登陆注册
12109300000014

第14章 BOOK THE FIRST:RECALLED TO LIFE(14)

'I must bear it,if you let it in.'(Laying the palest shadow of a stress upon the second word.)The opened half-door was opened a little further,and secured at that angle for the time. A broad ray of light fell into the garret,and showed the workman with an unfinished shoe upon his lap,pausing in his labour.His few common tools and various scraps of leather were at his feet and on his bench.He had a white beard,raggedly cut,but not very long,a hollow face,and exceedingly bright eyes.The hollowness and thinness of his face would have caused them to look large,under his yet dark eyebrows and his confused white hair,though they had been really otherwise;but,they were naturally large,and looked unnaturally so.His yellow rags of shirt lay open at the throat,and showed his body to be withered and worn.He,and his old canvas frock,and his loose stockings,and all his poor tatters of clothes,had,in a long seclusion from direct light and air,faded down to such a dull uniformity of parchment-yellow,that it would have been hard to say which was which.

He had put up a hand between his eyes and the light,and the very bones of it seemed transparent. So he sat,with a steadfastly vacant gaze,pausing in his work.He never looked at the figurebefore him,without first looking down on this side of himself,then on that,as if he had lost the habit of associating place with sound;he never spoke,without first wandering in this manner,and forgetting to speak.

'Are you going to finish that pair of shoes today?'asked Defarge,motioning to Mr. Lorry to come forward.

'What did you say?'

'Do you mean to finish that pair of shoes today?'

'I can't say that I mean to. I suppose so.I don't know.'

But,the question reminded him of his work,and he bent over it again.

Mr. Lorry came silently forward,leaving the daughter by the door.When he had stood,for a minute or two,by the side of Defarge,the shoemaker looked up.He showed no surprise at seeing another figure,but the unsteady fingers of one of his hands strayed to his lips as he looked at it(his lips and his nails were of the same pale lead-colour),and then the hand dropped to his work,and he once more bent over the shoe.The look and the action had occupied but an instant.

'You have a visitor,you see,'said Monsieur Defarge.

'What did you say?'

'Here is a visitor.'

The shoemaker looked up as before,but without removing a hand from his work.

'Come!'said Defarge.'Here is monsieur,who knows a well-made shoe when he sees one. Show him that shoe you are working at.Take it,monsieur.'

Mr. Lorry took it in his hand.

'Tell monsieur what kind of shoe it is,and the maker's name.'There was a longer pause than usual,before the shoemaker replied:'I forget what it was you asked me. What did you say?'

'I said,couldn't you describe the kind of shoe,for monsieur's information?'

'It is a lady's shoe. It is a young lady's walking-shoe.It is in the present mode.I never saw the mode.I have had a pattern in my hand.'He glanced at the shoe with some little passing touch of pride.

'And the maker's name?'said Defarge.

Now that he had no work to hold,he laid the knuckles of the right hand in the hollow of the left,and then the knuckles of the left hand in the hollow of the right,and then passed a hand across his bearded chin,and so on in regular changes,without a moment's intermission. The task of recalling him from the vacancy into which he always sank when he had spoken,was like recalling some very weak person from a swoon,or endeavouring,in the hope of some disclosure,to stay the spirit of a fast-dying man.

'Did you ask me for my name?'

'Assuredly I did.'

'One Hundred and Five,North Tower.'

'Is that all?'

'One Hundred and Five,North Tower.'

With a weary sound that was not a sigh,nor a groan,he bent to work again,until the silence was again broken.

'You are not a shoemaker by trade?'said Mr. Lorry,looking steadfastly at him.

His haggard eyes turned to Defarge,as if he would have transferred the question to him:but as no help came from that quarter,they turned back on the questioner when they had soughtthe ground.

'I am not a shoemaker by trade?No,I was not a shoemaker by trade. I—I learnt it here.I taught myself.I asked leave to—'He lapsed away,even for minutes,ringing those measured changes on his hands the whole time.His eyes came slowly back,at last,to the face from which they had wandered;when they rested on it,he started,and resumed,in the manner of a sleeper that moment awake,reverting to a subject of last night.

'I asked leave to teach myself,and I got it with much difficulty after a long while,and I have made shoes ever since.'

As he held out his hand for the shoe that had been taken from him,Mr. Lorry said,still looking steadfastly in his face:

'Monsieur Manette,do you remember nothing of me?'

The shoe dropped to the ground,and he sat looking fixedly at the questioner.

'Monsieur Manette';Mr. Lorry laid his hand upon Defarge's arm;'do you remember nothing of this man?Look at him.Look at me.Is there no old banker,no old business,no old servant,no old time,rising in your mind,Monsieur Manette?'

同类推荐
  • 九药

    九药

    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。
  • 华严道场起止大略

    华严道场起止大略

    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。
  • 医医十病

    医医十病

    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。
  • The Story of the Glittering Plain

    The Story of the Glittering Plain

    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。
  • LookingGlass

    LookingGlass

    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
  • 屠龙之后
  • 还是爱了

    还是爱了

    如果人的一生能够做到不因寂寞而错爱,不因错爱而寂寞,一切顺其自然,自然的相逢,自然的相遇自然的走过,自然地错过,自然的爱自然的恨,自然的分别,自然的牵手,也许真的不容易。
  • 吞天练地决

    吞天练地决

    来自修真界的凌天在生死之间被神秘戒指救下来到现代,他会发生什么故事,大家拭目以待。
  • 海贼之虫海无边

    海贼之虫海无边

    将星际争霸2与海贼王交织在一起的小说。多谢观看~
  • 白色眷恋

    白色眷恋

    因为不满皇马6比2的比分,中国青年律师沈星怒砸啤酒瓶,结果电光火石间,他穿越成了佛罗伦蒂诺的儿子,且看来自09年的小伙子如何玩转03年的欧洲足坛
  • 汉风扫胡尘

    汉风扫胡尘

    这是一个极度动乱的时期,也是一个“疯子”皇帝辈出的年代:后燕慕蓉熙,刘宋刘骏、刘子业、刘彧,北齐高洋、高纬、高绰等。他们是一个比一个变态,一个比一个荒唐;这也是一个奇人争霸的舞台:这里有中国历史上唯一一位做过奴隶的皇帝石勒,也有骁勇善战、百战不殆的冉魏国开国皇帝冉闵,还有南朝在位时间最长,却三次舍身出家,又被大臣赎回,最后却被活活饿死的梁武帝萧衍。就是在这个时代,有这样一个皇帝:有人说他是盖世英雄,有人说他是千古罪人;有人说他聪明睿智,有人说他是精神病人……
  • 王爷绝宠:倾城妖孽妃

    王爷绝宠:倾城妖孽妃

    杀手界的金牌王者穿越修炼异世,这是个什么概念?穿越时身着嫁妆,凤冠霞帔,门外喊“捉刺客!”又是怎么回事?管它的!刺客传进,大刀挟持,言:“门外的人别动!不然我就杀了王妃!”哇靠!还真穿越了!某女淡定从床上一翻滚,拿起地上金簪秒杀刺客。第二天,瑞王妃成名。呆傻王爷长的妖孽,管它的!是她的人!就一定会将护短到底!逆天修炼速度,神兽护左右,风华绝代,倾国倾城。王爷是装傻,修炼速度快,长得帅,身世神秘,又宠妻。“没错!他!端木凌云!就是我夜染缡的夫君!谁也别想抢!”“没错!她!夜染缡!就是我端木凌云的娘子!谁也别想动!”
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 小小龙女很倾城

    小小龙女很倾城

    她叫龙浅歌,是神龙族最小的公主,排行老九,却打出娘胎便怕水,在其即将成年时被龙族所弃,流落凡间;他叫凌破晓,是人族首领,保卫人间和平,却碰上胆小的她,命中注定二人恩怨纠缠;他叫裂宇,是狼族尊主,野心勃勃,势欲统领人间,偏偏计划每次都被龙浅歌破坏,可他偏偏倾心于她。
  • 三生三世曰:狐归

    三生三世曰:狐归

    地府的轮回时要钱的,奈何上得下不得。犹记得那黄泉路上的鲜衣怒马,可惜一切皆成了空。轮回转世丢掉了那一袭青衣。孤倾九一直想不明白那月下独舞的精灵少女怎么会和自己有了关系?六界战乱谁是谁非,既然容不了我,那我就刺剑百柄了却了那人间情缘。两羽飞过泰山颠,一世魔主压九天,是谁带着亡灵腐湖冲击了鬼界,又是谁雪夜独自画着凄凉………这与我一代妖狐何干?哼唧,简介很乱,我自己也没明白,只是想告诉大家很狗血很暴力就对了,么么哒~~看与不看大家把握,作者就素个懒人,谢谢大家。