a tale of two cities(双城记)-42

citizen as the Republic.”Loud acclamations hailed this rebuke. The President rang hisbell, and with warmth resumed.“If the Republic should demand of you the sacrifice of yourchild herself, you would have no duty but to sacrifice her. Listen towhat is to follow. In the meanwhile, be silent!”Frantic acclamations were again raised. Doctor Manette satdown, with his eyes looking around, and his lips trembling; hisdaughter drew closer to him. The craving man on the jury rubbedhis hands together, and restored the usual hand to his mouth.Defarge was produced, when the court was quiet enough toadmit of his being heard, and rapidly expounded the story of theimprisonment, and of his having been a mere boy in the Doctor’sservice, and of the release, and of the state of the prisoner whenreleased and delivered to him. This short examination followed.for the court was quick with its work.“You did good service at the taking of the Bastille, citizen?”“I believe so.”Here an excited woman screeched from the crowd: “You wereone of the best patriots there. Why not say so? You were acannonier that day there, and you were among the first to enterthe accursed fortress when it fell. Patriots, I speak the truth!”It was The Vengeance who, amidst the warm commendations ofthe audience, thus assisted the proceedings. The President ranghis bell; but, The Vengeance, warming with encouragement,Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesshrieked, “I defy that bell!” wherein she was likewise muchcommended.“Inform the Tribunal of what you did that day. within theBastille, citizen.”“I knew,” said Defarge, looking down at his wife, who stood atthe bottom of the steps on which he was raised, looking steadily upat him; “I knew that this prisoner, of whom I speak, had beenconfined in a cell known as One Hundred and Five, North Tower.I knew it from himself. He knew himself by no other name thanOne Hundred and Five, North Tower, when he made shoes undermy care. As I serve my gun that day, I resolve, when the placeshall fall, to examine that cell. It falls. I mount to the cell, with afellow-citizen who is one of the Jury, directed by a gaoler. Iexamine it, very closely. In a hole in the chimney, where a stonehas been worked out and replaced, I find a written paper. That isthat written paper. I have made it my business to examine somespecimens of the writing of Doctor Manette. This is the writing ofDoctor Manette. I confide this paper, in the writing of DoctorManette, to the hands of the President.”“Let it be read.”In the dead silence and stillness—the prisoner under triallooking lovingly at his wife, his wife only looking from him to lookwith solicitude at her father, Doctor Manette keeping his eyesfixed on the reader, Madame Defarge never taking hers from theprisoner, Defarge never taking his from his feasting wife, and allthe other eyes there intent upon the Doctor, who saw none ofthem—the paper was read as follows.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two CitiesChapter XLTHE SUBSTANCE OF THE SHADOW“I Alexandre Manette, unfortunate physician, native ofBeauvais, and afterwards resident in Paris—write thismelancholy paper in my doleful cell in the Bastille,during the last month of the year 1767. I write it at stolen intervals,under every difficulty. I design to secrete it in the wall of thechimney, where I have slowly and laboriously made a place ofconcealment for it. Some pitying hand may find it there, when Iand my sorrows are dust.“These words are formed by the rusty iron point with which Iwrite with difficulty in scrapings of soot and charcoal from thechimney, mixed with blood, in the last month of the tenth year ofmy captivity. Hope has quite departed from my breast. I knowfrom terrible warnings I have noted in myself that my reason willnot long remain unimpaired, but I solemnly declare that I am atthis time in the possession of my right mind—that my memory isexact and circumstantial—and that I write the truth as I shallanswer for these my last recorded words, whether they be everread by men or not, at the Eternal Judgment-seat.“One cloudy moonlight night, in the third week of December (Ithink the twenty-second of the month) in the year 1757, I waswalking on a retired part of the quay by the Seine for therefreshment of the frosty air, at an hour’s distance from my placeof residence in the Street of the School of Medicine, when acarriage came along behind me, driven very fast. As I stood asideCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesto let that carriage pass, apprehensive that it might otherwise runme down, a head was put out at the window, and a voice called tothe driver to stop.“The carriage stopped as soon as the driver could rein in hishorses, and the same voice called to me by my name. I answered.The carriage was then so far in advance of me that two gentlemenhad time to open the door and alight before I came up with it. Iobserved that they were both wrapped in cloaks, and appeared toconceal themselves. As they stood side by side near the carriagedoor, I also observed that they both looked of about my own age,or rather younger, and that they were greatly alike, in stature,manner, voice, and (as far as I could see) face too.“‘You are Doctor Manette?’ said one.“‘I am.’ “‘Doctor Manette, formerly of Beauvais,’ said the other;‘the young physician, originally an expert surgeon, who within thelast year or two has made a rising reputation in Paris?’“‘Gentlemen,’ I returned, ‘I am that Doctor Manette of whom youspeak so graciously.’ “‘We have been to your residence,’ said thefirst, ‘and not being so fortunate as to find you there, and beinginformed that you were probably walking in this direction, wefollowed, in the hope of overtaking you. Will you please to enterthe carriage?’ “The manner of both was imperious, and they bothmoved, as these words were spoken, so as to place me betweenthemselves and the carriage door. They were armed. I was not.“‘Gentlemen,’ said I, ‘pardon me; but I usually inquire who doesme the honour to seek my assistance, and what is the nature of thecase to which I am summoned.’ “The reply to this was made byhim who had spoken second. ‘Doctor, your clients are people ofcondition. As to the nature of the case, our confidence in your skillCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesassures us that you will ascertain it for yourself better than we candescribe it. Enough. Will you please enter the carriage?’ “I coulddo nothing but comply, and I entered it in silence. They bothentered after me—the last springing in, after putting up the steps.The carriage turned about, and drove on at its former speed.“I repeat this conversation exactly as it occurred. I have nodoubt that it is, word for word, the same. I describe everythingexactly as it took place, constraining my mind not to wander fromthe task. When I make the broken marks that follow here, I leaveoff for the time, and put my paper in its hiding place.“The carriage left the streets behind, passed the North Barrier,and emerged upon the country road. At two-thirds of a leaguefrom the Barrier—I did not estimate the distance at that time, butafterwards when I traversed it—it struck out of the main avenue,and presently stopped at a solitary house. We all three alighted,and walked, by a damp soft footpath in a garden where aneglected fountain had overflowed, to the door of the house. It wasnot opened immediately, in answer to the ringing of the bell, andone of my two conductors struck the man who opened it, with hisheavy riding-glove, across the face.“There was nothing in this action to attract my particularattention, for I had seen common people struck more commonlythan dogs. But, the other of the two, being angry likewise, struckthe man in like manner with his arm; the look and bearing of thebrothers were then so exactly alike, that I then first perceivedthem to be twin brothers.“From the time of our alighting at the outer gate (which wefound locked, and which one of the brothers had opened to admitus, and had relocked), I had heard cries proceeding from an upperCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citieschamber. I was conducted to this chamber straight, the criesgrowing louder as we ascended the stairs, and I found a patient ina high fever of the brain, lying on a bed.“The patient was a woman of great beauty, and young;assuredly not much past twenty. Her hair was torn and ragged,and her arms were bound to her sides with sashes andhandkerchiefs. I noticed that these bonds were all portions of agentleman’s dress. On one of them, which was a fringed scarf for adress ceremony, I saw the armorial bearings of a Noble, and theletter E.“I saw this, within the first minute of my contemplation of thepatient; for, in her restless strivings she had turned over on herface on the edge of the bed, had drawn the end of the scarf intoher mouth, and was in danger of suffocation. My first act was toput out my hand to relieve her breathing; and in moving the scarfaside, the embroidery in the corner caught my sight.“I turned her gently over, placed my hands upon her breast tocalm her and keep her down, and looked into her face. Her eyeswere dilated and wild, and she constantly uttered piercing shrieks,and repeated the words, ‘My husband, my father, and my brother!’and then counted up to twelve, and said, ‘Hush!’ For an instant,and no more, she would pause to listen, and then the piercingshrieks would begin again, and she would repeat the cry, ‘Myhusband, my father, and my brother!’ and would count up totwelve, and say ‘Hush!’ There was no variation in the order, or themanner. There was no cessation, but the regular moment’s pause,in the utterance of these sounds.“‘How long,’ I asked, ‘has this lasted?’“To distinguish the brothers, I will call them the elder and theCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesyounger; by the elder, I mean, him who exercised the mostauthority. It was the elder who replied, ‘Since about this hour lastnight.’“‘She has a husband, a father, and a brother?’“‘A brother.’“‘I do not address her brother?’“He answered with great contempt, ‘No.’“‘She has some recent association with the number twelve?’“The younger brother impatiently rejoined, ‘With twelveo’clock.’“‘See, gentlemen,’ said I, still keeping my hands upon herbreast, ‘how useless I am, as you have brought me! If I had knownwhat I was coming to see, I could have come provided. As it is,time must be lost. There are no medicines to be obtained in thislonely place.’“The elder brother looked to the younger, who said haughtily,‘There is a case of medicines here’; and brought it from a closet,and put it on the table.“I opened some of the bottles, smelt them, and put the stoppersto my lips. If I had wanted to use anything save narcotic medicinesthat were poisons in themselves, I would not have administeredany of those.“‘Do you doubt them?’ asked the younger brother.“‘You see, monsieur, I am going to use them,’ I replied, and saidno more.“I made the patient swallow, with great difficulty, and aftermany efforts, the dose that I desired to give. As I intended torepeat it after a while, and as it was necessary to watch itsinfluence, I then sat down by the side of the bed. There was aCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiestimid and suppressed woman in attendance (wife of the mandown-stairs), who had retreated into a corner. The house wasdamp and decayed, indifferently furnished—evidently, recentlyoccupied and temporarily used. Some thick old hangings had beennailed up before the windows, to deaden the sound of the shrieks.They continued to be uttered in their regular succession, with thecry, ‘My husband, my father, and my brother!’ the counting up totwelve, and ‘Hush!’ The frenzy was so violent, that I had notunfastened the bandages restraining the arms; but I had looked tothem, to see that they were not painful. The only spark ofencouragement in the case, was, that my hand upon the sufferer’sbreast had this much soothing influence, that for minutes at a timeit tranquilised the figure. It had no effect upon the cries; nopendulum could be more regular.“For the reason that my hand had this effect (I assume), I hadsat by the side of the bed for half an hour, with the two brotherslooking on, before the elder said:“‘There is another patient.’“I was startled, and asked, ‘Is it a pressing case?’“‘You had better see,’ he carelessly answered; and took up alight.“The other patient lay in a back room across a second staircase,which was a species of loft over a stable. There was a low plasteredceiling to a part of it; the rest was open, to the ridge of the tiledroof, and there were beams across. Hay and straw were stored inthat portion of the place, faggots for firing, and a heap of apples insand. I had to pass through that part, to get at the other. Mymemory is circumstantial and unshaken. I try it with these details,and I see them all, in this my cell in the Bastille, near the close ofCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesthe tenth year of my captivity, as I saw them all that night.“On some hay on the ground, with a cushion thrown under hishead, lay a handsome peasant boy—a boy of not more thanseventeen at the most. He lay on his back, with his teeth set, hisright hand clenched on his breast, and his glaring eyes lookingstraight upward. I could not see where his wound was, as Ikneeled on one knee over him; but, I could see that he was dyingof a wound from a sharp point.“‘I am a doctor, my poor fellow,’ said I. ‘Let me examine it.’“‘I do not want it examined,’ he answered; ‘let it be.’ “It wasunder his hand, and I soothed him to let me move his hand away.The wound was a sword-thrust, received from twenty to twenty-four hours before, but no skill could have saved him if it had beenlooked to without delay. He was then dying fast. As I turned myeyes to the elder brother, I saw him looking down at thishandsome boy whose life was ebbing out, as if he were a woundedbird, or hare, or rabbit; not at all as if he were a fellow-creature.“‘How has this been done, monsieur?’ said I.“‘A crazed young common dog! A serf! Forced my brother todraw upon him, and has fallen by my brother’s sword—like agentleman.’“There was no touch of pity, sorrow, or kindred humanity inthis answer. The speaker seemed to acknowledge that it wasinconvenient to have that different order of creature dying there,and that it would have been better if he had died in the usualobscure routine of his vermin kind. He was quite incapable of anycompassionate feeling about the boy, or about his fate.“The boy’s eyes had slowly moved to him as he had spoken, andthey now slowly moved to me.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Cities“‘Doctor, they are very proud, these Nobles; but we commondogs are proud too, sometimes. They plunder us, outrage us, beatus, kill us; but we have a little pride left, sometimes. She—haveyou seen her, Doctor?’“The shrieks and the cries were audible there, though subduedby the distance. He referred to them, as if she were lying in ourpresence.“I said, ‘I have seen her.’“‘She is my sister, Doctor. They have had their shameful rights,these Nobles. in the modesty and virtue of our sisters, many years,but we have had good girls among us. I know it, and have heardmy father say so. She was a good girl. She was betrothed to a goodyoung man, too: a tenant of his. We were all tenants of his—thatman’s who stands there. The other is his brother, the worst of abad race.’“It was with the greatest difficulty that the boy gathered bodilyforce to speak; but, his spirit spoke with a dreadful emphasis.“‘We were so robbed by that man who stands there, as all wecommon dogs are by those superior Beings—taxed by him withoutmercy, obliged to work for him without pay, obliged to grind ourcorn at his mill, obliged to feed scores of his tame birds on ourwretched crops, and forbidden for our lives to keep a single tamebird of our own, pillaged and plundered to that degree that whenwe chanced to have a bit of meat, we ate it in fear, with the doorbarred and the shutters closed, that his people should not see itand take it from us—I say, we were so robbed, and hunted, andwere made so poor, that our father told us it was a dreadful thingto bring a child into the world, and that what we should most prayfor, was, that our women might be barren and our miserable raceCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesdie out!’ “I had never before seen the sense of being oppressed,