Lucie Manette Timeline and Summary

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• 1775: Sent for by Mr. Lorry, Lucie Manette travels to Dover.
• She’s been told that Mr. Lorry has information regarding her late father’s property.
• Long ago, a "man of business" was the trustee of a French doctor. This doctor had a small child.
• Ring any bells? It sure does for Miss Manette. She’s turned pale and is listening excitedly.
• Miss Manette recognizes the story as being very, very much like that of her father’s.
• Mr. Lorry agrees. There’s one difference, however: this doctor is still alive.
• He urges Miss Manette to think of his story as a mere matter of business, but it doesn’t seem to be working very well.
• Finally, he tells her that the mother of the young girl died when the child was two, after searching for her father for two years.
• Her father… well, her father has been found.
• Mr. Lorry proposes that he and Miss Manette go together to Paris to find her father.
• Turning completely ashen, Miss Manette murmurs that she’s going to see a ghost.
• She travels to Paris with Mr. Lorry, where they meet Doctor Manette.
• He’s at Defarge’s wine shop, hunched over a workbench.
• Lucie moves slowly forward. She stops in front of his workbench.
• Startled, he asks who she is. Slowly, he reaches up and touches her golden hair.
• Slowly, he begins to remember. Lucie puts her arms around him and promises to tell him some other time who her mother and father were.
• For now, though, she promises to take care of him.
• France, she declares, is too wicked a country for them to stay in. They’ll return to England, where she can honor the man who is her father properly.
• 1780: Five years later, Lucie and her father are called to testify at Charles Darnay’s trial. The court calls Miss Manette to the stand.
• When Lucie begins to testify, it’s obvious that she doesn’t want to say anything that could incriminate Charles.
• Lucie says that Charles helped her father when Doctor Manette fell ill on the boat.
• Against her will, she also testifies that Charles exchanged some papers with Frenchmen who were aboard the boat.
• Apparently, Charles also made some jokes about George Washington while he and Lucie were chatting.
• It was all in good fun at the time, but now the court doesn’t take it so lightly.
• The court, in fact, seems to think that making jokes about how George Washington might not be such a bad guy is, in fact, treason.
• Lucie’s testimony, in other words, didn’t go all that well for Charles.
• Fortunately, however, he’s let off the hook. He begins to visit them often.
• So does Sydney Carton.
• They both come over to the lovely house that Lucie’s made for her father in Soho.
• One night, Sydney comes over to visit Lucie.
• He finds Lucie there alone.
• When she sees him, she immediately notices that he’s even less well than he usually is.
• That’s not saying much.
• She asks Sydney what the matter is.
• He responds that his life is miserable and hopeless.
• She asks why he can’t change.
• We know, we know—it’s a useless question. Someone had to ask it, though.
• Sydney doesn’t answer directly.
• See, Sydney knows that Lucie couldn’t love a man like him.
• In fact, that’s exactly what he tells her.
• Dismayed, Lucie doesn’t know what to say.
• Sure, she feels sorry for Carton. She evens cares about him. But the saddest thing in this whole deal is that he’s right—and they both know it.
• True to her good-natured self, though, Lucie asks if there’s anything that she can do to help him without promising to love him.
• Carton says that if anyone could have reformed him, she could have.
• It looks like he’s past saving, then.
• Just like he thought he was.
• Apparently, Sydney just dropped by to unburden himself… sort of like a very, very painful self-help session.
• Distraught, Lucie asks again if there’s no way that she could be a force for good in his life.
• Sydney seems to have moved past this, however.
• He begs her to keep this conversation confidential; it’s the last time he’ll ever confide in anyone, and he’d like to remember that it ended well.
• Seeing that Lucie seems upset, he entreats her not to be troubled by his sorrows.
• More than anything, he wants her to be happy.
• In fact, he’s so committed to her happiness that he begs her to remember (once she gets married) that he would give his own life to keep those whom she loves safe.
• Bidding Lucie farewell, Sydney rushes out the door.
• Lucie, who loves Charles, marries him.
• They have two children, a girl and a boy.
• The boy dies as a child. The girl, little Lucie, grows to be beautiful like her mother.
• 1792: Lucie learns that Charles has left for France.
• She and her father follow him. They learn Charles has been arrested.
• They arrive at Mr. Lorry’s office in Paris.
• Lucie tells him that Charles has come to the city.
• Immediately, Mr. Lorry realizes what this means. Charles is in trouble.
• He tries to shield the Manettes from the windows, but the doctor coolly ignores him.
• Doctor Manette, you see, is something of a hero for the patriots. As a former prisoner of the Bastille, he’s untouchable.
• In fact, he might even have some leverage in getting Charles out of prison.
• That’s why he and Lucie had come to Paris.
• Mr. Lorry actually agrees. He hurries Lucie up to his room.
• Madame Defarge comes to see Lucie. Ostensibly she’ll be able to help her.
• Lucie pleads for mercy for her husband.
• Madame Defarge ignores this cry. She says that she’s here for the daughter of Doctor Manette (and not the wife of Evrémonde).
• Frantic, Lucie asks for her to protect her husband because he’s the doctor’s son-in-law.
• She begs for pity as a wife and a mother.
• Madame Defarge stares at her coldly and says that the wives and mothers of France have been suffering for a very long time.
• She leaves without ever promising to help.
• A year passes. Then another three months pass. Nothing’s changed.
• Lucie, in particular, seems to have weathered the calamity pretty well.
• She’s not wearing bright, fancy clothes, sure, but otherwise she’s cheerful.
• Only occasionally does her grief break through. Then she cries on her father’s shoulder all night.
• He remains confident that he can save Charles and tries to reassure his daughter as much as he can.
• One day, the doctor comes home with some news: every now and then, Charles can get to a little window that looks out on the street.
• He usually manages to be there at three in the afternoon. It’s not every day…in fact, it’s only about once a week.
• Nonetheless, he asked if Lucie would be willing to come stand in front of the window at three so that he could see her.
• From that time on, Lucie goes to the street next to the window every afternoon.
• Whatever the weather’s like, she stands outside for two hours.
• A woodcutter happens to realize that she’s standing on his street every day.
• One day, he’s not in his shop.
• Lucie’s relieved—until she sees him dancing with The Vengeance and a mob of hundreds of other people.
• They’re dancing a wild, bloody, violent dance. Apparently it involves lots of teeth-gnashing. It’s called the Carmagnole.
• Lucie stares at them, frightened. Her father comes up to lead them away, and she asks him about the horrible dance.
• He tries to calm her, although he’s seen it several times before.
• Suddenly, Madame Defarge appears right beside them.
• She disappears as quickly as she came.
• As they walk home, Dr. Manette tells Lucie that Charles has been summoned to the Tribunal.
• When Charles is released, she falls into his arms. They go home.
• Later that night, however, Charles is arrested.
• At the trial, Charles is sentenced to death.
• Lucie faints. Sydney Carton carries her out to her carriage and kisses her.
• Lucie leaves town with her father, her husband, and Mr. Lorry.