le
shining of this earth of ours, every thought and act, every vice and
virtue, of every responsible creature on it.
The Defarges, husband and wife, came lumbering under the
starlight, in their public vehicle, to that gate of Paris whereunto
their journey naturally tended. There was the usual stoppage at
the barrier guardhouse, and the usual lanterns came glancing
forth for the usual examination and inquiry. Monsieur Defarge
alighted; knowing one or two of the soldiery there, and one of the
police. The latter he was intimate with, and affectionately
embraced.
When Saint Antoine had again enfolded the Defarges in his
dusky wings, and they, having finally alighted near the Saint’s
boundaries, were picking their way on foot through the black mud
and offal of his streets, Madame Defarge spoke to her husband:
“Say then, my friend; what did Jacques of the police tell thee?”
“Very little tonight, but all he knows. There is another spy
commissioned for our quarter. There may be many more, for all
that he can say, but he knows of one.”
“Eh well!” said Madame Defarge, raising her eye brows with a
Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics
cool business air. “It is necessary to register him. How do they call
that man?”
“He is English.”
“So much the better. His name?”
“Barsad,” said Defarge, making it French by pronunciation