"Yes, Miss Manette is going to be married. But not to an Englishman; to one who, like herself, is French by birth. And speaking of Gaspard (ah, poor Gaspard! It was cruel, cruel!), it is a curious thing that she is going to marry the nephew of Monsieur the Marquis, for whom Gaspard was exalted to that height of so many feet; in other words, the present Marquis. But he lives unknown in England, he is no Marquis there; he is Mr. Charles Darnay. D'Aulnais is the name of his mother's family."
Madame Defarge knitted steadily, but the intelligence had a palpable effect upon her husband. Do what he would, behind the little counter, as to the striking of a light and the lighting of his pipe, he was troubled, and his hand was not trustworthy. The spy would have been no spy if he had failed to see it, or to record it in his mind.
Having made, at least, this one hit, whatever it might prove to be worth, and no customers coming in to help him to any other, Mr. Barsad paid for what he had drunk, and took his leave: taking occasion to say, in a genteel manner, before he departed, that he looked forward to the pleasure of seeing Monsieur and Madame Defarge again. For some minutes after he had emerged into the outer presence of Saint Antoine, the husband and wife remained exactly as he had left them, lest he should come back.
"Can it be true," said Defarge, in a low voice, looking down at his wife as he stood smoking with his hand on the back of her chair: "what he has said of Ma'amselle Manette?"
"As he has said it," returned madame, lifting her eyebrows a little, "it is probably false. But it may be true."
"If it is-" Defarge began, and stopped.
"If it is?" repeated his wife.
"-And if it does come, while we live to see it triumph- I hope, for her sake, Destiny will keep her husband out of France."
"Her husband's destiny," said Madame Defarge, with her usual composure, "will take him where he is to go, and will lead him to the end that is to end him. That is all I know."
"But it is very strange- now, at least, is it not very strange"- said Defarge, rather pleading with his wife to induce her to admit it, "that, after all our sympathy for Monsieur her father, and herself, her husband's name should be proscribed under your hand at this moment, by the side of that infernal dog's who has just left us?"
"Stranger things than that will happen when it does come," answered madame. "I have them both here, of a certainty; and they are both here for their merits; that is enough."
She rolled up her knitting when she had said those words, and presently took the rose out of the handkerchief that was wound about her head. Either Saint Antoine had an instinctive sense that the objectionable decoration was gone, or Saint Antoine was on the watch for its disappearance; howbeit, the Saint took courage to lounge in, very shortly afterwards, and the wine-shop recovered its habitual aspect.
a. "Looked forward to pleasure"- This line shows us that Mr. Barsad had a good time metting with the Defarges
and look forward to seeing them again next time when they run into each other.
"In a low voice"- Madame Defarge is unsure and talks very quietly to make sure that no one hears her.
"Rather pleading with his wife to induce her to admit it"- Mr. Defarge is beggin with his wife, trying to
persuade her in his direction.
b. The theme is that Lucie should not marry Darnay because he is related to the Marquis who has a bad reputation with the peasants who are trying to get rid of the royalty so their live style and condition can be better than what they are living currently.
c. The tone of uncertainty is developed because Madame Defarge is debating over if it was a good idea if Lucie
was to marry Darnay, the cousin of Marquis, who the peasants hate and want to kill.