a tale of two cities(双城记)-43

bursting forth like a fire. I had supposed that it must be latent inthe people somewhere; but. I had never seen it break out, until Isaw it in the dying boy.“‘Nevertheless, Doctor, my sister married. He was ailing at thattime, poor fellow, and she married her lover, that she might tendand comfort him in our cottage—our dog-hut, as that man wouldcall it. She had not been married many weeks, when that man’sbrother saw her and admired her, and asked that man to lend herto him—for what are husbands among us! He was willing enough,but my sister was good and virtuous, and hated his brother with ahatred as strong as mine. What did the two then, to persuade herhusband to use his influence with her, to make her willing?’“The boy’s eyes, which had been fixed on mine, slowly turnedto the looker-on, and I saw in the two faces that all he said wastrue. The two opposing kinds of pride confronting one another, Ican see, even in this Bastille; the gentleman’s all negligentindifference; the peasant’s, all trodden-down sentiment, andpassionate revenge.“‘You know, Doctor, that it is among the Rights of these Noblesto harness us common dogs to carts, and drive us. They soharnessed him and drove him. You know that it is among theirRights to keep us in their grounds all night, quieting the frogs, inorder that their noble sleep may not be disturbed. They kept himout in the unwholesome mists at night, and ordered him back intohis harness in the day. But he was not persuaded. No! Taken outof harness one day at noon, to feed—if he could find food—hesobbed twelve times, once for every stroke of the bell, and died onher bosom.’ “Nothing human could have held life in the boy butCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citieshis determination to tell all his wrong. He forced back thegathering shadows of death, as he forced his clenched right handto remain clenched, and to cover his wound.“‘Then, with that man’s permission and even with his aid, hisbrother took her away; in spite of what I know she must have toldhis brother—and what that is, will not be long unknown to you,Doctor, if it is now—his brother took her away—for his pleasureand diversion, for a little while. I saw her pass me on the road.When I took the tidings home, our father’s heart burst; he neverspoke one of the words that filled it. I took my young sister (for Ihave another) to a place beyond the reach of this man, and where,at least, she will never be his vassal. Then, I tracked the brotherhere, and last night climbed in—a common dog, but sword inhand.—Where is the loft window? It was somewhere here?’“The room was darkening to his sight; the world was narrowingaround him. I glanced about me, and saw that the hay and strawwere trampled over the floor, as if there had been a struggle.“‘She heard me, and ran in. I told her not to come near us till hewas dead. He came in and first tossed me some pieces of money;then struck at me with a whip. But I, though a common dog, sostruck at him as to make him draw. Let him break into as manypieces as he will, the sword that he stained with my commonblood; he drew to defend himself—thrust at me with all his skill forhis life.’“My glance had fallen, but a few moments before. on thefragments of a broken sword, lying among the hay. That weaponwas a gentleman’s. In another place. lay an old sword that seemedto have been a soldier’s.“‘Now, lift me up, Doctor; lift me up. Where is he?’Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Cities“‘He is not here,’ I said, supporting the boy, and thinking thathe referred to the brother.“‘He! Proud as these Nobles are, he is afraid to see me. Whereis the man who was here? Turn my face to him.’“I did so, raising the boy’s head against my knee. But, investedfor the moment with extraordinary power, he raised himselfcompletely: obliging me to rise too, or I could not have stillsupported him.“‘Marquis,’ said the boy, turned to him with his eyes openedwide, and his right hand raised, ‘in the days when all these thingsare to be answered for, I summon you and yours, the last of yourbad race, to answer for them. I mark this cross of blood upon you,as a sign that I do it. In the days when all these things are to beanswered for, I summon your brother, the worst of the bad race, toanswer for them separately. I mark this cross of blood upon him,as a sign that I do it.’“Twice, he put his hand to the wound in his breast, and with hisforefinger drew a cross in the air. He stood for an instant with thefinger yet raised, and, as it dropped, he dropped with it, and I laidhim down dead.“When I returned to the bedside of the young woman, I foundher raving in precisely the same order and continuity. I knew thatthis might last for many hours, and that it would probably end inthe silence of the grave.“I repeated the medicines I had given her, and I sat at the sideof the bed until the night was far advanced. She never abated thepiercing quality of her shrieks, never stumbled in the distinctnessor the order of her words. They were always ‘My husband, myfather, and my brother! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citieseight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve! Hush!’ “This lasted twenty-sixhours from the time when I first saw her. I had come and gonetwice and was again sitting by her, when she began to falter. I didwhat little could be done to assist that opportunity, and by-and-byshe sank into a lethargy, and lay like the dead.“It was as if the wind and rain had lulled at last, after a long andfearful storm. I released her arms, and called the woman to assistme to compose her figure and the dress she had torn. It was thenthat I knew her condition to be that of one in whom the firstexpectations of being a mother have arisen; and it was then that Ilost the little hope I had had of her.“‘Is she dead?’ asked the Marquis, whom I will still describe asthe elder brother, coming booted into the room from his horse.“‘Not dead,’ said I; ‘but like to die.’“‘What strength there is in these common bodies!’ he said,looking down at her with some curiosity.“‘There is prodigious strength,’ I answered him. ‘in sorrow anddespair.’“He first laughed at my words, and then frowned at them. Hemoved a chair with his foot near to mine, ordered the womanaway, and said in a subdued voice, ‘Doctor, finding my brother inthis difficulty with these hinds, I recommended that your aidshould be invited. Your reputation is high, and, as a young manwith your fortune to make, you are probably mindful of yourinterest. The things that you see here, are things to be seen, andnot spoken of.’“I listened to the patient’s breathing, and avoided answering.“‘Do you honour me with your attention, Doctor?’“‘Monsieur,’ said I, ‘in my profession, the communications ofCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiespatients are always received in confidence.’ I was guarded in myanswer, for I was troubled in my mind with what I had heard andseen.“Her breathing was so difficult to trace, that I carefully tried thepulse and the heart. There was life, and no more. Looking roundas I resumed my seat, I found both the brothers intent upon me.“I write with so much difficulty, the cold is so severe, I am sofearful of being detected and consigned to an underground celland total darkness, that I must abridge this narrative. There is noconfusion or failure in my memory; it can recall, and could detail,every word that was ever spoken between me and those brothers.“She lingered for a week. Towards the last, I could understandsome few syllables that she said to me, by placing my ear close toher lips. She asked me where she was, and I told her; who I was,and I told her. It was in vain that I asked her for her family name.She faintly shook her head upon the pillow, and kept her secret, asthe boy had done.“I had no opportunity of asking her any questions, until I hadtold the brothers she was sinking fast, and could not live anotherday. Until then, though no one was ever presented to herconsciousness save the woman and myself, one or other of themhad always jealously sat behind the curtain at the head of the bedwhen I was there. But when it came to that, they seemed carelesswhat communication I might hold with her; as if—the thoughtpassed through my mind—I were dying too.“I always observed that their pride bitterly resented theyounger brother’s (as I call him) having crossed swords with apeasant and that peasant a boy. The only consideration thatappeared to affect the mind of either of them was theCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesconsideration that this was highly degrading to the family, andwas ridiculous. As often as I caught the younger brother’s eyes,their expression reminded me that he disliked me deeply, forknowing what I knew from the boy. He was smoother and morepolite to me than the elder; but I saw this. I also saw that I was anincumbrance in the mind of the elder, too.“My patient died, two hours before midnight—at a time, by mywatch, answering almost to the minute when I had first seen her. Iwas alone with her, when her forlorn young head dropped gentlyon one side, and all her earthly wrongs and sorrows ended.“The brothers were waiting in a room down-stairs, impatient toride away. I had heard them, alone at the bedside, striking theirboots with their riding-whips, and loitering up and down.“‘At last she is dead?’ said the elder, when I went in.“‘She is dead,’ said I.“‘I congratulate you, my brother,’ were his words as he turnedround.“He had before offered me money, which I had postponedtaking. He now gave me a rouleau of gold. I took it from his hand,but laid it on the table. I had considered the question, and hadresolved to accept nothing.“‘Pray excuse me,’ said I. ‘Under the circumstances, no.’“They exchanged looks, but bent their heads to me as I bentmine to them, and we parted without another word on either side.“I am weary, weary, weary—worn down by misery; I cannotread what I have written with this gaunt hand.“Early in the morning, the rouleau of gold was left at my door ina little box, with my name on the outside. From the first, I hadanxiously considered what I ought to do. I decided, that day, toCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citieswrite privately to the Minister, stating the nature of the two casesto which I had been summoned, and the place to which I hadgone: in effect, stating all the circumstances. I knew what Courtinfluence was, and what the immunities of the Nobles were, and Iexpected that the matter would never be heard of; but, I wished torelieve my own mind. I had kept the matter a profound secret,even from my wife; and this, too, I resolved to state in my letter. Ihad no apprehension whatever of my real danger; but I wasconscious that there might be danger for others, if others werecompromised by possessing the knowledge that I possessed.“I was much engaged that day, and could not complete myletter that night. I rose long before my usual time next morning tofinish it. It was the last day of the year. The letter was lying beforeme just completed, when I was told that a lady waited, who wishedto see me.“I am growing more and more unequal to the task I have setmyself. It is so cold, so dark, my senses are so benumbed, and thegloom upon me is so dreadful.“The lady was young, engaging, and handsome, but not markedfor long life. She was in great agitation. She presented herself tome as the wife of the Marquis St. Evremonde. I connected the titleby which the boy had addressed the elder brother, with the initialletter embroidered on the scarf, and had no difficulty in arriving atthe conclusion that I had seen that nobleman very lately.“My memory is still accurate, but I cannot write the words ofour conversation. I suspect that I am watched more closely than Iwas, and I know not at what times I may be watched. She had inpart suspected, and in part discovered, the main facts of the cruelstory, of her husband’s share in it, and my being resorted to. SheCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesdid not know that the girl was dead. Her hope had been, she saidin great distress, to show her, in secret, a woman’s sympathy. Herhope had been to avert the wrath of Heaven from a House that hadlong been hateful to the suffering many.“She had reasons for believing that there was a young sisterliving, and her greatest desire was, to help that sister. I could tellher nothing but that there was such a sister; beyond that, I knewnothing. Her inducement to come to me, relying on my confidence,had been the hope that I could tell her the name and place ofabode. Whereas, to this wretched hour I am ignorant of both.“These scraps of paper fail me. One was taken from me, with awarning yesterday. I must finish my record today.“She was a good, compassionate lady, and not happy in hermarriage. How could she be! The brother distrusted and dislikedher, and his influence was all opposed to her; she stood in dread ofhim, and in dread of her husband too. When I handed her down tothe door, there was a child, a pretty boy from two to three yearsold, in her carriage.“‘For his sake, Doctor,’ she said, pointing to him in tears. ‘Iwould do all I can to make what poor amends I can. He will neverprosper in his inheritance otherwise. I have a presentiment that ifno other innocent atonement is made for this, it will one day berequired of him. What I have left to call my own—it is little beyondthe worth of a few jewels—I will make it the first charge of his lifeto bestow, with the compassion and lamenting of his dead mother,on this injured family, if the sister can be discovered.’ “She kissedthe boy, and said, caressing him, ‘It is for thine own dear sake.Thou wilt be faithful, little Charles?’ The child answered herbravely, ‘Yes!’ I kissed her hand, and she took him in her arms,Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesand went away caressing him. I never saw her more.“As she had mentioned her husband’s name in the faith that Iknew it, I added no mention of it to my letter. I sealed my letter,and, not trusting it out of my own hands, delivered it myself thatday.“That night, the last night of the year, towards nine o’clock, aman in a black dress rang at my gate, demanded to see me, andsoftly followed my servant, Ernest Defarge, a youth, up-stairs.When my servant came into the room where I sat with my wife—Omy wife, beloved of my heart! My fair young English wife!—wesaw the man, who was supposed to be at the gate. standing silentbehind him.“An urgent case in the Rue St. Honore, he said. It would notdetain me, he had a coach in waiting.“It brought me here, it brought me to my grave. When I wasclear of the house, a black muffler was drawn tightly over mymouth from behind, and my arms were pinioned. The twobrothers crossed the road from a dark corner, and identified mewith a single gesture. The Marquis took from his pocket the letterI had written, showed it to me, burnt it in the light of a lantern thatwas held, and extinguished the ashes with his foot. Not a word wasspoken. I was brought here, I was brought to my living grave.“If it had pleased God to put it in the hard heart of either of thebrothers, in all these frightful years, to grant me any tidings of mydearest wife—so much as to let me know by a word whether aliveor dead—I might have thought that He had not quite abandonedthem. But, now I believe that the mark of the red cross is fatal tothem, and that they have no part in His mercies. And them andtheir descendants, to the last of their race, I, Alexandre Manette,Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsA Tale of Two Citiesunhappy prisoner, do this last night of the year 1767, in myunbearable agony, denounce to the times when all these thingsshall be answered for. I denounce them to Heaven and to earth.”A terrible sound arose when the reading of this document wasdone. A sound of craving and eagerness that had nothingarticulate in it but blood. The narrative called up the mostrevengeful passions of the time, and there was not a head in thenation but must have dropped before it.Little need, in the presence of that tribunal and that auditory,to show how the Defarges had not made the paper public, with theother captured Bastille memorials borne in procession, and hadkept it, biding their time. Little need to show that this detestedfamily name had long been anathematised by Saint Antoine, andwas wrought into the fatal register. The man never trod groundwhose virtues and services would have sustained him in that placethat day, against such denunciation.And all the worse for the doomed man, that the denouncer wasa well-known citizen, his own attached friend, the father of hiswife. One of the frenzied aspirations of the populace was, forimitations of the questionable public virtues of antiquity, and forsacrifices and self-immolations on the people’s altar. Thereforewhen the President said (else had his own head quivered on hisshoulders), that the good physician of the Republic would deservebetter still of the Republic by rooting out an obnoxious family ofAristocrats, and would doubtless feel a sacred glow and joy inmaking his daughter a widow and her child an orphan, there waswild excitement, patriotic fervour, not a touch of humansympathy.“Much influence around him, has that Doctor?” murmuredCharles Dickens ElecBook Classics