The+Marquis+or+Monseigneur+St.+Evrémonde

Monseigneur “a great lord in the royal court” is known for surrounding himself with the greatest of luxuries. For example, he has “four serving men” help him to drink chocolate. Monseigneur holds a reception and parades around his guests for a little while then returns to his room. One guest, the Marquis Evrémonde, condemned the Monseigneur for leaving. The Marquis carriage raced through the city streets. In his sick humor he is delighted to see the commoners nearly run down by his horses. Then suddenly the carriage jolts to a stop. A little baby lies dead under its wheels however Monseigneur just tosses a few coins to the child’s father. As he drives away, a coin is thrown back into the carriage. He curses the commoners, saying that he “would willingly run over any of them.” Monseigneur arrives in the small village and as he looks at sad faces of the peasants, he recognizes a road-mender that he passed earlier. He demands to know what the road-mender was staring at, the man tells him that someone was holding onto the bottom of the carriage. Monseigneur then sees a woman morning over her husband’s grave and begs him to give him a gravestone so as not to be forgotten. He drives away and then arrives at his stone chateau. Later that night Charles Darnay, the nephew of the Marquis, arrives. Darnay tells his uncle how he no longer wants the property nor the title that he is supposed to inherit when his uncle dies, because the family’s name is associated with “fear and slavery.” Monseigneur ignores what his nephew tells him and he tells Darnay to accept his “natural destiny.” The next morning, the Marquis is found dead with a knife through his heart. Attached to the knife is a note that reads: “Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from Jacques.”