Book II, Chapter Twelve – The Fellow of Delicacy

Mr. Stryver’s decided to bestow his offer on Lucie. On his way to Soho, he happens to walk by Tellson’s. Since he knows that Mr. Lorry is a good friend of the Manettes, he drops by to share the good news. Mr. Lorry doesn’t really like the fact that Mr. Stryver is too loud and too brazen to fit in well at Tellson’s. Mr. Lorry tries to get Stryver to tone it down a bit, but Stryver doesn’t seem to get the message. Unaware of how arrogant he sounds, Stryver tells Mr. Lorry that he plans to marry Lucie. 

Mr. Lorry’s upset. He knows exactly what the Manettes think of Stryver. Unsurprisingly, they don’t think too much of him. He gently tries to break this to Stryver. After a bit of heated conversation, Mr. Lorry manages to get Stryver to agree to postpone proposing to Lucie right away. He tries to warn Stryver that Lucie might not think that Stryver is the amazing man that Stryver thinks he is.

Mr. Lorry offers to head over to the Manette house to test the waters for Stryver. He’s pretty sure that he knows what the answer will be, but he wants to save Stryver (and Lucie) from the embarrassment of a proposal. Stryver agrees to wait for a day until Mr. Lorry returns.