This chapter is all Doctor Manette’s
letter (which is read to the court). He recounts the reason that he’s been
unjustly imprisoned for so long. To do so, he starts his history ten years
earlier, in 1757. It’s late at night. A carriage driver calls Dr. Manette’s
name. Inside the carriage, two men sit in the dark. The men ask if he’s Doctor
Manette and ask him to accompany them.
Dr. Manette has misgivings, but he gets in the carriage.
He’s taken to a house where he finds
a patient who appears to be suffering from brain fever. She’s a beautiful young
woman about twenty years old. When he asks the brothers how long this has
lasted, they say she’s been screaming since last night. They bring out a case
of medicines for the doctor to use. After taking one look at the medicines, the
doctor realizes that they’re all narcotics and poisons. After a few hours, the
elder brother says that there’s actually another patient in the house, as well.
Surprised, the doctor follows the
brothers out into the barn. A young man has been stabbed. Hmm…and no one
thought that the doctor should see him until now? Dr. Manette asks to see the
wound. The young man refuses. He’s dying. He doesn’t want to be treated. As
doctor Manette looks at the man, he realizes that he’s been stabbed with a
sword. Only nobles carry swords. He tells the doctor that the girl is his
sister. The brothers wanted the girl. Desperate to save his family, the young
boy took his other (little) sister away from the country where they lived. He
then returned to seek revenge for the rape and kidnapping of his sister.
The noble struck the boy through
with his sword. Gasping for breath, the young boy curses the nobles and all of
their family. Then he dies. Dr. Manette returns to the young woman. After
sitting with her for days, he realizes that she’s pregnant. When the Marquis
asks Dr. Manette how his patient is doing, he says that she’s almost dead. Once
the girl dies, the Marquis offers Dr. Manette gold. He turns it down.
Back at home, Dr. Manette is told a
lady is waiting to meet him. It’s the wife of the Marquis. Somehow, she’s
learned about the fate of the young woman. She’s devastated by her husbands’
behavior. She wants her son to have a different life than his father’s. Wanting
to help the family, the woman begs Dr. Manette to tell her where the other
sister of the family was taken. He doesn’t know. The woman rides away.
Troubled by all of this, Dr. Manette
writes a letter to the Minister of State explaining the situation. Later he is
forced into a carriage and taken to a dark place where two brothers emerge from
the shadows. The elder holds Dr. Manette’s letter. He burns the letter in front of Dr. Manette’s
eyes, and then the carriage drives Dr. Manette to the prison.
When the court finishes reading Dr.
Manette’s letter, they immediately vote to kill Charles Evrémonde. The crowd
roars in approval.
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