Book II, Chapter Three – A Disappointment

Mr. Attorney-General, the head of the state’s case against Charles Darnay, is in the middle of his argument. We know that he’s in the middle of the argument because every sentence in his argument begins with "that." In other words, we’re not exactly hearing him speak. We’re overhearing him speak. It’s a neat little trick on Dickens’s part: he doesn’t want us to agree with Mr. Attorney General, so he uses third-person narration instead of representing his speech.

But back to the speech: Mr. Attorney-General thinks that the prisoner (that’s Charles) has been engaging in a very long and treasonous correspondence with the French. The French? Ack! The French were involved in the American Revolution. Anybody that carried information from Britain to France probably had their hands in the American Revolution, as well. That’s what the Attorney-General thinks, at least. 

After Mr. Attorney-General finishes, his partner, Mr. Solicitor-General, gets up to examine the state’s first witness. John Barsad, a "gentleman," swears that he’s not a spy. He also swears that Charles Darnay hired him as an odd-jobs man once. Barsad testifies that Darnay carried lists between France and England. Of course, he doesn’t really specify what those lists contained – but then, when you’re trying a traitor, you don’t really need that many details, do you?

The state calls Mr. Jarvis Lorry to the stand.  Lorry testifies that he traveled to France by boat five years ago. He did see two other people on the boat, but he can’t say that he can identify Charles as one of the two men. The court calls Miss Manette to the stand. Let’s pause while the entire court checks her out. Sigh…she’s so, so pretty. Apparently, Charles is checking her out, too. She exchanges sympathetic looks with him. When Lucie begins to testify, it’s obvious that she doesn’t want to say anything that could incriminate Charles.

Lucie says that Darnay helped her father when Doctor Manette fell ill on the boat. Against her will, she also testifies that Darnay exchanged some papers with Frenchmen who were aboard the boat. Apparently, Darnay also made some jokes about George Washington while he and Lucie were chatting. Next, it’s Doctor Manette’s turn on the stand. He says he can’t remember anything from that time.

Another witness gets called to the stand to affirm that Darnay stayed at a hotel near the coast on the night that he traveled to England. While the prisoner’s lawyer is cross-examining the witness, his assistant, who seems to have been staring at the ceiling the entire trial, passes the lawyer a note.  The lawyer then asks the witness if he’s ever seen anyone who could be confused with Darnay. Pointing with a dramatic flourish to the other end of the room, the lawyer says, "Not even that man?" Gasp! Mr. Carton (the man in the corner staring at the ceiling) looks exactly like Mr. Darnay.

A coincidence, you say? Well, yes. But this is a novel. Anything can happen, folks. Just ride with it. By this point, the case is pretty much over. Carton’s appearance has introduced too much doubt into the trial. Darnay is acquitted!