hours, when he presented himself. He was not improved in habits, or in looks, or in manner; but there
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XIX
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XIX. An Opinion Worn out by anxious watching, Mr. Lorry fell asleep at his post. On the tenth morning of his suspense, he was startled by the shining of the sun into the room where a heavy slumber had overtaken him when it was dark night. He
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XVIII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XVIII. Nine Days The marriage-day was shining brightly, and they were ready outside the closed door of the Doctor’s room, where he was speaking with Charles Darnay. They were ready to go to church; the beautiful bride, Mr. Lorry, and Miss Pross—to whom the event, through a
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XVII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XVII. One Night Never did the sun go down with a brighter glory on the quiet corner in Soho, than one memorable evening when the Doctor and his daughter sat under the plane-tree together. Never did the moon rise with a milder radiance over great London, than
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XVI
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XVI. Still Knitting Madame Defarge and monsieur her husband returned amicably to the bosom of Saint Antoine, while a speck in a blue cap toiled through the darkness, and through the dust, and down the weary miles of avenue by the wayside, slowly tending towards that point
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XV
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XV. Knitting There had been earlier drinking than usual in the wine-shop of Monsieur Defarge. As early as six o’clock in the morning, sallow faces peeping through its barred windows had descried other faces within, bending over measures of wine. Monsieur Defarge sold a very thin wine
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XIV
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XIV. The Honest Tradesman To the eyes of Mr. Jeremiah Cruncher, sitting on his stool in Fleet-street with his grisly urchin beside him, a vast number and variety of objects in movement were every day presented. Who could sit upon anything in Fleet-street during the busy hours
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XIII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XIII. The Fellow of No Delicacy If Sydney Carton ever shone anywhere, he certainly never shone in the house of Doctor Manette. He had been there often, during a whole year, and had always been the same moody and morose lounger there. When he cared to talk,
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XII. The Fellow of Delicacy Mr. Stryver having made up his mind to that magnanimous bestowal of good fortune on the Doctor’s daughter, resolved to make her happiness known to her before he left town for the Long Vacation. After some mental debating of the point, he
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter XI
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter XI. A Companion Picture “Sydney,” said Mr. Stryver, on that self-same night, or morning, to his jackal; “mix another bowl of punch; I have something to say to you.” Sydney had been working double tides that night, and the night before, and the night before that, and
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter X
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter X. Two Promises More months, to the number of twelve, had come and gone, and Mr. Charles Darnay was established in England as a higher teacher of the French language who was conversant with French literature. In this age, he would have been a Professor; in that
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter IX
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter IX. The Gorgon’s Head It was a heavy mass of building, that chateau of Monsieur the Marquis, with a large stone courtyard before it, and two stone sweeps of staircase meeting in a stone terrace before the principal door. A stony business altogether, with heavy stone balustrades,
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter VIII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter VIII. Monseigneur in the Country A beautiful landscape, with the corn bright in it, but not abundant. Patches of poor rye where corn should have been, patches of poor peas and beans, patches of most coarse vegetable substitutes for wheat. On inanimate nature, as on the men
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter VII
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter VII. Monseigneur in Town Monseigneur, one of the great lords in power at the Court, held his fortnightly reception in his grand hotel in Paris. Monseigneur was in his inner room, his sanctuary of sanctuaries, the Holiest of Holiests to the crowd of worshippers in the suite
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter VI
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter VI. Hundreds of People The quiet lodgings of Doctor Manette were in a quiet street-corner not far from Soho-square. On the afternoon of a certain fine Sunday when the waves of four months had roiled over the trial for treason, and carried it, as to the public
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter V
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter V. The Jackal Those were drinking days, and most men drank hard. So very great is the improvement Time has brought about in such habits, that a moderate statement of the quantity of wine and punch which one man would swallow in the course of a night,
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter IV
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter IV. Congratulatory From the dimly-lighted passages of the court, the last sediment of the human stew that had been boiling there all day, was straining off, when Doctor Manette, Lucie Manette, his daughter, Mr. Lorry, the solicitor for the defence, and its counsel, Mr. Stryver, stood gathered
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter III
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter III. A Disappointment Mr. Attorney-General had to inform the jury, that the prisoner before them, though young in years, was old in the treasonable practices which claimed the forfeit of his life. That this correspondence with the public enemy was not a correspondence of to-day, or of
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter II
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter II. A Sight “You know the Old Bailey, well, no doubt?” said one of the oldest of clerks to Jerry the messenger. “Ye-es, sir,” returned Jerry, in something of a dogged manner. “I DO know the Bailey.” “Just so. And you know Mr. Lorry.” “I know Mr.
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the Second – Chapter I
Book the Second – the Golden Thread Chapter I. Five Years Later Tellson’s Bank by Temple Bar was an old-fashioned place, even in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty. It was very small, very dark, very ugly, very incommodious. It was an old-fashioned place, moreover, in the moral attribute that the partners in
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the First – Chapter VI
Book the First – Recalled to Life Chapter VI. The Shoemaker “Good day!” said Monsieur Defarge, looking down at the white head that bent low over the shoemaking. It was raised for a moment, and a very faint voice responded to the salutation, as if it were at a distance: “Good day!” “You are still
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the First – Chapter V
Book the First – Recalled to Life Chapter V. The Wine-shop A large cask of wine had been dropped and broken, in the street. The accident had happened in getting it out of a cart; the cask had tumbled out with a run, the hoops had burst, and it lay on the stones just outside
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the First – Chapter IV
Book the First – Recalled to Life Chapter IV. The Preparation When the mail got successfully to Dover, in the course of the forenoon, the head drawer at the Royal George Hotel opened the coach-door as his custom was. He did it with some flourish of ceremony, for a mail journey from London in winter
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the First – Chapter III
Book the First – Recalled to Life Chapter III. The Night Shadows A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the First – Chapter II
Book the First – Recalled to Life Chapter II. The Mail It was the Dover road that lay, on a Friday night late in November, before the first of the persons with whom this history has business. The Dover road lay, as to him, beyond the Dover mail, as it lumbered up Shooter’s Hill. He
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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the First – Chapter I
Book the First – Recalled to Life Chapter I. The Period It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was
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A Christmas Carol: Stave 5
Stave 5 – The End of It Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in! `I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.’ Scrooge repeated, as he
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A Christmas Carol: Stave 4
Stave 4 – The Last of the Spirits The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its
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A Christmas Carol: Stave 3
Stave 3 – The Second of the Three Spirits Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that the bell was again upon the stroke of One. He felt that he was restored to consciousness in the
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A Christmas Carol: Stave 2
Stave 2 – The First of the Three Spirits When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that looking out of bed, he could scarcely distinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of his chamber. He was endeavouring to pierce the darkness with his ferret eyes, when the chimes of a neighbouring church struck the
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A Christmas Carol: Stave 1
Stave 1 – Marley’s Ghost Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to.