"This is that written paper!" — Illustration for "A Tale of Two Cities," Book III, chapter 8 ("A Hand at Cards"), by John McLenan

"This is that written paper!"

John McLenan

Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Book III, chapter 8 ("A Hand at Cards")

The twenty-fourth installment of the novel appeared in Harper's Weekly (29 October 1859): 701; it had originally appeared in the UK on Saturday, 22 October in All the Year Round

[See below for passage illustrated]

Scanned image by Philip V. Allingham; text by PVA and George P. Landow.

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Passage Illustrated

At the end of Chapter 9, Defarge testifies in court as to the circumstances under which he discovered Dr. Manette's manuscript hidden in his Bastille cell, 105 North:

"Inform the Tribunal of what you did that day within the Bastille, citizen."

"I knew," said Defarge, looking down at his wife, who stood at the bottom of the steps on which he was raised, looking steadily up at him; "I knew that this prisoner, of whom I speak, had been confined in a cell known as One Hundred and Five, North Tower. I knew it from himself. He knew himself by no other name than One Hundred and Five, North Tower, when he made shoes under my care. As I serve my gun that day, I resolve, when the place shall fall, to examine that cell. It falls. I mount to the cell, with a fellow-citizen who is one of the Jury, directed by a gaoler. I examine it, very closely. In a hole in the chimney, where a stone has been worked out and replaced, I find a written paper. This is that written paper. I have made it my business to examine some specimens of the writing of Doctor Manette. This is the writing of Doctor Manette. I confide this paper, in the writing of Doctor Manette, to the hands of the President."

"Let it be read."

In a dead silence and stillness--the prisoner under trial looking lovingly at his wife, his wife only looking from him to look with solicitude at her father, Doctor Manette keeping his eyes fixed on the reader, Madame Defarge never taking hers from the prisoner, Defarge never taking his from his feasting wife, and all the other eyes there intent upon the Doctor, who saw none of them--the paper was read, as follows.

References

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities: A story of the French Revolution. Project Gutenberg e-text by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska. Release Date: September 25, 2004 [EBook #98].

Last modified 25 November 2007