This chapter is all Dr. Manette’s letter (which is read to the court):
- It’s 1767. Dr. Manette writes in his prison cell.
- He’s decided to recount 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. The doctor is out walking near his residence by the medical college.
- Suddenly, a carriage races by. The driver calls Dr. Manette’s name and the carriage screeches to a halt.
- Inside the carriage, two men sit in the dark.
- We’re sensing that this will lead to no good. No good at all.
- The men ask if he’s Dr. Manette. He says that he is.
- They inform him that he needs to come with them to see to some patients.
- Dr. Manette has misgivings, but he gets in the carriage.
- Soon the carriage arrives at a country house. As they go in the gate, one of the men strikes the gate-keeper with his glove.
- That’s a big hint: he’s not a very nice guy.
- Dr. Manette notices the same thing.
- Inside the house, he finds a patient who appears to be suffering from brain fever.
- She’s a beautiful young woman who seems to be about twenty years old.
- Her hands are bound to the bed.
- Oh, and she appears to be delirious.
- As the doctor approaches her, she moans, "My husband, my father, and my brother!" and then counts to twelve and whispers, "Hush!"
- Puzzled, Dr. Manette listens as she repeats the same phrases over and over.
- 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.
- The younger brother (the two men, apparently, are brothers) asks if he doubts their worth.
- Calmly, Dr. Manette gives the young woman a small amount of a narcotic.
- She continues to scream for her husband, father, and brother. Eventually she starts shaking so violently that he has to restrain her.
- 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 lies in the hay. He’s been stabbed.
- Hmm…and no one thought that the doctor should see him until now?
- Astonished, Dr. Manette asks to see the wound.
- The young man refuses. He’s dying. He doesn’t want to be treated.
- As Dr. Manette looks at the man, he realizes that he’s been stabbed with a sword.
- Only nobles carry swords.
- The boy says that he may be poor, but he has pride.
- Suddenly they can all hear the young girl screaming again. The boy asks if Dr. Manette has seen her.
- He tells the doctor that the girl is his sister. She married a young man she loved.
- The nobles (that would be our two brothers) wanted the girl. They harnessed her husband to a dog cart and drove him all day, but he wouldn’t give his wife to them.
- Needless to say, they killed him.
- The young nobleman rode away with the young boy’s sister. When he ran in to tell his father, the old man’s heart broke. He died.
- Desperate to save his family, the young boy took his other (little) sister away from the country where they lived.
- He returned to seek revenge for the rape and kidnapping of his sister.
- The nobleman met him and tried to whip him, but the young boy forced him to fight. The noble struck the boy through with his sword.
- Even though the young boy is clearly dying now, he asks Dr. Manette to raise him so that he can look at the two noble brothers who’ve wrecked his family.
- The younger brother has run away. The elder, however, stands watching.
- 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 slowly realizes that she’s pregnant.
- At that point, he realizes that she’s given up any desire to live at all.
- When the Marquis asks Dr. Manette how his patient is doing, he says that she’s almost dead.
- The Marquis says something slighting about the amazing strength of the poor.
- Dr. Manette replies that there’s often great strength in despair.
- That’s when the nobles realize that they can’t trust Manette.
- Once the girl dies, the Marquis offers Dr. Manette gold. He turns it down.
- Back at home, Dr. Manette gets a letter saying that 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 and her family.
- She’s devastated at the ruin caused by her husband. She wants her son to have a different life than his father.
- Asking for a way 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. She’s decided to leave her husband and take her child with her.
- Troubled by all of this, Dr. Manette writes a letter to the Minister of State explaining the situation.
- That night, Dr. Manette’s servant, Ernest Defarge, comes into the house to say that a man is standing at the gate.
- Shocked, Dr. Manette realizes that the man isn’t at the gate. He’s right behind Ernest!
- The man, of course, is from the Marquis.
- He takes Dr. Manette to an "urgent" medical case. On the road, the carriage stops.
- Two brothers emerge from the shadows and identify Dr. Manette. The elder holds Dr. Manette’s letter.
- He burns the letter in front of Dr. Manette’s eyes, and then the carriage drives to the prison.
- Since then, he’s been locked in a living grave.
- When the court finishes reading Dr. Manette’s letter, they immediately vote to hang Charles Evrémonde. The crowd roars in approval.