A Tale of Two Cities-CHAPTER 14 THE KNITTING DONE

THE KNITTING DONE,In that same juncture ¹ of time when the Fifty-Two awaited their fate, Madame Defarge held darkly ominous ² council with The Vengeance ³ and Jacques Three of the Revolutionary Jury. Not in the wine-shop did Madame Defarge confer with these ministers, but in the shed of the wood-sawyer, erst a mender of roads. The sawyer himself did not participate in the conference, but abided at a little distance, like an outer satellite who was not to speak until required, or to offer an opinion until invited.,“But our Defarge, ” said Jacques Three, “is undoubtedly ⁴ a good Republican? Eh?”,“There is no better,
” the voluble Vengeance protested in her shrill ⁵ notes, “in France.”,“Peace, little Vengeance, ” said Madame Defarge, laying her hand with a slight frown on her lieutenant’s lips, “hear me speak. My husband, fellow-citizen, is a good Republican and a bold man; he has deserved well of the Republic, and possesses its confidence. But my husband has his weaknesses, and he is so weak as to relent towards this Doctor.
”,“It is a great pity,” croaked ⁷ Jacques Three, dubiously ⁸ shaking his head, with his cruel fingers at his hungry mouth; “it is not quite like a good citizen; it is a thing to regret. ”,“She has a fine head for it,
” croaked Jacques Three. “I have seen blue eyes and golden hair there, and they looked charming when Samson held them up.” Ogre that he was, he spoke ¹⁰ like an epicure ¹¹.,Madame Defarge cast down her eyes, and reflected a little.,“The child also, ” observed Jacques Three, with a meditative ¹² enjoyment ¹³ of his words, “has golden hair and blue eyes. And we seldom have a child there. It is a pretty sight!
”,“In a word,” said Madame Defarge, coming out of her short abstraction, “I cannot trust my husband in this matter. Not only do I feel, since last night, that I dare not confide ⁶ to him the details of my projects; but also I feel that if I delay, there is danger of his giving warning, and then they might escape. ”,“That must never be,
” croaked Jacques Three; “no one must escape. We have not half enough as it is. We ought to have six score a day.”,It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景 。,Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。