A Tale of Two Cities Volume III, Chapter Fifteen – The Footsteps Die Out for Ever Summary

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 which roll to the ground.
Scared, the little seamstress clings to Sydney.
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 Sydney.
The audience counts to twenty-two.
Sydney 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 that his face was the most peaceful face they saw on the guillotine.
The narrator reflects that, if Sydney had had a chance to write down his thoughts before his death, they would be 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 a 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.

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