Summary of Book III, Chapter 1: In Secret
In the autumn of 1792, Charles Darnay travels from England toward Paris, answering the imprisoned Gabelle's desperate letter. From the moment he crosses into France, he encounters a nation transformed by revolution. Every town gate and village taxing-house is manned by bands of citizen-patriots in red caps, armed with muskets, who stop all travelers, inspect their papers, and decide their fate on a whim. Darnay quickly realizes there is no turning back; each barrier that closes behind him is another iron door sealed between him and England.
His journey is agonizingly slow. Patriots ride after him, ahead of him, and alongside him, keeping him under constant surveillance. Only Gabelle's letter from the Abbaye prison keeps him moving forward. At a small inn, he is awakened in the middle of the night by a local functionary and three armed patriots who address him as "Emigrant" and insist he must travel to Paris under paid escort. Two mounted patriots in red caps ride on either side of him with a line attached to his bridle, and they travel through the night over rain-soaked roads.
The Hostile Reception at Beauvais
At the town of Beauvais, an ominous crowd gathers, shouting "Down with the emigrant!" A furious farrier threatens Darnay with a hammer, calling him a traitor whose life is "forfeit to the people." The postmaster barely manages to get Darnay safely into the yard and explains that a new decree, passed the very day Darnay left England, orders the sale of all emigrant property. Worse, rumors say further decrees will banish all emigrants and condemn any who return to death.
Arrival in Paris and La Force Prison
When Darnay finally reaches the gates of Paris, he is received not as a free citizen but as a prisoner. Inside a guard-room, an officer identifies him as "the emigrant Evremonde" and consigns him to the prison of La Force. Darnay's conductor turns out to be Defarge, the wine-shop keeper who once sheltered Doctor Manette. Despite this connection, Defarge coldly refuses to help Darnay or even to notify Mr. Lorry of Tellson's Bank of his imprisonment, declaring, "I will do nothing for you. My duty is to my country and the People."
"In Secret" -- Solitary Confinement
At La Force, Darnay passes through a crowded chamber of aristocratic prisoners -- ghostly figures of former beauty, elegance, and pride who greet him with exquisite courtesy. A courtly gentleman welcomes him but expresses dismay upon learning Darnay is held "in secret," meaning solitary confinement with no communication with the outside world. Darnay is led to a small, cold, damp cell -- five paces by four and a half -- furnished only with a chair, a table, and a straw mattress. Alone, he paces the cell and finds his mind returning obsessively to Doctor Manette's own imprisonment: "He made shoes, he made shoes, he made shoes." The chapter closes with Darnay trapped in the same cycle of isolation his father-in-law endured for eighteen years, the roar of revolutionary Paris rising around him like muffled drums.