A Tale of Two Cities Page #8

What are we going to do?

- We must follow him.

- Yes. Yes, of course we must.

Miss Pross.

- Father, I'm frightened.

- Yes, madame?

- Send Miss Pross to me.

- Yes, madame.

You needn't be frightened.

As a victim of the aristocrats,

I shall be welcome in France.

Yes. Yes, of course you will be.

How strange that I,

who suffered by an Evremonde...

...must go to save an Evremonde.

Come, Father.

Charles Darnay?

Pass, Evremonde.

- Take Evremonde to La Force Prison.

- Take him away.

Wait. Prison? Under what law?

For what offense?

We have new laws, Evremonde,

and new offenses since you were here.

But isn't there...?

Will you...?

Will you permit me to communicate

with Mr. Lorry of Tellson's Bank...

...who is now in Paris?

I will do nothing for you.

Take him away.

- Can he see us, Father?

- I'm sure he can.

You may kiss your hand towards

that highest row of windows up there.

I do so, and I send my soul with it.

Goodbye, my dear. I must go now

and try to arrange for Charles' trial.

If he sees us,

why doesn't he come down?

He will, darling...

...if we wait long enough.

Mummy, something white up there.

Yes, darling, he sees us. Wave.

Former Count D'Etournelle,

anything to say in your defense?

Nothing I could say

would make any impression on you.

I prefer the dignity of silence.

He prefers the dignity of silence.

Vote, jury.

- Guilty.

- Guilty. Guilty.

Death within 48 hours.

Buy a guillotine? Guillotine?

Buy a guillotine?

- What is your profession?

- I am a seamstress, citizen.

You are accused of consorting openly

with Pierre Cot...

...who spoke slightingly

of the revolution.

He was my friend, citizen.

I grew up with him in the country.

You shouldn't have such friends,

citizeness.

Vote, jury.

- Guilty.

- Guilty.

- Guilty.

- Guilty.

Death within 48 hours.

The Marquis St. Evremonde,

called Darnay...

...suspected as an enemy

of the republic.

Let him have the guillotine.

You're accused under the decree

which forbids...

...the return of all aristocrat emigrants

under pain of death.

I am not an emigrant

in that sense of the word.

- Why not?

- I relinquished my title...

...before the revolution began.

For what reason?

I felt I would rather live

on my own industry in England...

...than on the already overburdened

people of France.

A lot he cares about that.

Then why did you come back to France?

I came to save a friend of the people,

who was unjustly accused.

I hope that is not criminal

in the eyes of the republic.

No. No. No.

And the name of that citizen?

Citizen Gabelle.

- Is he here?

- I don't know.

Citizen Gabelle!

Citizen Gabelle!

Citizen Gabelle.

He's not here.

- Well, why is he not here?

- L... I don't know.

Did you hear that, jury?

The man he came to save isn't here,

and he doesn't know why he's not here.

Have you any other proof of equal value?

Dr. Manette will speak for me.

I'm sure he'll be able to influence them.

Dr. Manette, we all know you as one

of the sufferers under the old regime.

What do you know of this prisoner?

You all know of my long imprisonment...

...how I was released by the aid

of my good friends, the De Farges.

Citizens, I know the prisoner well.

The last few years,

we became very close friends.

I know where his sympathies are...

...they are with you, the people,

they always were.

He is a true citizen of the republic.

- Words are easy.

- What better proof can I give you...

...than when he asked for my only

daughter's hand in marriage...

...I gave my consent gladly.

Bad judgment.

- He wants to spy on you.

- No doubt about that.

Citizens, for 18 years...

...I suffered unspeakable tortures

in the Bastille.

Could I have given my only daughter...

...to a man whose sympathies

are with those who tortured me?

No. No. No.

There is very little left for me

in this life, citizens...

...only my daughter's happiness...

...which is now in the hands

of the prisoner.

I have suffered enough

from my enemies.

From you, who are my friends,

to whom I owe my liberty...

...may I not ask a final blessing?

May I not ask the liberty

to enjoy what is left in peace?

Free.

- Not guilty!

- Not guilty!

- Stop.

- Silence.

Citizeness, you're out of order.

- I defy the bell.

- What?

I accuse the man, Evremonde,

one of the family of tyrants...

...who used their privileges

for the oppression of the people.

- Your witnesses?

- Three.

- Ernest De Farge, Therese De Farge...

- Yes? Yes?

...and Dr. Manette.

I protest, it is a lie. Who dares to say

that I denounce this man?

I do, that you denounce him in words

that can never be taken back.

Look, citizens...

...the record of Dr. Manette's sufferings

in the Bastille and the cause of them.

- I make no accusations.

- How can you say that...

...when it is there in black and white?

Let me read it. Look.

"For all that the Evremondes

made me suffer...

...for all that they have made

the people suffer...

...I, Alexandre Manette, do,

on this last night of the year...

...and in my unbearable agony,

denounce the family of Evremonde...

...them and their descendants,

to the last of their race. "

- When was that written?

- This was written in prison...

...by Dr. Manette himself,

in scrapings of soot and charcoal...

...mixed with his own blood.

Cut his head off.

Dr. Manette has told you

that he spent 18 years...

...in solitary confinement in the Bastille.

This letter tells you why.

It tells how, as a young doctor, he was

summoned to the bedside of a dying girl...

...dying because she'd been outraged

by the Evremondes.

It tells how her young brother

was cut down...

...for daring to come to the defense

of his sister.

It describes the agonies

of those two innocent, young people.

That boy is dead. That girl is dead.

All that peasant family but one...

...died through the cruelty and oppression

of the Evremondes.

All but one, a sister.

That sister was hidden from them

and she lives.

She lives today.

I am that sister!

And I demand the life of the last

of the Evremondes! I demand it!

- But this boy had nothing to do with that.

- Citizens! Vote.

Guilty. Guilty.

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

Guilty.

The accused is found guilty

of being an enemy of the republic.

Citizen president,

the citizens of the republic...

...demand the death of the prisoner.

Granted. Death within 48 hours.

Charles! Charles!

Charles! Charles!

Now, my good doctor,

save him if you can.

Oh, merciful Creator,

have pity on thy servant Charles.

He came here to save a life...

...save his.

"Louis Bach, merchant of Metz. " Pass.

"Maria Fontanni, singer. "

Singer.

Pass.

"Sydney Carton, English advocate. " Pass.

Right. Pass.

But it's incredible that the

De Farges should have turned

against Manette like that.

He regarded them

as his best friends in Paris.

Every revolution breeds fanatics

like Madame De Farge...

...but how anyone could be cruel

to Lucie I cannot understand.

Tell me, how is she?

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