Chapter 6

Hundreds of people
Introduction
In Book 2, Chapter 6 of ''A Tale of Two Cities,'' Jarvis Lorry visits the
Manette house in the country and we meet Lucie's devoted former
nurse, Miss Pross. Darnay also stops by and delivers some possibly
important news about a discovery at the Tower of London.
Hundreds of People

Book 2, Chapter 6 of A Tale of Two Cities, titled 'Hundreds of People',

takes place at the Manette house in the country. Despite the title,
there are not hundreds of people in the chapter, just Dr. and Lucie
Manette, Jarvis Lorry, and Lucie's two suitors, Darnay and Carton.
Plus we meet a new character: Lucie's devoted nurse Miss Pross.
This chapter opens with a description of the Manettes' house in the
village of Soho. Though now it is in the middle of the city, in the 18th
century, it was still a quiet country village on the edge of London.
Jarvis Lorry is headed out to see the Manettes and enjoying the quiet,
peaceful countryside, a break from dirty London.
Since getting rescued five years earlier, Dr. Manette's life has turned
around. He's reestablished his medical practice on the ground floor of
his little cottage.
When Lorry comes into the Manettes' house, they aren't home, but
Lorry meets instead a somewhat wild-looking woman named Miss
Pross. Miss Pross had been Lucie's nurse and governess when she
was a child but now just lives with the Manettes. She loves Lucie,
whom she calls 'Ladybird', dearly and is extremely protective of her.
She complains to Lorry that ever since he got involved in Lucie's life,
'hundreds of people' have been beating down her door.
It turns out Miss Pross is prone to exaggeration, but there have been
several men spending a lot of time at the house, hoping to court
Lucie, including Charles Darney, his depressed lookalike Syndey
Carton, and his lawyer, Mr. Stryver.
After the Manettes return, they sit down to dinner with Mr. Lorry. After
dinner, Darnay stops by (seems Miss Pross was right) and asks Dr.
Manette if he's heard about the Tower. It seems that while restoring
the Tower, ashes, remains of a letter, were found and seem to have
been left by a former prisoner. Dr. Manette seems really upset by the
news.
As the chapter ends, Carton also drops by, and the rain forces the
group to stay at the house for a long time, much to Miss Pross's
dismay.
Importance of the Tower

Some historical context is important for understanding this chapter.

The tower Darnay refers to, though never explicitly named, is the
Tower of London. For much of English history, the Tower of London
was a notorious prison, where enemies of the monarchy were kept. In
many ways, it was the British equivalent of the Bastille, the French
prison where Dr. Manette was kept for 18 years.