At the end of Chapter XIX of Book the Third, Monsieur
Defarge produces a piece of paper that he found when he entered the Bastille on the
first day of the Revolution. This piece of paper is from 105 North Tower of the Bastille
prison; it is the personal record of Dr. Alexandre Manette. Ironically, his writing of
this record turns out to work against Dr. Manette's defense of Charles Darnay in his
second trial, for in this paper, Dr. Manette denounces the entire Evremonde
family.
During the reading of Manette's record, it is
revealed that the Evremonde twin brothers had caused the death of a family except for a
younger sister who had been taken to safety. A young man whom Dr. Manette had been
summoned to attend placed a blood curse upon the Evremonde family before he died; his
ravished sister died shortly afterward. Worried about the consequences of their
actions, the Evremondes had Manette taken to prison. Because of his unjust
imprisonment, Manette condemns the Evremondes.
In the
contents of his written document, Manette made mention that the wife of one of the
Evremonde twins paid him a visit on the following day after somehow learning of the
deed, although she was unaware that the girl had died. She told Dr. Manette that she was
in dread of the brother and her husband both.
"I have a presentiment that if no other innocent
atonement is made for this, it will one day be required of
him."
Then, she kissed the
boy with her, saying, "It is for thine own dear sake. Thou wilt be faithul, little
Charles?" This boy, of course, is Charles d'Evremonde, who has changed his name to
Charles Darnay.
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