After reading · Part II · Chapter 21

Part II · Chapter 21Footsteps and the Bastille

Summary

Years pass in Lucie’s home. She has a daughter, little Lucie, and loses a young son; sorrow and happiness deepen family affection. Carton remains an occasional visitor loved by the child. By 1789, political footsteps grow loud enough that Lorry reports frightened French customers sending property to Tellson’s.

In Paris, Saint Antoine arms itself and storms the Bastille. Defarge commands a gun and fights through the fortress. Once it falls, he forces a guard to lead him to Doctor Manette’s former cell, One Hundred and Five, North Tower, where he searches the walls, bed, hearth, and chimney, then has the cell’s wood and straw burned. The crowd kills the governor and guards, carrying severed heads through the streets.

Who’s who

• Lucie and Charles Darnay — Parents in the peaceful Soho household.
• Little Lucie — Their daughter, fond of Carton.
• Monsieur and Madame Defarge — Leaders in the attack on the Bastille.
• Mr. Lorry — Watching France’s crisis through Tellson’s business.