With these words and a final snap of his fingers, Mr. Stryver

shouldered himself into Fleet Street, amidst the general

approbation of his hearers. Mr. Lorry and Charles Darnay were

left alone at the desk in the general departure from the Bank.

“Will you take charge of the letter?” said Mr. Lorry. “You know

where to deliver it?”

“I do.”

“Will you undertake to explain, that we suppose it to have been

addressed here, on the chance of our knowing where to forward it,

and that it has been here some time?”

“I will do so. Do you start for Paris from here?”

“From here, at eight.”

“I will come back to see you off.”

Very ill at ease with himself, and with Stryver and most other

men, Darnay made the best of his way into the quiet of the

Temple, opened the letter and read it. These were its contents:

“Prison of the Abbaye, Paris.

“June 21, 1792.

“After having long been in danger of my life at the hands of the

village, I have been seized, with great violence and indignity, and

Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics

brought a long journey on foot to Paris. On the road I have

suffered a great deal. Nor is that all; my house has been

destroyedrazed to the ground.

“The crime for which I am imprisoned, Monsieur heretofore the

Marquis, and for which I shall be summoned before the tribunal,

and shall lose my life (wit