Plot Summary
Book 3, Chapter 5 of A Tale of Two Cities covers one year and three months of Lucie Manette's agonizing vigil while her husband Charles Darnay languishes in a revolutionary prison awaiting trial. Each day, the tumbrils roll through the streets of Paris carrying condemned prisoners to the Guillotine. Despite the constant terror surrounding her, Lucie maintains her household with steadfast composure, teaching little Lucie and keeping Darnay's chair and books set out in anticipation of his return.
Dr. Manette discovers that there is a window high in the prison from which Darnay can occasionally glimpse the street below. He shows Lucie the spot—a dark, dirty corner of a small winding street near the hovel of a wood-sawyer. From that day forward, Lucie stands in that spot for two hours every afternoon, from two o'clock to four, in all weathers and all seasons, hoping her husband might see her.
The Wood-Sawyer and the Carmagnole
The wood-sawyer—identified as the former mender of roads—takes a disturbing interest in Lucie's visits. He names his saw "my Little Guillotine" and gleefully mimics beheading men, women, and children as he chops wood into billets. Lucie endures his menacing banter and even gives him drink-money to secure his goodwill, since she cannot avoid his gaze.
One December afternoon, Lucie arrives at the corner to find the city in wild revolutionary celebration. A mob of at least five hundred people surges past, dancing the Carmagnole—a frenzied, violent revolutionary dance. describes the dance as "a fallen sport—a something, once innocent, delivered over to all devilry," with men and women spinning, clutching, and tearing at one another in a grotesque parody of celebration. The wood-sawyer dances hand in hand with The Vengeance, Madame Defarge's lieutenant. The scene terrifies Lucie, but when the dancers sweep away, the snow falls "as quietly and lay as white and soft, as if it had never been."
Darnay Summoned to Trial
Dr. Manette appears and reassures Lucie, then tells her to kiss her hand toward the highest prison roof where Darnay is watching. In a brief, chilling encounter, Madame Defarge passes by and exchanges cold greetings with the Doctor. Manette then reveals that Darnay has been summoned to appear before the Tribunal the next day, and urges Lucie to trust him—he has prepared protections and believes he can save her husband. As they leave, three tumbrils rumble past carrying their "dread loads over the hushing snow." The chapter ends at Tellson's Bank, where a mysterious visitor—implied to be Sydney Carton—has just arrived with urgent news.