A Tale of Two Cities Volume II, Chapter Twenty-Three – Fire Rises Summary

We’re back in the French countryside.
It’s just about as dismal as when we left it: there’s no food, the crops are withered, and the people are in about the same condition as the crops.
Despite this, things seem to have changed somehow.
For years, Monseigneur (as a class) has squeezed and starved the poor of the village.
Now, however, the faces of the poor have a new look. It’s one that Monseigneur can’t quite figure out.
Our old friend, the mender of roads, is out mending roads.
After all, what else would he be doing?
A man walks up to him, greets him as Jacques, and the two sit down to eat together.
The mender of roads asks if it’s happening tonight.
What? What’s happening?
Just wait…we’ll find out soon enough.
The traveler wants to take a nap. He asks the mender of roads to wake him at sunset.
It’s now sunset. The mender of roads wakes the traveler.
Hey, we told you it was going to happen.
They shake hands. The traveler asks a cryptic question: is it two leagues away?
The answer is yes.
Later that night, the chateau on the hill begins to burn.
Vast clouds of smoke and flame can be seen from the town.
Monsieur Gabelle, the guy who’s in charge of the town, awakens to find a rider at his door.
Frantic, the rider asks Monsieur Gabelle to send village folk up to the chateau.
Everyone in the village looks at each other. Amazingly enough, no one wants to help put out the fire.
The chateau burns.
After the blazes die down a little bit, folks start to remember that the Marquis wasn’t the only aristocrat in town.
Gabelle was the one who collected the Marquis’ taxes.
OK, so he’s not really an aristocrat. But he’s close enough, isn’t he?
That seems to be the general consensus.
People start to beat down Gabelle’s door.
He takes the advice of his friends and puts a heavy bolt on the door.
As night descends, we leave Gabelle praying that he won’t get strung up on a pike.

Next Page: Volume II, Chapter Twenty-Four – Drawn to the Lodestone Rock

Previous Page: Volume II, Chapter Twenty-Two – The Sea Still Rises