Book II
Chapter 4-5
Outside the court Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette, Doctor Manette and Mr. Lorry discuss the trial. After kissing Lucie’s hand, Mr. Darnay thanks Mr. Stryver who has pushed his way into the group. Mr. Lorry sees Dr. Manette look somewhat fearfully and curiously at Charles Darnay. Soon the doctor and his daughter depart. Sydney Carton approaches the group. He is a little drunk and smells of port wine. Mr. Carton upsets Mr. Lorry by explaining that he, Mr. Carton, has no business and even that even if he did he would not attend to it. Mr. Lorry asserts that business is what guides one’s life and departs in a huff. Sydney Carton takes Darnay to a nearby tavern to dine and drink. Carton proceeds to get more inebriated and chides Darnay for the obvious affection that Lucie Manette showed for him on the stand. His line of questioning leads to the assertion that he doesn’t particularly care for Darnay. Before Darnay departs, Sydney Carton confides to him that he is a drunk because he cares for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for him. After Darnay leaves he orders another pint of port and gives orders to be awoken at 10pm. He questions himself in a mirror and tells himself that he hates Darnay because the remarkable similarity in their appearance reminds him of what he has not become. He falls asleep on his arm at the table.

The narrator observes that those were drinking days in London and Mr. Stryver, who was tireless in his pursuit of professional success and advancement, was like his counterpart Sydney Carton a heavy drinker. Carton rendered service to Stryver in all night drinking sessions where he would review Carton’s upcoming cases and distill the essence from the various statements, a task his friend was intellectually ill equipped to perform himself. In this way Sydney Carton was the jackal to Mr. Stryver’s lion. After being awoken by the waiter at 10pm, Sydney Carton made his way to Stryver’s apartment where the two engaged in a long night of drinking while Carton poured over case briefs. While Stryver reclined on the sofa and drank at ease, Carton draped himself in cool wet towels and doggedly drank alcoholic punch and did his work. At three in the morning, the work complete, the two friends discuss the differences in the their nature and recall the days they spent as students in Paris. Before Carton leaves, Stryver asks what he thought of the pretty Miss Manette and is surprised to hear his morose friend’s assertion that she was not very pretty. Carton walks home alone through the cold streets and falls asleep in his rarely used bed.

Analysis of Chapters 4-5
These chapters serve to flesh out the character of Sydney Carton. His discussion with Darnay demonstrates that although the two are alike in appearance their demeanors are very different. While Darnay eats, Carton drinks and whereas Darnay is polite and tempers his responses, Carton’s comments are caustic, fueled by alcohol and a general dissatisfaction with life. The second half of Carton’s evening, spent at Mr. Stryver’s apartment, illustrates Carton’s genius with the law and his complete willingness to let his partner take the credit for his own work. Though, as Mr. Stryver notes, In these descriptions, the reader is given the impression of a man who feels unloved, uninspired and for lack of any other attractive alternative, satisfied with simply doing his partner’s work. Their discussion reveals that they have known each other since their school days and that Stryver has always been pushing his way to the front ranks. “You were always somewhere,” observes Carton, “and I was always – nowhere.” They are opposites and together they seem to be prospering. Their partnership is depicted as a friendly union that neither man seems impelled to break. Sydney Carton’s dismissal of Miss Manette’s beauty, something, which has obviously affected him, reveals that he is not devoid of sensitivity and yearning for a higher purpose.

Book II
Chapter 6
Four months pass. Mr. Lorry is in the habit of visiting Lucie and Dr. Manette in their pleasant Soho home on Sunday afternoons. Dr. Manette practices medicine from his house and has earned a reputation as a shrewd and vigilant scientist. On an exceptionally fine Sunday Mr. Lorry arrives at the Manette residence and is told that Dr. and Miss Manette are out but will return shortly. Mr. Lorry goes upstairs to wait. He notices that Dr. Manette’s old shoe making tools sit unused in the Doctor’s bedroom. Miss Pross enters and they engage in a sharp but friendly conversation about the people who come to visit Lucie. Miss Pross is afraid that Lucie’s affections will be taken from her and she asserts that none of the callers are as good for her as Miss Pross’ estranged brother, Solomon, whom Mr. Lorry knows to be a dishonest scoundrel. Mr. Lorry questions Miss Pross about Dr. Manette’s health and asks why he has not disposed of the shoemaking bench and tools. Miss Pross posits the theory that the Doctor is afraid of losing his mind again. She observes that the doctor shies away from any discussion of his imprisonment. She confides that sometimes the doctor paces the floor in the night and Lucie walks with him until he is composed. At that moment the house, which is so situated on street that any footsteps in the street echo loudly within, begins to resound with the approach of Lucie and Doctor Manette. The group has a pleasant dinner and then, owing to the heat of the evening, they sit under the plane tree and drink wine. Mr. Darnay joins them and in the course of conversation tells them of a story he heard regarding some buried scraps of paper found in the Tower (prison) that had been interred long ago by an inmate but were deteriorated and could not be deciphered. Doctor Manette is visibly upset by the story but claims that his consternation is result of the rain that has begun to fall. The group goes inside for tea where Mr. Carton joins them. The drops of rain continue to fall with greater frequency and as they listen to the echoes of unseen people’s footsteps rushing in the street Lucie remarks on her fancy that when she listens to the footsteps she imagines that they represent the hundreds of people who will enter their lives. A great thunderstorm breaks and it is one o’clock in the morning before it has cleared sufficiently for Mr. Lorry to walk home with Jerry as an escort.

Analysis of Chapter 6
This chapter establishes the close knit-ties among the Manettes, Charles Darnay, Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry. Mr. Lorry is accepted as a surrogate uncle and Miss Pross, though she affects to be in their service, is very much part of the “family”. Sydney Carton’s presence indicates that he also feels comfortable paying the Manette’s a visit but his aloof and morose demeanor, while accepted among the group, establishes emotional distance between him and the others. Charles Darnay’s story about the discovered manuscript obviously upsets the doctor and foreshadows the discovery of a different manuscript that the doctor has either forgotten or is trying to forget at the time. Lucie’s interpretation of the echoing footsteps also serves to foreshadow the footsteps of the Paris mob that will soon enter all their lives.

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