登陆注册
12109300000009

第9章 BOOK THE FIRST:RECALLED TO LIFE(9)

Mr. Lorry quietly chafed the hands that held his arm.'There,there,there!See now,see now!The best and the worst are known to you,now.You are well on your way to the poor wronged gentleman,and,with a fair sea voyage,and a fair land journey,you will be soon at his dear side.'

She repeated in the same tone,sunk to a whisper,'I have been free,I have been happy,yet his Ghost has never haunted me!'

'Only one thing more,'said Mr. Lorry,laying stress upon it as a wholesome means of enforcing her attention:'he has been found under another name;his own,long forgotten or long concealed.It would be worse than useless now to inquire which;worse than useless to seek to know whether he has been for years overlooked,or always designedly held prisoner.It would be worse than useless now to make any inquiries,because it would be dangerous.Better not to mention the subject,anywhere or in any way,and to remove him—for a while at all events—out of France.Even I,safe as an Englishman,and even Tellson's,important as they are to French credit,avoid all naming of the matter.I carry about me,not a scrap of writing openly referring to it.This is a secret service altogether.My credentials,entries,and memoranda,are allcomprehended in the one line,'Recalled to Life';which may mean anything.But what is the matter!She doesn't notice a word!Miss Manette!'

Perfectly still and silent,and not even fallen back in her chair,she sat under his hand,utterly insensible;with her eyes open and fixed upon him,and with that last expression looking as if it were carved or branded into her forehead. So close was her hold upon his arm,that he feared to detach himself lest he should hurt her;therefore he called out loudly for assistance without moving.

A wild-looking woman,whom even in his agitation,Mr. Lorry observed to be all of a red colour,and to have red hair,and to be dressed in some extraordinary tight-fitting fashion,and to have on her head a most wonderful bonnet like a Grenadier wooden measure,and good measure too,or a great Stilton cheese,came running into the room in advance of the inn servants,and soon settled the question of his detachment from the poor young lady,by laying a brawny hand upon his chest,and sending him flying back against the nearest wall.

('I really think this must be a man!'was Mr. Lorry's breathless reflection,simultaneously with his coming against the wall.)

'Why,look at you all!'bawled this figure,addressing the inn servants.'Why don't you go and fetch things,instead of standing there staring at me?I am not so much to look at,am I?Why don't you go and fetch things?I'll let you know,if you don't bring smelling-salts,cold water,and vinegar,quick,I will.'

There was an immediate dispersal for these restoratives,and she softly laid the patient on a sofa,and tended her with great skill and gentleness:calling her'my precious!'and'my bird!'and spreading her golden hair aside over her shoulders with greatpride and care.

'And you in brown!'she said,indignantly turning to Mr. Lorry;'couldn't you tell her what you had to tell her,without frightening her to death?Look at her,with her pale face and her cold hands.Do you call that being a Banker?'

Mr. Lorry was so exceedingly disconcerted by a question so hard to answer,that he could only look on,at a distance,with much feebler sympathy and humility,while the strong woman,having banished the inn servants under the mysterious penalty of'letting them know'something not mentioned if they stayed there,staring,recovered her charge by a regular series of gradations,and coaxed her to lay her drooping head upon her shoulder.

'I hope she will do well now,'said Mr. Lorry.

'No thanks to you in brown,if she does. My darling pretty!'

'I hope,'said Mr. Lorry,after another pause of feeble sympathy and humility,'that you accompany Miss Manette to France?'

'A likely thing,too!'replied the strong woman.'If it was ever intended that I should go across salt water,do you suppose Providence would have cast my lot in an island?'

This being another question hard to answer,Mr. Jarvis Lorry withdrew to consider it.

V.THE WINE SHOP

A large cask of wine had been dropped and broken,in the street. The accident had happened in getting it out of a cart;the cask had tumbled out with a run,the hoops had burst,and it lay on the stones just outside the door of the wine-shop,shattered like a walnut-shell.

All the people within reach had suspended their business,or their idleness,to run to the spot and drink the wine. The rough,irregular stones of the street,pointing every way,and designed,one might have thought,expressly to lame all living creatures that approached them,had damned it into little pools;these were surrounded,each by its own jostling group or crowd,according to its size.Some men kneeled down,made scoops of their two hands joined,and sipped,or tried to help women,who bent over their shoulders,to sip,before the wine had all run out between their fingers.Others,men and women,dipped in the puddles with little mugs of mutilated earthenware,or even with handkerchiefs from women's heads,which were squeezed dry into infants'mouths;others made small mud-embankments,to stem the wine as it ran;others,directed by lookers-on up at high windows,darted here and there,to cut off little streams of wine that started away in new directions;others devoted themselves to the sodden and lee-dyed pieces of the cask,licking,and even champing the moister wine-rotted fragments with eager relish.There was no drainage to carry off the wine,and not only did it all get taken up,but so much mudgot taken up along with it that there might have been a scavenger in the street,if anybody acquainted with it could have believed in such a miraculous presence.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 甜宠101腹黑校草吻上瘾

    甜宠101腹黑校草吻上瘾

    厕所门口:一位男子俯下身,将眼前这位女孩亲吻着:“嗯,是时候该换换口味了,清纯,可爱型的小萝莉也不错!”他-----伊扬轩,拥有无尽的权利,长得也很妖孽,对一位卡哇伊萝莉一见钟情。她-----曾可馨,是男孩心中的女神,女生心中的公敌,是他害得自己成为女生们的公敌,是他在她一次次遇难时帮助了她。两人之间的感情悄悄地发生着变化........大大只有13岁,可能写得不好,希望大家多多支持哦!【宠文?】【原创?】【请勿抄袭?】【谨慎入坑?】
  • 倾城公主之倩曦

    倾城公主之倩曦

    她是一国最尊贵的嫡公主,却被她从小宠爱有加的庶妹害死。庶妹说:“姐姐,你是天才公主,琴棋书画,诗词歌赋,医毒无一不精,你的封号是宸,“宸”皇者也,呵!父皇竟然要传位于你,这也就算了,就连我喜欢的尧也喜欢你,所以你一定要死,这样尧就是我一个人的了。再次投胎,看她如何笑傲天下,谁最终能得到她的芳心和她一生一世一双人。
  • 贵妃传:小乞丐的崛起路

    贵妃传:小乞丐的崛起路

    从街边蝼蚁般的小乞丐,到独宠天下的皇妃……苏白表示这都是命,半点不由人。原本只想着求得一餐温饱,却不想一不留神就成功了!果然,这梦想要有,万一实现了呢!一梦千年,此番回归,只为与你相遇——鲁衡麟。
  • 阳界秘录

    阳界秘录

    我从来没想过世上会真的存在这些事情,但发生在自己的身上的时候,你才会知道那神秘力量的可怕,它开始慢慢的侵蚀着我,把我拖入无底的黑洞之中。这本阳世秘录是我把爷爷所教和自己的一些奇特经历所总结出来的。
  • 那个夏天我们相遇

    那个夏天我们相遇

    经历了这么多,我们之间的友谊更加坚定,来自不同的地方,却有着共同的梦想,在十四岁的那个夏天,懵懂的我们迈进了初中的大门,从此我们七个成了无话不说的闺密,无论发生什么事,我们都会在一起。。。可是,事情不会这么简单。。。。。
  • 醉凉雨秋已过半年华

    醉凉雨秋已过半年华

    此栏杆酒虽味美香甜,却是流云千山。走过的一趟岁月,当我们决定了孤独地上路。无眠的深夜总会多想时光会倒流,只想好好陪伴你入睡。红尘醉千梦,藏在心里的话只想对你说的。
  • 徒儿在下:师傅你该吃药了

    徒儿在下:师傅你该吃药了

    “听说这潇然元君收了个徒弟!”“听说这潇然元君日思夜想着扑倒这个徒弟!”“听说潇然元君和这个徒弟乱伦了!”凤潇然:“……”“听说,这潇然元君的徒弟身份在天君之上!”“还听说,这潇然元君和无念上神根本没关系!瞎传的!”凤潇然忍无可忍拍案而起:“什么?你给我站住!什么叫做我们没关系!很大的关系啊!”无念一句话做了定夺:“师父,我以后叫你娘子吧。”
  • 我的冰山美男

    我的冰山美男

    “萧雨辰!!!”“到,在呢,没死!”“萧雨辰,别给我嬉皮笑脸的,你要再不起床,你的平板就没了哈。”
  • 天天炫斗之成神之路

    天天炫斗之成神之路

    当神器降临地球,各方虎视眈眈,纷乱之中一只魔爪已悄悄伸向各地,六大神器,六位勇气,看他们如何踏上成神之路!
  • 请相信遇见你是幸福

    请相信遇见你是幸福

    他就像个妖精,这是舒小蕾对王英幻的评价他是个精灵,这是任秋对杨洋的看法爱是个什么东西,我爱过杨洋吗?我爱着白落吗?终于如同一声暴风雨,终是要过去,这世间有再多的事情到最后大抵一个情字罢了,我和杨洋停留在那七年前的风花雪月中,那只不过是杨洋和任秋的一段故事罢了怎样的开始,不过是一个女孩遇上一个男孩,如何的结束,且过