登陆注册
12109300000100

第100章 BOOK THE THIRD:THE TRACK OF A STORM(15)

Doctor Manette was next questioned. His high personal popularity,and the clearness of his answers,made a great impression:but,as he proceeded,as he showed that the accused was his first friend on his release from his long imprisonment;that,the accused had remained in England,always faithful and devoted to his daughter and himself in their exile;that,so far from being in favour with the Aristocrat government there,he had actually been tried for his life by it,as the foe of England and friend of the United States—as he brought these circumstances into view,with the greatest discretion and with the straightforward force of truth and earnestness,the Jury and the populace became one At last,when he appealed by name to Monsieur Lorry,an English gentleman then and there present,who,like himself,had been a witness on that English trial and could corroborate his account of it,the Jury declared that they had heard enough,and that they were ready with their votes if the President were content to receive them.

At every vote(the Jurymen voted aloud and individually),the populace set up a shout of applause. All the voices were in the prisoner's favour,and the President declared him free.

Then,began one of those extraordinary scenes with which the populace sometimes gratified their fickleness,or their better impulses towards generosity and mercy,or which they regarded as some set-off against their swollen account of cruel rage. No man can decide now to which of these motives such extraordinary scenes were referable;it is probable,to a blending of all three,with the second predominating.No sooner was the acquittalpronounced,than tears were shed as freely as blood at another time,and such fraternal embraces were bestowed upon the prisoner by as many of both sexes as could rush at him,that after his long and unwholesome confinement he was in danger of fainting from exhaustion;none the less because he knew very well,that the very same people,carried by another current,would have rushed at him with the very same intensity,to rend him to pieces and strew him over the streets.

His removal,to make way for other accused persons who were to be tried,rescued him from these caresses for the moment. Five were to be tried together,next,as enemies of the Republic,forasmuch as they had not assisted it by word or deed.So quick was the Tribunal to compensate itself and the nation for a chance lost,that these five came down to him before he left the place,condemned to die within twenty-four hours.The first of them told him so,with the customary prison sign of Death—a raised finger—and they all added in words,'Long live the Republic!'

The five had had,it is true,no audience to lengthen their proceedings,for when he and Doctor Manette emerged from the gate,there was a great crowd about it,in which there seemed to be every face he had seen in Court,except two,for which he looked in vain. On his coming out,the concourse made at him anew,weeping,embracing,and shouting,all by turns and all together,until the very tide of the river on the bank of which the mad scene was acted,seemed to run mad,like the people on the shore.

They put him into a great chair they had among them,and which they had taken either out of the Court itself,or one of its rooms or passages. Over the chair they had thrown a red flag,and to the back of it they had bound a pike with a red cap on its top.Inthis car of triumph,not even the Doctor's entreaties could prevent his being carried to his home on men's shoulders,with a confused sea of red caps heaving about him,and casting up to sight from the stormy deep such wrecks of faces,that he more than once misdoubted his mind being in confusion,and that he was in the tumbril on his way to the Guillotine.

In wild dreamlike procession,embracing whom they met and pointing him out,they carried him on. Reddening the snowy streets with the prevailing Republican colour,in winding and tramping through them,as they had reddened them below the snow with a deeper dye,they carried him thus into the court-yard of the building where he lived.Her father had gone on before,to prepare her,and when her husband stood upon his feet,she dropped insensible in his arms.

As he held her to his heart and turned her beautiful head between his face and the brawling crowd,so that his tears and her lips might come together unseen,a few of the people fell to dancing. Instantly,all the rest fell to dancing,and the court-yard overflowed with the Carmagnole.Then,they elevated into the vacant chair a young woman from the crowd to be carried as the Goddess of Liberty,and then swelling and overflowing out into the adjacent streets,and along the river's bank,and over the bridge,the Carmagnole absorbed them every one and whirled them away.

After grasping the Doctor's hand,as he stood victorious and proud before him;after grasping the hand of Mr. Lorry,who came panting in breathless from his struggle against the waterspout of the Carmagnole;after kissing little Lucie,who was lifted up to clasp her hands round his neck;and after embracing the ever zealous and faithful Pross who lifted her;he took his wife in hisarms,and carried her up to their rooms.

'Lucie!My own!I am safe.'

'O dearest Charles,let me thank God for this on my knees as I have prayed to Him.'

They all reverently bowed their heads and hearts. When she was again in his arms,he said to her—'And now speak to your father,dearest.No other man in all this France could have done what he has done for me.'

She laid her head upon her father's breast,as she had laid his poor head on her own breast,long,long ago. He was happy in the return he had made her,he was recompensed for his suffering,he was proud of his strength.'You must not be weak,my darling,'he remonstrated;'don't tremble so.I have saved him.'

同类推荐
  • 玉泉子

    玉泉子

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 洪恩灵济真君事实

    洪恩灵济真君事实

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大周刊定众经目录

    大周刊定众经目录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 歙州砚谱

    歙州砚谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Of Refinement in the Arts

    Of Refinement in the Arts

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 神镇苍穹

    神镇苍穹

    公元22世纪中期,地球资源彻底枯竭,人类被迫发展星际航行技术,最终跨出太阳系进入了大宇宙时代,而地球被彻底废弃成为死星。但在迁徙的过程中,人类却遇到了无数外星种族围攻,展开了漫长而残酷的星际战争。被幽禁了十八年的私生子苏牧,在成年生日那天受到同父异母的兄长要挟,前往与虫族开战最惨烈的仙女座远征舰队服役,却在一次任务中遭到伏击,结果战舰自爆后却意外的回到了死星地球,进入了镇压着远古天神的虚空神狱。镇苍穹,伐天地,斗真仙,战异族,一段神的传奇,就从这个被遗忘的死星开始。.....暂时每天两更,不定时加更,请大家收藏推荐一下,谢谢!
  • 双剑侍

    双剑侍

    唔铸了两把剑。一把三尺剑系于腰间,名‘屠戮’!专主杀伐,剑出无血不归鞘。一把重剑挂在背上,为‘极名’!开剑就是为了守护,守护一切!【感谢阅文书评团提供书评支持】
  • 符甲圣士

    符甲圣士

    古老传承与未来科技,道家符咒与战斗机甲,热血少年从平凡中崛起,在逆境中拼搏,于乱世中保护挚爱,机智勇武横扫银河。
  • 神医废材小姐逆袭之路

    神医废材小姐逆袭之路

    简介无用,请看正文她是二十四世纪的神医特工,却穿到一个白痴又不受宠的小姐身上,但是这位小姐好像并不是那么的没用。斗气,魔法,御兽,炼药,弓箭她样样全包,冷血无情,懒惰是她的代表但一切的转折因为遇见了他........
  • 总裁的抢爱行动

    总裁的抢爱行动

    他是耀眼钻石男,她是单纯良家女,八竿子也打不着的两个人。本该是和男朋友的第一次亲密接触,因酒醉失状,反而让他捡了个现成的便宜。男朋友没了,肚子里却多了父不详的孩子,麻烦啊麻烦!不过有个宝宝陪伴也不错,只是再遇孩儿他爸,偷种的事——他好像打算跟她计较计较!哥哥,你有钱有势有相貌,犯得着这么精精计较么?
  • 花与石头:地狱女官人间游

    花与石头:地狱女官人间游

    白曼从小就幸运值爆表,她以为是上辈子做多了好事,哪知道真相一揭开才发现,好嘛,自己哪里是做多了好事,明明是把好事都做光了
  • 十朝诗乘

    十朝诗乘

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 只做未婚妈妈

    只做未婚妈妈

    叶歆雨,她对着那明显的两条杠,有点欲哭无泪,她不过就是去pb逛了一圈,怎么就不明不白的丢了初夜,还带着那个完全没概念的男人的种回来了呢。好吧,说实话,她是很想要做一个未婚妈妈啦,可问题是,那是在她大学毕业以后好吗!而她现在也还只是个大二学生而已也。
  • 炎凉岸

    炎凉岸

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 霸宠茶妻之世子妃求宠

    霸宠茶妻之世子妃求宠

    某年新茶采制,世子垂涎讨好,只为那一罐值千金的上等春茶,哪儿还管的上什么身份与否,对着那坐在椅子上的晨央便是好言相道:“好阿央,今年的新茶,就分我一点吧?不,不要多,一点就可以了。”一场有预谋的屠戮,这世间少了一个唐云袖,多了一个晨央,亦多了一位优(黏)秀(人)男子相伴左右,和她一起追寻着当年的灭门真相。(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)