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A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

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Charles Darnay is on his way to Paris in the fall of 1792 in search of Gabelle. Along the way, he is stopped in several villages by revolutionaries, and is scorned as an emigrant and an aristocrat. At one point, he is forced to hire two men to “escort” him to Paris. When he finally gets to Paris, he is declared to be a prisoner and is taken to La Force prison. He encounters several other aristocrats and French royalty who are imprisoned there, and who seem so lifeless and dead that he refers to them as “ghosts.” Darnay is said to be at the prison “in secret”, and although he does not realize it at the time, means that he will be kept in solitary confinement. He is brought up to a small room at the top of a tower that measures “five paces by four and a half.” Locked alone in the small room, Darnay resorts to pacing back and forth in an effort to clear his mind. He seems helpless and confused, unsure of how he ended up in this predicament, and more importantly, how he is going to escape from it.

Monsieur Defarge is the man who escorts Darnay to La Force prison. Along the way, he recognizes him, and asks Darnay if he is the son-in-law of Doctor Manette, the father of Lucy Manette, who once visited his wine-shop. Darnay confirms that he is indeed that man, and pleads with Defarge to have mercy on him. However, Defarge states that he is a patriot, and therefore will absolutely not help an “aristocrat” such as Darnay. He even refuses to tell Mr. Lorry, a friend of

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