ed in fur, and had a quantity of bright

shawl twined about her head, though not to the concealment of

her large ear-rings. Her knitting was before her, but she had laid it

down to pick her teeth with a toothpick. Thus engaged, with her

right elbow supported by her left hand, Madame Defarge said

nothing when her lord came in, but coughed just one grain of

cough. This, in combination with the lifting of her darkly defined

eyebrows over her toothpick by the breadth of a line, suggested to

her husband that he would do well to look round the shop among

the customers, for any new customer who had dropped in while he

stepped over the way.

The wine-shop keeper accordingly rolled his eyes about, until

they rested upon an elderly gentleman and a young lady, who

were seated in a corner. Other company were there; two playing

cards, two playing dominoes, three standing by the counter

lengthening out a short supply of wine. As he passed behind the

counter, he took notice that the elderly gentleman said in a look to

the young lady, “This is our man.”

“What the devil do you do in that galley there?” said Monsieur

Defarge to himself; “I don’t know you.”

But, he feigned not to notice the two strangers, and fell into

discourse with the triumvirate of customers who were drinking at

the counter.

Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics

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