"I mark this cross of blood upon him, as a sign that I do it" — Illustration for "A Tale of Two Cities," Book III, chapter 10 ("The Substance of the Shadow"), by John McLenan

"I mark this cross of blood upon him, as a sign that I do it"

John McLenan

Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Book III, chapter 10 ("The Substance of the Shadow")

The twenty-seventh installment of the novel appeared in Harper's Weekly (5 November 1859): 717; it had originally appeared in the UK on Saturday, 29 October in All the Year Round

[See below for passage illustrated]

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

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. .]

Passage Illustrated

During the course of the flashback in Chapter 10 provided by Dr. Manette's written narrative, Therèse Defarge's brother with his dying breath curses the Marquis St. Evrémonde:

"'He! Proud as these nobles are, he is afraid to see me. Where is the man who was here? Turn my face to him.'

"I did so, raising the boy's head against my knee. But, invested for the moment with extraordinary power, he raised himself completely: obliging me to rise too, or I could not have still supported him.

"'Marquis,' said the boy, turned to him with his eyes opened wide, and his right hand raised, `in the days when all these things are to be answered for, I summon you and yours, to the last of your bad race, to answer for them. I mark this cross of blood upon you, as a sign that I do it. In the days when all these things are to be answered for, I summon your brother, the worst of the bad race, to answer for them separately. I mark this cross of blood upon him, as a sign that I do it.'

"Twice, he put his hand to the wound in his breast, and with his forefinger drew a cross in the air. He stood for an instant with the finger yet raised, and as it dropped, he dropped with it, and I laid him down dead.

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