- Six carts carry fifty-two people to the guillotine.
- Crowds of people gather to see the faces of the soon-to-be-dead.
- Out narrator pauses to explore the different looks on the various faces.
- Some seem bewildered, some angry, some absolutely hopeless.
- One in particular stares out into the crowd without any apparent interest in his surroundings. He shakes his hair to cover his face a bit more.
- Anxiously, the crowd cries out to discern which of the prisoners is Evrémonde.
- Meanwhile, The Vengeance pushes through the crowd, crying out for Madame Defarge.
- She’s saved her a seat right by La Guillotine, but she can’t find her friend anywhere.
- As the guillotine begins to crash, the audience counts the number of heads that roll to the ground.
- Scared, the little seamstress clings to Carton.
- She thinks that he’s an angel sent to be with her in her time of trouble.
- He comforts her, telling her that she’s going to a place with no suffering. She’ll be able to be with her family there.
- They kiss, and she steps up onto the guillotine before Carton.
- The audience counts to twenty-two.
- Carton murmurs the words of Christ, "I am the Resurrection and the Life…" as he steps onto the platform.
- The audience counts to twenty-three.
- It's revealed that, afterwards, witnesses said his face was the most peaceful face they saw on the guillotine.
- The narrator reflects that, if Carton had a chance to write down his thoughts before his death, they would have been something like this:
- He foresees a time when vengeance in France will end.
- He sees a nation rising out of the blood and ashes of this time, a nation stronger and better for the struggles it has had to endure.
- He sees the Manettes in the future, with a child that bears his name.
- He imagines the stories that they’ll tell of the man who gave his life for their happiness.
- He sees his own name cleared of all the stains he’s placed on it, living again through Lucie’s son.
- He reflects that this action is perhaps the best one that he’s ever taken.