第407页 / 共896页

"You have seen both dolls and birds to-day," said Madame Defarge,

with a wave of her hand towards the place where they had last

been apparent; "now, go home!"

CHAPTER XVI. Still Knitting

Madame Defarge and monsieur her husband returned amicably to the

bosom of Saint Antoine, while a speck in a blue cap toiled

through the darkness, and through the dust, and down the weary

miles of avenue by the wayside, slowly tending towards that point

of the compass where the chateau of Monsieur the Marquis, now in

his grave, listened to the whispering trees. Such ample leisure

had the stone faces, now, for listening to the trees and to the

fountain, that the few village scarecrows who, in their quest for

herbs to eat and fragments of dead stick to burn, strayed within

sight of the great stone courtyard and terrace staircase, had it

borne in upon their starved fancy that the expression of the

faces was altered.