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A Tale of Two Cities Book 3, Chapter 15
Citizen Evrémonde is ordered to the guillotine. The clock strikes three. The Vengeance desperately calls out for Madame Defarge, knowing that something must be wrong, as Madame Defarge would not miss the execution for anything. The stranger to whom Carton has been talking tells him that she would not be so composed if not for him. She tells him she thinks he was sent to her from Heaven. He tells her that perhaps she was sent to him. They hold hands as the line in front of them thins, as the prisoners are beheaded one by one. She asks him if she may ask him one question, telling him she is ignorant. He tells her that she may. She asks him if, after she dies and is in Heaven, if it will seem like a long wait until she is joined by her cousin, who is an orphan like herself and her only living relative. She explains that she has been unable to tell her cousin of her fate, as she cannot read or write. Carton tells her that there is no time or trouble in Heaven, and she will find comfort there. He kisses her, and his number is called. He approaches the guillotine, thinking that he sees, in the future, Lucie's family--Dr. Manette, Lucie, Charles, and their daughter--happy and restored, and that he knows he will long have a sanctuary in their hearts. He thinks to himself, of his final act on earth:
"'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.'" Book 3, Chapter 15, pg. 374
