Book the Second: Chapter 4

Chapter Summary:
After the trial, Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette, Mr. Lorry, and Mr. Stryver stand around Charles Darnay congratulating him on his acquittal. Dr. Manette, with his intellectual face and upright figure, no longer looks like the shoemaker of the garret in Paris. However, if that past time is ever mentioned, his spirit becomes clouded with a gloomy fit of abstraction. Only his daughter has the power to charm away the dark brooding from his mind.

Darnay kisses Lucie's hand warmly and gratefully and turns to thank Mr. Stryver. Dr. Manette suddenly looks at Darnay with dislike and distrust. Since the Doctor is tired, Lucie takes him home. Mr. Lorry also departs. Sydney Carton approaches Darnay and asks him how it feels to be looking at his double, referring to himself. Darnay responds that he only feels faint from the trial. Mr. Carton suggests that he should get something to eat and escorts him to a tavern.

Darnay thanks Mr. Carton for his timely aid even though he is starting to dislike this coarse double of himself. Mr. Carton also dislikes Darnay’s attention to Lucie since he too is attracted to her. At the tavern, Mr. Carton drinks too much, making Darnay uncomfortable. He pays the bill and prepares to leave. Before he departs, Mr. Carton tells Darnay that he is alone in the world; he cares for no one, and no one cares for him. When he is by himself in the tavern, Carton drinks some more wine and falls asleep on his arms.

Historical Context:
winding-sheet: This word is pronounced with a long I. The book says this is a shroud, or a sheet for wrapping a corpse. the Discovering Dickens website also says a winding-sheet is “[a] mass of solidified drippings of grease clinging to the side of a candle, resembling a sheet folded in creases, and regarded in popular superstition as an omen of death or calamity”. The candle that drips over Mr. Carton is thus an ominous one.

Vocabulary:
numskulls (pg. 96): A stupid or foolish person

laconic (pg. 97): (of a person, speech, or style of writing) Using very few words

Stacy's Thoughts:
Book the Second is titled The Golden Thread. In chapter 4 Dickens says that Lucie is the golden thread that unites Dr. Manette to a past beyond his mysery (namely remembering his wife) and to a future beyond his mysery. I am not sure that he will ever be beyondhs mysery. Even in the court when he was asked to recount being released from prison, he was thrown back into the memories and a dark cloud came over him. I think it is great that Lucie can help her father get out of these funks with simply a touch of her hand or the sound of her voice but perhaps avoiding the issue is not the answer.

I am getting a sense that both look alike men, Darnay and Carton, may have a thing for Miss Lucie. I like how Dickens described Carton as Darnay's "double of course reportment". That gives me a clear image of Carton.

I think the statement on page 98 where Carton says he cares for no one and no one cares for him is foreshadowing. I think that Carton is going to end up doing something that reverses that statement.

There are still a few things about Charles Darnay that I just don't understand. I think he is supposed to be a good guy, but Dickens just keeps putting words around him that seem not so good. I was surprised when he kissed Lucie's hand that Dr. Manette deepens "into a frown of dislike and distrust, not even unmixed with fear". Why? I guess maybe future chapters will give an answer.