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Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" Chapters 26-39 321 words

Vocabulary study list for Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" (Book II, Chapters 20-24; Book III, Chapters 1-8).

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  1. reparable
    capable of being repaired or rectified
    I fear he is not to be reclaimed; there is scarcely a hope that anything in his character or fortunes is reparable now.
  2. attenuate
    become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
    The bronze face, the shaggy black hair and beard, the coarse woollen red cap, the rough medley dress of home-spun stuff and hairy skins of beasts, the powerful frame attenuated by spare living, and the sullen and desperate compression of the lips i
  3. domesticate
    make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans
    Habitations, fences, domesticated animals, men, women, children, and the soil that bore them--all worn out.
  4. estrange
    remove from customary environment or associations
    Say but one affectionate word to me, and tell me there is nothing angry or estranged between us, and I will detain you no longer."
  5. condole
    express one's sympathetic grief, on the occasion of someone's death
    "In the name of the assembled companions in misfortune," said a gentleman of courtly appearance and address, coming forward, "I have the honour of giving you welcome to La Force, and of condoling with you on the calamity that has brought you among
  6. embroider
    decorate with needlework
    The women were seated at a long table, reading and writing, knitting, sewing, and embroidering; the men were for the most part standing behind their chairs, or lingering up and down the room.
  7. maniacal
    wildly disordered
    Everywhere was tumult, exultation, deafening and maniacal bewilderment, astounding noise, yet furious dumb-show.
  8. encumber
    hold back
    So much more wicked and distracted had the Revolution grown in that December month, that the rivers of the South were encumbered with the bodies of the violently drowned by night, and prisoners were shot in lines and squares under the southern wint
  9. suffocate
    deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
    "A craven who abandoned his post," said another--this Monseigneur had been got out of Paris, legs uppermost and half suffocated, in a load of hay--"some years ago."
  10. meddlesome
    intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
    "Then hold your meddlesome tongue," said Solomon, "and come out, if you want to speak to me.
  11. inscribe
    carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface
    On his house-top, he displayed pike and cap, as a good citizen must, and in a window he had stationed his saw inscribed as his "Little Sainte Guillotine"--for the great sharp female was by that time popularly canonised.
  12. modicum
    a small or moderate or token amount
    The Sea Still Rises

    Haggard Saint Antoine had had only one exultant week, in which to soften his modicum of hard and bitter bread to such extent as he could, with the relish of fraternal embraces and congratulations, when Madame Defarge sat at he
  13. exude
    release (a liquid) in drops or small quantities
    These three young gentlemen, Mr. Stryver, exuding patronage of the most offensive quality from every pore, had walked before him like three sheep to the quiet corner in Soho, and had offered as pupils to Lucie's husband: delicately saying "Halloa!
  14. chary
    characterized by great caution and wariness
    Madame Defarge wore no rose in her head, for the great brotherhood of Spies had become, even in one short week, extremely chary of trusting themselves to the saint's mercies.
  15. inclement
    (of weather or climate) severe
    When it was not too wet or inclement for her child to be with her, they went together; at other times she was alone; but, she never missed a single day.
  16. dolorous
    showing sorrow
    "From this prison here of horror, whence I every hour tend nearer and nearer to destruction, I send you, Monsieur heretofore the Marquis, the assurance of my dolorous and unhappy service.
  17. trudge
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    Great rents and splits branched out in the solid walls, like crystallisation; stupefied birds wheeled about and dropped into the furnace; four fierce figures trudged away, East, West, North, and South, along the night-enshrouded roads, guided by th
  18. disparage
    express a negative opinion of
    He held the letter out inquiringly; and Monseigneur looked at it, in the person of this plotting and indignant refugee; and Monseigneur looked at it in the person of that plotting and indignant refugee; and This, That, and The Other, all had something
  19. confiscate
    take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority
    Monseigneur gone, and the three strong men absolving themselves from the sin of having drawn his high wages, by being more than ready and willing to cut his throat on the altar of the dawning Republic one and indivisible of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,
  20. quash
    declare invalid
    Once denounced, and on such grave grounds as had just now been suggested to his mind, he foresaw that the dreadful woman of whose unrelenting character he had seen many proofs, would produce against him that fatal register, and would quash his last
  21. munificent
    very generous
    Again: Tellson's was a munificent house, and extended great liberality to old customers who had fallen from their high estate.
  22. culminate
    end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
    He knew very well, that in his horror of the deed which had culminated the bad deeds and bad reputation of the old family house, in his resentful suspicions of his uncle, and in the aversion with which his conscience regarded the crumbling fabric t
  23. pollute
    make impure
    It sheared off heads so many, that it, and the ground it most polluted, were a rotten red.
  24. noisome
    causing or able to cause nausea
    Extraordinary how soon the noisome flavour of imprisoned sleep, becomes manifest in all such places that are ill cared for!
  25. provident
    providing carefully for the future
    Again: those nobles who had seen the coming storm in time, and anticipating plunder or confiscation, had made provident remittances to Tellson's, were always to be heard of there by their needy brethren.
  26. caldron
    a very large pot that is used for boiling
    As a whirlpool of boiling waters has a centre point, so, all this raging circled round Defarge's wine-shop, and every human drop in the caldron had a tendency to be sucked towards the vortex where Defarge himself, already begrimed with gunpowder an
  27. edify
    make understand
    For scores of years gone by, Monseigneur had squeezed it and wrung it, and had seldom graced it with his presence except for the pleasures of the chase--now, found in hunting the people; now, found in hunting the beasts, for whose preservation Monseigneur
  28. crone
    an ugly evil-looking old woman
    Armed men and women flocked out of the Quarter so fast, and drew even these last dregs after them with such a force of suction, that within a quarter of an hour there was not a human creature in Saint Antoine's bosom but a few old crones and the wa
  29. demean
    reduce in worth or character, usually verbally
    I admit that _I_ am a spy, and that it is considered a discreditable station--though it must be filled by somebody; but this gentleman is no spy, and why should he so demean himself as to make himself one?"
  30. mincing
    affectedly dainty or refined
    The maidenly bosom bared to this, the pretty almost-child's head thus distracted, the delicate foot mincing in this slough of blood and dirt, were types of the disjointed time.
  31. winnow
    the act of separating grain from chaff
    Similarly, during two or three hours of drawl, and the winnowing of many bushels of words, Madame Defarge's frequent expressions of impatience were taken up, with marvellous quickness, at a distance: the more readily, because certain men who had by
  32. demented
    affected with madness or insanity
    Every living creature there held life as of no account, and was demented with a passionate readiness to sacrifice it.
  33. corroborate
    give evidence for
    At last, when he appealed by name to Monsieur Lorry, an English gentleman then and there present, who, like himself, had been a witness on that English trial and could corroborate his account of it, the Jury declared that they had heard enough, and
  34. gregarious
    instinctively or temperamentally seeking and enjoying the company of others
    They both looked to the right and to the left into most of the shops they passed, had a wary eye for all gregarious assemblages of people, and turned out of their road to avoid any very excited group of talkers.
  35. propitiate
    make peace with
    "You had better, Lucie," said Mr. Lorry, doing all he could to propitiate, by tone and manner, "have the dear child here, and our good Pross.
  36. slake
    satisfy (thirst)
    Lovely girls; bright women, brown-haired, black-haired, and grey; youths; stalwart men and old; gentle born and peasant born; all red wine for La Guillotine, all daily brought into light from the dark cellars of the loathsome prisons, and carried to her t
  37. egress
    the act of coming (or going) out; becoming apparent
    Looking about him while in this state of suspense, Charles Darnay observed that the gate was held by a mixed guard of soldiers and patriots, the latter far outnumbering the former; and that while ingress into the city for peasants' carts bringing in suppl
  38. gory
    covered with blood
    Other seven faces there were, carried higher, seven dead faces, whose drooping eyelids and half-seen eyes awaited the Last Day. Impassive faces, yet with a suspended--not an abolished--expression on them; faces, rather, in a fearful pause, as having yet t
  39. supplicate
    ask for humbly or earnestly, as in prayer
    "For the love of Heaven, of justice, of generosity, of the honour of your noble name, I supplicate you, Monsieur heretofore the Marquis, to succour and release me.
  40. domicile
    housing that someone is living in
    They passed through the intervening streets as quickly as they might, ascended the staircase of the new domicile, were admitted by Jerry, and found Lucie weeping, alone.
  41. turbid
    (of liquids) clouded as with sediment
    Mr. Stryver shouldered his way through the law, like some great engine forcing itself through turbid water, and dragged his useful friend in his wake, like a boat towed astern.
  42. absolve
    grant remission of a sin to
    Monseigneur gone, and the three strong men absolving themselves from the sin of having drawn his high wages, by being more than ready and willing to cut his throat on the altar of the dawning Republic one and indivisible of Liberty, Equality, Frate
  43. correspondingly
    in a corresponding manner
    The light in the guard-house, half derived from the waning oil-lamps of the night, and half from the overcast day, was in a correspondingly uncertain condition.
  44. dank
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    As it advanced, the mender of roads would discern without surprise, that it was a shaggy-haired man, of almost barbarian aspect, tall, in wooden shoes that were clumsy even to the eyes of a mender of roads, grim, rough, swart, steeped in the mud and dust
  45. aquiline
    curved down like an eagle's beak
    "Now, there you are hasty, sir," said Barsad, with a smile that gave his aquiline nose an extra inclination to one side; "there you really give me an advantage over you.
  46. displace
    cause to move, usually with force or pressure
    Probably, Monsieur Gabelle passed a long night up there, with the distant chateau for fire and candle, and the beating at his door, combined with the joy-ringing, for music; not to mention his having an ill-omened lamp slung across the road before his pos
  47. deduce
    reason by deduction; establish by deduction
    I had no difficulty in deducing from your unreserved conversation, and the rumour openly going about among your admirers, the nature of your calling.
  48. prattle
    speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
    Then, among the advancing echoes, there was the tread of her tiny feet and the sound of her prattling words.
  49. fascinate
    to render motionless, as with a fixed stare or by arousing terror or awe
    As the road-mender plied his dusty labour, and the hail-clouds, rolling away, revealed bright bars and streaks of sky which were responded to by silver gleams upon the landscape, the little man (who wore a red cap now, in place of his blue one) seemed
  50. alluvial
    of or relating to alluvium
    The new era began; the king was tried, doomed, and beheaded; the Republic of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death, declared for victory or death against the world in arms; the black flag waved night and day from the great towers of Notre Dame; three hu
  51. domesticated
    converted or adapted to domestic use
    Habitations, fences, domesticated animals, men, women, children, and the soil that bore them--all worn out.
  52. grudging
    petty or reluctant in giving or spending
    He was saying the affectionate word, however, with a far more grudging condescension and patronage than he could have shown if their relative merits and positions had been reversed (which is invariably the case, all the world over), when Mr. Crunch
  53. squalor
    sordid dirtiness
    So strangely clouded were these refinements by the prison manners and gloom, so spectral did they become in the inappropriate squalor and misery through which they were seen, that Charles Darnay seemed to stand in a company of the dead.
  54. besiege
    surround so as to force to give up
    Royalty was gone; had been besieged in its Palace and "suspended," when the last tidings came over.
  55. disjointed
    taken apart at the joints
    The maidenly bosom bared to this, the pretty almost-child's head thus distracted, the delicate foot mincing in this slough of blood and dirt, were types of the disjointed time.
  56. purveyor
    someone who supplies provisions (especially food)
    For some months past, Miss Pross and Mr. Cruncher had discharged the office of purveyors; the former carrying the money; the latter, the basket.
  57. mote
    (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything
    It had never been a good eye to see with--had long had the mote in it of Lucifer's pride, Sardanapalus's luxury, and a mole's blindness--but it had dropped out and was gone.
  58. exterminate
    kill en masse; kill on a large scale; kill many
    Among the talkers, was Stryver, of the King's Bench Bar, far on his way to state promotion, and, therefore, loud on the theme: broaching to Monseigneur, his devices for blowing the people up and exterminating them from the face of the earth, and do
  59. remonstrate
    argue in protest or opposition
    "You must not be weak, my darling," he remonstrated; "don't tremble so.
  60. blatant
    without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious
    "Hey?" cried the blatant Stryver.
  61. benighted
    overtaken by night or darkness
    When he had identified these objects in what benighted mind he had, he said, in a dialect that was just intelligible:

    "How goes it, Jacques?"
  62. unkempt
    not properly maintained or cared for
    East, West, North, and South, through the woods, four heavy-treading, unkempt figures crushed the high grass and cracked the branches, striding on cautiously to come together in the courtyard.
  63. mischance
    an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate
    That, immediately, on a signal, the prisoner was removed to the interior of the prison again; but, that he, the Doctor, had then so strongly pleaded for permission to remain and assure himself that his son-in-law was, through no malice or mischance
  64. incorrigible
    impervious to correction by punishment
    Some of his King's Bench familiars, who were occasionally parties to the full-bodied wine and the lie, excused him for the latter by saying that he had told it so often, that he believed it himself--which is surely such an incorrigible aggravation
  65. displacement
    to move something from its natural environment
    Slight displacements of the raging sea, made by the falling wounded.
  66. agitate
    move or cause to move back and forth
    Much interested and agitated, Mr. Lorry said: "You come from Doctor Manette?"
  67. isolate
    place or set apart
    The escort and the universal watchfulness had completely isolated him.
  68. immature
    not yet mature
    The happiness of his own chosen English home, the necessity of being always actively employed, the swift changes and troubles of the time which had followed on one another so fast, that the events of this week annihilated the immature plans of last
  69. avocation
    an auxiliary activity
    As soon as they were established in their new residence, and her father had entered on the routine of his avocations, she arranged the little household as exactly as if her husband had been there.
  70. frustrate
    hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
    "Well, my sweet," said Miss Pross, nodding her head emphatically, "the short and the long of it is, that I am a subject of His Most Gracious Majesty King George the Third;" Miss Pross curtseyed at the name; "and as such, my maxim is, Confound their politi
  71. supersede
    take the place or move into the position of
    It superseded the Cross.
  72. beguile
    attract; cause to be enamored
    Then, the miserable bakers' shops were beset by long files of them, patiently waiting to buy bad bread; and while they waited with stomachs faint and empty, they beguiled the time by embracing one another on the triumphs of the day, and achieving t
  73. voluble
    marked by a ready flow of speech
    What was said in this disappointing anti-climax, by the disciples of the Good Republican Brutus of Antiquity, except that it was something very voluble and loud, would have been as so much Hebrew or Chaldean to Miss Pross and her protector, though
  74. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    Nor is that all; my house has been destroyed--razed to the ground.
  75. outlandish
    conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
    Slightly observant of the smoky lights; of the people, pipe in mouth, playing with limp cards and yellow dominoes; of the one bare-breasted, bare-armed, soot-begrimed workman reading a journal aloud, and of the others listening to him; of the weapons worn
  76. predominate
    be larger in number, quantity, power, status or importance
    Ever busily winding the golden thread that bound them all together, weaving the service of her happy influence through the tissue of all their lives, and making it predominate nowhere, Lucie heard in the echoes of years none but friendly and soothi
  77. supervise
    watch and direct
    He knew that he ought to have systematically worked it out and supervised it, and that he had meant to do it, and that it had never been done.
  78. awry
    turned or twisted to one side
    The raggedest nightcap, awry on the wretchedest head, had this crooked significance in it: "I know how hard it has grown for me, the wearer of this, to support life in myself; but do you know how easy it has grown for me, the wearer of this, to des
  79. inappropriate
    not suitable for a particular occasion etc
    Three turnkeys who entered responsive to a bell she rang, echoed the sentiment, and one added, "For the love of Liberty;" which sounded in that place like an inappropriate conclusion.
  80. spectral
    resembling or characteristic of a phantom
    So strangely clouded were these refinements by the prison manners and gloom, so spectral did they become in the inappropriate squalor and misery through which they were seen, that Charles Darnay seemed to stand in a company of the dead.
  81. scuffle
    fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters
    No, gentlemen; he'll always show 'em a clean pair of heels very early in the scuffle, and sneak away."
  82. coquette
    talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions
    The gaoler standing at his side, and the other gaolers moving about, who would have been well enough as to appearance in the ordinary exercise of their functions, looked so extravagantly coarse contrasted with sorrowing mothers and blooming daughters who
  83. diffidence
    lack of self-confidence
    Mr. Cruncher, with some diffidence, explained himself as meaning "Old Nick's."
  84. acquittal
    a judgment of not guilty
    No sooner was the acquittal pronounced, than tears were shed as freely as blood at another time, and such fraternal embraces were bestowed upon the prisoner by as many of both sexes as could rush at him, that after his long and unwholesome confinem
  85. viand
    a choice or delicious dish
    Yet, human fellowship infused some nourishment into the flinty viands, and struck some sparks of cheerfulness out of them.
  86. emergence
    the act of emerging
    Happily, however, there was sleep in Beauvais that night to help them out of it and they passed on once more into solitude and loneliness: jingling through the untimely cold and wet, among impoverished fields that had yielded no fruits of the earth that y
  87. dregs
    sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid
    Armed men and women flocked out of the Quarter so fast, and drew even these last dregs after them with such a force of suction, that within a quarter of an hour there was not a human creature in Saint Antoine's bosom but a few old crones and the wa
  88. amaze
    affect with wonder
    Seven faces of prisoners, suddenly released by the storm that had burst their tomb, were carried high overhead: all scared, all lost, all wondering and amazed, as if the Last Day were come, and those who rejoiced around them were lost spirits.
  89. alcove
    a small recess opening off a larger room
    Bankruptcy must inevitably have come of this young Pagan, in Lombard-street, London, and also of a curtained alcove in the rear of the immortal boy, and also of a looking-glass let into the wall, and also of clerks not at all old, who danced in pub
  90. arraign
    accuse of a wrong or an inadequacy
    "Charles Evremonde, called Darnay," was at length arraigned.
  91. miscreant
    a person without moral scruples
    Miscreant Foulon taken, my daughter!
  92. bloat
    swelling of the rumen or intestinal tract of domestic animals caused by excessive gas
    The polite rejection of the three lumps of bread-and-cheese had quite bloated Mr. Stryver with indignation, which he afterwards turned to account in the training of the young gentlemen, by directing them to beware of the pride of Beggars, like that
  93. illuminate
    make lighter or brighter
    As the rider rattled down the hill again and through the street, the village was illuminating.
  94. repudiate
    refuse to acknowledge, ratify, or recognize as valid
    But, the same consideration that suggested him, repudiated him; he lived in the most violent Quarter, and doubtless was influential there, and deep in its dangerous workings.
  95. negligent
    characterized by neglect and undue lack of concern
    Carton's negligent recklessness of manner came powerfully in aid of his quickness and skill, in such a business as he had in his secret mind, and with such a man as he had to do with.
  96. estranged
    caused to be unloved
    Say but one affectionate word to me, and tell me there is nothing angry or estranged between us, and I will detain you no longer."
  97. blighted
    affected by blight; anything that mars or prevents growth or prosperity
    He sat by a newly-lighted wood fire (the blighted and unfruitful year was prematurely cold), and on his honest and courageous face there was a deeper shade than the pendent lamp could throw, or any object in the room distortedly reflect--a shade of
  98. declaim
    recite in elocution
    He was also in the habit of declaiming to Mrs. Stryver, over his full-bodied wine, on the arts Mrs. Darnay had once put in practice to "catch" him, and on the diamond-cut-diamond arts in himself, madam, which had rendered him "not to be caught."
  99. famished
    extremely hungry
    "Does everybody here recall old Foulon, who told the famished people that they might eat grass, and who died, and went to Hell?"
  100. suppliant
    humbly entreating
    Madame Defarge looked, coldly as ever, at the suppliant, and said, turning to her friend The Vengeance:

    "The wives and mothers we have been used to see, since we were as little as this child, and much less, have not been greatly considered?
  101. annihilate
    kill in large numbers
    The happiness of his own chosen English home, the necessity of being always actively employed, the swift changes and troubles of the time which had followed on one another so fast, that the events of this week annihilated the immature plans of last
  102. interpose
    introduce
    Him, Darnay heard with a particular feeling of objection; and Darnay stood divided between going away that he might hear no more, and remaining to interpose his word, when the thing that was to be, went on to shape itself out.
  103. medley
    a musical composition consisting of a series of songs or other musical pieces from various sources
    The bronze face, the shaggy black hair and beard, the coarse woollen red cap, the rough medley dress of home-spun stuff and hairy skins of beasts, the powerful frame attenuated by spare living, and the sullen and desperate compression of the lips i
  104. substantive
    having a firm basis in reality and being therefore important, meaningful, or considerable
    So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun-substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article, and, if it happened not to be the name of the thing she wanted, to look round for that thing, lay hold of i
  105. impeach
    bring an accusation against; level a charge against
    That he had watched the times for a time of action, and that they had shifted and struggled until the time had gone by, and the nobility were trooping from France by every highway and byway, and their property was in course of confiscation and destruction
  106. sobriety
    the state of being sober and not intoxicated by alcohol
    He accompanied his conductor into a guard-room, smelling of common wine and tobacco, where certain soldiers and patriots, asleep and awake, drunk and sober, and in various neutral states between sleeping and waking, drunkenness and sobriety, were s
  107. murky
    (of liquids) clouded as with sediment
    A murky red and yellow sky, and a rising mist from the Seine, denoted the approach of darkness.
  108. petrify
    change into stone
    And as the frantic wielders of these weapons snatched them from the stream of sparks and tore away into the streets, the same red hue was red in their frenzied eyes;--eyes which any unbrutalised beholder would have given twenty years of life, to petrif
  109. mirage
    an optical illusion in which atmospheric refraction by a layer of hot air distorts or inverts reflections of distant objects
    Then, that glorious vision of doing good, which is so often the sanguine mirage of so many good minds, arose before him, and he even saw himself in the illusion with some influence to guide this raging Revolution that was running so fearfully wild.
  110. molten
    reduced to liquid form by heating
    Molten lead and iron boiled in the marble basin of the fountain; the water ran dry; the extinguisher tops of the towers vanished like ice before the heat, and trickled down into four rugged wells of flame.
  111. revers
    a lapel on a woman's garment; turned back to show the reverse side
    It was too much the way of Monseigneur under his reverses as a refugee, and it was much too much the way of native British orthodoxy, to talk of this terrible Revolution as if it were the only harvest ever known under the skies that had not been so
  112. contrasting
    strikingly different; tending to contrast
    But, in the ocean of faces where every fierce and furious expression was in vivid life, there were two groups of faces--each seven in number--so fixedly contrasting with the rest, that never did sea roll which bore more memorable wrecks with it.
  113. slough
    a hollow filled with mud
    The maidenly bosom bared to this, the pretty almost-child's head thus distracted, the delicate foot mincing in this slough of blood and dirt, were types of the disjointed time.
  114. doleful
    filled with or evoking sadness
    A disturbed and doleful mind he brought to bear upon them, and slowly and heavily the day lagged on with him.
  115. contagion
    an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted
    A curious contagion of whispering was upon it, and also, when it gathered together at the fountain in the dark, another curious contagion of looking expectantly at the sky in one direction only.
  116. felon
    someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime
    Looking at the Jury and the turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men.
  117. regeneration
    forming again (especially with improvements or removal of defects); renewing and reconstituting
    It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race.
  118. foreshadow
    indicate by signs
    Of unjust treatment in detention and hardship, and in cruel separation from his wife and child, he foreshadowed the likelihood, or the certainty; but, beyond this, he dreaded nothing distinctly.
  119. impassive
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited
    Other seven faces there were, carried higher, seven dead faces, whose drooping eyelids and half-seen eyes awaited the Last Day. Impassive faces, yet with a suspended--not an abolished--expression on them; faces, rather, in a fearful pause, as havin
  120. vaunt
    show off
    Thrown out of his honourable employment in England, through too much unsuccessful hard swearing there--not because he was not wanted there; our English reasons for vaunting our superiority to secrecy and spies are of very modern date--he knew that
  121. irrepressible
    impossible to repress or control
    The old man uttered an irrepressible cry.
  122. florid
    elaborately or excessively ornamented
    Stryver was rich; had married a florid widow with property and three boys, who had nothing particularly shining about them but the straight hair of their dumpling heads.
  123. enumerate
    determine the number or amount of
    While he was at a loss, Carton said, resuming his former air of contemplating cards:

    "And indeed, now I think again, I have a strong impression that I have another good card here, not yet enumerated.
  124. stifle
    impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
    Down, and up, and head foremost on the steps of the building; now, on his knees; now, on his feet; now, on his back; dragged, and struck at, and stifled by the bunches of grass and straw that were thrust into his face by hundreds of hands; torn, br
  125. gruff
    brusque and surly and forbidding
    Defarge looked gloomily at his wife, and gave no other answer than a gruff sound of acquiescence.
  126. vortex
    a powerful circular current of water (usually the result of conflicting tides)
    As a whirlpool of boiling waters has a centre point, so, all this raging circled round Defarge's wine-shop, and every human drop in the caldron had a tendency to be sucked towards the vortex where Defarge himself, already begrimed with gunpowder an
  127. unruly
    of persons
    Lo, Miss Pross, in harness of string, awakening the echoes, as an unruly charger, whip-corrected, snorting and pawing the earth under the plane-tree in the garden!
  128. protege
    a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career
    But, no, gentlemen," said Stryver, looking all round, and snapping his fingers, "I know something of human nature, and I tell you that you'll never find a fellow like this fellow, trusting himself to the mercies of such precious _protégés_.
  129. evoke
    call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)
    And all of us have like wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them.
  130. fitful
    occurring in spells and often abruptly
    Twice more in all; but, the last spell of work was feeble and fitful.
  131. magnanimous
    noble and generous in spirit
    But, I am sure that he is capable of good things, gentle things, even magnanimous things."
  132. vindicate
    show to be right by providing justification or proof
    That somebody was assassinated by somebody vindicating a difference of opinion was the likeliest occurrence.
  133. hovel
    small crude shelter used as a dwelling
    The hovel of a cutter of wood into lengths for burning, was the only house at that end; all else was wall.
  134. unearthly
    suggesting the operation of supernatural influences
    From the streets beyond the high wall and the strong gate, there came the usual night hum of the city, with now and then an indescribable ring in it, weird and unearthly, as if some unwonted sounds of a terrible nature were going up to Heaven.
  135. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    Among the talkers, was Stryver, of the King's Bench Bar, far on his way to state promotion, and, therefore, loud on the theme: broaching to Monseigneur, his devices for blowing the people up and exterminating them from the face of the earth, and do
  136. demur
    take exception to
    His own possessions, safety, life, he would have hazarded for Lucie and her child, without a moment's demur; but the great trust he held was not his own, and as to that business charge he was a strict man of business.
  137. frugal
    avoiding waste
    Their housekeeping was of a very frugal kind: not only because that was the safest way of life, involving the least offence to the people, but because they were not rich, and Charles, throughout his imprisonment, had had to pay heavily for his bad
  138. dormant
    inactive but capable of becoming active
    And when Jarvis Lorry saw the kindled eyes, the resolute face, the calm strong look and bearing of the man whose life always seemed to him to have been stopped, like a clock, for so many years, and then set going again with an energy which had lain dor
  139. stupor
    marginal consciousness
    Lucie had, by that time, fallen into a stupor on the floor at his feet, clinging to his hand.
  140. confuse
    mistake one thing for another
    "What is this?" cried Mr. Lorry, breathless and confused.
  141. chaff
    material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds
    The favour was too much to bear; in an instant the barrier of dust and chaff that had stood surprisingly long, went to the winds, and Saint Antoine had got him!
  142. wend
    direct one's course or way
    But, the fierce figures were steadily wending East, West, North, and South, be that as it would; and whosoever hung, fire burned.
  143. unison
    corresponding exactly
    They danced to the popular Revolution song, keeping a ferocious time that was like a gnashing of teeth in unison.
  144. relent
    give in, as to influence or pressure
    There was no pause, no pity, no peace, no interval of relenting rest, no measurement of time.
  145. diversified
    having variety of character or form or components; or having increased variety
    Happily, however, there was sleep in Beauvais that night to help them out of it and they passed on once more into solitude and loneliness: jingling through the untimely cold and wet, among impoverished fields that had yielded no fruits of the earth that y
  146. persevere
    be persistent, refuse to stop
    Greater things than the Doctor had at that time to contend with, would have yielded before his persevering purpose.
  147. stolid
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited
    "Emigrants have no rights, Evremonde," was the stolid reply.
  148. embellish
    make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.
    Mr. Jerry Cruncher's name, therefore, duly embellished the doorpost down below; and, as the afternoon shadows deepened, the owner of that name himself appeared, from overlooking a painter whom Doctor Manette had employed to add to the list the name
  149. carnage
    the savage and excessive killing of many people
    To Mr. Lorry, the Doctor communicated under an injunction of secrecy on which he had no need to dwell, that the crowd had taken him through a scene of carnage to the prison of La Force.
  150. generality
    the quality of being general or widespread or having general applicability
    The "sharp female newly-born, and called La Guillotine," was hardly known to him, or to the generality of people, by name.
  151. responsive
    reacting to a stimulus
    Three turnkeys who entered responsive to a bell she rang, echoed the sentiment, and one added, "For the love of Liberty;" which sounded in that place like an inappropriate conclusion.
  152. implicitly
    without ever expressing so clearly
    "Do so, implicitly.
  153. furtive
    secret and sly or sordid
    Do you want to be the death of me?" asked the man, in a furtive, frightened way.
  154. accumulate
    get or gather together
    The happiness of his own chosen English home, the necessity of being always actively employed, the swift changes and troubles of the time which had followed on one another so fast, that the events of this week annihilated the immature plans of last week,
  155. dejected
    affected or marked by low spirits
    Everything was bowed down, dejected, oppressed, and broken.
  156. parley
    a negotiation between enemies
    A white flag from within the fortress, and a parley--this dimly perceptible through the raging storm, nothing audible in it--suddenly the sea rose immeasurably wider and higher, and swept Defarge of the wine-shop over the lowered drawbridge, past t
  157. agility
    the gracefulness of a person or animal that is quick and nimble
    Similarly, during two or three hours of drawl, and the winnowing of many bushels of words, Madame Defarge's frequent expressions of impatience were taken up, with marvellous quickness, at a distance: the more readily, because certain men who had by some w
  158. descry
    catch sight of
    Shortly, this worn-out murderer descried in the imperfect light one of the carriages of Monseigneur, and, staggering to that gorgeous vehicle, climbed in at the door, and shut himself up to take his rest on its dainty cushions.
  159. frenzied
    affected with or marked by frenzy or mania uncontrolled by reason
    And as the frantic wielders of these weapons snatched them from the stream of sparks and tore away into the streets, the same red hue was red in their frenzied eyes;--eyes which any unbrutalised beholder would have given twenty years of life, to pe
  160. peremptory
    putting an end to all debate or action
    The general scarcity of everything, occasioned candles to be borrowed in a rather peremptory manner of Monsieur Gabelle; and in a moment of reluctance and hesitation on that functionary's part, the mender of roads, once so submissive to authority,
  161. environ
    extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle
    The trees environing the old chateau, keeping its solitary state apart, moved in a rising wind, as though they threatened the pile of building massive and dark in the gloom.
  162. stupefy
    make dull or stupid or muddle with drunkenness or infatuation
    Great rents and splits branched out in the solid walls, like crystallisation; stupefied birds wheeled about and dropped into the furnace; four fierce figures trudged away, East, West, North, and South, along the night-enshrouded roads, guided by th
  163. submissive
    inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others or showing such inclination
    The general scarcity of everything, occasioned candles to be borrowed in a rather peremptory manner of Monsieur Gabelle; and in a moment of reluctance and hesitation on that functionary's part, the mender of roads, once so submissive to authority,
  164. reassure
    cause to feel sure; give reassurance to
    I believe," said Mr. Lorry, rather halting in his reassuring words, as the stony manner of all the three impressed itself upon him more and more, "I state the case, Citizen Defarge?"
  165. livid
    furiously angry
    Besides that all secret men are men soon terrified, here were surely cards enough of one black suit, to justify the holder in growing rather livid as he turned them over.
  166. stockade
    fortification consisting of a fence made of a line of stout posts set firmly for defense
    Fortified towns with their stockades, guard-houses, gates, trenches, and drawbridges, seemed to the mender of roads, to be so much air as against this figure.
  167. elevate
    raise from a lower to a higher position
    Then, they elevated into the vacant chair a young woman from the crowd to be carried as the Goddess of Liberty, and then swelling and overflowing out into the adjacent streets, and along the river's bank, and over the bridge, the Carmagnole absorbe
  168. sagacious
    acutely insightful and wise
    This new life of the Doctor's was an anxious life, no doubt; still, the sagacious Mr. Lorry saw that there was a new sustaining pride in it.
  169. disperse
    move away from each other
    But, the friendly dawn appearing at last, and the rush-candles of the village guttering out, the people happily dispersed, and Monsieur Gabelle came down bringing his life with him for that while.
  170. dint
    interchangeable with `means' in the expression `by means of'
    When great masses of stone and timber fell, the face with the two dints in the nose became obscured: anon struggled out of the smoke again, as if it were the face of the cruel Marquis, burning at the stake and contending with the fire.
  171. indistinct
    not clearly defined or easy to perceive or understand
    But, the suppressed manner had enough of menace in it--not visible and presented, but indistinct and withheld--to alarm Lucie into saying, as she laid her appealing hand on Madame Defarge's dress:

    "You will be good to my poor husband.
  172. functionary
    a worker who holds or is invested with an office
    Monsieur Gabelle, chief functionary of the place, became uneasy; went out on his house-top alone, and looked in that direction too; glanced down from behind his chimneys at the darkening faces by the fountain below, and sent word to the sacristan w
  173. outspoken
    given to expressing yourself freely or insistently
    The slight devices with which she cheated herself into the show of a belief that they would soon be reunited--the little preparations for his speedy return, the setting aside of his chair and his books--these, and the solemn prayer at night for one dear p
  174. mania
    an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
    There is positively a mania among some of them for sending it to England."
  175. adequately
    in an adequate manner or to an adequate degree
    She was too much occupied then with fears for the brother who so little deserved her affection, and with Sydney's friendly reassurances, adequately to heed what she observed.
  176. retainer
    a dental appliance that holds teeth (or a prosthesis) in position after orthodontic treatment
    Partly on this account, and partly to avoid a domestic spy, they kept no servant; the citizen and citizeness who acted as porters at the courtyard gate, rendered them occasional service; and Jerry (almost wholly transferred to them by Mr. Lorry) had becom
  177. unwonted
    out of the ordinary
    From the streets beyond the high wall and the strong gate, there came the usual night hum of the city, with now and then an indescribable ring in it, weird and unearthly, as if some unwonted sounds of a terrible nature were going up to Heaven.
  178. stint
    supply sparingly and with restricted quantities
    Flashing weapons, blazing torches, smoking waggonloads of wet straw, hard work at neighbouring barricades in all directions, shrieks, volleys, execrations, bravery without stint, boom smash and rattle, and the furious sounding of the living sea; bu
  179. sprinkle
    scatter with liquid; wet lightly
    As it advanced, the mender of roads would discern without surprise, that it was a shaggy-haired man, of almost barbarian aspect, tall, in wooden shoes that were clumsy even to the eyes of a mender of roads, grim, rough, swart, steeped in the mud and dust
  180. intensified
    made more intense
    Lucie with her arms stretched out to him, and with that old look of earnestness so concentrated and intensified, that it seemed as though it had been stamped upon her face expressly to give force and power to it in this one passage of her life.
  181. fraught
    filled with or attended with
    More than enough of bad roads, bad equipages, and bad horses, he would have encountered to delay him, though the fallen and unfortunate King of France had been upon his throne in all his glory; but, the changed times were fraught with other obstacl
  182. chivalrous
    being attentive to women like an ideal knight
    Monseigneur (often a most worthy individual gentleman) was a national blessing, gave a chivalrous tone to things, was a polite example of luxurious and shining life, and a great deal more to equal purpose; nevertheless, Monseigneur as a class had,
  183. uneven
    (of a contest or contestants) not fairly matched as opponents
    In this state they set forth with the sharp rain driving in their faces: clattering at a heavy dragoon trot over the uneven town pavement, and out upon the mire-deep roads.
  184. indignity
    an affront to one's dignity or self-esteem
    "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 brought a long journey on foot to Paris.
  185. pensive
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    These were among the echoes to which Lucie, sometimes pensive, sometimes amused and laughing, listened in the echoing corner, until her little daughter was six years old.
  186. diversify
    vary in order to spread risk or to expand
    Happily, however, there was sleep in Beauvais that night to help them out of it and they passed on once more into solitude and loneliness: jingling through the untimely cold and wet, among impoverished fields that had yielded no fruits of the earth that y
  187. animate
    make lively
    She stood immovable close to the grim old officer, and remained immovable close to him; remained immovable close to him through the streets, as Defarge and the rest bore him along; remained immovable close to him when he was got near his destination, and
  188. garner
    store grain
    The horrible massacre, days and nights long, which, within a few rounds of the clock, was to set a great mark of blood upon the blessed garnering time of harvest, was as far out of his knowledge as if it had been a hundred thousand years away.
  189. individually
    apart from others
    At every vote (the Jurymen voted aloud and individually), the populace set up a shout of applause.
  190. compensate
    make amends for; pay compensation for
    So quick was the Tribunal to compensate itself and the nation for a chance lost, that these five came down to him before he left the place, condemned to die within twenty-four hours.
  191. brawl
    to quarrel noisily, angrily or disruptively
    As he held her to his heart and turned her beautiful head between his face and the brawling crowd, so that his tears and her lips might come together unseen, a few of the people fell to dancing.
  192. loiter
    be about
    Some of these people knew their turn for examination to be so far off, that they lay down on the ground to sleep or smoke, while others talked together, or loitered about.
  193. craven
    lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful
    "A craven who abandoned his post," said another--this Monseigneur had been got out of Paris, legs uppermost and half suffocated, in a load of hay--"some years ago."
  194. rustle
    make a dry crackling sound
    Thus, the rustling of an Angel's wings got blended with the other echoes, and they were not wholly of earth, but had in them that breath of Heaven.
  195. kindle
    catch fire
    And when Jarvis Lorry saw the kindled eyes, the resolute face, the calm strong look and bearing of the man whose life always seemed to him to have been stopped, like a clock, for so many years, and then set going again with an energy which had lain
  196. intervene
    be placed or located between other things or extend between spaces and events
    They passed through the intervening streets as quickly as they might, ascended the staircase of the new domicile, were admitted by Jerry, and found Lucie weeping, alone.
  197. emissary
    someone sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else
    For, all things moved so fast, and decree followed decree with that fierce precipitation, that now upon the third night of the autumn month of September, patriot emissaries of the law were in possession of Monseigneur's house, and had marked it wit
  198. mire
    a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
    In this state they set forth with the sharp rain driving in their faces: clattering at a heavy dragoon trot over the uneven town pavement, and out upon the mire-deep roads.
  199. crevice
    a long narrow opening
    In a few minutes, some mortar and dust came dropping down, which he averted his face to avoid; and in it, and in the old wood-ashes, and in a crevice in the chimney into which his weapon had slipped or wrought itself, he groped with a cautious touc
  200. dogged
    stubbornly unyielding
    They seemed to be waiting for something with a dogged determination, and they looked at the Jury, but at nothing else.
  201. capricious
    determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason
    Every town-gate and village taxing-house had its band of citizen-patriots, with their national muskets in a most explosive state of readiness, who stopped all comers and goers, cross-questioned them, inspected their papers, looked for their names in lists
  202. accost
    speak to someone
    Next day he was looking out for her, and accosted her the moment she appeared.
  203. cant
    a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force
    Sheep was a cant word of the time for a spy, under the gaolers.
  204. conflagration
    a very intense and uncontrolled fire
    In the roaring and raging of the conflagration, a red-hot wind, driving straight from the infernal regions, seemed to be blowing the edifice away.
  205. staunch
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    The staunch old gentleman was still in his trust; had never left it.
  206. recompense
    make payment to; compensate
    They will recompense him now, I hope, as he deserves."
  207. pestilence
    any epidemic disease with a high death rate
    In seasons of pestilence, some of us will have a secret attraction to the disease--a terrible passing inclination to die of it.
  208. inconsistency
    the quality of being inconsistent and lacking a harmonious uniformity among things or parts
    With an inconsistency as monstrous as anything in this awful nightmare, they had helped the healer, and tended the wounded man with the gentlest solicitude--had made a litter for him and escorted him carefully from the spot--had then caught up thei
  209. rousing
    capable of arousing enthusiasm or excitement
    Instantly Madame Defarge's knife was in her girdle; the drum was beating in the streets, as if it and a drummer had flown together by magic; and The Vengeance, uttering terrific shrieks, and flinging her arms about her head like all the forty Furies at on
  210. yore
    time long past
    The prison on the crag was not so dominant as of yore; there were soldiers to guard it, but not many; there were officers to guard the soldiers, but not one of them knew what his men would do--beyond this: that it would probably not be what he was
  211. unaccountable
    not to be accounted for or explained
    Thus it was, however; and the last drop of blood having been extracted from the flints, and the last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, and it now turned and turned with nothing to bite, Monseigneur began to run away
  212. confines
    a bounded scope
    It was known directly, to the furthest confines of the crowd.
  213. cessation
    a stopping
    And when Jarvis Lorry saw the kindled eyes, the resolute face, the calm strong look and bearing of the man whose life always seemed to him to have been stopped, like a clock, for so many years, and then set going again with an energy which had lain dorman
  214. precipitate
    hurl or throw violently
    The lowest, cruelest, and worst populace of a city, never without its quantity of low, cruel, and bad, were the directing spirits of the scene: noisily commenting, applauding, disapproving, anticipating, and precipitating the result, without a chec
  215. comely
    according with custom or propriety
    She lost her colour, and the old and intent expression was a constant, not an occasional, thing; otherwise, she remained very pretty and comely.
  216. degenerate
    a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior
    "Nephew, I believe--but in any case degenerate successor--of the polished Marquis who was murdered," said one.
  217. straightforward
    pointed directly ahead
    His high personal popularity, and the clearness of his answers, made a great impression; but, as he proceeded, as he showed that the Accused was his first friend on his release from his long imprisonment; that, the accused had remained in England, always
  218. foreboding
    a feeling of evil to come
    "I am quite glad you are at home; for these hurries and forebodings by which I have been surrounded all day long, have made me nervous without reason.
  219. impoverish
    make poor
    Monsieur Gabelle had held the impoverished and involved estate on written instructions, to spare the people, to give them what little there was to give--such fuel as the heavy creditors would let them have in the winter, and such produce as could b
  220. laboured
    requiring or showing effort
    As a whirlpool of boiling waters has a centre point, so, all this raging circled round Defarge's wine-shop, and every human drop in the caldron had a tendency to be sucked towards the vortex where Defarge himself, already begrimed with gunpowder and sweat
  221. identification
    the act of designating or identifying something
    A numerous medley of men and women, not to mention beasts and vehicles of various sorts, was waiting to issue forth; but, the previous identification was so strict, that they filtered through the barrier very slowly.
  222. deluge
    a heavy rain
    What private solicitude could rear itself against the deluge of the Year One of Liberty--the deluge rising from below, not falling from above, and with the windows of Heaven shut, not opened!
  223. denounce
    speak out against
    "Citizen Doctor," said the first, reluctantly, "he has been denounced to the Section of Saint Antoine.
  224. ebb
    the outward flow of the tide
    Drawn to the Loadstone Rock

    In such risings of fire and risings of sea--the firm earth shaken by the rushes of an angry ocean which had now no ebb, but was always on the flow, higher and higher, to the terror and wonder of the beholders on the sh
  225. encompass
    include in scope; include as part of something broader; have as one's sphere or territory
    In the howling universe of passion and contention that seemed to encompass this grim old officer conspicuous in his grey coat and red decoration, there was but one quite steady figure, and that was a woman's.
  226. domination
    power to dominate or defeat
    Saint Antoine's blood was up, and the blood of tyranny and domination by the iron hand was down--down on the steps of the Hotel de Ville where the governor's body lay--down on the sole of the shoe of Madame Defarge where she had trodden on the body
  227. stalwart
    having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships
    Lovely girls; bright women, brown-haired, black-haired, and grey; youths; stalwart men and old; gentle born and peasant born; all red wine for La Guillotine, all daily brought into light from the dark cellars of the loathsome prisons, and carried t
  228. implore
    call upon in supplication; entreat
    "As a wife and mother," cried Lucie, most earnestly, "I implore you to have pity on me and not to exercise any power that you possess, against my innocent husband, but to use it in his behalf.
  229. consign
    give over to another for care or safekeeping
    You are consigned, Evremonde, to the prison of La Force."
  230. chisel
    an edge tool with a flat steel blade with a cutting edge
    No. The change consisted in the appearance of strange faces of low caste, rather than in the disappearance of the high caste, chiselled, and otherwise beautified and beautifying features of Monseigneur.
  231. terminate
    bring to an end or halt
    May it soon terminate happily!
  232. halting
    disabled in the feet or legs
    They travelled in the night, halting an hour or two after daybreak, and lying by until the twilight fell.
  233. traverse
    travel across
    In this state they traversed without change, except of horses and pace, all the mire-deep leagues that lay between them and the capital.
  234. subdue
    put down by force or intimidation
    Hemmed in here by the massive thickness of walls and arches, the storm within the fortress and without was only audible to them in a dull, subdued way, as if the noise out of which they had come had almost destroyed their sense of hearing.
  235. calculate
    make a mathematical calculation or computation
    The altitude of the gallows that would turn to water and quench it, no functionary, by any stretch of mathematics, was able to calculate successfully.
  236. latent
    potentially existing but not presently evident or realized
    And it was such vapouring all about his ears, like a troublesome confusion of blood in his own head, added to a latent uneasiness in his mind, which had already made Charles Darnay restless, and which still kept him so.
  237. morsel
    a small amount of solid food; a mouthful
    Fire Rises

    There was a change on the village where the fountain fell, and where the mender of roads went forth daily to hammer out of the stones on the highway such morsels of bread as might serve for patches to hold his poor ignorant soul and hi
  238. chafe
    become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
    The traveller had travelled far, and his feet were footsore, and his ankles chafed and bleeding; his great shoes, stuffed with leaves and grass, had been heavy to drag over the many long leagues, and his clothes were chafed into holes, as he himsel
  239. intensify
    increase in extent or intensity
  240. intervening
    occurring or falling between events or points in time
    They passed through the intervening streets as quickly as they might, ascended the staircase of the new domicile, were admitted by Jerry, and found Lucie weeping, alone.
  241. misty
    filled or abounding with fog or mist
    On a steaming, misty afternoon, Mr. Lorry sat at his desk, and Charles Darnay stood leaning on it, talking with him in a low voice.
  242. avenge
    take revenge for a perceived wrong
    Hear me, my dead baby and my withered father: I swear on my knees, on these stones, to avenge you on Foulon!
  243. grudge
    a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation
  244. misgiving
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    And yet his misgivings were not so dark as, imagined by the light of this later time, they would appear.
  245. ruffian
    a cruel and brutal fellow
    "Infected with the new doctrines," said a third, eyeing the direction through his glass in passing; "set himself in opposition to the last Marquis, abandoned the estates when he inherited them, and left them to the ruffian herd.
  246. glaring
    shining intensely
    "Lower the lamp yonder!" cried Saint Antoine, after glaring round for a new means of death; "here is one of his soldiers to be left on guard!"
  247. insensible
    barely able to be perceived
    The prisoners were far from insensible or unfeeling; their ways arose out of the condition of the time.
  248. audible
    heard or perceptible by the ear
    For, there was something coming in the echoes, something light, afar off, and scarcely audible yet, that stirred her heart too much.
  249. blight
    any plant disease resulting in withering without rotting
    He sat by a newly-lighted wood fire (the blighted and unfruitful year was prematurely cold), and on his honest and courageous face there was a deeper shade than the pendent lamp could throw, or any object in the room distortedly reflect--a shade of
  250. ferocious
    marked by extreme and violent energy
    They danced to the popular Revolution song, keeping a ferocious time that was like a gnashing of teeth in unison.
  251. emphatically
    without question and beyond doubt
    It was so emphatically a fallen sport--a something, once innocent, delivered over to all devilry--a healthy pastime changed into a means of angering the blood, bewildering the senses, and steeling the heart.
  252. anticipate
    regard something as probable or likely
    Again: those nobles who had seen the coming storm in time, and anticipating plunder or confiscation, had made provident remittances to Tellson's, were always to be heard of there by their needy brethren.
  253. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    The gaoler standing at his side, and the other gaolers moving about, who would have been well enough as to appearance in the ordinary exercise of their functions, looked so extravagantly coarse contrasted with sorrowing mothers and blooming daughters who
  254. reversed
    turned about in order or relation
    The preceding relative positions of himself and Lucie were reversed, yet only as the liveliest gratitude and affection could reverse them, for he could have had no pride but in rendering some service to her who had rendered so much to him.
  255. relinquish
    turn away from; give up
    But, he had oppressed no man, he had imprisoned no man; he was so far from having harshly exacted payment of his dues, that he had relinquished them of his own will, thrown himself on a world with no favour in it, won his own private place there, a
  256. composure
    steadiness of mind under stress
    "Your husband is not my business here," returned Madame Defarge, looking down at her with perfect composure.
  257. custody
    (with `in') guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
    That, the man sitting as President had then informed Doctor Manette that the prisoner must remain in custody, but should, for his sake, be held inviolate in safe custody.
  258. revive
    cause to regain consciousness
    How much of the incompleteness of his situation was referable to her father, through the painful anxiety to avoid reviving old associations of France in his mind, he did not discuss with himself.
  259. compose
    form the substance of
    Here you see me!" said madame, composed as ever, but not knitting to-day.
  260. voluntarily
    out of your own free will
    "I entreat you to observe that I have come here voluntarily, in response to that written appeal of a fellow-countryman which lies before you.
  261. starve
    die of food deprivation
    The short, rather plump wife of a starved grocer, and the mother of two children withal, this lieutenant had already earned the complimentary name of The Vengeance.
  262. headlong
    with the head foremost
    Headlong, mad, and dangerous footsteps to force their way into anybody's life, footsteps not easily made clean again if once stained red, the footsteps raging in Saint Antoine afar off, as the little circle sat in the dark London window.
  263. adjacent
    having a common boundary or edge; abutting; touching
    No. They were all by that time choking the Hall of Examination where this old man, ugly and wicked, was, and overflowing into the adjacent open space and streets.
  264. contemplate
    think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposes
    Madame Defarge, with her arms folded, sat in the morning light and heat, contemplating the wine-shop and the street.
  265. astound
    affect with wonder
    "It is a painful reflection to me," said Charles Darnay, quite astounded, "that I should have done him any wrong.
  266. attentive
    taking heed; giving close and thoughtful attention
    "Yes, dearest Charles," with her hands on his breast, and the inquiring and attentive expression fixed upon him; "we are rather thoughtful to-night, for we have something on our mind to-night."
  267. repress
    conceal or hide
    Sometimes, at night on kissing her father, she would burst into the grief she had repressed all day, and would say that her sole reliance, under Heaven, was on him.
  268. refinement
    the result of improving something
    But the crowning unreality of his long unreal ride, was, their all at once rising to receive him, with every refinement of manner known to the time, and with all the engaging graces and courtesies of life.
  269. rotten
    having decayed or disintegrated; usually implies foulness
    The Court, from that exclusive inner circle to its outermost rotten ring of intrigue, corruption, and dissimulation, was all gone together.
  270. forfeit
    lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime
    His life is forfeit to the people.
  271. linked
    connected by a link, as railway cars or trailer trucks
    Through gloomy vaults where the light of day had never shone, past hideous doors of dark dens and cages, down cavernous flights of steps, and again up steep rugged ascents of stone and brick, more like dry waterfalls than staircases, Defarge, the turnkey,
  272. resolute
    firm in purpose or belief; characterized by firmness and determination
    Madame's resolute right hand was occupied with an axe, in place of the usual softer implements, and in her girdle were a pistol and a cruel knife.
  273. frantic
    marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion
    And as the frantic wielders of these weapons snatched them from the stream of sparks and tore away into the streets, the same red hue was red in their frenzied eyes;--eyes which any unbrutalised beholder would have given twenty years of life, to pe
  274. emerge
    come out into view, as from concealment
    But, easy and strong custom, unhappily so much easier and stronger in him than any stimulating sense of desert or disgrace, made it the life he was to lead; and he no more thought of emerging from his state of lion's jackal, than any real jackal ma
  275. derive
    come from
    The light in the guard-house, half derived from the waning oil-lamps of the night, and half from the overcast day, was in a correspondingly uncertain condition.
  276. edifice
    a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place
    In the roaring and raging of the conflagration, a red-hot wind, driving straight from the infernal regions, seemed to be blowing the edifice away.
  277. execute
    put in effect
    The hour was come, when Saint Antoine was to execute his horrible idea of hoisting up men for lamps to show what he could be and do.
  278. tribunal
    an assembly (including one or more judges) to conduct judicial business
    "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 (without your so generous help), is, they tell me, treason against the majesty of the people, in th
  279. frenzy
    state of violent mental agitation
    With these cries, numbers of the women, lashed into blind frenzy, whirled about, striking and tearing at their own friends until they dropped into a passionate swoon, and were only saved by the men belonging to them from being trampled under foot.
  280. menace
    something that is a source of danger
    With a menacing look at the turnkey he crawled upon the hearth, and, peering up the chimney, struck and prised at its sides with the crowbar, and worked at the iron grating across it.
  281. confine
    place limits on (extent or access)
    It was known directly, to the furthest confines of the crowd.
  282. impose
    impose and collect
    Naturally struck by the disagreeable word, Charles Darnay requested the speaker to take notice that he was a free traveller and French citizen, in charge of an escort which the disturbed state of the country had imposed upon him, and which he had p
  283. malice
    feeling a need to see others suffer
    That, immediately, on a signal, the prisoner was removed to the interior of the prison again; but, that he, the Doctor, had then so strongly pleaded for permission to remain and assure himself that his son-in-law was, through no malice or mischance
  284. aloft
    at or on or to the masthead or upper rigging of a ship
    Once, he went aloft, and the rope broke, and they caught him shrieking; twice, he went aloft, and the rope broke, and they caught him shrieking; then, the rope was merciful, and held him, and his head was soon upon a pike, with grass enough in the
  285. similarly
    in like or similar manner
    Similarly, during two or three hours of drawl, and the winnowing of many bushels of words, Madame Defarge's frequent expressions of impatience were taken up, with marvellous quickness, at a distance: the more readily, because certain men who had by
  286. devices
    an inclination or desire; used in the plural in the phrase `left to your own devices'
    Among the talkers, was Stryver, of the King's Bench Bar, far on his way to state promotion, and, therefore, loud on the theme: broaching to Monseigneur, his devices for blowing the people up and exterminating them from the face of the earth, and do
  287. lump
    a compact mass
    These three young gentlemen, Mr. Stryver, exuding patronage of the most offensive quality from every pore, had walked before him like three sheep to the quiet corner in Soho, and had offered as pupils to Lucie's husband: delicately saying "Halloa! here ar
  288. devote
    dedicate
    Nor, how there were echoes all about her, sweet in her ears, of the many times her father had told her that he found her more devoted to him married (if that could be) than single, and of the many times her husband had said to her that no cares and
  289. tumult
    a state of commotion and noise and confusion
    Everywhere was tumult, exultation, deafening and maniacal bewilderment, astounding noise, yet furious dumb-show.
  290. combine
    put or add together
    Probably, Monsieur Gabelle passed a long night up there, with the distant chateau for fire and candle, and the beating at his door, combined with the joy-ringing, for music; not to mention his having an ill-omened lamp slung across the road before
  291. caste
    (Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity
    No. The change consisted in the appearance of strange faces of low caste, rather than in the disappearance of the high caste, chiselled, and otherwise beautified and beautifying features of Monseigneur.
  292. inspire
    serve as the inciting cause of
    The bronze face, the shaggy black hair and beard, the coarse woollen red cap, the rough medley dress of home-spun stuff and hairy skins of beasts, the powerful frame attenuated by spare living, and the sullen and desperate compression of the lips in sleep
  293. distract
    draw someone's attention away from something
    Who gave them out, whence they last came, where they began, through what agency they crookedly quivered and jerked, scores at a time, over the heads of the crowd, like a kind of lightning, no eye in the throng could have told; but, muskets were being dist
  294. falter
    move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
    To whom did he appear to repeat her faltering words, when, raising his voice and turning his head towards the door of the room from which he had issued, he said: "Removed to the Conciergerie, and summoned for to-morrow?"
  295. deceive
    cause someone to believe an untruth
    Checking the postmaster, who was for turning his horse's head to the yard (the drunken patriot sat composedly in his saddle looking on, with the line round his wrist), Darnay said, as soon as he could make his voice heard:

    "Friends, you deceive yo
  296. inspect
    look over carefully
    Every town-gate and village taxing-house had its band of citizen-patriots, with their national muskets in a most explosive state of readiness, who stopped all comers and goers, cross-questioned them, inspected their papers, looked for their names i
  297. inevitably
    in such a manner as could not be otherwise
    It was too much the way of Monseigneur under his reverses as a refugee, and it was much too much the way of native British orthodoxy, to talk of this terrible Revolution as if it were the only harvest ever known under the skies that had not been sown--as
  298. destination
    the place designated as the end (as of a race or journey)
    She stood immovable close to the grim old officer, and remained immovable close to him; remained immovable close to him through the streets, as Defarge and the rest bore him along; remained immovable close to him when he was got near his destination
  299. plunge
    dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity
    A trying suspense, to be passing a whole summer night on the brink of the black ocean, ready to take that plunge into it upon which Monsieur Gabelle had resolved!
  300. fidelity
    the quality of being faithful
    He was not improved in habits, or in looks, or in manner; but there was a certain rugged air of fidelity about him, which was new to the observation of Charles Darnay.
  301. salute
    greet in a friendly way
    "I salute you, citizeness," from the Doctor.
  302. vacant
    without an occupant or incumbent
    A man, so besmeared that he might have been a sorely wounded soldier creeping back to consciousness on a field of slain, was rising from the pavement by the side of the grindstone, and looking about him with a vacant air.
  303. desolate
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    Among the echoes then, there would arise the sound of footsteps at her own early grave; and thoughts of the husband who would be left so desolate, and who would mourn for her so much, swelled to her eyes, and broke like waves.
  304. identified
    having the identity known or established
    When he had identified these objects in what benighted mind he had, he said, in a dialect that was just intelligible:

    "How goes it, Jacques?"
  305. promotion
    act of raising in rank or position
    Among the talkers, was Stryver, of the King's Bench Bar, far on his way to state promotion, and, therefore, loud on the theme: broaching to Monseigneur, his devices for blowing the people up and exterminating them from the face of the earth, and do
  306. resume
    take up or begin anew
    He stopped in the act of swinging himself out of his saddle, and, resuming it as his safest place, said:

    "Emigrant, my friends!
  307. beseech
    ask for or request earnestly
    Down, and up, and head foremost on the steps of the building; now, on his knees; now, on his feet; now, on his back; dragged, and struck at, and stifled by the bunches of grass and straw that were thrust into his face by hundreds of hands; torn, bruised,
  308. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    He held the letter out inquiringly; and Monseigneur looked at it, in the person of this plotting and indignant refugee; and Monseigneur looked at it in the person of that plotting and indignant refugee; and This, That, and The Other, all had someth
  309. weave
    pattern of weaving or structure of a fabric
    Ever busily winding the golden thread that bound them all together, weaving the service of her happy influence through the tissue of all their lives, and making it predominate nowhere, Lucie heard in the echoes of years none but friendly and soothi
  310. grate
    reduce to small shreds or pulverize by rubbing against a rough or sharp perforated surface
    There was a small, heavily-grated, unglazed window high in the wall, with a stone screen before it, so that the sky could be only seen by stooping low and looking up.
  311. dreary
    lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
    After long and lonely spurring over dreary roads, they would come to a cluster of poor cottages, not steeped in darkness, but all glittering with lights, and would find the people, in a ghostly manner in the dead of the night, circling hand in hand
  312. cautious
    showing careful forethought
    In a few minutes, some mortar and dust came dropping down, which he averted his face to avoid; and in it, and in the old wood-ashes, and in a crevice in the chimney into which his weapon had slipped or wrought itself, he groped with a cautious touc
  313. rejoice
    feel happiness or joy
    Seven faces of prisoners, suddenly released by the storm that had burst their tomb, were carried high overhead: all scared, all lost, all wondering and amazed, as if the Last Day were come, and those who rejoiced around them were lost spirits.
  314. register
    an official written record of names or events or transactions
    Some registers were lying open on a desk, and an officer of a coarse, dark aspect, presided over these.
  315. quest
    the act of searching for something
    They found it surging and tossing, in quest of Defarge himself.
  316. wail
    a cry of sorrow and grief
    Armed men and women flocked out of the Quarter so fast, and drew even these last dregs after them with such a force of suction, that within a quarter of an hour there was not a human creature in Saint Antoine's bosom but a few old crones and the wailin
  317. cage
    an enclosure made or wire or metal bars in which birds or animals can be kept
    Through gloomy vaults where the light of day had never shone, past hideous doors of dark dens and cages, down cavernous flights of steps, and again up steep rugged ascents of stone and brick, more like dry waterfalls than staircases, Defarge, the t
  318. entreat
    ask for or request earnestly
    Down, and up, and head foremost on the steps of the building; now, on his knees; now, on his feet; now, on his back; dragged, and struck at, and stifled by the bunches of grass and straw that were thrust into his face by hundreds of hands; torn, bruised,
  319. blend
    mix together different elements
    Thus, the rustling of an Angel's wings got blended with the other echoes, and they were not wholly of earth, but had in them that breath of Heaven.
  320. announce
    make known; make an announcement
    That, presented by his conductors to this Tribunal, he had announced himself by name and profession as having been for eighteen years a secret and unaccused prisoner in the Bastille; that, one of the body so sitting in judgment had risen and identi
  321. patriot
    one who loves and defends his or her country
    "Keep near to me, Jacques Three," cried Defarge; "and do you, Jacques One and Two, separate and put yourselves at the head of as many of these patriots as you can.