Little Lucie fell asleep feeling safe in the knowledge that her big friend was there and nothing bad was going to happen to her. She woke up and he was gone. She almost felt like crying but she knew he would come back. He promised her he would. He promised nothing would happen to her and she trusted him. She knew she was safe and she was going to be okay.
Sydney knew he had a long day ahead of him. He wanted to hit the bottle but that wasn't going to get the child released. That reminded him. Madame Defarge's wine shop was the first stop he needed to make. She was the key. Maybe he could sweet talk her into retracting the denouncement of Little Lucie. Maybe he could threaten her. He suspected he had his work cut out for him. Madame Defarge was not all butterflies and pretty rainbows. She was evil and cunning and not nice and mean. Little Lucie was in grave danger. The trial was day away and he had little to work with. What he did have was determination. He was not going to let Little Lucie be punished for something she had never even had control over. Hell, he would never even let her be punished for something she did do wrong. This had to have been so scary for the child. How he wished he could go to La Force in her place. He would even go to the guillotine in her place. He wished it was Charles that was sent to La Force. Charles and Sydney looked exactly alike. But there was no way Sydney could pass for Little Lucie.
He entered Madame Defarge's wine shop. She greeted him with a smile.

"I pray you take a seat sir," she said, "and what might you be desiring today"

"Well to tell you the truth," Sydney said, "I just thought I would try out your wine. I hear you have the finest wine in France.

"What flattery," she said with a smile, "True flattery but flattery all the same. This is an ominous time in London and France," she said

"Quite so. Why recently I heard a child was taken to the prison La Force," Sydney replied, "perhaps a few weeks ago. I believe her name was Linyetta"
Monsiour Defarge frowned.

"Linyetta is our child," he said, "She was seen wearing a fancy dress that she had borrowed from a friend and it was assumed she was a nobleman's child. She was thrown into the prison in secret."

"How dreadful. Why recently a friend of mine had a child thrown into La Force because she was related to a nobleman family"

"Which family,' Madame Defarge asked sympathetically.
Sydney pretended to try to remember.

"Evermounds I believe it was"
Madame Defarge's sympathetic expression darkened.

"That family deserves all the pain and heartache it can get," she said, "The Evermond brothers murdered my family. Please leave"
She knew she would be chastened later but she didn't care. When it came to the Evermonds she was like steel... unmovable.